I never thought that Mr Ford would follow the trend for coconut in fragrance and bring out a summer limited edition coconut fragrance. I really didn’t. I have been to the Caribbean several times and some of the islands that he references in this years summer collection like Carriacou and Mustique which are in the Grenadines, where my dad hails from. When you step off the plane (or the boat) the smell that hits you first is not sweetened coconut. Depending on the island, time of day and season it is generally a warm fragrant sweet slightly sweaty floral anyway…
You know how Estee Lauder comes out with Bronze goddess every summer and it is coconutty fragrance and people say that it smells like summer. For me, this is the Tom Ford version of Bronze goddess. Despite the fact that the coconut milk is a base note and despite the white flowers (which I love) are in the middle and the citrus notes (which I love) are on the top, this just reminded me of an amalgamation of different editions of Bronze Goddess.
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My lovely Tom Ford Sales Associate gave me a generous sample of this fragrance so I wore it for a week solid because I wanted to be fair and really test it out. Don’t get me wrong – this is not a bad fragrance (if you like that sort of thing) and I am not a coconutty fragrance type person. Coconut in fragrance make me think teen. Harajuku lovers , Victorias Secret make sweet coconut scents. Bronze goddess is more mature, but coconutty nonetheless.
The packaging is beautiful but I just cant get past the coconut. On me, I get coconut from the first spray. On the skin it is a top middle and base note, not just a base note. It is a fragrance that stays quite close to the skin – not much silage, which I like. It does smell clean and warm and I can definitely understand why it is so popular but I really don’t feel like it is sufficient unique to warrant the price tag. It does not feel/smell like a private blend to me. If I was gifted Soleil Blanc, I would wear it, but I would not save my shekels to buy it. Sorry Tom!