Parfumerie Generale L'Oiseau de Nuit and Tom Ford Japon Noir

Tom Ford and Pierre Guillaume (of Parfumerie Generale) have got the glamour routine down to a science: Ford with his use of sexual imagery and exotic inferences, and Guillaume with his French heritage and decadent inspirations, and both Japon Noir and L'Oiseau de Nuit carry through on this promise of fantasy over reality.

PARFUMERIE GENERALE L'OISEAU DE NUIT (i.e. Night Bird) utilizes the sweetened base that can be found in a number of PG fragrances, yet butching it up just a bit with a few layers of leather and labdanum that transform over the course of several hours from cuddly warm and syrupy into a dry, resinous crackle spread over a foundation of vanilla-ish benzoin.

Whether I wind up liking his fragrances or not (and here, I very much do), Pierre Guillaume never ceases to intrigue me with what he puts together -- there's always that slight bit of mystery, a vaguely familiar exoticism that removes it form the realm of everyday Western consumer item and places it in a context that is at once completely reassuring and yet also somewhat daring: a little old world Paris decadence, a dash of modern European luxury, a blend of Middle Eastern heat and smoke and voila! You've got L'Oiseau de Nuit.

You've also got a touch of the other side of the world coiled around your day. Are you dreaming? Are you awake? When you smell this good, does it matter?

TOM FORD JAPON NOIR is a glamour bird of a different feather. Japon Noir's prime mission appears to be all about the patchouli, and it's stuffed with a big, potent blast of it, but as it calms down and stretches out, a spicy, salty vetiver peeks out from behind the curtain to add a new and unexpected edge to the production. Leather, jasmine and amber join the fray and make for a dry, earthy homestretch.

While I have yet to run across a Tom Ford Private Blend scent that I would choose over, say, Parfumerie Generale, what he offers with the likes of Japon Noir is a sharp break from the usual mainstream juice paired with his uber designer, luxury brand history, resulting in a scent that's different enough to get everyone to ask you what it is along with a brand name that satisfies their desire for the familiar: "Oh, it's one of the new Tom Ford fragrances? It's so edgy -- I love it!" Slam. Dunk.

The bottles aren't too shabby, either.

But how Ford manages to instill an image of exclusivity upon a line of fragrances that can be purchased in major chain department stores is a feat of marketing that is truly a wonder to behold. Private Blend, indeed . . .

***Note: The Neiman Marcus website presently has the Tom Ford Japon Noir fragrance listed as "Japan Noir" (yes, Japon means Japan, but that's not how it's spelled on the actual fragrance bottle). I've noticed that numerous other sites use the same misspelling when selling or reviewing this perfume. So just an FYI: Japon Noir and Japan Noir are the same thing.

Oh, and thanks for the samples, Tara!