The “new” year is almost here and as usual, I’m worrying. What didn’t I accomplish in 2009? What’s the outlook for 2010 — will I be healthy, will I travel, and who or what will disappear, what will change for better or worse, by the time 2011 arrives? As you can tell, I’m not a champagne cork-popping, dancing, party boy on New Year’s Eve. I spend December 31 at home, listening to music, reading through some favorite novels and poems, looking at photography and art books, staring at the flames in the fireplace. I do rouse myself from contemplation long enough to eat and drink something delicious — that’s the extent of my “New Year’s celebrations.”
January 1? More of the same!
When it comes to choosing a perfume to wear on these two meditative days, I do not go for sparkle — flowers and citrus; I choose a “bittersweet” perfume, one with some heft and resonance, one that contains the comforting scents of winter: wood, fire and smoke. This year, I’m wearing Tom Ford Private Blend Italian Cypress.
Italian Cypress contains bergamot, mandarin, spearmint and galbanum, basil, clove buds, labdanum, cypress, moss (and surely some musk). Italian Cypress begins with dark mandarin and a hint of bitter mint and galbanum; the clove I detect seems ‘dry’ and mingles with a labdanum and old-fashioned moss accord. The heart of Italian Cypress is, you guessed it, wood: rich, semi-charred, smoky and almost eternal (this fragrance lasts on my skin an entire day). Italian Cypress wears down to a dark wood aroma tinged with musk. There is a vintage vibe to Italian Cypress, but the fragrance “feels” older than the 1970s era mentioned in Tom Ford ad copy. Italian Cypress smells “antique” in the best possible way (it’s not sleek, slick, or filled with artificial smelling notes); it’s serious without being ponderous, it’s “elemental” without being dull.
Now, just because I brood on December 31 and January 1, I don’t expect others to follow my lead. No matter how you spend your New Year’s holiday, or which perfume you’ll be wearing, I (index finger on chin, frown lines active, eyes squinting) wish you a great 2010.
For buying information, see the listing for Tom Ford under Perfume Houses.
Note: top right image is Landscape by Amedeo Modigliani, via Wikimedia Commons.
Robin, you don’t know how i env you for being able to use a comforting winter scent. But the weather is hot as hell these days. I choosed Midnight Oud from Juliette Has a Gun To Start 2010 with an edgy fragrance, but i think i’ll have to reconsider it and use allure edition blanche,
Italian Cypress looks very interesting. Is the clove on it proeminent? I love the smell of cloves and it’s so hard to see it being used in a proeminent way that I can run after a fragrance if someone says me it has a lot of clove on it.
Finally, if you were here in Brazil I’d invite you for the new years celebration. I’m either a party boy, but here we get the family together and we make a generous dinner. I’d be lovely to have a company like yours with such a critic and excellent taste for fragrances.
That’s Kevin’s article — he’ll answer you when he gets home
Oh Robin, It looks that I was with your name on my mind rsrsrsrsrs
But it also be nice to have you for a new year’s dinner
Thanks!
Rickbr: the clove isn’t prominent in this at all…you almost have to strain to smell it.
PSA for all the fellow Italian Cypress lovers… CCO (Cosmetics Company Outlet) has it.
Excellent review, Kevin.
I’ll be wearing TF Black Orchid for NYE, but we spend it at home to avoid the ‘how do we get home when we’re all screamingly drunk’ quandary.
Alltheprettythings: nice choice! Black Orchid is glamorous and exotic. I hope it brings you good new year memories
Hey, Pretty–I had never heard of the Cosmetic Company Outlet. Is the Cosmetic Company Store the same thing, or is the outlet the only discounter? I want to know if it’s worth it to drive an hour out of my way this weekend to find it.
Miss Kitty, I think CCS and CCO are one and the same. Here’s a very slow-loading link to a listing of locations: http://www.specktra.net/forum/f247/cco-locations-all-locations-45304/
You can always call ahead to see if they have it in stock and will hold it for you. I call mine regularly for replacement products.
Thank you so much!! Good idea, I’ll call them.
They didn’t have it.
Alltheprettythings: thanks for the info…and it’s more fun to get sauced at home. HA!
Great review, Kevin, and your New Year’s Eve activities sound far more appealing to me than the things most people engage in. So I was just thinking the other day that reviews of fragrances rarely get me lemming immediately–that it’s a slow burn, where somewhere down the line I won’t be able to get the idea out of my head that I have to try something I read about, when initially I didn’t even care. Well, scratch that, because I need need need this! I had written off the TF Private Blends (possibly because the name “Private Blend” annoys me), but I guess… sigh… I’ll have to get over that. This baby is calling my name. Hold on, Italian Cypress, mommy’s coming to get you!
