Tom Ford describes this fragrance as a "lush and unconventional mélange of exotic Asian ingredients. Rich and luxurious, it is a fragrance with irresistible complexity." 

Plum Japonais fragrance notes

  • Head

    • Saffron, Cinnamon Bark
  • Heart

    • Everlasting Flower, Sawara Cypress, Ume Plum, Plum Liqueur, Camelia Japonica
  • Base

    • Agarbois, Amber, Benzoin, Fir Balsam, Vanilla

Where to buy

Latest Reviews of Plum Japonais

I'm slightly ambivalent about this one. The blend of cinnamon and plum is very pleasant, and the underlying oud gives it some staying power. The drydown is a nice floral. Overall, it is blended pretty well.

I only had decants of this one but gave some away to my girlfriend, since I think it leans a bit more feminine. If I had to buy a scent with this profile, I would go with CDG's Floriental, even though it smells a bit more synthetic with the oud they use. I think that one has more complexity than this one.

I know some will miss this one due to its discontinuation. If you've never smelled it, I don't think you're missing out on too much. But I will say this was one of Tom Ford's better smelling scents.
22nd February 2022
Maybe the closest Tom Ford has come to making a Sheldrake-authored Serge Lutens fragrance. Dense, dark, syrupy, and sweet.

There's welcome complexity to this on paper, but on my skin it's all candied, fruity sweetness.
13th May 2021

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Very cute and seductive, works well for date night, sweet plum (not overly sweet), balmy and smooth with dark undertones that elevate it from ever smelling cheap and common to something quite sophisticated ...however I could see this in the signature line rather than the more challenging private blend ethos. It is an enjoyable fragrance and to own a bottle would be a nice option but for me there are lots of other options to explore.
25th January 2020
Fruity plum, but not candy or edible. It does strike me as a whole fragrance instead of a scent, if that makes sense. Its got quite a bit of cinamin and pine in the opening as well, which goes into a sort of spicy incense accord. It smells rich, opulent. As it dries down, say about hour three it smells like smoky "oud" or leather to me, and the fruit is all but gone. Nothing approaches harsh or irritating smelling. It smells of quality through and through.
Reminds me in the opening as having a similar feel to Jubilation XXV. Plum and blackberry are both dark fruity in a similar way. But as they dry down they smell nothing alike. The drydown of this one has the same candle smoke scent that Dior Homme Parfum has in its base. This final phase lasts.
This is an interesting fragrance that smells really good in all phases. While I'm not really all about the chemical that makes that drydown smell, I do not begrudge its use. Many find it pleasing. An overall constructed fragrance that seems to be more composed than many of the Private Blends I've tried. Thumbs up.
31st October 2019
I definitely like this one. I had the opportunity to travel to Japan for work last year, that trip (and the plum wine and awamori we drank) hold a place in my heart. This definitely has a nice plum note, it doesn't immediately bring umeshu to mind but it's still delicious. Plum Japonais is also surprisingly spicy. Fragrantica has this labeled for women currently, however to me it's wholly unisex, I'd even say it leans masculine.

The combination of fruit and spices actually reminds me less of Japan and more of two of my favorite "Arabian style" dried-fruit/spice fragrances: Serge Lutens' Arabie and Zoologist Camel. All three have fruit, spices and animalic/oud notes. However, each has their unique strength among those notes that comes through. For this it's definitely the plum, as the name suggests. Doesn't have the greatest longevity but neither do the two others I've mentioned. With this being on the higher level pricing tier for Tom Ford, I don't think I'll ever get a full bottle, but its really nice to try.
12th September 2019
This one came highly recommended. So it must be my skin chemistry (just like the pineapple in Aventus comes out like cat's piss on me).
It may be unisex but its so soft and creamy it immediately conjures up a voluptuous female with impeccable class and taste. If I smelt this on me and on my clothes it would start to irritate me with the politically correct nuances surrounding this type of fragrance. Toxic masculinity?! Why not ask women what they want. No lady wants a metrosexual male. The PC lobby should be hounded out of the village borders sprayed with this stuff but only after they are made to pay for it. Then the joke's on them.
This does not even stand level with the ankles of Amouage Journey Man. --and there you have it. Amouage know exactly where they are coming from . They use man and woman in their titles appropriate to the fragrance.

