Tom Ford F Fabulous, better known by its unfiltered name Fucking Fabulous, arrived in 2017 as part of the Private Blend line and has stayed divisive ever since. It is built around one of perfumery’s strangest but most successful pairings: bitter almond and leather. Some people find it addictive within seconds. Others find it unwearable. Both reactions are common, which makes this a fragrance you should always sample before spending serious money.
What Does Tom Ford F Fabulous Smell Like?
The opening hits with creamy almond, closer to marzipan than to raw almond extract, while leather appears within the first few minutes. Lavender and clary sage add a herbal lift that keeps the composition from tipping into pure dessert. This phase is dense and confident, with none of the shy warm-up you get from lighter designer scents.
By the half-hour mark the leather takes center stage and locks into its defining accord with the almond. Tonka bean adds depth underneath, and vanilla emerges gradually without ever becoming sugary. Orris brings a powdery smoothness through the heart.
From roughly hour four onward, F Fabulous settles into a warmer, creamier drydown of tonka, vanilla, cashmeran, amber, and soft woods, with leather still detectable in the background. Many people who found the opening too aggressive come around at this stage, because the late phases are rounder and easier to enjoy. If you dislike almond or marzipan notes, no phase will change your mind.
Performance
Longevity is a genuine strength. Most wearers report 8 to 12 hours on skin, and cooler or drier skin types sometimes stretch past that. Projection is strong for the first three hours, reaching a few feet, then settles to arm’s length by hour seven or eight. Two sprays are plenty for most settings, and three in cold weather will announce you across a room. On clothes it can linger for days. The flip side is that this power amplifies the polarizing character. Over-applying a scent people either love or hate rarely ends well.
Best Clone Or Alternative
Perfume Parlour Extraordinary - 1822 is the standout affordable option. It follows the same pyramid, including the lavender and clary sage top, the orris, leather, vanilla, and bitter almond heart, and the tonka, cashmeran, white woods, and amber base. Wearers who compared it directly against the original consistently describe the DNA as roughly 90 percent identical, and several noted the clone is slightly sweeter and less bitter in the almond, which makes it easier to wear day to day. A 50 ml EDP costs about 18 pounds, versus hundreds of dollars for the Tom Ford bottle, so the value gap is enormous.
What the original still does better is density and refinement in the first two hours. The Private Blend rendering is richer, the leather feels more textured, and the whole composition sits with more authority. The clone’s performance is solid for the price, though a minority of buyers report batch variation or a harsher synthetic edge in the opening.
When To Wear It
F Fabulous belongs to fall, winter, and cool spring evenings. It suits date nights, special occasions, dinners, and any setting where being remembered matters. Office wear is risky because projection is strong and opinions are split. Heat exaggerates the sweetness, so summer use should be sparing.
Who Should Buy It
Buy the original if you have already tested it on skin and felt an immediate pull, if you collect Tom Ford Private Blends, or if you want a signature almost nobody else wears. Buy the Perfume Parlour clone first if you are curious about the scent but unwilling to gamble hundreds of dollars on a love-or-hate reaction.
Who Should Skip It
Skip it entirely if you avoid almond or marzipan accords, prefer subtle fragrances, or work somewhere polarizing sillage causes problems. It also skews evening-forward, so minimalists who want one versatile daily scent should look elsewhere.
Final Verdict
F Fabulous earns its reputation as Tom Ford’s most distinctive modern release and its most returned one. The composition is bold, long-lasting, and genuinely memorable, but the price demands certainty the marketing cannot supply. Sample it, and if you love the DNA, decide whether the original’s extra depth justifies the cost. For most buyers, Extraordinary - 1822 captures enough of the magic at 18 pounds to make the decision easy.