I’ve been thinking about his Oud for weeks. Going to have a sniff this weekend.
Miss K: hope you like it!
Thanks for the review — this sounds wonderful to me. As do your New Year’s Eve plans!
Jill: you’re welcome…I wore Italian Cypress today and got a compliment from someone who usually HATES every perfume I wear.
I’ll echo Rickbr at the top – I would love to have a NYE event with a small crows of perfumistas and -estos. We’d be sure to have great conversation and no one would be doused in Light Blue.
It would be fab if we could organize a NYE party next year in NYC (when we get away from the kids for NYE, that’s where we end up).
I’ll have to see if I can find this one…sounds fabulous. Then again, maybe it’s just the writing.
My NYEs tend to be more like yours than not, although I have children, so they aren’t quite as quiet. In many years past, I’ve been the family babysitter, so NYE consists of bubbling fruit juice, fun snacks, a Harry Potter movie, and board or video games at home. This year, my husband and 5 yr old are going camping in the snow, the teen (I think) is going to her cousin’s, and I will force myself to venture out to a party for a change… or maybe stay home and enjoy the empty house. Either way…Happy 2010 to all!
Kevin, your review made me want to curl up in front of our fireplace and read a good book on New Year’s Eve.
We’re hosting some of the CEO’s friends from college and a friend of theirs, but I would really prefer just a couple intimate friends, some good sparkling wine and/or champagne, and spending the evening laughing and recalling the past and hoping for the future.
In reality, I’ll be refreshing drinks and snacks, probably cleaning for the rest of today, and dealing with a guest who loves to preface every backward compliment with,”If I’d made this, I would have…”
It’s going to take several spritzes of Susanne Lang Vanilla Champagne to get me through the night, but I wish everyone here at NST a safe, fun and perfume-filled New Year.
Those people? I say, oh, then next time I would be thrilled if you made it for us!
Ab Scent: good luck!
Kevin, the Italian Cypress sounds like a great smell for a special stay-at-home winter evening! The top notes look especially interesting to me.
My husband and I are on a little getaway in a rented home on the Northern CA coast. It sure smells good here! Tomorrow night is our 25th anniversary. We always stay home on the 31st and have a special meal. Sometimes we read and sometimes we watch a movie.
Happy New Year to you. I look forward to more of your contemplative reviews in 2010!
Happy anniversary Haunnani! What a beautiful way to celebrate.
Happy Anniversary to you! I’m from the N. Ca. Coast and know how very special it is. I hope it’s a bit foggy and moody for you. I love it that way! Any scents in mind? Anyway……Happy New Year!
Happy anniversary!! Sounds like a wonderful time.
Joining in on the anniversary wishes! Sounds like you’ll have a wonderful time.
Haunani: happy new year to you too…and you’re in a wonderful spot to enjoy it
Happy anniversary! Let us know what scent you picked to wear. Perhaps Fleurs de Sel? It seems to fit that location. 25 years is a great achievement. Enjoy yourselves.
Aw, thanks to all of you for the good wishes! Jirish, I wish I had packed Fleurs de Sel. It’s a favorite of mine, and it would be perfect here! I did bring my little travel bottle of Sel del Vetiver, and wore it today. I have decided, however, that I like that one better in the summer.
I brought Frederic Malle Une Rose for tomorrow night. Do you think it will be romantic enough, and will it go well with cords and a clean sweatshirt?
Happy New Year, you wonderful people!
OOoohh, that should do the trick! Congratuations!
Thanks!
Happy anniversary!
Loved your review, and loved your plans too! I do not know what I’ll wear… Probably one of my BIG discoveries of the year: beyond love or carnal flower if I feel “sparkling” (no, I won’t wear glitters!!!) or bois des iles or 31 rue Cambon if I feel like being very elegant and a bit high brow. In either case I will enter the new year with my favorite perfumes!!! My perfume-related resolutions for 2010: to find a vintage bottle of bois des iles in extrait. Just this vintage little thing. And find out a way to sample tubereuse criminelle.
Which are yours?
In any case, I wish you and Robin a happy new year!!!
You too, Zazie! I hope to be as SENSIBLE with my perfume purchases as I was in 2009! Restraint!
Beautiful review, Kevin. I love your style. I, too, would wish to spend New Year’s Eve at home by a fire (if I had a fireplace) reading a favorite book. Alas, I am a bartender and I’ll be working ;). Italian Cypress sounds beautiful. I am actually wearing some of my Chergui sample for the first time today and I think it wonderfully warm, smoky, and comforting. Happy New Year!
