Santal Blush Tom Ford 2011

Found - in love - lost - searched and searched and searched....

I had been searching for this fragrance for several years. Almost 10 years ago, I first smelled "Santal Blush," if I remember correctly, in a duty-free shop. What can I say? I was allowed to sniff!

As I have mentioned in other reviews, I love to indulge in the perfume department at the airport before my departure. And "indulge" is putting it mildly. I try everything that can somehow be sprayed on my arms and wrists. Sometimes completely randomly, sometimes I have one or two scents in mind. To be honest, I don't know, or rather, I don't want to know, what my poor seat neighbors on the plane think of me when they have to deal with the overwhelming, completely mixed-up sillage cloud of my testing. My husband is already used to it. Poor guy. Well, he just has to deal with it. Hehe.

I tested "Santal Blush" unexpectedly. There was a shelf with a ton of Tom Ford fragrances - a brand I had never heard of until then. So I just casually headed over. After a glance at the price tags, fully aware that I wouldn't buy any of these fragrances. But sniffing - that's always allowed.

I don't remember how many and which perfumes I examined closely. But suddenly, it was in the air - that unique warm, cozy sandalwood scent. I cautiously sniffed the test strip. A golden, woody, slightly sweet-spicy scent wafted towards me.

Back then, I didn't know much about the individual fragrance notes. Well, I still don't today. But I'm working on it. However, this scent was different from all the other fragrances I had smelled before. It hit me like a bomb. WOW and shattered my heart. This scent was so beautiful - it was unaffordable for me. The price shocked me back then. But the seed was sown, and time was too short. I had to force myself to tear away to not miss boarding. So, with a heavy heart and trembling hands, I carefully put my new love back on the shelf. Sniff. A tragedy.

Tom Ford fragrances were far too expensive for me back then. By the way, they still are. So I didn't pursue them any further. Unfortunately, I even forgot the name of the fragrance and the brand over time. Or did I suppress them? Hmm. Probably suppressed.

Until one fine day, I happened to stop by the turquoise drugstore again and....

Yes, that one fragrance just stuck in my nose. Sandalwood, beautifully spicy like a golden autumn day. Velvety-warm and soft like golden sunbeams flashing through the branches to showcase the full splendor of the leaves on the trees in all their yellow-red-brown earth shades.

A few years later, I was still searching for that one perfect sandalwood scent - but at an affordable price. I once again wandered into a newly opened turquoise store, which by now resembled more of a temple, spread over several floors, guarded by two heavily built men in dark suits and populated by beautifully made-up ladies who addressed the equally well-styled saleswomen. And I was right in the middle of it. A foreign body.

And again, there was a shelf full of Tom Ford fragrances displayed. Seductively presented for one purpose only. It seemed familiar to me - the style of presentation, the packaging, and especially the price. My synapses in my brain started firing excited impulses back and forth. Ping-ping-ping. Slowly, the memory returned. It must have been a Tom Ford fragrance.

So I tested all sorts of Tom Ford creations again, which I found quite appealing. But I couldn't find the one. It wasn't there. No idea. Maybe it was sold out at that time? It wasn't there.

Since I couldn't find it, I asked a nice saleswoman for a nice sandalwood fragrance. She showed me a few cheaper perfumes, whose names I also forgot, but for different reasons, and also a more expensive fragrance from Etro. I liked it. For my taste, it was a bit too masculine, even though it was marketed as unisex. But still nice. So I bought "Sandalo" from Etro for a hefty price. Not as expensive as a Tom Ford, but still pricey for my modest means. At first, I was quite happy with "Sandalo," even though it somehow didn't smell anything like "Santal Blush."

By chance, I ended up with a sample from a renowned fragrance twin manufacturer years later. I stand by it. I like fragrance twins. Go ahead, come at me.... I certainly appreciated the three samples that this fragrance twin house included with my order. As always, I was as excited about the samples as a little snow king or snow queen and sniffed at the unknown scent. Hmm delicious, I liked the test strip. So I sprayed the unknown fragrance twin on my skin and then WOW.

There it was again, the scent from long, long ago. Or at least its DNA. The memory awakened - the synapses and impulses in my brain reacted extremely actively. Of course, this fragrance twin was not 100% identical. But close enough that I could recognize my lost beloved scent in it. It wasn't hard to find the original fragrance. Thanks to the fragrance notes and a well-known search engine, I found "Santal Blush."

The joy turned to shock when I saw the prices online. One thing I can definitely say, it hasn't gotten cheaper. Damn it!

First, I tried it here on Profumo. But SB bottles were offered quite rarely and also here at horrendous prices. On top of that, I unfortunately wasn't quick enough. Because I don't hang out on the internet every hour or constantly check my emails like some might think. Out of frustration, I bought a few other fragrance twins. All quite good - but.... just not the one.

So there was only one thing left: to grit my teeth and buy the smallest size online during a discount promotion. Voilà.

This unique composition of spices, like cumin, cinnamon, fenugreek, and carrot seeds softens the floral heart notes of ylang-ylang, jasmine, and rose. More than the flowers, this spice comes through in the opening. From that, I can only really pick out the cumin and the cinnamon. I assume that the sweet scent is spread by the carrot seeds.
The floral heart note is hardly noticeable - let alone individual notes from it. Quickly, the base note spreads.
This wonderfully creamy-golden smelling sandalwood embedded in the melting-soft balsamic benzoin resin note dominates the mélange. The Virginia cedar and the agarwood only support the dominant sandalwood. For me, the sandalwood simply overshadows everything. And the musk gives the whole mixture a sweet, clear purity as a special kick.

"Santal Blush" like golden sunbeams that unfold warmly in the cold autumn air and let the beauty of the colorful autumn leaves shine. I have found you again - my once lost love. Finally.

Je t'ai retrouvé mon amour perdu. Efin.