Fleur de Portofino Tom Ford 2015 Eau de Parfum

I admit: I have treated Tom's blue summer fragrances - and we should understand the softly to brightly turquoise bottles as nothing else - a bit like stepchildren - not intentionally, but rather carelessly. I like Neroli Portofino, his first and for a long time only in a blue bottle, and I like Azure Lime (my very first comment that I wrote - paradoxically still not in a blue bottle to this day) - and both of them have faced heavy criticism for their freshness, their carefree lightness, which we still seem to struggle to grant to a fragrance in this positioning.

I ignored their new blue brothers - all positioned in a Mediterranean way - for a while. Like many other fans of Tom Ford's dark art, I am also an aficionado of powerful and characterful, complex and expansive fragrances - and thus light blue, summery scents understandably lag a bit behind. This explains why this one (including the announcement of its release) went completely unnoticed by me until it suddenly and quite unexpectedly stood before me - blue and pretty and very neat, yet simply lined up and not presented overly conspicuously; I almost didn't notice it.

And lo and behold: it surprised me a second time! For nothing about Fleur de Portofino is fresh or even particularly accentuated summery - its delicately lagoon-blue bottle may deceive a little here. This is a cheerful, yet extremely clearly constructed floral fragrance - the citrus at the beginning barely lasts a blink of an eye, yet remains as a kind of vague shimmer and gives its powerful heart a fragrance quality and something - despite all its strength and endurance - almost paradoxically fleeting, thus preventing it from becoming overwhelming. The acacia - what a beautiful fragrance note! - adds a melting, honey-colored sweetness, while the mimosa brings a little less dryness, rather 'non-moistness,' and an exceedingly solid, accurate fragrance contour - unexpectedly beautiful for a floral scent. Finally, osmanthus preserves a delicacy for it - like the shy fluttering of pale-colored butterfly wings or the nocturnal courtship of cicadas.

Conclusion: not an easy and not an outright summer fragrance - it is too powerful and too enduring for that: blooming, self-assured, and very beautiful.