Minnie: wow, you’ll have one busy night!
It will be busy, especially since we are giving out free glasses of champagne with dinner. Hopefully I won’t pop anyone in the head this year with a flying cork. But to be honest I would rather be working than partying myself. By New Year’s Eve I am always completely partied out from Christmas.
Your NYE sounds perfect Kevin. I will spend mine similarly, re-reading a favorite book while the dogs snore and my fatcat Falco stares peevishly at me from in front of the fireplace (“Feed meh, hoomin!”). Best wishes for a healthy, happy, and olfactorily (is that even a word? I can’t be spelling it ryte) satisfying 2010 to you, and to everybody at NST!
Dzingnut: a snoring dog is a great addition!
What an outstanding NYE scenario! I may spend mine similiarly. DH is in Afghanistan and it just doesn’t seem appropriate to be out living it up while he’s………not.
Fantastic review as well! I might have to give it a sniff and surprise DH w/it. It sounds right up his alley.
I’m usually pretty impulsive w/fragrance choices but ya’ll have me rethinking this. I’m leaning towards POTL LeE for the symbolism.
I’m wishing everyone a full heart and bank account in 2010! Happy New Year everyone………
Sending prayers for a safe return for your husband.
I second this thought.
Thanks, B&V!
Nice review – I’ll have to give this one a sniff, although I am pretty enamored of his Oud so far the most.
My NYE is spent on my own usually. I used to mope that I didn’t have a sweetie and whatnot, but now I’m fine – I have some non-alcoholic champagne (stopped drinking 23+ years ago) and something nice to eat, watch a movie or read, maybe watch the ball drop. Snuggle up with my kitty. It’s nice.
Happy and prosperous New Year, everyone!
Thanks, Tama…(the oud IS nice, isn’t it?)
Other than the title of the review, when I first starting reading the notes and the description of the fragrance, I thought it sounded like Vol de Nuit. But wait…. Kevin thinks VdN is boring!
Just ribbing you in good fun, Kevin. Always enjoy your reviews and I do agree with your taste in NYE celebrations.
Cheers,
Donna
Donna…IF ONLY Vol de Nuit would treat me like this one does!
Kevin, I enjoyed this review so much. This sounds as if the labdanum has a prominent role here and that’s good news for me since I love that note. The entire formula sounds enticing to me and I’ve been admiring the bottles for the Private Blend line for a while now. I have FBs of TF’s White Patchouli, Black Orchid and the BO Voile de Fleur – but I haven’t tried any of the Private Blends. This sounds like the perfect place to start. And as a huge fan of Modigliani’s art, I really appreciate the image you posted. Enjoy your contemplative New Year’s ‘celebration’! We will be observing the occasion in a similar manner except that it will be with two very close friends and mass quantities of wine & champagne will be consumed.
Rustic Dove: thanks…and enjoy sampling the Private Blends. The moment I saw that painting…I knew it was perfect for this post.
RD & Kevin: I also really love that painting and had not been familiar with Modigliani landscapes before.
I love the Modigliani portraits. I was familiar with the landscapes and he did some sculptures also. I got a really good Modigliani book for my mom a few years back that features much of his artwork.
Loved both the review and the New Year’s Eve plans. I like to stay at home as well, especially since the New Year’s Eve many moons ago when I got run off the road by a probably drunk driver. Ended up in a ditch by a cemetery, which is not so bad when you consider it could have been the reverse! Sounds like Italian Cypress is another scent that needs to go on my list, next to all the others I missed that were on everyone’s best of the year list. I think I’ll be wearing my sample of Un Rose Chypree. The sooner I use it up the sooner I can get a bottle!
jirish: yes, driving about is hazardous on New Year’s…were there cypresses in the graveyard? HA!
Hi Kevin! I don’t call your plan “brooding,” I call it meditative introspection. Being surrounded by drunken hooting & hollering is rarely my thing. I’ll probably be going to bed soon after midnight in preparation for a day of transcontinental travel on New Year’s Day.
You’ve made this TF sound beautifully woodsy, though I have trouble jumping for any TFPB at those prices.
