Tom Ford • Private Blend Champaca Absolute • Fragrances

*TOP REVIEWER* CharismaSL on 11/17/2010 10:24:00 AM more reviews by CharismaSL

Age: 25-29   Skin: Acne-prone, Fair-Medium   Hair: Brunette   Eyes: Brown    

Its an alright fragrance. At first whiff this was gorgeous and I had to have it but the drydown was not something that I liked as much. Too floral for me. No sale for me.

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AllAboutBeauty on 7/27/2010 5:12:00 PM more reviews by AllAboutBeauty

Age: 30-35   Skin: Combination, Fair-Medium, Cool   Hair: Red, Straight, Medium   Eyes: Brown    

I went to Neimans in search of a new fragrance. I was soon pulled over to the Tom Ford counter. I had seen and heard of the fragrance line but never really bothered to try. I told the sales person that I preferred floral/oriental fragrances and he had me smell quite a few. I tried White Musk (my least favorite), Oud Wood (too masculine), Japon Noir, Noir de Noir (not too bad), but none of them really blew me away until I smelled Champaca Absolute! This fragrance is mysterious, sensual, sweet and surprising. Everything that I was looking for.

The cognac top note really makes this a special fragrance. The sweetness lasts about an hour and then comes the Jasmine, Violet, Orchid and Champaca floral notes. Very nice. The dry down is especially wonderful. The fragrance stays close to your skin all day. I really think this is a timeless fragrance that's good for any adult age.

I have not bought a full bottle yet since it's super pricey, but I am enjoying my sample. I’ll probably make the leap after it’s all gone :).

6 out of 6 people found this review helpful.     Was this review helpful to you? Yes   No

*TOP REVIEWER* Mac789 on 2/4/2010 7:55:00 PM more reviews by Mac789

Age: 44-55   Skin: Other   Hair: Other   Eyes: Other    

A wonderful, bitchy-pill white floral that completely disagreed with me.



I first smelled Champaca Absolute a couple of months ago, during a time when I was considering a purchase of Chanel Beige. Champaca A. stopped me in my tracks--it was a wow, an arresting mixture of high-end spirits, kapow florals, and stiletto woods. I didn't buy Beige because of it, and when I encountered it again I sprayed away with some excitement. This is not your mother's white floral, nor is it something that is especially easy to wear. It's a ballsy scent with a lot going on and it has extreme lasting power.



The drunken spree at the top, combined with the champaca absolute, a sprig of almost mentholated green, and whatever other floral is veering around, blew my mind. Nothing smells like this. Thank you, Tom Ford, for creating a five-alarm fragrance. The florals are rich, bright, and careering towards instability.



Shortly, a strong honeyed broom note appeared. I have never liked broom, although I can't fault the fragrance for its use. It meshes coherently with the madness at the top of the fragrance and it serves to zip the top to the base, but in CA it is so strong that it caused me to lose the excitement of the opening.



I then left the store and let the fragrance air out. Within short order, the base ripped through. This base was fanatical woods and dirt, insistently growing and engulfing, sharpening,smothering, cutting...reaching a splintering zenith from which there was no escape, not by washcloth, shower, or baby wipe...



It stayed with me until the next day, showing off. The experience left me reeling, and also realizing that sometimes the thing that stands out the most is the thing that most attracts--for the wrong reasons.



Champaca Absolute is a standout that I suspect will entrance and enchant people who adore broom, woods, and soil. It's a highly creative fragrance without a hint of the ordinary and it does rather rewrite what a white floral can be. As a toppler of tradition, it's great. It was too distorted for me to wear, with both giant opener and closer and not a smooth segue from one thing to the next, or perhaps it was my perception that was distorted, since I liked it well enough when I first smelled it. As of right now, though, rather than being that overworked term "edgy," it pushed me towards the edge.



Wimp.

14 out of 15 people found this review helpful.     Was this review helpful to you? Yes   No

*TOP REVIEWER* mysterious_scent on 9/15/2009 9:08:00 AM more reviews by mysterious_scent

Age: 25-29   Skin: Combination, Fair-Medium   Hair: Black, Straight, Fine   Eyes: Hazel    

How lovely! TF Champaca Absolute opens with blast of champaca-scented rice in a container made of fresh-cut bamboo-stem, along with sweet ripe plum. I am a big fan of white florals and I love the real champaca flower. The name is misleading as champaca is never dominant but lingers to the end.

Comparision between TF Champaca Absolute and Ormande Jayne Champaca: OJ is "browner" and denser while TF is greener and more airy. OJ is less sweet and less rice-like. Both are well-blended exotic beauties! OJ is "wilder" while TF is more lady-like. I like both.

3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.     Was this review helpful to you? Yes   No

Threshold on 7/8/2009 6:38:00 PM more reviews by Threshold

Age: Unknown   Skin: Combination, Fair-Medium   Hair: Brown   Eyes: Brown    

I may not be a "top reviewer", but I do know my perfumes, and TF Champaca Absolute by **no means** deserves any kind of low rating or to be compared to Ormonde Jayne et al. Tom Ford went to the most ancient of gardens, where perfumiers have been harvesting for thousands of years, and has captured not just the scent, but the **soul** of champaca (hence the "absolute.") If it turns putrid as some say, then that's incompatible skin chemistry my dears, NOT the perfume. When a perfume turns putrid after being sprayed on acid-free paper or linen, then and then only can it be considered a loser. TF Champaca Absolute is EXQUISITE to the extreme, and incredibly lifting, not only for the wearer, but those who experience the waft. It gets noticed and asked about at espresso cafes (even people behind the counter) where the aroma of coffee overpowers **everything**. I've been pursued through parking lots, grocery stores, and malls by people wanting to know "What is that *divine* scent you're wearing?" Tom Ford has nailed it. That is **exactly** what champaca is... a sacred flower that the eastern cultures maintain inspires a higher peace and joy.

17 out of 19 people found this review helpful.     Was this review helpful to you? Yes   No

carley101 on 6/13/2009 6:22:00 AM more reviews by carley101

Age: 36-43   Skin: Combination, Fair   Hair: Brunette   Eyes: Green    

Why is Tom Ford tending the same flower beds and clipping the same blooms as Ormonde Jayne? OJ's Champaca is one of my favourite scents but this is nowhere near as good. I agree that Ford seems to be just rushing stuff out these days.

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zbelle on 2/18/2009 9:26:00 AM more reviews by zbelle

Age: 36-43   Skin: Combination   Hair: Blond   Eyes: Blue    

I have a very high tolerance for all kinds of perfumes. Even fragrances that I don't particularly care for, I can usually understand why they might appeal to someone. Not the case with this swill. I'm actually offended that Tom Ford continues to churn out these substandard, outrageously expensive, artificial fragrances and that the high end deparment stores and magazines seem to be in collusion in perpetrating this fraud upon consumers. This stuff is truly awful. Stay away far away.

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*TOP REVIEWER* SensualSusanna on 11/15/2008 3:08:00 PM more reviews by SensualSusanna

Age: 44-55   Skin: Combination, Fair-Medium, Warm   Hair: Brunette, Medium   Eyes: Brown    

Acck! I gave this Tom Ford a hour on my skin. It was really perfume intensity and smelled like putrid fruit. Not like a big white floral that I was hoping for. It's got a cheap propellent smell to it as well. The drydown reminds me of some Victoria Secret but I just can't place it. Maybe one of the original secrets... 66 perhaps. The next day I could still smell it on my skin. It finally had become pleasant, but nothing special. I don't want a perfume that has to bloom that long on skin. Pass.

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