Tropical Getaway – Review: Ormonde Jayne Frangipani

Posted on April 7, 2011 by Olfactoria

Tropical Island anyone?

I could use a vacation in a place that smells like Ormonde Jayne Frangipani.

With its large elegant cream coloured petals, frangipani is perhaps the queen of all tropical flowers. The heart of the structure is a fabulous heady fusion of frangipani, jasmine and tuberose absolutes, elevated with plum, water lilies and green orchid oil. The scent has great foundations and architecture, the notes are soft, captivating and unforgettable.

-from the Ormonde Jayne website

Notes include linden blossom, magnolia flower, lime peel, white frangipani, jasmine, rose, tuberose absolutes, water lilies, plum, green orchid oil, amber, musk, cedar and vanilla.

Frangipani opens light and upliftingly fresh with an accord of linden blossom and magnolia dominated for the first few minutes by a citrus note (the lime) though.

Slowly it dries down and warms up to a beautiful bouquet of tropical, lush flowers that are at no point what I fear about white flowers – heady and cloying. This perfume is just lush, in full bloom, green underneath, dewy, almost watery, and feels like a soft cool breeze is constantly blowing through the flowers, preventing them to get overpowering. Even the tuberose does not bother me here, it seems tempered with rose and I believe the water lilies are what lifts this perfume out of the typical white-flower-density into cool and sheer lightness.

The flowers stay bright and fresh for along time, the late drydown is softly musky and sweet, but very faintly so. Mostly it is the flowers fading out until only the memory remains.

I would be a big fan of white florals if they all were like Ormonde Jayne Frangipani.

Ormonde Jayne is always tempting me with their matching body products and candles (which make great gifts by the way!), a bath in Frangipani bath oil is maybe the closest thing to a tropical island we all can get in the near future.

And that is a very acceptable alternative.

Image source: thesocietyclub.com, flowerpicturegallery.com, some rights reserved, thank you!
Posted in Floral, Fragrance Reviews, Ormonde Jayne | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 57 Comments

Something Smells Funny Here – Perfume Mini-Reviews Part 1

Posted on April 6, 2011 by Olfactoria

There are many samples that somehow ended up in the dilapidated tea box I store them in, where I have no idea, not even the faintest recollection, of how they got there.

No doubt some have found their way in as additions to purchases or extras from well-meaning friends, some I might have even procured myself for reasons that at the time where doubtlessly good ones, but that I cannot fathom any more.

To give these perfumes their fifteen seconds of fame, and then file them away forever, I am writing this post now.

These are scents that did not quite make the cut, but are interesting enough to warrant a line or two.

Lorenzo Villoresi Spezie: Smells like Grog or Mulled Wine. Fine if you want to pretend its is Christmas Time and you hit the bottle, hard.

Ava Luxe Creme Brulée: Is exactly what it proclaims to be, it is not the fault of the perfume that I do not want to be confused with dessert.

L’Artisan Dhzongka: A strange mixture of salty ghee and incense-y leather, evoking the region it is inspired by (The Himalayas) rather well, it is just not for me to wear. Maybe if I were a Yak…(please forgive me Lady Jane Grey!)

Editions de Parfums Frederic Malle Noir Epices: I love the idea of this, black spices, orange, great! It is just not so great on me. Somehow I end up with a fake orange spiked with fake cloves, a perfume-y, plastic-y pomander.

Serge Lutens Muscs Kublai Khan: Please, I do not want to smell like stinky armpit, ever. I am sorry, and I tried so hard with this, but it is always stinky armpit or worse. So, it is goodbye unwashed Warrior King!

Annick Goutal Encens Flamboyant: This pains me the most. I love the other three of the Les Orientalistes collection, but somehow Encens Flamboyant is more flame-broiled entrée on me. It smells like a dusty, not well cleaned grill does, when heated. But I also have the greatest hope that this could change, since I have a long history of not getting Goutals for the longest time, before it suddenly clicks. We will see, I’ll keep you posted.

