Banana Republic's intriguing subcategorization strategy is thus far successful, but questionable. The Icon Collection is apparently a line the brand wants consumers to view as more prestigious and "luxe" than stuff like M and Black Walnut. The Classic Collection is really just one fragrance, Banana Republic Classic (1995), and a bunch of recent flankers like Classic Acqua and Classic Red. What's up with that? Then there's the small, three-fragrance Collezione Riservata, which is Italian for Reserved Collection, and includes Midnight Hour, Velvet Pomegranate, and Tuberose Overdose. Are these reserved for people who just want more Icon Collection bottles in fancier colors? In my quest to better understand tuberose, at least in perfumery terms, and in the wake of acquiring a bottle of the supposedly tuberose-rich Fleurissimo by Creed, I sprang for Christelle Laprade's 2022 floral, mindful that it would be a modern version of what is classically represented in the upmarket niche perfume. Cost is not a consideration here.
I think I'm starting to get what tuberose is in perfume. I've seen phrases like "it smells like bubblegum" and "kinda banana" get bandied around online in reference to the flower, and Tuberose Overdose smells intensely floral but also incredibly sweet, and is a hybrid of creamy banana-like nectars tightly wedded to a vaguely bubblegummy edge. It comes across as similar to ylang-ylang, at least to my nose, a distinctly tropical and "yellowish" floral feel, but Laprade's skill with fruity esters is also on full display, as the first thirty minutes of the drydown is a symphonic blast of apple/peach cobbler, tinged with the succulent warmth of freshly-sliced mango. I would argue the composition is chemically "front-loaded," a term that refers to fragrances with dazzling topnotes that fizzle into bland-musky nothings a few minutes later, as Tuberose Overdose doesn't do a whole lot after first application, but its topnotes hold pretty steadily for a few hours, slowly fading to a sweet musk about four hours in. I call it "linear," and pleasantly so.
Putting considerations about the eponymous note aside, Laprade's fragrance is unassailably gorgeous. I find myself wondering if she employed Symrise's proprietary Ecomusk R® (their answer to Givaudan's trademarked Sylkolide™), which I've read is a very warm, powdery, apple-fruity musk that finesses and softens the blaring edges of louder things. She used Ecomusk R® in a few fragrances for niche brand Mind Games, and seems to be skilled at raising conventional materials into a stratosphere of beauty I've never encountered before in a cheap designer fragrance. Tuberose Overdose isn't super complex, but it really sings. It does with a few fruit notes and perhaps two or three creamy florals (jasmine and plumeria are cited) what niche brands struggle to accomplish with an army barracks of pricier building blocks. As far as florals go, Banana Republic hasn't quite reached the level of something as refined as Fleurissimo, but they've come close.