Oud Minérale (2017)
by Tom Ford

I'm just not liking the seaweed mixed the the tom-ford-linade. I simply don't think this smells good. Almost seems like a fragrance that is unwilling to commit. It is aquatic without being too aquatic, woody without being too woody. I feel like if they would have made the oud more medicinal and astringent this would have worked better. It feels like a tweaked Sel Marin. It performed really well, so it has that going for it. It also does a good job of stating what it is. If you read that this is one of those salty version aquatics with a pinch of fake blond wood it will get you there. Wearing it a couple of times, I liked it more than my initial dislike, but I'm not sure it rises all the way to neutral. It is a low neutral to me, but I'm knocking back to down based on the fact that I expect better from a fragrance that is expensive. Cost. Thumbs down.

Well...this thing is awesome if what you seek is smelling like gasoline. I cannot see though why someone would enjoy emitting such a sick smell. It is one of the worst fragrances i have tried. And i honestly wanted to like it so much...

The greatest aquatic fragrance ever made in my opinion, this fragrance smells of a very unique mix of gasoline (that's the 'oud' part) and a rainy, cold, windswept northern beach in Canada (that's the 'minerale' part). It smells like what the Iron Islands in Game of Thrones would smell like. I first tried this fragrance on a Canadian day in the winter and was immediately put off by the gasoline opening, but within 30 minutes it was radiating a wonderfully desolate, melancholy, rainy beach scent off my skin into the cold winter air. Now I'm addicted to the gasoline opening as well. Performance is stellar on all metrics as well. A veritable masterpiece by Tom Ford, though only for lovers of gasoline along with rainy desolate beaches, and perhaps an acquired taste for everyone else.

5/5

I fail to understand why this scent is bashed herein. Because on me this take on oudh with marine notes is -- awesome!
I sampled this yesterday at Barneys. First on a scent card, then on myself. The result was nothing short of amazing!
If by marine or seaweed notes you immediately conjour Acqua di Gio pour homme or L'eau d'Issey, you would be off the mark. This is not the ephemeral, Calone-inspired, sea breeze-tinged fragrance of yesteryears. Rather a new take on oudh. An odd combination really. And rather way out on left field.
It stands out because it is so unexpectedly delightful. It basically is not meant to work well, this combination. But it does, surprisingly!
On first sniff you get a green/ spicy/ vegetal whiff that connotes driftwood or seaweed or the salty tang of the ocean. It is not sharp. More rounded, but has an edge. There is a touch of earthiness in it -- like vetiver. The smokiness and medicinal aspect of the oudh is not front and center. Rather it muted, made to play in the background.
What you get is a marine-inspired oudh fragrance that is imminently wearable, versatile, refined, and well-behaved. This oozes class.
Sillage is good. And this is not too dark to wear, even in Spring.

A++

As one of the more idiosyncratic fragrances in the Tom Ford Private Blend lineup, I wanted to enjoy this significantly more than I did.

There's an intriguing fishy, seaweedy, aquatic feel to Oud Minerale, and Oud Minerale does nothing to lighten it, but boldly darkens it, making it heavy and deep, accenting it with smoky minerality. That's an interesting avenue to go, making a fragrance that's wants to be evocative of a chilly, overcast day on a stony beach.

Alas, as I wore it, I found that the expensive-feeling, smoky refinement that appears frequently in the Tom Ford lineup sat kind of at odds with the more marine textures. This is a fragrance that calls not for immaculate designer polish, but for something a little rougher, a little more natural-feeling, in its construction, with a more dynamic presentation of its various elements.

As it stands, I find it a conceptually interesting failure, but there's a core idea here worth exploring (even if Tom Ford isn't the house to successfully do it).