Tom Ford
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
The saffron hits first, metallic and slightly medicinal, before black pepper ignites the May rose's petals into something almost peppery-green rather than classically rosy. Coffee swirls in within minutes, dark and roasted, creating an oddly compelling dissonance with the floral brightness trying to assert itself underneath.
The Turkish and Bulgarian roses finally bloom properly, their honeyed depth emerging as the coffee settles into a creamy haze rather than a sharp espresso shot. The spice accord of saffron and pepper creates a warm, almost numbing sensation on the skin, whilst the rose-coffee combination reads increasingly as a single accord—bittersweet, velvety, and faintly syrupy without actual sweetness.
Frankincense's resinous smoke weaves through amber and patchouli, creating a woody-ambery shroud that's simultaneously plush and austere. The rose fades to a whisper of dried petals, the coffee becomes mere memory, leaving sandalwood and a dusty, spiced warmth that clings close to skin with surprising tenacity for a floral composition.
Café Rose opens Antoine Lie's playbook on spiced rose compositions, but anchors it with an unexpected jolt of roasted coffee that transforms the familiar Turkish-Bulgarian rose duet into something altogether more louche. The saffron here isn't the usual damascone-heavy whisper—it's leathery, almost medicinal, clashing beautifully with black pepper that crackles through the May rose's green stems like static electricity. This is rose for people who find most rose fragrances insufferably polite, a scent that smells of velvet banquettes in dimly lit Istanbul cafés rather than English country gardens.
The coffee note—surely a blend of coffee absolute and synthetic aromachemicals—sits atop the rose heart like cream on espresso, never quite integrating, and that's precisely the point. It's the olfactory equivalent of drinking Turkish coffee whilst crushing rose petals between your fingers, both elements vying for dominance on the skin. The base is where Tom Ford's house style asserts itself: a burnished amber-patchouli-sandalwood triumvirate that radiates warmth without tipping into cloying sweetness, whilst frankincense adds a resinous backbone that keeps the composition from collapsing into gourmand territory.
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3.8/5 (239)