# Jimmy Choo — Jimmy Choo Parfum > Jimmy Choo Parfum (2012) is a limited-edition, pure-parfum intensification of the house's 2011 debut, again composed by Olivier Polge. It takes the original's fruity-chypre, or fruitchouli, idea — can ## Essence Jimmy Choo Parfum (2012) is a limited-edition, pure-parfum intensification of the house's 2011 debut, again composed by Olivier Polge. It takes the original's fruity-chypre, or fruitchouli, idea — candied fruit over tiger orchid, toffee, and patchouli — and deepens it into a richer, sweeter, more opulent version, presented in a black-accented bottle and box rather than the pink original. It is now discontinued. The key fact is that, by wide agreement, it smells very close to the original Jimmy Choo EDP; the differences are largely of intensity, depth, and packaging rather than character, making it a more-is-more edition of an already-divisive sweet patchouli-toffee scent. ## Scent Profile The notes are candied orange up top, tiger orchid at the heart, and toffee, amber, patchouli, and sandalwood in the base — essentially the original's structure with the fruit candied and the base amped. The opening is sweet and syrupy, a candied-orange take on the original's pear-and-mandarin fruitiness, landing soft and immediately gourmand-leaning. The tiger orchid heart works as a creamy, slightly chocolatey floral abstraction rather than a literal flower, bridging the sweet citrus to the heavy base. The drydown is the signature: caramelized toffee and dry fruitchouli patchouli, rounded by amber and sandalwood into a warm, sticky, woody-sweet trail. It reads richer and sweeter than the EDP, with the toffee often playing hard for attention, even overpowering the patchouli. Linearity is high — a sweet patchouli-toffee accord from start to finish. ## Performance As a pure parfum this is the heaviest-hitting member of the trio, with the EDT lightest and the EDP in between. The core is widely reported as long-lasting, commonly 7-9 hours and sometimes detectable the next day on skin and clothes, with sillage powerful in the first 15-20 minutes before settling, and the Parfum pushes that richness further toward ten to twelve hours. Expect strong longevity and a warm, sweet projection that mellows to an intimate, sticky drydown. It rewards a light hand: one or two sprays is plenty. ## Wearing Context This is a cool-weather, evening, special-occasion scent. The deeper toffee-patchouli richness is too sweet and heavy for hot, humid weather for most wearers but well-suited to dinners, dates, and dressed-up winter nights, where its feel-extra-special opulence is the point. Social perception is feminine, glamorous, and grown, with a sensual, slightly retro quality, and some find it leans almost too rich. In short, a fall and winter night-out sweet chypre for someone who already knows they like the patchouli-toffee profile. ## Comparisons & DNA - The original Jimmy Choo EDP is the defining comparison — this is essentially that scent made richer, and many owners can barely tell them apart. - Viktor & Rolf Flowerbomb is the recurring external reference, fitting since Polge co-created it; Jimmy Choo reads as less floral and less cloying. - Mugler Angel is the genre ancestor invoked for the patchouli-gourmand fruitchouli DNA. - Lancôme La Vie est Belle sits nearby as a sweeter iris-patchouli-praline cousin in the same modern gourmand-chypre lane. ## Reception The line is genuinely polarizing, and the Parfum inherits that split. Fans of the original and of patchouli find the richer Parfum divine, opulent, sexy, and classy, a special-occasion treasure that reportedly sold out quickly. Detractors find the profile derivative and artificial — a chemical patchouli, headache-inducing sweetness, or simply too close to the cheaper original to justify. Critic coverage of the line is lukewarm: Now Smell This's Robin reviewed the original in 2011 unimpressed, calling it a run-of-the-mill modern fruity chypre with nothing distinctive about the juice and noting she far prefers Flowerbomb. The most repeated criticism is its similarity to the EDP. As a blind buy, choose it only if you already love the original and specifically want it richer; otherwise sample first, since the profile is divisive and the differentiation is limited. ## Versions & Reformulation Jimmy Choo Parfum 2012 is itself a version play: it replaced a 2011 silver-bottle limited-edition Parfum, deepening the composition and distinguished by black detailing on the bottle and box. It sits in a clear concentration ladder around the 2011 EDP — the 2012 EDT is a true flanker, reformulated to drop the patchouli and toffee for a fresher pear, ginger, green, and cedar profile, while the EDP and this Parfum keep the toffee-patchouli core at increasing strength. The Parfum was issued as a 40 ml pure parfum and is now discontinued, with no later reformulation documented. ## Acquisition Notes As a discontinued limited edition, Jimmy Choo Parfum is no longer in regular distribution and must be sought on the secondary market, where supply is thin. It was released only as a 40 ml pure parfum in the black-accented presentation, with sealed bottles now running roughly $80-150 or more depending on condition. The still-produced original EDP is cheap and ubiquitous, so budget-minded buyers often settle for it; collectors chasing the Parfum should confirm the concentration and edition from the packaging. Standard authentication caution applies, since mainline Jimmy Choo is a frequent counterfeit target. ## Notable Facts & Lore - The original 2011 Jimmy Choo was the house's first fragrance, developed with Inter Parfums, with founder Tamara Mellon closely involved in the bottle design and early campaigns. - Its commercial success spawned the parfum flankers, the EDT, and the broader Jimmy Choo perfume franchise. - The bottle's resemblance to Viktor & Rolf's Flowerbomb flacon drew immediate, repeated comment, an irony sharpened by Polge's authorship of both scents. - The 2012 Parfum's advertising campaign featured supermodel Carmen Pedaru. - Perfumer Olivier Polge became Chanel's in-house perfumer in 2013, succeeding his father Jacques Polge.