Parfumerie Generale L’Ombre Fauve: It can take its stinky brother Kublai Khan by the hand and go in for a good, long, hot shower. Maybe then we can talk.

Xerjoff Elle: What is it that is bothering me here? Is it the sweetness? The unrelenting high-volume la, la, la-ing  is seems to give off? It is probably the most expensive reject in history. It may also be that I am a bit miffed with Xerjoff that after specifically asking which samples I wanted, when I won them (yes, I am an ungrateful b…tch), they sent the wrong ones. But no, I would be willing to love it, if it where not so…uncouth.

Serge Lutens L’Eau: This is a very ambivalent issue. I, if left to my own devices, would simply dismiss it. I don’t like fresh, clean ozonic super scents. BUT: my husband does. And he actually bought a bottle of L’Eau for himself. I like it on him, mostly because after the initial wave, it is pretty much unobtrusive. But it is clear that I wanted to give it a fair chance. That is not to be…sorry.

Ormonde Jayne Woman: This has such great reviews, many people I like and respect love this. On me, it is unbearable. There is something in it that demands I scrub it off IMMEDIATELY. There is no way I can tolerate it to wait it out, to see what it becomes, I can’t live with it for even two minutes. I am weak, what can I say? Thankfully all the others in the discovery set are such successes.

L’Artisan Nuit de Tubereuse: I wanted to really make an effort with that, but it smells just not appealing to me. It reminds me of Prada’s Infusion de Tubereuse, which was no hit with me (or anybody else as I remember) either. So what is the difference? What am I missing? Can’t just be the L’Artisan/Duchaufour bonus, can it?

I feel there could be more than one posts like this in the future, since I still have a good many in that box waiting for their judgement.

But you know what? The beauty of perfume is (or maybe it is the supreme fickleness of yours truly) that all that could change. I don’t know why, but it so happens that I have started to love a reject after trying again at a later date. All the perfumes above have merited their inclusion here by putting me off more than once off course, but still. You never know. I am only glad that this does not happen the other way around, I have not yet encountered something I have loved immediately, to discover I hated it later. Yet.

What about you? Any interesting rejects in your sample boxes?

Image source: some rights reserved, thank you!
Posted in Fragrance Reviews, Ramblings | Tagged , , | 35 Comments

Sleeping Queen – Review: Ormonde Jayne Ta’if

Posted on April 5, 2011 by Olfactoria

Rose perfumes are a special category.

They can be hit or miss for me, seldom anything in between. I either adore a rose perfume or hate it, I have yet to meet one that leaves me unaffected or indifferent.

The roses I love are spearheaded by THE ONE ROSE to beat them all – Amouage Lyric Woman. Also firmly in the love category are Portrait of a Lady, Une Rose and Une Rose Vermeille. My roses need to be dark, oriental and mysterious. No carefree lovelies like Jo Malone Red Roses Cologne.

One exception is Rose Ikebana, but that is more a rose by name than anything else.

Ta’if fits my idea of a dark, mysterious and regal rose perfectly.

A damask rose from Arabia. Ta´if, a town rising 5000 ft above the shores of the Red Sea and overlooking the Arabian desert, is renowned for its plantations of Ta´if rose. Ta´if by Ormonde Jayne is an intoxicating and audacious rose scent. This perfume dislikes daylight preferring dusk, the night, parties, promises and assignations. It is an opulent composition which makes a bold entrance and is confident enough to sweep everyone else to one side – a real belle of the ball. Ta´if is flamboyant but also sophisticated, a torrid blend of saffron, pink pepper, rose, dark sappy tree resins and broom – it is dynamic, daring and madly in love with life.

-from the Ormonde Jayne website
Notes include pink pepper, saffron, dates, rose oil, freesia, orange flower absolute, jasmine, broom and amber.

