Private Collection Tuberose Gardenia is a classic, classy flower perfume. It’s wearable for anyone, anywhere, and is pretty enough to appease the ladies while sexy enough to appease the gentlemen.
It opens up with the industrial ripeness of ylang. This is juxtaposed with the buxom fullness of gardenia. I know all that sounds like marketing copy, but it’s a perfectly appropriate description in a non-commercial sense as well.
The tuberose is a side note. It’s the same frosty tuberose featured in Tubereuse Criminelle, which also features that unwholesome ylang note. The cool effect of those two flowers counterbalances the joyous warmth of the gardenia, but the gardenia takes center stage in the heart.
Overall, this is a well-blended and literal interpretation of all flowers involved; a textbook rendition of a good perfume. Tom Junod has a piece in Esquire about the “good song” that is also pretty much how I feel about Private Collection Tubereuse Gardenia. Its presence might not be missed in my perfume wardrobe, but I’d appreciate it if it was there.
Perfumer: Harry Fremont
Price Range: Expensive
Recommended Occasion: Any
Release Year: 2007
My Rating: 7.5
Green, citrus, and killer florals make for a hard-boiled perfume, suitable for a film noir retrospective.
I never thought of that, but you’re right on. I had to look up film noir though.