We were having lunch on an grey April day in London when my friend and former coeditor told me about Tom Ford Neroli Portofino.
We had worked together at the Rome office of a monthly magazine and had each lived a significant portion of our 20s over there. She had since moved back to the UK and although she made it back every so often for work, her nostalgia was palpable as we both watched the rain.
I’ve always loved the intensity of Tom Ford fragrances. They tend to last and last on my skin–on my coat cuffs for weeks–So when she told me that this fragrance “WAS” Italy for her, I was extra intrigued.
My own sample vial arrived just in time for a rainy afternoon of my own in New York. I sprayed it liberally and went to the corner cafe for an espresso for added effect. I figured if the sunshine and seawater were in the bottle I may as well add to the sensory experience with the scent of coffee grounds and the sound of tiny spoons against porcelain, the symphony of which which will always be my Italian morning.
Neroli always smells vintage to me. Probably because I’m still learning how to appreciate it. Regardless, it sends me first to 4711 and then to the first Aqua di Parma I ever spritzed, more for the love the packaging than anything else. I also got a bit of hotel soap, but in the best way possible. You see, there’s something lovely about even the cheapest hotel soap when it means you’re on vacation. It’s somewhat like airline meals. Although we know they were designed to be frozen and defrosted and their consistency is questionable, there’s something about ripping into all of those tiny compartments and unwrapping the cheese and cracker packs. The same goes for hotel soap. And also, you’re on vacation.
After the neroli I detected something sweeter, maybe lemon blossom, and then the faintest traces of other flowers. At first I thought Ylang Ylang, but that that could be my brain on the beach. It’s orange flower. And it makes sense. The salty musk in the end kept things right there. One of my most vivid memories and something I miss tremendously is laying close on a towel or an unmade bed, skin still hot from a day in the sun, and limbs nearly touching, but not (it’s hot!). The smell of two unapologetically sensual bodies close to one another generating the kind of energy I have only ever felt there.
Maybe it’s something in the food or water, but no matter what products these men used–Nivea body cream, grocery store deodorant, the powderymuschio bianco-scented shower gel…they all shared this salty, mineral-rich warm scent.
Tom Ford got it. It is absolutely Italy. The Italy that so many of us miss and all of us dream about. It is vacation It is sunlight. It is sex. It is carefree and unashamed.