TOM FORD Neroli Portofino Eau de Parfum

Despite having a colder than usual summer this year, Neroli Portofino allowed me to still experience summer in a bottle. I normally don’t enjoy clean and fresh fragrances because they can feel too much like cleaning products. However; Tom Ford was able to achieve the perfect balance between crispness, fruitiness, and floral.
It’s vibrant and effervescent; it reminds me of champagne on an Italian beach or something. Any time I travel to a beach destination, I’ve always found myself bringing this fragrance along. My only gripe with it, is its wear time - some days it’ll last hours and others it’ll only last one. I’ve been able to prolong its wear by applying a water based makeup primer to the areas I intend to wear it on and have noticed it’ll last on me eight+ hours.

I know now a lot of Neroli Colognes over the last years and I can say:
TF got the BEST Neroli Composition by now!!!
Masterpiece!

Still expensive? Get the Body Lotion or the Splasher.I got both! Combine it!
The lotion lasts over 12 hours on me on a flight from Germany to Hong Kong and I am flowery-fresh scented after all. People loved sniffing on me. No one ever disliked Neroli Portofino on me.
It is not sour or itchy in my nose like many other Neroli Fragrances. I get the Amber. Makes Portofino kinda sweet and misterious.

Go. GET that high quality NEROLI PORTOFINO Scent!

One more NOTE! I am from Cologne, Germany. I own that cheap 4711! Everybody here owns it! You can find it at any Shopcorner here AND HELL NO, IT IS A BILLION MILES AWAY FROM PORTOFINO! 4711 is a lime/lemon refresher after leaving the restroom to clean your hands or refresh yourself. Nothing more and no, not classy!
Muglers Cologne is also totally different! Try it SIDE by SIDE!
Muggles...

Neroli Portofino: The Inconvenient Truth:
The note pyramid listed is surely wrong, because for me at least, this has two primary ingredients, so skilfully blended I can't pick them apart: Love and Hate. In a beautiful turquoise bottle.

HATE: the grotesque price. The sometimes pathetic longevity. The hype. The way that on the wrong days it can just randomly turn to straight citrus cleanser on me. How disturbingly like an ordinary cologne or a plain ol' lemon soap it can seem now and then.

But but but....
LOVE: how it becomes something so drop-dead gorgeous on really hot days. Its unique sweet warmth underneath the sparkling freshness. How it makes me feel cool (in every sense), calm and competent. The way it can bloom into the essence of the most expensive Mediterranean luxury holiday I've (n)ever had. The fact that the first instant I ever smelled it I fell in love, and my nose told me -ordered me!- to work and save so I could seek it out, years and years before I knew anything at all about perfume, aeons before going full fraghead.

I read so much here about 4711 I sought that out, but it really is not in the same league, even if you divide by 20 to account for the price. Now THAT, even though hugely refreshing, really is a sharp cleaning product that's gone in minutes. To me it's 4711 that is a pale shadow of TF NP, not the other way around.

I will probably migrate over to Monegal Entre Naranjos, Bigarade Concentree or L'Erbolario or even Ferrari Bright Neroli for my next bottle of something citric... But until then, I'll savour every precious overpriced pretentious drop of Portofino, and will keep that beautiful empty bottle until I die, to remind me of what got me started on this insane lifelong quest for the most wonderful smell in the world. For all its many, many faults and its obnoxious reputation, I owe this scent a massive debt of gratitude. Tom Ford, I don't know whether to thank or curse you for that.

I wasn't fully aware that I love orange blossom as a note in perfume until I stumbled upon this beautiful emerald bottle with its rather sexual ad campaign.

In fact, contrary to what everyone's been saying, I would definitely wear this to arouse my loved one, no doubt about it. Neroli Portofino may smell summery and clean, but there's something about it that puts a smile on my dial, makes my eyes roll back in my head and feel like a goddess both inside and out.

Yes, Neroli Portofino smells like soap, but an expensive bar of luxury soap. I get a massive load of orange blossom in this fragrance complimented with a sweet and citrusy-green bergamot accord. To be honest, I find this fragrance sweet and feminine on my skin. I'm surprised that this is a unisex fragrance, however it may smell very different on a man's skin.

Everyone's saying that Neroli Portofino is just an overpriced Acqua di Parma cologne. Really? I've smelt almost the whole range and I can't say that I found any of them as appealing as this. Colonia is a smooth, crisp lemon scent to my nose, no orange blossoms there I'm afraid.

Give this fragrance to me wrapped in a big, white ribbon and I'll happily wear Neroli Portofino as my Summer signature. Even better, the longevity is superb, nothing like those Summer colognes that my skin enjoys eating until there's nothing left. I highly recommend.

Despite having just purchased a 100ml of this stunning fragrance, I understand the comparisons with 4711.

Both fragrances are based around neroli and the traditional eau de cologne structure. Both are refreshing, beautiful scents that smell clean and energetic. But at the end of the day, only one is left standing. 4711 is fleeting, smells comparatively cheap, and performs poorly in all categories. In contrast, hot weather turns Neroli Portofino into an absolute beast of a fragrance.

Neroli Portofino is not an original composition, precisely because it is structured according to a very traditional formula. That said, it is the best in its class, perfectly balanced, with very high quality ingredients. Beyond its tendency to gather an extraordinary number of compliments, Neroli Portofino is very versatile. It pairs well with jeans and a t-shirt, and will also match more elegant attire.

Additionally, Neroli Portofino has an almost magical quality that comes out in the heat. Just like a few Acqua di Parma fragrances that I have reviewed previously, Neroli Portofino shines when the weather gets hot, increasing in projection, sillage, and duration. Oddly, when one begins to sweat many hours after application, the fragrance seems to reactivate itself on your skin, projecting strongly all over again. To put it simply, for those living in hot climates, Neroli Portofino is a perfect fragrance. In the heat, it smells watery (not aquatic), crisp, and clean - never overpowering, never offensive. As a bonus, it plays well with one's perspiration.

Sometimes a person just wants to smell clean, fresh, and energized. In this area Neroli Portofino delivers masterfully. Pair with a shirt, comfortably unbuttoned at the collar, and your nicest and most genuine smile.