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“I’m gonna do that in my house one day.” These were the words I said to my dad back in 2015 when we were visiting my aunt in Dubai. I’ll never forget standing in one of her rich friends’ homes, looking at the Tom Ford fragrances taking over the walls—moonlighting as art. It was so tasteful, classy, and different from my home, where the only art that surrounded me was the embarrassing middle school photos my mom plastered all over.
When I got back to the States, I started my first beauty magazine internship and while organizing the shelves in the beauty closet, I stumbled on Tom Ford’s Neroli Portofino. Needless to say, I wanted it so badly—not even because of the smell (it wasn’t my favorite) but to emulate that rich lady from Dubai. Once I asked my boss for permission to take it home, and she said yes, my Tom Ford collection took its roots.
Let’s get this out of the way: I’m not big on fragrance. Call me a bad beauty editor, but the notes tend to confuse me and I don’t have emotional ties to scent (though I wish I did). I was always the type of girl to douse myself in Victoria’s Secret Love Spell (I’m still obsessed with those scents) before leaving the house. I have, however, always had a thing for packaging and the thoughtfulness designers and product developers put into fragrance bottles—and well, that’s what I found so unique and cool about Tom Ford. With its chic, square packaging, every bottle aesthetically resembles the next—just with a different name, color, and formula.
That first bottle of Neroli Portofino quickly turned into a collection of two bottles, then ten, and now 23. It’s an immediate conversation starter when people come to my house, just like it was in Dubai roughly 10 years ago. The question I get asked the most is, “Do you wear all of them?” I’d be lying if I said I sprayed all of them all the time. But there are a select few that I’ve emptied and hope to replace—this time not for my aesthetic, but for the stunning scents themselves.
This is the fragrance I get the most compliments on. It’s sweet but not cheap-sweet like a cherry scent that’s so sweet it gives you a headache, rather, rich-sweet like a crispy cherry pie in the oven on Thanksgiving morning. You’re hit with notes of tart black cherry and bitter almond at first but as it lingers, you’ll start noticing a deeper cherry liquor scent in addition to Turkish rose.
This perfume lasted me a mere three months. That’s how quickly I went through it. Soleil Neige’s luxury-meets-cozy approach drew me in: Citrus-based notes of bergamot and carrot seed give “I have a red carpet event” vibes but the vanilla leaves a comforting feeling that screams, “I just wanna cuddle up at home,” which embodies my personality. Oh, it also won a 2020 Best of Beauty Award if you needed another selling point.
Is it my favorite scent? No. Does it have the coolest name that makes me want to wear it regardless? Duh. The notes are as bold as its name: Lavender and almond hit your nose first but after a while, the scent shifts to a spicy finish that includes tonka bean and musky cashmeran. I’ll tell you, it takes a fucking fabulous individual to rock this scent and I think I’m pretty fucking fabulous.