I purchased my Ormonde Jayne Discovery Kit sometime last fall. The first perfume I fell in love with was Tolu, the second Orris Noir. Then I got distracted by other fragrant things, so only now did I have the pleasure to encounter the more spring-appropriate floral scents in the set.
Osmanthus flower, a is a note I recently learned to appreciate and love in Hermessence Osmanthe Yunnan and Serge Lutens Jeux de Peau, that is the reason I went looking for this one. And once more Ormonde Jayne did not dissapoint.
Osmanthus is a lovely and cheery spring perfume that brightens those dreary last days of winter.
Notes include Pomello, davana (sweet Egyptian herb), pimento, Osmanthus absolute, water lily, sambac (Indian jasmine), Cedarwood, labdanum resin, musk and vetiver.
A fruity floral white flower from Japan and China. Like a deliciously crisp spring day, this uplifting creation with Japanese Osmanthus absolute is a beautifully composed bouquet of flowers, embellished with golden citrus notes. Layered on a bed of Egyptian sweet herbs, it is intense, fresh and yet uncomplicated.
-excerpt from the Ormonde Jayne website.
Osmanthus starts out with a lot of invigorating citrus along with a slightly herbal-spicy edge that makes the pomello crisp and green, like it is freshly plucked from the tree.
The top notes are followed by the loveliest rendering of osmanthus I have yet encountered. The sweet apricot scent of the flower is tempered by the woody, somehow grassy (looking at you, vetiver) base. It is quite a linear fragrance, after the initial citrus festival, the perfume stays the same for its wear time of about three hours on my skin. I love that the green grapefruit scent of pomello stays – muted of course, and intertwined with the osmanthus – until the end.
Osmanthus is not the most complicated of perfumes, not does it pretend to be. It is just right as a summer fragrance, I expect the citrus notes to sparkle and shine even more in warm weather. I look forward to wearing this on lovely summer days and as long as they are not here yet, Osmanthus gives me a preview.
A peek of carefree summer days and nights. A happiness-inducing, uplifting and invigorating perfume that acts as a cheerleader for summertime. Perfectly lovely, indeed.
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Oh. I am really looking forward to spring. It snowed here for the entire day… enough with the cold already 😦
The smell aside, the word “Osmanthus” just sounds wonderful. I heard the flower’s name for the first time and found myself “osmanthusing” all about the house. The scent I am fond of too. I actually sampled Osmanthus Interdite today and thought the opening and mid stages were nice- then it dried down to something slightly shampooey. I’m hoping it might just be like that today (weird things happen on the skin all the time…).
I haven’t sampled much of Ormonde Jayne’s fragrances, but liked Orris Noir and love Ormonde Woman, so her version of Osmanthus is on my “to try” list. Just wondering if this is very heavy on the pomello? And did you find it “soapy” at all? Thanks in advance!
(and please please please review all the OJ scents! I’d love to read how you feel about sampaquita or Ta’if!)
Hi RH,
I fully intend to work my way through the entire OJ kit, Ta’if is actually not so far in the future and I’ll make Sampaquita a priority too (good customer service is important 😉 )
Osmanthus is kind of heavy on the pomello, but in a good way, it manages to hold on to the note until very late in the development, but without the crispness and slight sharpness of the beginning of course. I enjoy that very much. There is minimal soapiness, but only if you go looking for it with a magnifying glass. 😉
The OJ line is amazing. The sampler kit itself is a work of art, a must have for every fragrance enthusiast and a bargain for the quality of the scents and the quantity of samples.
Tolu, Ta’if and Orris Noir are favourites. from the white florals Frangipani is my absolutely favorite. Both signature scents are also very good.
what I really like about this line is that although their scents seem to fall into two distinct categories (“simple” white florals and intricate, rich compositions) all of them share a texture. They are rich, thick, resionus, balsamic. and by those adjectives I am not referring to actual ingredients but rather to the texture they have. These are no ordinary white florals by any means!!!
They have been on my “to buy” list for ages and I am just looking for the right excuse. Xmas gifts to myself are always Serge Lutens bell jars so it has to be my birthday :-).
I hope your birthday comes soon! 🙂
I am impressed with OJ too, the line is incredibly consistent, not a few stars and a few that tag along, but each and every one is well-made and shares the OJ “texture”.
Thank you for sharing your impression!
You are right about being very consistent. Maybe this is one of the reasons I haven’t bought a bottle yet. Choosing which one to buy is really difficult.
Sounds like you came to Osmanthus at exactly the right time! It’s a nice idea to anticipate the on-set of Summer with a nice sunny perfume and this one sounds very wearable, which is a great thing. Dee’s discussion about wearability vs. swoonability is really making me re-think my perfume priorities!
