Tiare is the last of the Ormonde Jayne florals up for review. I needed a long time and many wearings to get my bearings with Tiare – for it surprised me.
Tiare flower, the Tahitian Gardenia, is a tropical flower and that is how it is presented most often in a perfume. Ormonde Jayne does something entirely different with it. I was expecting hula-dancing and palms, coconuts and beaches, but Tiare gives me cool, green, thoroughly European class.
That is not a bad thing, on the contrary, I love it, but it immensely confused me. Do you know that feeling? You have a fixed idea what to expect, what to get from a perfume and it is just not that?
Tiare hails from 2009 and its notes include mandarin, orange flower and sicilian lime, tiare, freesia, water lilies, jasmine, orris, ylang ylang, cedar, vetiver, sandalwood, patchouli, moss and musk.
“Like precious jewels resting on dark green foliage, the unsurpassed beauty of the Tiare flower is hand picked whilst still unopened and laid in oil for 15 days to extract the fragrance. Like the woman who wears Tiare, this is a perfume that totally ignores seasons and the time of day, a perfume so artfully blended and infinitely refined… but with a dash of scintillating appeal.”
-from the Ormonde Jayne website
That “dash of scintillating appeal” Linda Pilkington speaks of, that is exactly the hook tiare has me hanging on. Tiare smells shimmery, sparkly, bubbling like champagne, courtesy to the brilliant flower boutquet in the heart assisted by the exuberant citrus notes in the top, but it is grounded by a soft, velvety moss drydown, that never drifts off into swampy as many moss based scents tend to do on me (like Estée Lauder Jasmine White Moss or Chanel Cristalle).
It is not helpful to me at all that this is one more excellently made perfume by Ormonde Jayne, since it does not make my wishlist from this brand any shorter. I now own Frangipani and Ta’if (as well as Tolu), but one day Osmanthus, Champaca AND now Tiare are going to be mine as well. What an extraordinarily well-edited line!
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What a coincidence! I sampled Tiare for the first time today (a couple of hours ago, actually). I usually don’t like gardenia/tiare notes in perfume but I liked this one. ‘Shimmery’ is the right word for it. it is also more ‘perfumey’ on my skin than the other OJs. I have been throughly enjoying sampling this line, the past couple weeks. (the discovery set was my birthday gift) and I desparately NEED Tai’f..:)
Hello Lavanya,
I’m glad this review comes at the right time for you!
The OJ’s have a way of drawing one in, don’t they? Ta’if is wonderful, I NEEDED it too, not too long ago. 😉
First – not this post specific – love your new picture!
Second – love-love-love Tiare. A couple of months ago I wrote about this perfume becoming my friend. I’m taking it with me on my next tropical vacation (together with Bronze Goddess and OJ’s Frangipani).
Thank you! 🙂
I remember your post, the one with the bath robe, wasn’t it? Are you planning a real tropical vacation? Tiare is certainly perfect to take with you.
Yes, I can’t believe you remembered – thank you 🙂
I am planning… It won’t happen for the next several months, I haven’t bought tickets yet, but in my head I’m packing already. Well, at least I know my perfume wardrobe.
Then the most important task is done, all else will follow… 😉
I have yet to much explore the line, and now I am more interested than ever. So many beautiful perfumes!
It is really not often that almost all perfumes in a line appeal to me. Ormonde Jayne has an extraordinarily high success rate with many people.
It’s absolutely stellar isn’t it. In my review of it I had 60s models running on kilts and tartans under Scottish skies, this is how very detached it is from the usual “tropical” context we put tiare in. To me it’s even better than Cristalle, because it’s smiling.
It is! 🙂
I like it a lot more than Cristalle as well, it is a lot more “user-friendly”. Now I ‘m off to your site to take a look at the models in kilts… 😉
Men in kilts?! Where – where???!!!! 😉 I like men in kilts 😀
😀
I’m going to chime in and agree that I love this picture— you look like you’ve been carved in marble!
Tiare is stunning. Like you, I was expecting the Hula dancer, and was delighted at the unexpected twist. Since I started wearing Tiare, I’ve also expanded my appreciation for other fragrances with the note— most recently, I’ve fallen in love with Guerlain’s Terracotta Sous le Vent! 😉
Yeah, a good photographer is worth his weight in gold! 😉
Tiare is lovely, although it took a while for me to get it.
I think I underestimated Tiare. I decided to give it another go today when I saw you were reviewing it. I wasn’t overly impressed until that gorgeous dry-down came along, quite a surprise. As I was leaving work my colleague even said how nice my perfume was and asked what it was called. This is more significant than it seems considering I subject her to a different weird and wonderful scent every day and she practically NEVER makes a comment!
I am flattered you felt inspired to wear it today, because of my review and got a compliment! 🙂 It really has a beautiful drydown and all in all it is one more success from OJ.
