A steaming pot of tuberose

Perfumers compare the note of tuberose with the smell of rubber, decay and other weird stuff. Hence perhaps the words Criminelle and Carnal in perfume titles. Apparently there’s one more possible comparison: a steaming pot of certain cereal with butter still melting in it. The English call it buckwheat, the French sarrasin or blé noir and Japanese make those brown Soba noodles from it. Freshly boiled buckwheat gives off that thick buttery aroma the tuberose.

These are some of the perfumes where you can pick the tuberose note (from the closest to the natural flower absolute to the most synthetic and abstract version):

To my nose the most of the real flower is in Beyond Love (By Kilian): lush tuberose with forest strawberry in the drydown. Otherwise steaming buckwheat for the main course and strawberry for the desert. Quite true, pots, plates and kitchen beyond love…

Tuberose Cologne (Joe Malone): casual tuberose. It conveys the aroma of the flower well but unlike Beyond Love it doesn’t turn into strawberry.

Then Tubereuse Crimenelle (Serge Lutens):  tender tuberose in a white flower bouquet.

Private Collection Tuberose Gardenia (Estee Lauder): more a gardenia than a tuberose, but still recognizable.

Tubereuse Indiana (Creed): unpleasant tuberose, smells of cat piss and ancient staircases.

Tubereuse (Caron): this one really smells of rubber ball!

Carnal Flower (Frederic Malle): tender tuberose in a very harmonious duet with jasmine.

Poison (Dior): yes!

And well -  Amarige (Givenchy): a luminescent and ultimately synthetic tuberose opus. There isn’t really any of that earthy buttery taste of the real flower. 

Still to try:

Insolense EDP (Guerlain)

Secret Obsession (Calvin Klein)

Fracas (Robert Piguet)

Champaca (Comme des Garcons)

No 17 Tubéreuse Couture (Parfumerie Generale)

Cococabana (Parfums de Nicolai)

Tubereuse (L’Artisan Parfumeur)

Tubereuse Trilogy: No 1 Capricieuse, No 2 Virginale, No 3 Animale (EDP) (Histoires de Parfums)

Fragile (Jean Paul Gaultier)