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7.7 / 10 75 Ratings
A popular perfume by Tom Ford for women and men, released in 2012. The scent is floral-spicy. The longevity is above-average. It was last marketed by Estēe Lauder Companies.
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Main accords

Floral
Spicy
Sweet
Green
Resinous

Fragrance Pyramid

Top Notes Top Notes
Mandarin orangeMandarin orange NutmegNutmeg Pink pepperPink pepper TurmericTurmeric
Heart Notes Heart Notes
White lilyWhite lily Ylang-ylangYlang-ylang DavanaDavana Paraguayan rumParaguayan rum
Base Notes Base Notes
Bourbon vanilla absoluteBourbon vanilla absolute LabdanumLabdanum StyraxStyrax Oak woodOak wood

Perfumers

Ratings
Scent
7.775 Ratings
Longevity
8.258 Ratings
Sillage
7.859 Ratings
Bottle
8.374 Ratings
Value for money
7.013 Ratings
Submitted by Kankuro · last update on 08/07/2025.
Source-backed & verified
Interesting Facts
The fragrance was part of the collection Private Blend: Jardin Noir.

Smells similar

What the fragrance is similar to
Flower by Cynthia Rowley by Avon
Flower by Cynthia Rowley
Café Rose (2012) by Tom Ford
Café Rose (2012)

Reviews

6 in-depth fragrance descriptions
jtd

484 Reviews
jtd
jtd
Very helpful Review 9  
pictures of lily
The name Lys Fume is only half correct. The lily is there, the smoke is not.  No complaint, though. This is a handsome and well composed floriental. Lily is the centerpiece but other elements that fly in and out of this perfume include other flowers, fruit, plastic, spices, India ink and resins. A soliflor this ain’t. 

It’s been compared to Donna Karen's Gold, and the comparison is appropriate. Gold is a lily floral amber that alternatingly purrs and growls. The smoky, ambery base notes start to rumble up through the topnotes almost immediately after you spray it on.  Lys Fume is less overtly louche than Gold, but is sweeter in both scent and personality. In Gold, Amber is the accompanying score to the flower, but it can feel like a Phantom of the Opera theater organ taking  over the room.  This is how Gold plays with contrasts (growl) as well as the common threads (purr) between the lily and the amber. Lys Fume has amber, but it doesn’t ride it like a parade float as Gold does. Amber serves the end goal of the composition, it doesn’t take over. It joins the other elements to give a rich, plastic-smelling feel that holds the balance of the sweetness and the spiciness just so. The base is spiced but not spicy.

Lys Fume unfolds at a leisurely pace, and the extended heart notes are similar in character to the plastic floral notes of Vierges et Toreros. The plastic sheen in Vierges suggests shrink-wrapping. Lys Fume’s plastic smells like India ink and seems to be a fortunate side effect of the wonderfully 'off' note that form the scent of ylang ylang. The composition is balanced, and notes like plastic and ink don't stand out anymore than do spices and florals.  Is this plastic note a Maisondieu family secret?  Antoine employed it to striking effect in Vierges et Toreros. Here, perfumer Shyamala Maisondieu integrates the plastic note in such a way that it could be the base note for a whole new generation of floral Oriental perfumes.  Delicate, but not at all sheer. Strong, but effortless.  

Often in perfumery, 'distinctive' is code for odd and undesirable.  Lys Fume is distinctive in that it is striking and memorable. It has just the sort of beauty that I look for in a perfume. It draws you in not merely because it's pretty, but because it has some thought to it and is equally interesting and beautiful.  The inky plastic keeps the Lily note aloft. Sillage is low, endurance is good. But Lys Fume gets its highest marks  for integrity and coherence of overall shape from top to bottom.

from scent hurdle.com
2 Comments
Sherapop

1240 Reviews
Sherapop
Sherapop
5  
Lily Bomb
Some niche perfumes are weak, seemingly dilute, with poor longevity and laughable claims to eau de parfum strength. Not so with the house of Tom Ford! There is some real dependability when it comes to the strength of the perfumes of this house. (Do you want a neroli perfume to last forever or until your next bath? Tom Ford is your man: NEROLI PORTOFINO).

Another virtue of this house's private collection is the truth in naming everywhere on display. LYS FUME offers a veritable bomb of lily up front and center. Incredibly potent with huge sillage and a funereal concentration of the dark billowy flower, this creation is going to distinguish the lily lovers from those who are mere friends. Lily foes need not apply, obviously...

The lily in LYS FUME is anchored in a rich styrax-labdanum base which eventually, in the far drydown, smells really beautiful. By then, the lily bomb has been defused and only the lingering smokiness of the extinguished wick remains behind as a floral tinge.

The opening is a bit hard to take, I do hereby aver. I was literally waiting for a bit of air to break through the hundred thousand lily petals. I won't say that it's a scrubber, but this perfume needs to be very sparingly applied to avoid suffocation of self and others.

Lily is a distinctive floral scent and obviously not as popular as rose, iris, violet, narcissus, tuberose, geranium, the list goes on and on. There are not that many big lily perfumes, which probably means that it is an acquired taste, and it is true that other lily perfumes have sometimes seemed overwhelming to me. Donna Karan GOLD is another example which must be very sparingly applied.

