Review comeback: the fruit edition!

Tom Ford Atelier d’Orient Plum Japonais

• Wet: oud, amber, plum, pavement, mint, florals
• Dry: oud, plum, cinnamon, nutmeg, florals, vanilla, pavement

This wintery fruity scent has a strong woody backbone to carry it through the cold, as well as a sprinkling of spices, as if we’ve poached this plum and set it on a fragrant log for presentation. This is not a flirty fragrance; it is, however, a little mysterious and lush, like someone draped in an expensive cape. The sillage is good, projecting a few feet away for a few hours. Because the plum sits behind the oud in this fragrance, Plum Japonais, although marketed towards women, is pretty unisex. It’s a tad bit soapy for my taste, but there’s a tiny bit of honeyed sweetness in it that makes up for it. There were a handful of fans within my peer group, which is odd because my peer group tends to lean towards much lighter florals. In my own imagination, the cape’s hood lifts to someone, anyone really, with darker, strong eyebrows, a piercing glance, and an elegant demeanor.

Byredo Pulp

• Wet: pineapple juice, orange juice, grapefruit juice, sangria, cardamom, florals
• Dry: pineapple juice, grapefruit juice, cider, peach, florals, fruit skin

This isn’t the first time I’ve wanted to taste a fragrance, but it’s certainly the first time I’ve had the urge to drink it. Pulp is sweet, juicy, and craveable, with that “sun-kissed” note citrus juice producers used to put as advertising on their products. This is a scent you’d have to wear to a clean beach with a giant hat and a big smile, or else it doesn’t make sense on your skin, and it seems to be built to shout, as the sillage is maybe 3 feet away for a few hours. It pairs well with the high-lighting shampoo my mother just purchased in a misguided desire to lighten our hair for the summer, and would layer well with suntan lotion. I want to wear this to a beach and get salt in it to balance out the sweet, personally, but I always seem to want a little salt in my fragrances. This is for the girl who doesn’t ever seem to stop smiling.