Fabuleux

Inspired by Fucking Fabulous is Luxe Fragrances' take on Tom Ford's Fucking Fabulous, the 2017 Private Blend built around lavender and clary sage moving into a creamy bitter almond and leather heart with powdery orris, resting on tonka bean, amber and vanilla - a composition that splits opinion within seconds of the first spray. Fabuleux opens with a soft lavender-clary sage lift before an almond-leather heart takes over, closing on tonka bean, amber and vanilla. The almond-leather pairing is the strongest point of resemblance and the part of the original most people recognise instantly, and Fabuleux delivers a genuinely sweet, marzipan-like opening that nods to the real fragrance's signature. What is missing is the orris root's powdery structure and the confident density that gives Tom Ford's version its reputation for projecting through cold air - Fabuleux's leather reads thinner and the overall composition smoother, more straightforwardly sweet than genuinely glamorous. Performance runs four to six hours with moderate projection, short of the ten-plus-hour performance many reviewers report for the designer original. A fun, accessible way to try the almond-leather genre popularised by Fucking Fabulous, without its unmistakable density and staying power.