Clean Suede

Tom of Finland

Etat Libre d'Orange 2008

Soft but strong opening. Powdery citric, slightly sharp, lavender/irissy, plastic tonka beans. It makes me think of action man wearing perfume after a hard day in the toy box. There is a cumin sweaty plastic man note like he has been hot. There is a dusty sharpish green powdery quality to this like a plastic bag that used to contain dried herbs such as tarragon, oregano and thyme. Long gone, but the dusty smell lingers rather nicely. The herbs recede to sharper woods but more laminate than forest. A sweetness here but only a hint of almond marzipan. Action man has some play dough on his plastic shoe leather having scrambled out and away from the plastic toys. He wipes it off quickly, regains his composure and sits on the wooden box looking smart in his plastic leather bomber jacket.

I quite like this but it isn't a classic perfume structure. More modern and slightly minimalist in progression yet there is a lot going on within it. It isn't thin or linear but doesn't shift much. Just fades to dry leathery musk. Nice but almost kinky with the sweat and plastic leather.

How I laughed at the reveal of this one. I hadn't any idea who Tom of Finland was before this. A fitting tribute.
(Blind testing of a series of ELdO samples, so these reviews are from nose notes.)

I've just read the other review below and funny how we both pick up on a playdough moment, because that is a very specific smell. It doesn't stay.

Is it weird for a woman to own this?

As a trans woman I've always been really interested in queer history and checking out our "roots" as a part of broader culture, and the idea of a perfume called Tom of Finland really caught my eye for this reason. Kind of a shame they changed the name to be less overtly homoerotic, as though it was anywhere near as offensive as their formerly-named "philippine houseboy". Anyway, this is what I imagine those models who sat for Mapplethorpe to smell like; Clean, with the barest suggestion of sex until Wham, in-your-face leather daddy. the last time I wore it in public an acquaintance told me I smelt like a dominatrix. Worth the buy.

Tom of Finland is one of the perfect examples of how the worse (which sadly means, quite a significant part of) niche perfumery works, and how it relates to “mainstream” alleged competitors. On one hand, here we have the witty, creative, avantgarde Tom of Finland, $85 a 50 ml bottle from fancy underground and/or luxury shops; on the other hand, there we have the ultra-boring and generic Essence de Cerruti, $15 a 50 ml bottle, that kind of uninspired cheap stuff which pops out around Christmas in the “gift boxes” section of supermarkets and chainstore perfumeries, straight from there to your uncle Reginald’s shaving shelf. Or to the “bargains” section of Amazon and the likes. Ask any niche connoisseur, they’ll probably rave about Etat Libre’s Tom of Finland and will have barely heard about Essence de Cerruti (and anyway it’s just another Cerruti: boo-ring!). Now, who composed both scents? Antoine Lie, the Dr. Niche and Mr. Mainstream of contemporary perfumery, carbon-copying the same couple of recipes over and over for any paying customer from Zegna to nu_be. Are they similar, Cerruti and Tom? No, not really. They’re nearly identical – on the drydown, they’re hilariously identical. Just blind test them side by side. The same, exact, unoriginal cheap musky leather with some minty/balsamic stuff, saffron and violet and a bone-structure of any woody Oriental designer (Cerruti is slightly heavier on the latter, while Tom leans more on musky leather). Decent per se, perfectly acceptable for Cerruti or fellow unpretentious and inexpensive mainstreamers, plain pathetic for Etat Libre d’Orange. Chapeau to these little French rascals for being so successful in fooling hipsters with this stuff.

4,5/10

ive never been one for leathery scents much, finding them all too similar to one another, boring and safe. considering that, i did not expect to find this fragrance all that interesting. boy, was i wrong. tom of finland (which i will continue calling by its original name, as its just so much cooler than the new generic one) is absolutely an exception here. it is technically a suede scent, not leather, but it fits under the "leathery" category, does it not? anyway, what a beauty. it is eerily similar at heart to the beloved heavy-hitters "ganymede" and "cdg 2011", sharing that ethereal sleek muskiness, tom of finland is the child of the two fragrances, it feels like, with ganymede being the dad and cdg the mom. tom of finland shares its parents' futuristic quality, substituting its mother's lilac for vanilla, and its father's citrus for even more vanilla. have i mentioned this fragrance has a vanilla note? its of that doughy, plasticky sort here, but that is more than fitting, given tof's surreal nature. wearing this i feel like a born-sexy-yesterday android, gender-less and barbie-doll smooth all over, emerging from my slumber from my cocoon of sweet milky goo, tearing through the play-doh to be born a perfect little velvety vessel. i feel ready-to-eat and (un)touchable.

If you've found yourself searching for a clean & smooth (suede) leather with a touch of slightly powdery sweetness that would be a much safer office & everyday wear without it being an overpowering blast of a new car scent (like Ombré Leather (2018) Eau de Parfum )
This is for you.
Clean Suede or previously Tom of Finland is an easily wearable leather scent with aldehydic cleanliness and powdery sweetness. Ive seen people saying this has a slight pissy note, but I dont get that. It's a gorgeous clean suede scent ( see what I did there :D ). Must try, not blindly safe though.