There is a spicy opening courtesy of pepper and saffron that is absolutely swoon-worthy. It is like a drum roll before the curtain is lifted and the Queen emerges. Trumpets sound and here she comes, decked out in a heavy dark red velvet dress with a long train. A rich, warm, full rose accompanied by her adjutants jasmine and orange flower, she makes a round through the big hall to the delight of her jubilant underlings and then climbs the dais to sit down on the throne. Slowly she settles in and the music starts playing a quieter tune, the people in the hall quiet down until a hush lies over the great throne hall. Everybody is looking up: the beautiful Queen is asleep on her throne made of wood and amber, resting peacefully in a sweet cloud of warm resins.

Ta’if is exceptionally longwearing and despite its opulence it is not dense or cloying, but holds on to the Ormonde Jayne signature transparency.

It is a classic floriental scent and while I adore this category, I am prone to get a headache (as PoaL proves time and again). This never happened with Ta’if.

The drydown is my favorite part, it is rich in spices and amber, the rose is only present as a memory or a dream. A good one.

Other Ormonde Jayne reviews: Tolu, Orris Noir, Osmanthus, Champaca.

Image source: harrods via perfumeshrine.com, vintagevogue.com
Posted in Floral, Fragrance Reviews, Ormonde Jayne | Tagged , , , , , , , | 43 Comments

Applejuice Averted – Review And Giveaway: Hermes Un Jardin Sur Le Toit

Posted on April 4, 2011 by Olfactoria

I, for one, have been impatiently waiting for Un Jardin sur le Toit to be released, since I am a declared Ellena fan and I love two of the three previous scents in the series and am intrigued and challenged by the third. Last Friday the Hermes boutiques launched Un Jardin sur le Toit – a garden on the rooftop, so I braved the haughty SA’s at the Vienna boutique and was pleasantly surprised at their friendliness this time. Maybe this fragrance had something to do with it, also Baby N. did his very best to charm them.

In contrast to the exotic locales of the first three perfumes in the Jardins series, the fourth and newest perfume by Jean-Claude Ellena explores home turf,  a garden on a roof in Paris. Not any rooftop garden, but that of Hermes headquarters itself, at 24 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré.

While the first Jardin perfume centered around the Mediterranean fig, the second around Egyptian mango and the third focused on melon from India, Jardin sur le Toit showcases a fruit very near and dear to our hearts and noses – the apple.

Notes include apple, pear, rose, green grass, basil, magnolia and compost notes.

Jardin sur le Toit opens with a sparkling and wonderfully bright and many faceted accord of apple, pear, grass and citrus notes. It is one of those scents you cannot very well say no to, the top notes are so inviting and so fresh and prickly, they make you smile involuntarily and make picking up a bottle a breeze.

For a second the perfume teeters on the brink of Pomme d’Api* territory, before it segues into a wonderfully complex, but always sheer composition of green, fruity and floral notes.

*Pomme d’Api is a children’s shampoo by Yves Rocher that accompanied me through my childhood, it has an intense green apple note.

Had Un Jardin sur le Toit stayed like that second of bright-green super-apple, I would not have liked it at all. But Ellena’s mastery is apparent throughout. In lesser hands this may have been a fruity, synthetic applejuice disaster à la DKNY be delicious. (Which certainly has its fans, to whom I apologize, this is just my personal opinion after all.)

In its heart, Un Jardin sur le Toit is still very green, the grass, even a little earth and herbs (I smell basil) are clearly there, but I was surprised by how floral it is. Rose and Magnolia make a lovely pink bouquet that balances the green apple nicely, as to not let it take over the fragrance.

The drydown is striking and decidedly different from the other Jardins. The fruity notes subside slowly, leaving behind the naturalistic notes that so beautifully evoked the rooftop garden, and take on an abstract shape, a “real perfume” emerges. I like to think that is Ellena’s way of telling us – “Hey, we are in Paris! And this is what Paris smells like after all.”

