Bortnikoff Sir Winston Extrait de Parfum is almost entirely a tuberose scent, so for those who love the intensity of tuberose (or white florals, generally), it may be a match made in heaven. Despite having base notes of tobacco, vanilla, and oud, I could barely detect them throughout the wear of Sir Winston. I was able to get the green tea in the opening, but it was really dominated by creamy, rich tuberose with a hint of salty-sweet muskiness thinking about joining the composition, it was that faint. Nearing the drydown phase, there was a hint of vanilla and something earthy but the tuberose was so potent that any other notes felt fleeting and almost imaginary.
- top notes: green tea
- heart notes: tuberose, ambergris
- base notes: tobacco absolute, vanilla, Indonesian bouya
It had the briefest glimpse of boozy rum, like raisins soaked in it, before it revealed the earthiness of green tea and creamy, rich tuberose (without any of the boozy characteristic staying). It really did evoke a scene of an afternoon tea with fresh white florals perfuming the room. The intensity of the tuberose mellowed slightly as there was a salty-sweet characteristic paired with subtle muskiness, though make no mistake, it was mostly tuberose that projected and wafted in the air. Even a half hour in, the tuberose was the most prominent player with the ambergris whispering in the background, only detectable at close range.
As the scent developed, at best, I had a suggestion of tobacco and oud, but they were so muffled and in the background compared to the tuberose. The intensity dropped noticeably after three hours of wear and the scent projected little and wore quite close to my skin. The projection continued to drop and hovered over my skin until it became a true skin scent after five hours of wear. I was finally able to detect a whisper of vanilla and something earthy but not more distinguishable than that as the tuberose was still the strongest element, merely less intense overall as the projection diminished.
For testing, I about 1/2 of a 0.7ml sample vial dabbed onto the underside and topside of my wrist area on my left arm. I use an unscented moisturizer prior to applying the scent as this is also my swatching arm (aka, incredibly parched at any given moment) as I found scent did not hold well here otherwise. It was long-lasting (over eight hours and was still detectable as a skin-scent) with moderate sillage for the first two to three hours and then wore more closely following that.
Subjectively, the fragrance ended up being extremely different than described by various points of purchase–there was a lot of emphasis on ambergris, tobacco, and oud, and very little said about the tuberose… but this was, undoubtedly, a tuberose-centered fragrance. I only purchased a sample after coming across it when looking for boozy scents (which this most definitely was not!) and saw the name. I have not yet found a white floral that calls to me; florals are a scent that I don’t mind a waft of here and there but haven’t been something I want to smell at length.
Available Sizes
- 50 ml for $350
- 9ml for $90