The search is over for those looking for a concentrated lily olfactory experience. The search for such a perfume ends here: LYS FUME.
1 Comment
Dryasiulia

55 Reviews
Dryasiulia
Dryasiulia
3  
I’m just here for the ylang
The camphorous ylang steals the show here. So yummy, with a cooling almost icy element (similar to the one I get from Psychedelic Love). The lily is actually my least favorite part, it opens with kind of an anemic sweetness thats somehow melancholy? It slowly fades until it's just a subtle sweetness in the background, enhancing the overall "chill". Lovely, at least sample it while you still can, especially if you love ylang.
0 Comments
loewenherz

919 Reviews
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loewenherz
loewenherz
Top Review 25  
The Sweet Sound
is the title of Lucia di Lammermoor's disturbing aria in Donizetti's opera of the same name, also known as the 'Mad Scene', one of the most dramatic moments in operatic literature. Betrayed by her own, married to one she does not love, and trapped in love for another, Lucia stabs her fiancé on their wedding night. The white dress completely stained with blood and the knife still in her hand, she staggers into the assembled wedding guests and sings there - in the most famous section in a duet with a glass harmonica or a flute - dramatically losing her mind for twenty minutes.

Lys Fume, Tom Ford's smoky lily, embodies all of this; it is highly dramatic, it is immense and - when over-applied - undoubtedly disturbing. The lily alone, intoxicatingly fragrant, stands at the center here and silences everything else. Nutmeg, pepper, labdanum, styrax are little more than bystanders, standing in the half-light at the balustrade, only able to watch as Lucia descends into madness in their midst.

The commanding presence, this 'silencing everything else', bears a distant resemblance to the dark rose in Noir de Noir. Lys Fume is also one that seeks a stage, that needs a stage, that can become whiny and unbearable if it does not get one. Its sillage is breathtaking, and its longevity lasts for hours. And because the lily - at least in my perception - is even more intoxicating and expansive than the rose, one might caution to choose it with care and consideration!

Conclusion: the fragrance is beautiful. However, I can hardly imagine where one would want to wear it. After all, one rarely intends to wander around disturbed and bloodstained - and if one does, I imagine one has other concerns than choosing an appropriate perfume.
Updated on 03/01/2017
5 Comments
ParfumAholic

256 Reviews
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ParfumAholic
ParfumAholic
Top Review 18  
Attack of the Killer Lilies
Last Friday, it was (once again) time: Professionally quite stressed, I needed a "balance." And what does a proper perfume enthusiast prescribe? Of course, a new fragrance (depending on the situation, often more than one).

The "Akkad" by Lubin was already a given, so I needed a second scent. I quickly jotted down a few supposed highlights from my wish list and off I went to Düsseldorf.

I quickly picked up the Akkad, and first headed to the Prada store to test some of the Prada exclusive fragrances (which they didn't even carry). Great, this was starting off well!

So off to "Edel-Douglas" on Königsallee, where I kept an eye out. One of the fragrances on my wish list was "Lys Fume" by Tom Ford. And I was lucky, they had it there too. I took a quick sniff of the test strip and found what hit my nose quite pleasant. So I applied it to my skin.

What started off well on the test strip (mandarin, a hint of nutmeg, and pepper) took a completely different turn on my skin. Barely sprayed, the lily immediately delivered a nose punch. And what a punch! I had no idea that Ford's lilies had undergone boxing training. For my taste, definitely too much of the noble plant!

All I could do was hope for a quick change, but the fragrance was not inclined to grant me that favor. With every hand movement, the super intense lily was back. Only after hours did the base in the form of a very successful vanilla-styrax mix emerge, and the lily lost some of its sharpness.

As always with Tom Ford fragrances, this one is also very consistent and stays true to its theme. This will certainly be a lesson for my future tests!
Lys Fume is certainly in the top league in terms of quality; even though I don't like the lily scent so highly concentrated, it doesn't smell cheap or synthetic at all.

The longevity is gigantic, and the sillage is also not to be underestimated. A few too many sprays and one could easily become a nuisance to their surroundings. From my perspective, it's a crystal-clear autumn/winter/women's fragrance. But luckily, that is in the eye of the beholder.

I would rather continue to enjoy the beauty of the lilies than the scent.

Oh yes, despite everything, I did find a second fragrance... the stunningly beautiful "D600" by Carner Barcelona. What a contrast to Lys Fume!

And so, this Friday ended up being more than a happy one ;-)
4 Comments
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Statements

7 short views on the fragrance
23
10
Sultry lily opulence. Sensually fading away with all senses, melting like time itself between heartbeat and grave silence.
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10 Comments
8
Spicy lily in a woody setting - warm, herbal, later a bit fruity - one of the most beautiful lily scents.
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0 Comments
6 years ago
5
2
Lily à la Tom Ford: Fat. Strong. Loud. As soon as the rum note comes in, my nose associates it with a certain American chewing gum....
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2 Comments
6 years ago
3
The beautiful go first, they used to say. Unfortunately, that's true here. Floral, authentic lily. If you like that, it's great!!! Super sillage!
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3
2
A bouquet of white lilies and a cup of tea "with a kick" - wonderful!
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2 Comments
1
1
Radiant white,
like the finest marble
Crimson red,
like royal velvet
Golden yellow,
like honey wine
Poured into flawless chalices.
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1 Comment
1
Fresh-soapy, slightly powdery, ylang-sweet lily with earthy nuances. All-season, not too strong, simply very feminine and delicate! S.great S+H
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