Un Jardin sur le Toit lasts a long time for an Eau de Toilette, this is no gone-in-an-hour-summer scent, but it stays – always light, quiet and reserved, mind you – but present and distinctive for at least six hours on me. Decidedly longer than the other three in any case, although their longevity is not so bad either.

Un Jardin sur le Toit is surprising at first, but when you think about it, it is a perfect and quite literal interpretation of a locale, as were the others. A garden in a city, in a city like Paris, there is the undeniable coming together of two worlds.

Un Jardin sur le Toit manages to masterfully unite nature and urban environment, thus depicting what it says it would, what the beautiful artwork on the packaging shows – a garden on a rooftop.

That is a place where I would love to stay. As long as Paris is that far away, a bottle of Un Jardin sur le Toit does just fine in getting me there in an instant.

All it takes is to close my eyes.

If you would like to try Un Jardin sur le Toit yourself, I have a sample vial to give away, courtesy of the nice Ladies at the Vienna Hermes Boutique. GIVEAWAY CLOSED!

To participate just leave a comment telling me what your favorite Jean-Claude Ellena creation is. The draw closes on Friday, April 8 midnight GMT. International entries welcome.

My reviews of the previous three fragrances:

Un Jardin en Mediterranée

Un Jardin sur le Nil

Un Jardin aprés la Mousson

Image source: fragrantica.com,  Picture of Hermes Rooftop Garden via Bangkok Post
Posted in Citrus, Floral, Fragrance Reviews, Fruity, Green, Hermès | Tagged , , , , , , , | 73 Comments

Monday Question – Special Edition: What Would You Like To Ask Linda Pilkington?

Posted on April 4, 2011 by Olfactoria

I will have the honor and good fortune to meet Linda Pilkington, founder of the wonderful luxury niche house Ormonde Jayne in her Mayfair store in London next week.

Since I will have the chance to ask her a few questions, I wanted to give you an opportunity to chip in.

What would you like to know about Linda and her work?

What questions are burning under your fingernails?

Let me know! I will relay your questions to her and report back. 🙂

Posted in Monday Question | Tagged , , , , , | 32 Comments

Last Week In Perfumeland – Weekend Link Love

Posted on April 3, 2011 by Olfactoria

One more week to go before I fly to London!

I go with mixed feelings of course, as everything I do or don’t do in life is attached to simultaneous feelings of joy and a bad conscience since I became a mother. The freedom to do as I please, even in the smallest things (I cannot even go to the bathroom without being questioned or followed by either of my three – yes three – boys.), is severly compromised.

But I am not complaining, just reporting that everything I do has two sides now. Ambivalence is a lifestyle once you have children.

Thankfully browsing through Perfumeland is no emotional roller coaster, but a safe haven of lovely descriptions of fragrant delights. Come with me for this weeks most enjoyable reads!

Olenska of parfümieren is rolling through her last week of Lutens power reviewing, Sarrasins was especially interesting to read.

Suzanne of Suzanne’s Perfume Journal wrote a wonderful post about herself, a person she admired and how a perfume serves as a reminder. All of this having to do with cooking makes all the better still.

Annemarie C of Beauty on the Outside wrote a lovely post about Chanel N°19, inspiring a whole horde of Perfumistas to get out their bottles again, I assume.

Persolaise reviews three Dior perfumes from the exclusive La Collection. Mitzah has really grown on me (here is my review) and fully intend to make that relationship permanent when the opportunity arises in London next week.

Marla wrote a beautiful, tear-inducing piece on Perfume Smellin’ Things that lets you see the notorious Angel in a wholly different light.

Tarleisio of Scent Less Sensibilities wrote about Iris, one of my favorite notes. There are some very interesting options to put on the sniff list.

The review that garnered the most attention here on my blog was Hermes Jardin en Mediterranée.
Be sure to come back tomorrow, the fourth Jardin has arrived! Curious?

Have a great Sunday everyone!

