Tom Yum
Parfum Prissana (2019)

Tom Yum is a thing of beauty! A fantastically fresh and sour take on the classic French eau de cologne, it is something like Eau Sauvage or Ô de Lancôme flushed with the mouth-stripping aroma of lemongrass – half lemon, half rooty grass – and freshly-squeezed limes. These tart, aromatic topnotes are all under-pinned with a gorgeously sweet and dusty galangal note that stands in for musk and serves an a pillowy extension cord for the citruses well into the drydown. Although Tom Yum doesn't smell as authentically hot, sour, or herbaceous as a bowl of Tom Yum itself, and is therefore not nearly as exotic as the notes list wants you to believe, it is still the rare ‘update' to the eau de cologne model that actually works (and lasts).

Tom Yum is just sour enough in the topnotes to refresh, herbaceous and soapy enough in the midsection to offer that essential coolness, and sweetly spicy enough in the tailbone to avoid that throat-catching sourness of laundry musk that tires my palate in most modern takes. For me, Tom Yum competes head-to-head with the basil leaf-inflected blast of air conditioning that is the bottle of Paris-Deauville (Chanel) I keep in the door of my fridge as a substitute for, you know, actual air conditioning. If you have the money to spend on an eau de cologne-style perfume and want it to last a fair amount of time without having to choke on nasty woody ambers or oceans of white musk, then I highly recommend Tom Yum.

It is called Tom Yum, but it doesn't smell exactly like Tom Yum soup, fortunately. We don't want to smell the same as foods or drinks. But the inspiration is here, and it is very well done! Take a fresh cologne base, and add lemongrass, kaffir lime and galangal root which are main ingredients in the soup, and you have a fantastic fresh fragrance with an Asian dna that works well in the heat. Refreshing and unique and highly recommended.

Unisex and quite long lasting.

Tom Yum skips any top notes to speak of, instead moving directly to its highly aromatic heart comprised of a starring herbal-citrus combination of kaffir lime leaf, lemon-like lemongrass and natural smelling, sharp lemon and lime with significant gingery galangal spice support and hints of creamy coconut milk. The composition stays highly linear through its development, with the kaffir lime leaf and lemongrass driven aromatics remaining through most of the composition's lifespan, very gradually giving way to the slightly nutty chalood bark finish. Projection is below average to average, with below average longevity of 4-6 hours on skin.

Tom Yum (the perfume) may not really be a gourmand, but the name based on the highly aromatic Thai Hot and Sour soup dish does do a fabulous mouth watering job of making the wearer crave the soup, while being equally successful as a fine, natural smelling Eau de Cologne style composition that is completely wearable and heavenly. It is really hard to describe one of the two key drivers of the composition, kaffir lime leaf, but anyone familiar with Thai food (and certainly Tom Yum) will know what to expect and will find it very believable smelling here. The lemongrass is the other key driver, and when combined with the kaffir lime, the two just seem made for each other. While not listed in the perfume notes, another component of Tom Yum soup, coconut milk, makes a subtle appearance to further strengthen the believably of the "dish." Alas, as fine as the composition smells, its 100% natural ingredient strength from a believability perspective is its performance downfall. If I had one wish, it would be that the perfumer would have added just a bit of synthetics to the mix to aid performance. As is, the composition is fantastic smelling, just short-lived. The bottom line is the $140 per 30ml bottle Tom Yum is an "excellent" 4 stars out of 5 rated composition that is as mouth watering to wear as is its Thai soup namesake to consume, earning it a strong recommendation to lovers of the soup, or just superb smelling aromatic Eau de Cologne style compositions in general.