Two questions:
1. Have you tried the Cipresso di Toscano from the Acqua di Parma Blu Med line? I haven’t, but I’m curious about it.
2. Your mention of a love for “bittersweet” reminds me of my recent object of infatuation in that category: the infamous Serge Noire. I’m wondering if you’ve revisited it since your initial tests? I hazard to say that you might have a different opinion of it on a very cold, crisp, meditative winter’s day…
Hi, Joe…your LONG vacation about to end! The Cipresso was a disappointment…a tad “watery” and bland. I haven’t revisited Serge Noire…it’s not in any shop in Seattle that carries Lutens!
Yours, Kevin, is among the best ways one can spend a new year’s eve or day, right up there with walking along the beach in the fog or light rain (but not in a fullblown storm). (Can you tell I’m one of the natives of Northern Calif commenting here?)
Since it suits my contemplative moods so well I’ll be wearing Plus que Jamais to see in the new year, but will look for a sample of Italian Cypress soon.
GGPerfume: yes, walking on the beach is great…I did it all the time on Christmas, Thanksgiving, New Year’s when I lived back east. You have to drive HOURS to get to a Pacific Ocean beach from Seattle, unfortunately…but I CAN see Lake Washington from my house. Enjoy the coast!
Happy 2010 to you Kevin!
Eminere: thanks!
Like you, Kevin, and many of the other folks commenting, I’ll be spending a quiet night at home. Our typical NYE routine is to cook a couple of lobsters and quietly toast the new year with a bit of bubbly and something chocolate. I’m thinking Bois des Iles would be perfect for the occasion since it was a great discovery for me in 2009.
Happy New Year to all!
Scentred: BdI…a nice choice!
Hello, fellow brooder! Actually I’m more of a moper, but perhaps for a special occasion I can go nuts and bust out the brooding for a change.
I’m all cozied up in Black Tourmaline at the moment, so this here Italian Cypress sounds right up my alley. Tom Ford bugs me no end, but then again, so does Serge Lutens and yet I now own a decant of Gris Clair, and Pure Oud wowed me despite Kilian Hennessy’s annoyingness. Never say never, and Happy New Year’s to all!
Lilydale: Black Tourmaline…one of my favorites.
Oh, sweet Kevin, you’ll never know how comforting that lovely mental picture you paint is to me, this year of all years.
Just before I read your review, I was sitting around feeling all sorry for myself, imagining the whole world having glamourous, extroverted sociable excitement on NYE while I sat in my cold, empty apartment with nothing but a hot water bottle and a cozy fragrance to keep me company.
Funny how feeling just a tad self-pitying distorts things. In reality, I love solitude, I adore reflection and contemplation, I love my books and art and music and beautiful apartment. And I’m not alone: there’s Lulu, my dear lilac-coloured budgie, home from the bird doctor today after $452’s worth of x-rays and hospital care and antibiotics, alive and reasonably well — a huge relief and a bit of a medical miracle.
Your review turned everything around for me. I’m grateful for it, and newly grateful for what I have as we kiss 2009 goodbye. For me It was a real annus horribilus, as the Queen said about the year Diana and Charles announced their plans to divorce and a fire destroyed a fair whack of Buckingham Palace. My year wasn’t as bad as that.
I hope 2010 is a banner year for everybody.
P.S. I loved Italian Cypress, too, but I must say my feminine heart fell harder for Arabian Wood. What did you think of that one, Kevin?
Robin: Glad the birdie’s OK! It’s so awful when pets are sick. And, boy, it’s gets expensive :0 but what can you do?
CEO and I are actually GOING OUT for NYE to a benefit here in Florida. Rainy and 60s tonight and don’t know how I’ll stay awake until midnight…getting too old! May SOTE will have to be Ava Luxe Cafe Noir!
Enjoy your NYE, Kevin and happy, healthy & “scentful” 2010 to all!
RobinR: best wishes to you and Lulu! (Arabian Wood is waiting to be REsampled…first go-round wasn’t that great.)
Your review is great. Always a pleasure to read them. Happy New Year!
I am so with you on how to spend NYE. Happy New Year to year and your family. My resolution is to LEARN the meaning of the word RESTRAINT!!!! HA!
C: Carlos/Restraint…those words do not go together!
Like they say in Brooklyn…WISE ASS! HA! Happy New Year buddy!
oopsie…YOU and your etc.
Kevin,
Great review as always. I will be spending NYE almost exactly the same way as you will be.
Happy New Year to you and to all on NST!
Hi Kevin,
Happy New Year, I’m wearing something very incensey from Andy Tauer. It’s blending well with the woodsmoke from the fire. Not so much with the chocolate seashells I’ve just eaten.
A
Could you review Tobacco Vanille from the Private Blend collection if you get the chance? I can’t find it anywhere and I’m wondering if it’s worth hunting down…