Tom Ford Private Blend Tuscan Leather is an earthy, chypre leather fragrance. I’m completely in love with the first few hours of wear. It’s a rugged, foresty leather that makes me swoon despite its simplicity. Tuscan Leather should be my dream fragrance but I’m not impressed with this perfume’s dry-down. Tuscan Leather is a perfume that is rugged and masculine but with a feminine smoothness. It’s a modern interpretation of those classic 20’s-30’s masculine-feminine tobacco-leather-woods perfumes that “young, modern” women used to wear. I think of Tuscan Leather as a now take on old flapper perfumes.

The notes listed in Tuscan Leather are whacky and I ignore them. You should too 🙂 Tuscan Leather is leather. It’s the many aspects of a leathery fragrance without being too “dirty” or like a brisket rolling in charcoal. Tuscan Leather wears as worn, aged “brown” leather. There’s dirtiness, mossiness, earthiness. It’s like a pair of boots that have been stomping through a forest floor drying in front the heat of a rustic, open fire. Tuscan Leather isn’t all dirty and animalic. To keep things from being so ordinary (like a Demeter) and well, so masculine that only “manly” men would wear, there is a touch of saffron and rose. It’s more like wearing an attar, sitting in front of a fireplace with those leather boots drying out. Tuscan Leather keeps wearing as a leather. But, this leather transforms from a pair of worn boots to a pair of new gloves out of the box. The leather starts to smell new and elegant. It’s suede and it’s soft and you can’t stop sniffing it. There’s an incense smokiness with dry mosses. It’s an elegant modern leather chypre.

The dry-down, like after 15 hours of wear, is pretty, too pretty in my opinion. It’s a soft modern woods and amber with a soft vanilla. There’s a tiny hint of saffron. But, the dry-down is your basic “modern” dry-down, very cuddly and soft with a hint of suede. Very tame, not bad, and very close wearing/subtle. But, it reminds me of Bvlgari Black which I can get for much, much cheaper. I like the dry-down but I often wonder if it is sweeter on certain people. My skin intensifies the amber and I swear I get vanilla. I would of liked for Tuscan Leather to have a dirtier dry-down. OK, I want it to be more old-fashioned. I want for it to be a flapper scent…one that hasn’t been reformulated.

Tuscan Leather is a dry leather that one could wear daily because it isn’t dirty or raunchy. It also has a more “modern” feel. It isn’t like a 1920’s old-fashioned leather like Chanel Cuir de Russie, Molinard Habanita, or Cuir de Lancôme; however, I see how these scents have inspired Tuscan Leather. This is why I both like and dislike Tuscan Leather! I love that it is easy to wear but I kind of hate how the dirtiness and grit is played down. Hey, you can’t please all the fragrance critics! And those that like animalic fragrances are a bizarre crowd, trust me. 😉

Notes listed include saffron, raspberry, thyme, olibanum, night blooming jasmine, leather, black suede, and amberwood.

Try Tuscan Leather if you like the smell of leather, not a perfumery interpretation of leather or a “classic” perfume leather, but the smell of luxurious leather goods either it be a pair of old boots, new gloves, or even a brown leather club chair. Tuscan Leather is easily unisex in my opinion. It seems to adapt to the wearer. It’s a blend of masculine and feminine. Try it if you like perfumes like Bvlgari Black, Malin + Goetz Rum Tonic, L’Artisan Dzongkha, Serge Lutens Daim Blond, and/or Le Sirenuse Bois d’Ombrie. You must like leather.

The 1.7 oz. retails for $190 and the 3.4 oz. for $260. There’s even an 8.4 oz! Tom Ford Private Blends are available at Nordstrom and Selfridges (UK).

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Product picture from Nordstrom. Ellen Von Unworth photography from www.artguide.ru