The opening is salty and mineral and seaweedy. This isn't the still scent of a tropical beach somewhere, it's somewhere more exposed, on a north sea coast, sliding shingled stone underfoot, and with a bitter wind blustering around you, the sea blue-black and choppy.
That briney, somewhat vegetal tang never fully leaves throughout the scent's lifetime. It does grow darker though, definitely a heavy woodiness, but it's decaying driftwood, drenched in the ocean and thrown up in a coastal cove somewhere, still cold and wet, and with the sea's scent permeating its structure. It's very musky too, the combined effect of artificial oud and ambergris, I guess.
Revived for the third time, quite how this distinctly polarising creation ended up in Tom Ford's Signature Collection must be down to the fact that those who love it REALLY love it, and the company forsee this group driving sales for the forseeable future. Though, frankly, I would not be at all surprised if it it falls by the wayside yet again.
Which would be a proper shame: it's my favourite of the current Tom Ford line, by several light years, and a reminder that the house used to take really quite bold risks with their releases. Savour it while you can.
A good take on Oud, combining Oud with mineral/aquatic notes is done with good skill. It creates a good allrounder-scent with medium sillage and a good 6-10 h on skin. A Metallic-mineral opening, combined with some spice notes and a not so animalic Oud dry down. I get why people have sort of love/hate relationship with it, but to me it’s a good allrounder, a workplace/holliday everyday scent.
A more synthetic, inferior smelling Silence the Sea, although that's not to say this is a bad perfume. It's a Sephora-level marine scent while STS is high art.
The opening is clean, salty, fresh, and aromatic. Quite typically marine, but underneath is a darker, more mineralic sea.
This is more rugged, green with algae coastline than a bright safe shore.
It doesn't get super dark, like Megamare, but is definitely more turbulent than AdG.
The oud is quite commercial, not pungent or too medicinal, but more like a rich dark wood soaked with sea water.
The peppery spicy, and balsamic woods add texture to both brighten and ground the scent.
The first interesting release from TF in a long time.