Fragrance: 6.75/10
Projection: 7.5/10
Longevity: 7.5.10
17th August 2019
Ohhhhhh Plum Japonais you are a spicy, naughty little minx. I remember when I first tried you, I thought you were a bit too oudy, a bit too smoky, a bit too spicy, a bit too je ne sais quoi. But you were just teasing me, you little vixen. I was the one who was wrong, not you. You were a star, a diva, a femme fatale, and I was nothing but a boy, a shy, inexperienced boy whose nose had no sense of decorum. But I went away, I smelled, I grew, I changed - I became a man, and I came back to you. And how wrong I was. Will you ever be able to forgive me?

Now I smell the floral sensuality, the deep booziness, the succulent fruitiness, the exotic harmony of saffron and cinnamon that swaddle you in that aura of intrigue, and the dark carnality of oud, resins, and balsams that make you seem so bottomless. Girl, you got stories to tell, you got your sh*t together, you lookin like a slice of fine a la mode, and you ain't takin smack from NOBODY. This is the aroma of a dark eyed beauty you lock eyes with across a smoke filled parlor of a Parisian jazz club, puffing softly at one of those long cigarette holders and delicately tracing a gloved finger along the rim of her martini glass. With a single glance she tells so much but reveals nothing, and when you join her at her table, it feels as if you've known each other forever - everything's already been said. She speaks three languages, she writes postmodernist novels, she's an accomplished playwright. To some she seems haughty, but there's a melancholy behind her eyes that inexorably draws you to her. The night is young, and she proposes that you find someplace quieter to chat. As you open the door, the icy cold winter air wafts in and mingles with her perfume, and in that moment, as the lights of Paris sparkle in the night sky, you know that you're hooked.

Quite unisex, but leaning femme. Performance is great, with powerful projection and sillage but moderate longevity. One of my all time favorites. If you want something that smells truly EXOTIC, give this one a sniff.

23rd June 2019
A warm sophisticated mulled-plum. Well balanced with other notes - not sweet. Just spicy enough to be interesting but not Christmassy. The florals a brightness and complexity too.

Edit: I don't know if this has been reformulated but my latest decant (from scent samples) smells much darker than I remember - much closer to framboise noir from shay and blue. Lacks the cleanness of Tom ford for men extreme and is a lot less similar than I previously thought. I get something almost oud-like which I'm not a fan of and I'm sure wasn't there before. A real shame.
5th March 2019
Starts with fruit and cinnamon. That only lasts for maybe an hour. The smell of smoke from candles comes in a little later and stays for many hours later. Projection is decent in the beginning but the drydown is close to being a skin scent.

This scent feels rich and expensive throughout but the beginning is a little more playful and casual than the more serious drydown.

While projection isn't the strongest, the longevity is great, lasting all day.
30th January 2019
Underrated masterpiece. One of my favorites from TF.
24th October 2018
A sweet, sensual and laid back experience, Plum Japonais has fruity and spice elements that add excitement to this exotic EdP from Tom Ford.

The plum blossom is fresh and fruity, with green piny goodness dominated by the cypress and fir, the bright and dusty cinnamon opening things up along with the earthy saffron. Sweetness is provided by amber, vanilla, and styrax, but not to the point of making PJ a bona fide oriental. Cedar adds its distinct woody starchiness that accents things, not dominating.

PJ has decent longevity and okay sillage, and overall it has a slowly expressive, mysterious depth to it which hearkens me to close my eyes and explore.

29th September 2018
This is quite nice, I agree with all the reviews stating this is quite subtle, however this is a nice change from beast mode.
The Quality in this is in the overall smell. The longevity is Above average.
Nice skin scent from the 2hr mark and stays like a sweet woody smell for quite a while after the 2hr mark, so I think this is bottle worthy for a pleasant lighter change.

Overall Scent 8.5 - 10
Longevity 7 - 10
Sillage 5 - 10
25th April 2018