Thursday, August 13, 2009

Tom Ford Private Blend- Moss Breches


Moss Breches from Tom Ford's Private Blend line feels very retro. I don't know how they managed to create such an authentic oakmoss feel in the age of IFRA bureaucrats, but they did. And it works. Moss Breches brings on an incredibly nostalgic air of real perfume while remaining quite unisex. It moves from a green herbal to a soapy chypre and back, with a bit of spice thrown in for good measure. Cinnamon and camphor aren't listed in the notes anywhere, but at times I can almost taste them.

The drydown becomes thicker and darker, full of sweet patchouli (I smell it in several of the Private Blend perfumes) which feels more modern. Yet I can easily picture someone from decades ago wearing Moss Breches as a signature scent. It smells more real than the scents marketed today as "modern chypres" made of neutered ingredients and altered substitutions, which makes me wonder about its future. Unlike Chanel 31 Rue Cambon or Estee Lauder Jasmine White Moss, this Tom Ford scent is dense and textured. It isn't trying to pass as light and airy, and despite a moment or two of soapiness, Moss Breches probably will not make you feel freshly showered.

I'm grateful for that.

Notes from tomford.com: wood, warm spice, beeswax absolute, Moroccan clary sage, Hungarian tarragon, Corsican rosemary, labdanum, patchouli and benzoin.

Photo of model Evelyn Tripp by Genevieve Naylor, 1950

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