Ombré Leather
Eau de Parfum, Tom Ford (2018)

I’ve said it repeatedly and I’ll hold to it forever: Ombre Leather 16 should’ve been the Ombre Leather we got. It is superior to Ombre Leather EdP and Parfum. This takes a lot for me to say because I adore Ombre Leather, though I think I understand why we must go without. It seems, at least olfactorily, 16 was perhaps too close to Tuscan Leather in terms of where it sits on the “leather spectrum”. On one side of the spectrum is the orris-cum-suede powdery and lady’s handbag leather, and on the other is the smell of Satan’s foul and feverish beast. Tuscan Leather and OL 16 lived somewhere in the middle but slightly on the side of Satan’s pet, with 16 going more in that direction with the animalics but holding onto the parched herbs that gave TL its Tuscan feel. Ombre Leather goes even further in the direction OL 16 wandered.

The perfume announces its intention from the get go: this has no intention of being a safe leather; this is for serious leather fans in all of its chemically and animalic glory. It opens just like that first whiff from a can of black leather polish over freshly tanned American leather. It is hot, it is bold, and it wants the chemicals and tanned hides front and center. An incredibly dry jasmine indole sucks all of the moisture from your palate. Once the jasmine departs yet the leather remains, a pale, woody, and slightly sweet cardamom comes in to cool off the leather but make no mistake, OL is not done and its not cleaning up its act as it introduces a properly dank, musty, composted patchouli note like your fresh leathers just got some mud on them. The leather accord still goes on even after the cardamom and most of the patchouli dispense but their dividing lines get a bit muddy as we dry down into an base of animalics, earth, and a bit of moss.

I still miss OL 16, but I do love this perfume. Why couldn’t we have both? I know why, because TF is a business before it’s a fragrance or fashion house and someone in their marketing department said they couldn’t have three, little alone one that sat as close to their juggernaut Tuscan Leather as OL 16 did, even though there were sufficient enough differences to the nose. Though I am glad they took it in the direction on the leather spectrum that they did, and far enough for it to be a challenging leather meant for true leather-heads. It’s excellent.

EDP is great on its own, annd also a perfect layering partner. I do find the Parfum a little smoother to wear than the EDP. I’d definitely try both the EDP and the Parfum and see what your nose thinks. You can’t go wrong with either.

A absolutely sexy stunner of a fragrance that will make you smell like a member of the billionaire boys club. And someone who has just stepped out of his expensive leather upholstered sports car for a night on the town.

As soon as you spray this on you are enveloped with the most plush and luxurious aroma of jasmine and supple plush leather. It's floral, smoky and slightly sweet and gets creamy in the drydown. The fragrance is so lush you may be mistaken for royalty if anyone smelled this on you.lol

Performance for the first two hours is stellar, projection and sillage is strong. After that it stays within arms length but longevity is over eight hours on my skin. Wonderful regal smelling leather scent, big thumbs up from me.

Well.... I have wanted this for a few years now.
Why the hell did I hold back on getting this stunning frag?.


I love everything about this, to my nose this is pure addiction in a bottle!
I wear this my nose and mine alone, I love this aroma, so I wear it for myself. I got a 50ml... maybe I should have got the 100ml???

Well the e.d.p. is awesome and so is the Parfum.... but that is more floral, another love, they are very similar, love both, but this is harsher, darker and heavier.

Parfum is more mass pleasing and love the floral addition in the parfum.
The parfum stays less weighty but continues on...on... and on.

So both are worthy of the full bottle. Awesome stuff.




Overall.... 8.6- 10
Scent ......8.9- 10
Silage......8.5- 10
Longevity 8.1- 10

The year this was released the perfumer who did it made another eleven perfumes; that's one a month, and almost as many as Roudnitska did in his whole life.
So having assembled a black leather accord and a sort of spiky Guy Thing that smells like drain cleaner, it was time to move on to the next project, most of which have been flankers or made for unknown labels of no import, and which don't need more than a cursory lash up before bottling.

So why is this different? Because it's Tom Ford? No, because it costs 250€.
Taking the piss.

Edit: If you like strong leather scents without much else, you may like this. Ironically, it is somewhat hurt by its excellent longevity, because the "leather, leather, leather" drumbeat that is nice at 2 hours gets tiring at 8 hours. I really want to like this more, but I don't see much utility for this unless I layer it with something else; and you shouldn't have to do that with a niche fragrance in the $250 price range. Some people compare wearing this to wearing a leather jacket or sitting on leather seats, but this is much stronger and more animalic that those prosaic images.
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It appears that many women are repelled by the scent (watch the curly fragrance blind smell test where 11 out of 12 women on the street reacted violently to this). This is the kind of fragrance that you wear primarily for yourself.

I give this a neutral because it is a good version of what it is, though what it is is pretty limited.