Since I was old enough to pay for my own trips, I have not once taken a “beach vacation.” With my fair skin, I’d look like Georgia O’Keeffe: The Final Years if I sunbathed. I love beaches — but not in hot weather, so I must claim ignorance when it comes to the Caribbean and Mustique — the inspirations for Tom Ford Private Blend Azure Lime.
Azure Lime’s ingredients are “mysterious” (i.e. they are listed only in publications I don’t trust or they’re simply referred to as “citrus, flowers and musk”). Azure Lime follows a tried-and-true, summer-cologne recipe: it has a refreshing orange-lime opening with a touch of “white” flowers (mildly coconut-y and reminding me of gardenia), spices (perhaps a bit of cardamom and lemony nutmeg), and as the perfume dries down, I smell light, sweet woody (cedar-cypress) musk.
I tried Azure Lime several times at my local Nordstrom’s Tom Ford counter and was surprised at how quickly the Eau de Parfum faded. When I finally got my hands on a sample of the fragrance, I used the entire vial of perfume (the equivalent of 12-15 sprays) and Azure Lime lasted over six hours on my skin and had good sillage during the first few hours' wear. Azure Lime’s orange-lime accord (so juicy and zippy) disappears on my skin within 30 minutes. The hours that the perfume persists on skin are filled with quiet floral and musky-wood notes that turn a bit sharp and talcy as the day progresses.
Azure Lime, though not innovative, is a type of fragrance with wide appeal, and it’s a shame it’s not in the ‘regular’ Tom Ford line-up. I can’t imagine paying Private Blend prices — almost $200 for 50 ml — for what can (fairly, I believe) be described as a sport fragrance.
Tom Ford Private Blend Azure Lime is $180 (50 ml) or $450 (250 ml); for buying information, see the listing for Tom Ford under Perfume Houses.
Note: top image is Affiche publicitaire de la Royal Mail Lines pour ses croisières à destination des Caraïbes par Kenneth Shoesmith, 1939) [cropped] via Wikimedia Commons.
If only lime were a base note
*sigh*
Lucy: well, it CAN be a bit longer lasting than here
MMmm you’ve made me want to wear my Virgin Isalnd Water. It has a great lime start, then it cocnut and rum and jasmine and musk. It’s my happy, I wish I was on a beach, fragrance.
well, aren’t you a lucky duck—-You make VIW sound sooooo good…those are the notes that I want to smell!!! ..if it weren’t for the fact that I’ve tried it and all I get is sour bilge water, I’d be tripping all over myself to get to TPC to order a sample! 😀 so not fair!
Never mind, you have your Bronze Goddess.
yes, I do…..thank goodness I discovered that one before Tom decided to spurn me thru his fragrance creations. (yes, that’s right, it’s a Daisy-centric universe people!)
Did you end up learning to love Bronze Goddess? She never seduced me.
not love….I wear it occasionally when it’s hot. Which might be sometime in August….
Ooooh I love Bronze Goddess….ahhh and it’s so very affordable! 😉
Kjanicki: that type of mood makes me reach for Fire Island
Same here. I finally gave in and bought Fire Island. Love it!
First I’d like to thank you for the image now burned into my brain from the descriptor : Georgia O’Keefe: the Final Years.
Now, if I can shake that off for a minute…..I love the name Azure Lime…other from the tongue in cheek “blue-green” –it conjures the blue of the sky, warm sand and a cool drink with not one, but TWO tasty lime wedges! ahhh, luxury…. I’m with you Kevin; please pass the 55 weight sunblock. But alas, Tom’s fragrances don’t like me…so I leave them alone aside from the occasional curious sniff. Money saved. 🙂
Daisy: I always said when I reached the age of “not caring” I’d sun myself to a weather-beaten/leather sheen. (I think wrinkles on tanned skin “look” better…add white/gray hair and the tan can look even nicer.) Now they’ve gone and made skin cancer a concern…how dare they. Ruined my long-term plans….