Image source: vintageadbrowser.com
Posted in Weekend Link Love | Tagged , , | 15 Comments

Olfactoria On Perfume Smellin’ Things

Posted on April 2, 2011 by Olfactoria

What is up this Saturday on PST? I found something special, buried deep underneath Giorgio Beverly Hills. 😉

Come on over and find out what! 🙂

Posted in Ramblings | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Running For Vice President? – Review: Amouage Memoir Woman

Posted on April 1, 2011 by Olfactoria

My perfume preferences come and go in certain phases. Generally I oscillate between two major leanings, that come and go like the tides. Maybe the moon has something to do with it, I don’t know. This peculiarity enables me to wear many, often contradictory perfumes. That is how it is possible to simultaneously love Un Jardin sur le Nil and Frapin 1697, despite their diametrically opposed traits.

There is the super-minimalistic, as-light-as-possible, fancy-yourself-an-elven-princess phase. And there is the sink-into-the-super-plush-rich-brocade-Persian-carpet-and-wander-through-spice-markets phase.

It is kind of obvious in which phase I turn to Amouage. And it never disappoints.

After experiencing such happiness with my magic carpet ride that is Epic and the loving embrace of Lyric, I approached Memoir next.

Memoir Woman was created by perfumers Daniel Maurel and Dorothée Piot in 2010. Notes include mandarin, cardamom, absinthe, pink pepper, pepper, clove, white flowers, rose, jasmine, wood, frankincense, styrax, oakmoss, castoreum, leather, labdanum, fenugreek and musk.

Amouage says it is an animalic leather chypre. Now that does not necessarily sound like I would like it, but as usual, what I think I like and what I end up liking are often two pairs of shoes entirely.

I know from my best friend in perfume that it is a fragrance that makes her feel like she is the Queen of the World. Now that is a statement.

When I first wore it I wrote her an email saying, for me it was not Queen of the World, but maybe Vice President. But half an hour later I already had to amend that. Memoir is truly royal material.

While I am not over the moon upon first spray, like I was with Lyric, as soon as the top notes mellow, a paradisiacal vista opens in my mind courtesy of Memoir.

I see a landscape right out of 1001 Nights. An oriental city at night, softly lit under the star studded sky, white buildings, lean spires, mosques.

The night air is soft, warm, like a caress on skin, the air is fragrant with spices, flowers and resins.

Memoir invites me in like a friendly host who will provide sustenance and a bed for the night without asking questions.

I can lay back on an old, worn leather divan and enjoy the hot, spicy tea I am served. I can truly relax and let go. I feel cared for and as if I had not a care in the world.

May be that is indeed how a Queen feels (although I doubt todays royalty would agree), or maybe it is how the Vice President feels after all. All the privileges, not so much of the responsibility. (My apologies to Mr Biden, what do I know…)

Memoir develops from a slightly harsh and bumpy start on me, into a smooth, warm and gorgeously sweet (in a good way!) skin scent that even my super-picky, aquatics loving husband had to acknowledge as “quite good, but it is mostly you, not perfume, I think it has worn off”. Well, it hadn’t, but isn’t that what we all want to hear? That something smells great, but it is you not the perfume?

Okay, that leaves me with three Amouages on my wish list of five. Sigh.

But how can I forgo something that makes me feel cared for, carefree and ready for Vice Presidency? Exactly.

Image source: vintageadbrowser.com, Mosque courtesy of Photo8.com
Posted in Amouage, Chypre, Fragrance Reviews, Leather, Oriental | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 23 Comments

Hot Air And Fresh Fruit – Review: Nez à Nez Figues Et Garcons

Posted on March 31, 2011 by Olfactoria

Do you know Nez à Nez?

The company was founded in 2005 by Christa Patout and Stéphane Humbert Lucas, they started with ten Eaux de Parfums of which Figues et Garcons is one. The brand has been pretty much under the radar, which is extraordinary. Why, you ask?

Did you ever take a look at the Nez à Nez website?