No coconut? B, you have made my day! Tiare is moving up to the top of my sample queue!
I love that Tiare gave you a surprise. That’s something I would love in a perfume, but I think it’s rather rare.
No coconut whatsoever. 🙂
People like us, who smell so many different things a day, are really not easily surprised. The perfumes that do surprise us, are special indeed.
Tiare is really beautiful, but it really doesn’t work for me. I guess it’s too floral! My heart belongs to woods and chypres, orientals, gourmands, and while I can definitely appreciate and identify florals in perfumes better now, I prefer any given floral essence to be only a part of the story, and not the whole.
I know what you mean, essentially I feel similarly. but now and then I am in the mood for all out floral and I am glad to know who I can turn to then. 😉
I agree about the scintillating appeal and the champagne-y bubbling, and that it doesn’t veer into the wrong sort of mossy territory! I can’t take Jasmine White Moss for that reason – too acerbic. This is the only OJ of which I currently own a bottle, but like you, I would like to keep adding some more: Ta’if and Orris Noir would probably be up next!
I can’t take White Jasmine Moss for the very same reason. Good thing there is OJ! 🙂
Btw, I got my decant of Flora Bella, will try it tonight. 🙂
As I’ve said before, I am so surprised that my favorite OJs are the florals!
I love Tiare so much. It is so classic and beautiful. I’ve been working on a review, trying to wrap my head around why I love it so. Well, because it is everything I love about Diorella, Cristalle, and EL Jasmine White Moss.
I’ve been wearing this one frequently (all the OJ florals) and the people that know me say this is a very “me” fragrance which is strange because I usually wear woods or orientals. But, it makes me happy because this is such a beauty.
Interestingly Tiare for me has none of the things I do not like about Diorella, Cristalle and EL Jasmine White Moss – which is mostly the swampiness of the drydown. That is why I love Tiare, it is perfect.
I bought a bottle of this today after going in the shop and being taken through all the scents by a very charming and well informed assistant. I have olive type skin and on me this smells so beautiful, I’m thoroughly smitten. Although this perfume involves night flowers (not what I usually go for), it is not cloying or overly heavy, the citrussy notes liberate it from that. It’s one of those perfumes that just transports you to another world – I know I’m going to be wearing this for years to come.
Once again, skin chemistry seems to be all: it was pretty good on my sister in law, but actually rather different. She bought ‘Isfarkand’ which has a good bit of cedar in it. This is a great one for both men and women, easy to wear and, like all her perfumes, classy and full of intelligence.
Hello Perfume Lover,
I am glad you found such a perfect perfume for yourself!
The SA’s at Ormonde Jayne are incredibly helpful and knowledgeable, a lovely difference to many other venues. 🙂
Thank you for commenting!
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Thank you so much for this review. I need to make a purchase in the next few days as a gift for a friend in the UK and I thought of OJ. I had thought of Champaca, but I was not sure; I smelled the EDP years ago and, while I liked it, I wasn’t in love with it. I had not heard of Tiare until recently, but I have heard nothing but good things about it. I have heard that the parfum is even better than the EDP. I am going to purchase her a bottle of the parfum, I think.
You are very welcome!
I’m sure your friend will be happy with Tiaré, she’s a lucky woman indeed. The extrait is truly luxurious.
Thanks for responding so quickly. If you have a moment and if you want, can you please give me your opinion as to which one – Champaca and Tiare – you would recommend (I’m looking at parfum in both, not EDP) and why? I would really value your opinion. Thanks!
It really comes down to personal preference. Both are well made, high quality perfumes. The rice note in Champaca is beautiful and not something you find so often. I would probably choose Tiaré for myself, because I just adore the base, but if money were no object, I’d happily go for both. 😉
Thank you again. I think I’ll start with the Tiare and eventually get her the Champaca.
One more question, please: Have you noticed any marked differences between the parfums and EDPs in these fragrances? For instance, Diorissimo parfum differs vastly from Diorissimo EDT or EDP (or, at least to my nose); same with Joy, but not as much as with Diorissimo. Do you notice any of that going on with the parfums and EDPs in Champaca or Tiare? (And, money IS an objects 😀 but this is a special friend, so I want to make sure it’s right.)
In the case of the Ormonde Jayne’s there is no difference in the scent between the concentrations, but sillage and longevity are a bit different of course. The extraits are deeper, richer and longer lasting.
While I love the bottle of the parfums and they are undoubtedly beautiful, I think the EdP’s are just fine as well. I’m not sure the added expense is really necessary unless it is a signature scent and the only thing she ever wears.
For the price of the parfum you could get both EdP’s. (Just my personal opinion of course. 🙂 )
This helps a lot. Thanks so much!!
No problem! Have fun in London!
I’ll be there in spirit 😀 . No, I’m here in Texas, ordering blindly 🙂 and having it sent to the friend in London. Thanks for the help :-).
I see. 🙂
You are welcome!
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