Tuberose: a re-assessment
I take it all back, I don't hate tuberose. I did find my dislike for tuberose scents odd given that I like the flowers, but things like Opium send me running. However, two scents that I've tried recently have made me reassess the flower.

First was Parfumerie Generale's Tuberose Couture. Now, there's a perfume house for everyone, and I think mine may be Caron. It's definitely not PG. Their fragrances are finely crafted, but I never quite warm to the ones I try. Tuberose Couture is no exception. It starts with almost a medicinal smell, which you do get hints of from the fresh flowers. It reminds me of Germolene. Later it blooms a little, but it never achieves the full fleshiness of tuberoses, either real or in other perfumes. Tuberose Couture is tuberose dieted half away, de-haired, hair straightened, with the latest It-bag under her arm. Beautiful, but somehow thin and unnatural. And after several hours it turns into BPAL. I like BPAL, but I suspect the average PG buyer would be horrified to think that after three hours their costly scent has ended up smelling like the drydown from one of BPAL's perfumes containing dragon's blood resin. (This was actually my favourite part of the perfume, but I'll buy myself some BPALs and enjoy the opening stages of the oils to get it, no need for Tuberose Couture.)

Estee Lauder Tuberose Gardenia... oh, evil redandfiery for sending me this beauty. It really is a superb blending of two lovely flowers. I adore gardenias - I have a small one in a pot, but if I had the money and space I'd plant a hedge of the things - and the way the fresh yet full gardenia mixes with the warm tuberose is just heavenly. It's as 'full' in the nose as Annick Goutal Songes, but whereas Songes speaks of the tropics, of hidden courtyards and Generalife-style gardens, Tuberose Gardenia is more northern. It's simple, but in the way that only very expensive things can be, like a string of perfect pearls or a cashmere jumper. It's eau de Grace Kelly. I love it.

So I don't hate tuberose in perfumes, but I'll probably still never like the tuberose ones of the 80s!