Well, it is certainly a ride, fasten your seat belts and let us see what they have to say about Figues et Garcons:

A fresh glow whose energy is omnipresent. The leaves rustling in the wind is impressive. Collusion with the buffalo presents a tenable stature to this verdant and fiery explosion. Animated conversations and perpetual motions. This determination is loud. The affluence is striking to an audience who have never heard of indulgence. The tears of almonds re-establish an effervescent character.

Alibis will be needed for silence and rest backstage. Many people request such eruptive thoughts, fun and spontaneity. The path must be risky. It is the challenge that animates and propels. An irresistible need to escape barriers and to bewilder complexities.

These vibrant flames guarantee ample thoughts. The shoots packed in this sacred ground draw from the sediments to grow relentlessly towards the light.

Sensible – Cutting-edge – Epic

Good Lord, Nez à Nez sure have a knack for the dramatic and not just a bit wacky. One almost gets the feeling that was the work of Google Translate. ( I am still not entirely sure it isn’t.)

I tend to be extremely unimpressed with such contrived and super-artistic PR copy. But maybe I just do not understand it. If that is the case, I am sorry, but I ‘ll have to live with that deficit. I do not have to “get” everything. That one sentence though – “The determination is loud.” – I get that, for indeed, it is. 😉

In their origin, the Nez À Nez perfumes were imagined pictorially by Christa Patout and Stéphane Humbert Lucas; they lean onto drawing plans and figurative legends. The perfumes are, to some extent, real “actors”. They are defined by colours, character traits and languages. But they don´t require a body to talk, to express themselves much the same as human beings.

Now that is better. I understand every word in this paragraph, it is actually transmitting information. It gets better still:

Composition: Description
Head: Herbal notes, Grass, Fig Leaves, Petitgrain
Heart: Fig, Kiwi
Base: Cedarwood, Sandalwood, Musk

Notes – now here is something to go on, thank you Nez à Nez.

Figues et Garcons starts with a refreshing top of citrus-y grass and leaves, green and light. Soon the fragrance gets a little sweeter as the fig together with a very naturalistic kiwi rolls in. For a few minutes is is quite fruity, freshly sliced Kiwi sprinkled with lemon juice is presented on a wooden plate while the cook cuts the fig in the kitchen. A little later he brings out the fig, places it on your plate and there you are. You eat the lemony kiwi first and leave the fig for later. Eventually you get hungry again – there goes the fig. All that you are left with is a wooden plate to which the juices of the fruit still cling a little. But then you decide to wash it. So in the end you have a clean, still a little soapy wooden plate and the memory of kiwi and fig.

Perfectly pleasant, nice for spring and summer.

Maybe it is the hyperbole of the accompanying text, maybe I have just smelled too many fig fragrances I like more. Maybe I am having an especially critical day. What ever the reason, Figues et Garcons does not wow me. It does not bother me either. It just leaves me pretty much unaffected.

It is me, not you. Really.

Image source: reviewperfumes.com, Dried Kiwi courtesy of Photo8.com
Disclosure: A sample was provided free of charge for the purpose of reviewing from Essenza Nobile – Kurfürstenparfümerie Mannheim.
Posted in Fragrance Reviews, Fruity, Green, Nez à Nez, Woods | Tagged , , , , , , , | 21 Comments

How To Entice Small Children And Indulge Your Hobby At The Same Time

Posted on March 30, 2011 by Olfactoria

The title says it all.

If you ever need an opportunity to stay in your children’s good books and smell something lovely, just turn to Francis Kurkdjian’s bubbles.

Les Bulles d’Agathe are named after the perfumers’s niece and are available in four scents: Cut Grass, Cold Mint, Violet and Pear. My favorite would be Cut Grass, my sons would probably favor Pear.

What a lovely, if indulgent, way to enjoy springtime outside and bring together different sources of happiness.

1,5 fl.oz are 14€ available at Maison Francis Kurkdjian’s website, Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman.

I am in no way affiliated with the shops cited.
Posted in Maison Francis Kurkdjian, Shopping | Tagged , , , , , | 8 Comments