And I personally think Georgia O’Keeffe looked *fantastic* in her final years, really.
ITA, Joe! She was tremendously beautiful throughout her life.
Good for you, Kevin. I have a family member who had a facial melanoma – just from regular incidental sun exposure over the course of his 40+ years. Sun-bathing is definitely not worth it!!
Gosh, I was so excited when I read the title. . .but it went downhill from there. Thought perhaps it might interest my son enough to keep him away from my bottle of VIW but this doesn’t appear as a great replacement if it doesn’t last at that price.
We’ll try it at some point just to see but I don’t have my hopes raised.
Guess the hunt goes on.
Tiara: it’s waaaaaaay overpriced for what it is…and not original enough for those bucks either.
Hi Kevin. I might smell this if I come across it, but I’m definitely NOT making an effort to get my hands on a sample. I already love Jo Malone Lime Basil Mandarin in this category… and actually the inexpensive Coconut Lime Verbena products from BBW are a good cheap thrill along the same lines.
I also plan to get a bit of the Penhaligons Extract of Limes, which I like quite a bit. I forget if you reviewed that — how do you like it in comparison?
I was also going to give a shout out to the BBW Coconut Lime Verbena. I wore it for too long to ever care to smell it again, but have to say for the price you get what it says you’re going to get, and the lime lasts forever.
That is a nice one. Nicer than Bronze Goddess, IMO.
Yep. Very refreshing!
Miss Kitty: never tried that one…but it’s getting good endorsements. HA!
Joe: I’d go for the Penhaligons
BBW CLV is my hand soap fragrance of choice during the summer months. I can’t wait to bust open a fresh bottle! 😉
and now I’m absolutely needing to try this stuff! As it happens I will be in the area of the BBW in the next day or so….I’ll stop and pick up at least some of the soap!
Or at least try some lotion from a tester. I won’t guarantee it’ll curl your hair or anything, but it’s nice enough for hand soap and lotion!
Yes, it starts out sounding pretty sub*lime*, but considering the price and the fact it has no staying power give pause to my purse. VIW has more appeal.
MeadowBliss: Virgin Island Water is getting a lotta love here, but the citrus in it disappears as quickly on me as the Azure Lime citrus does.
Needing some VIW over here, too! 😉
i had short longevity too with this one, although the opening is really crisp. What a shame.
Baykat: tis a shame…it would have looked cute in a cobalt blue-colored bottle from the regular Tom Ford line…$ 75 tops.
Completely agree with your assessment ….
“”” Azure Lime, though not innovative, is a type of fragrance with wide appeal, and it’s a shame it’s not in the ‘regular’ Tom Ford line-up. I can’t imagine paying Private Blend prices — almost $200 for 50 ml — for what can (fairly, I believe) be described as a sport fragrance….. “”””
I sampled it and I was disappointed. I got a warm lime/orange opening and then it veered to the more masculine side on my skin. The lime/orange opening was very short lived.
~Dawn
DawnKana: yes, it does have a masculine edge as it dries down.
I admit that I really love those two colors together (oh, shades of the 60’s…) but this one isn’t for me!
Sounds disappointing
🙁
MikeP: as we say: “NEEEEEEEEXT!”
Was disappointed when I tried this. It smelled very nice for about 10 minutes and then poof! The SA only spritzed an anemic lil itty bitty amount, so maybe it would be better doused. I tend to douse anyway! 🙂
Carlos: the Tom Ford counter I went to was less than generous with their samples too. Remember those BIG sample bottles in the early years of the Tom Ford line? I watched a man buy two $180 bottles at the counter and when I said: “He’s getting some good samples with those right?” I was looked at with horror. “Oh, there are no samples.” Hmmmmm.
We wonder where all the carded samples end up.
Is it wrong of me to think maybe certain SAs end up selling them on eb*y? Ridiculous if someone’s spending close to $400 and doesn’t even get any samples whatever.
