Ormonde Jayne Fragrances

In the beauty industry, everyone gets very excited if a ‘nose’ is coming to town. Noses are the creators of perfume; known for their intensely sophisticated sense of smell and ability to blend scents together to make a fragrance – and hopefully a best seller. I suspect I am like the majority of the general public and don’t truly appreciate the effort that’s gone into a bottle of perfume. Certainly, I’m no longer a fan of mass market fragrances with their obligatory sugar/vanilla notes that appeal on a familiarity level, but then I can’t abide really complicated scents that profess to top, middle and bottom notes of such a multitude of ingredients that no one scent is discernable; I’ve stuck with the same few fragrances for a while now – Creed Virgin Island Water, Jo Malone Orange Blossom and, more recently, a figgy concoction from Fresh. However, I’ve been sent some Ormond Jayne samples to try on behalf of this blog, and have enjoyed their simplicity. While they do, indeed, have top, middle and bottom notes, like any good perfume should, they aren’t muddled. Ta’If – a Damascan rose from Arabia) is too pretty for words, while Frangipani is not quite as reminiscent of the name as I’d like it to be. I also liked Chambaca – a tiny pale orange flower from India – but since I’ve never had the pleasure of smelling the real thing, it didn’t evoke anything significant in me. Fragrance writers are a rarified breed; the general public aren’t. They just know if it smells nice, they want it. I’m exactly the same. And I do want a bottle of Ta’If.