That was a really good discussion topic! I have no problem wearing whatever whenever, so I strive for both counts in one bottle now! 🙂
Osmanthus is a lovely reminder of how much more fun good weather is! 😉
I love how you use the cheerleader reference for this fragrance. I find that most of the white florals in the OJ line have that quality for me: a sweet transparency that is modern and uplifting. (And it’s interesting that Memory of Scent finds them “rich, thick, resinous and balsamic” in texture. Proving we all smell things differently, I can’t say that I get that from the OJ line–I get just the opposite: more of a modern, uncluttered translucency for me (with the exception of Ta’if and Tolu)–but agree with you both that it’s a very lovely line of fragrances. 🙂
I agree with you that the OJ florals have that transparent and light feeling, but even Tolu is not heavy or dense, but such a smooth and cuddly oriental.
Signature is probably a better word than texture, but they are all united by that certain something. 😉
I’m so glad that your reviewing the OJ’s!
I’ve had my Discovery set for almost a month, and I’ve been wearing them quite a lot as sleep scents during the “getting to know you” phase. Even the ones that don’t work for me are still really lovely fragrances. Like Suzanne, I find that they have a wonderfully transparent quality—even Tolu! I wore Tolu to bed (again) last night, and I was marveling (again) at it’s tenacity, and it’s beauty, and the fact that it never feels dense or cloying, though I do find it “textural”. Transparent, yet, but I visualize gross grain.
I can still smell it this morning (more than ten hours later), and it still smells fantastic!
Osmanthus I’ve only worn a couple times so far, and haven’t quite made an opinion yet 🙂
Due to popular demand I will prioritize the OJ reviews. 😉
I just come from a bath with Tolu bath oil – heavenly!
Oh, that sounds lovely! I need to get some of that bath oil.
I wore Orris Noir today… am trying to decide if I like it as much as Woman 🙂
I’ve decided to get Tolu for my mother in law next Christmas—she got Miller Harris Fleur Oriental this year and loved it, and I think she’ll love Tolu even more!
Well, I definitely like Orris Noir more than Woman 😉
Your Mother in Law is lucky to have you!
Oh, I just have to cave in one day and order my Discovery Set. I love the way you wrote about Osmanthus, in fact, this post is pretty close to create a lemming, and the only thing that’s keeping me is a HUGE, really big, GINORMOUS pile of samples to test, and some of them belong to other people and need to be mailed further. But “the loveliest rendering of osmanthus I have yet encountered” sounds pretty serious!!
So far, I fell in love with Tolu, ordered me a bottle, requested a sample of Frangipani with it (Osmanthus was considered, but fell out of the running in the finals — only one sample comes with a bottle purchase!) and loved Frangipani for a rainy days in Spring. It’s amazing, and I’ve had phantom whiffs of it when I wasn’t wearing it. I’ve heard other people had that experience with Frangipani too.
I’ll check out your other OJ reviews. Thanks for this one.
You won’t regret the discovery set, I am sure.
As for creating a lemming – I am glad when my exitlement over and enthusiasm for something gets picked up. 🙂
Tolu is the only full bottle I have from OJ too.
Well this is good to know…now I am determined to get to New Bond Street on my next trip through Heathrow! I am stuck on OJ Champaca right now, which smells to me like a lau-lau or pear-apple (no idea what these tropical fruits are called elsewhere), ie crisp, delicate, light, and sunny. The way fruity florals SHOULD smell but almost never do.
So true, Axum! Champaca is so lovely. I can’t pick a favorite among the OJ floral scents. Thank God, I don’t have to. 🙂
OJ is one of my favorite lines: there isn’t a single perfume that I do NOT like. It doesn’t mean that I will end up buying them all but I plan on going through my discovery set with all of them (well, I might share some of the masculine samples but I could easily use them myself) and I got two travel sets for my birthday (Orris Noir and Tiare), so I might try swapping for a couple of other perfumes from the line.
Has anyone tried OJ’s perfumes? I’m curious how they compare to EdP.
The travel sets are a great idea!
I haven’t tried the pure perfume yet, but I would be curious how they compare too!
Orris Noir was my first Ormonde Jayne, and I recently purchased Tolu – another brilliant winner.
I’ll be sniffing my Discovery Set again in a couple of months to see which one to purchase next. Difficult decisions when there are so many wonderful choices!
Hello Molly! Glad you commented! 🙂
You are so right, Ormonde Jayne offers so many choices, it is a supremely well edited line.
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