AAh Tom Ford – they are/were carried exclusively at one of our big Sydney stores and I made a beeline, expecting to be falling over at least half of them and blowing my CC out of the water – I mean PURPLE PATCHOULI OMG – but I ended up – wha??? Then I got a few samples with an order, and one (I think Tuscan Leather), was so old ashtray on me, especially compared to the Beloved Patchouli 24, that I would classify it as a scrubber…and I don’t scrub….
You can see that there are good ideas behind the notes/names, but so far they have all been lost in translation to me…I wonder who composes these?
Winifrieda: it’s a SECRET!!!!! Shhhhh.
I guess I like the Tom Fords more than the other contributors at NST. I’ve really liked Italian Cypress, Purple Patchouli, Tobacco Vanille, Neroli Portofino. But many were just dull.
LOL, I’m glad I’m not the only who thought that about Tuscan Leather…I’ll go further to say I think it smells like a WET old ashtray. Absolutely love Purple Patchouli, though.
Sales Associates are notorious for withholding samples in my city, and I can only guess there’s a reason for that-hoarding, (sadly, I understand, but not sure I would do that) family promises, boyfriend/girlfriend, niece/nephew gifts……oh, well. BG and Nordstrom reps tend to be generous. They don’t care if you’re buying, they’re pushing product and insist that they send you samples. These are the people who, in the end, if I like what I’m sniffing, engage me to buy.
My best experience at getting samples was at Nordstrom’s also. I bought a bottle of Annick Goutal eau d’Hadrien (I don’t remember if there was anything else). I am sure I spent less than $200 total, and I walked out with a bagful of goodies–perfume samples, body cream, candles, etc. Good stuff too, some AG and some others. Neiman Marcus might hand out a couple of sample vials if they have some. Other stores usually give out nothing. Where do all those samples end up? And why is it so hard to find mini bottles? The “discount” perfume stores in the malls usually have some, but only a limited selection. Don’t the perfume houses realize that we are more likely to buy an FB if we have been able to test it thoroughly? I can never judge by one spritz on an arm in a department store. There is too much pressure to buy NOW and I am not in the store long enough to get all the way to the drydown.
I sometimes wonder where all those samples on the well-known auction site come from!
I’ll sniff this the next time I’m at the TF counter, but in my opinion, almost none of the TFs are worth the money, so even if I really really like it…. (I came closest to caving for a bottle of Italian Cypress, but in the end, my AMEX didn’t budge from my wallet. I also *despised* the TF SA, so I was not looking to boost her sales.) Besides, I have plenty of wonderful summer scents already! 🙂
This doesn’t sound like a fragrance I’d rush out and buy. I have to be in the right mood to wear Lime, which is not that often to be honest.
I have Penhaligon’s Extract of Limes from the Anthology range and that more than comfortably covers my Lime needs.
The only Private Blend I’d go for is Italian Cypress which is fantastic.
This is what I think happens.
First Tom created Azuree Soleil for Estee Lauder (the name makes me cry as I have one spray left in my last treasured bottle)
Then his one-year contract with EL ended and he watched his creation murdered into Bronze Goddess (EL skimped on the lemon, added a very synthetic gardena note and basically ruined a perfect fragrance)
And he re-created the best of Azuree Soleil into Azure Lime.
At any rate, the notes are identical 🙂
But does Azure Lime actually smell the same or close to Azuree Soleil?
Yes, was going to ask about Azuree Soleil! Love the first 20 minutes, but then it becomes a dusty and desiccated potpourri basket on my skin. Nothing like the bright tropical warmth of its opening moments. Who knows a good LASTING citrus?
rlikestosmell: you can’t kill Bond No. 9 Eau de New York or Jo Malone Lime, Basil and Mandarin
Azure Lime is now on sale in UK as of 19th June – but only as a Harrods exclusive for now. Wasn’t that impressed by the fragrance when i sniffed it & i noticed that there was a price hike on this one to £115 for 50ml which impressed me even less! I can remember less than a year ago when these Private Blends were £100, then they went to £110 now £115 – talk about inflation !