for my lover, for my lover

just kidding.


mmm. so I have this little sample package that Michelle gave me for my b-day this year... I've been biding my time on really testing these things out. I'm like that sometimes. thank you, Michelle, for this little treasure that enabled me to write this post.

Ormonde Jayne is a niche perfumery out of London. I can't remember where I heard about it first, but Luca Turin talks them up in his book. Michelle bought the sampaquita and was disappointed with it. there are a few really good perfumes they've done, Ormonde Woman is my favorite and I think Ta'if is really nice. a lot of times their perfumes remind me of other older perfumes which kindof makes me cranky. but my nose is FAR from perfect or even really educated so I could be getting cranky for no reason.

Ta'if for example is a big dusty rose, it smells hot pink to me, but not the hot pink of walmart and teenage bedrooms. this is a womanly, dangerous hot pink, a bloody hot pink, if such a thing is imaginable. there may be inappropriate touching involved. that said, it does remind me of this nicole miller perfume I was insane about it '95. I wore it every day for all occasions. maybe a little bit nuts...

right now, I'm wearing Ormonda Jayne's frangipani

it starts with that sharp and green, spicy floral you might associate with frangipani. the bright, almost citric freshness of it felt really joyful on my way to work. about 20 minutes in, it fades into a nice version of the old Lauren/Chloe, so a bit of a floriental. it's really nice and wearable. if you're earning your money in pounds, you should go for it. if not, there are other american perfumes that are just as good. or buy Chanel #5 and tell everyone to suck it.


no matter what denomination you're earning your money in I would recommend Ormonda Jayne's Ormonde Woman. Oh my jebus. this is one of my favorite perfumes ever. it starts pine-y and cool and develops into this wonderful wet/rooty thing. to me, it's warm and cool at the same time. really sophisticated, but unplaceable. that said... I don't really want you to buy it. why? duh. I want to be the only girl wearing it in the states. I want to be the only girl who knows about it and I don't want to read about it in lucky next month thank you very much. so just forget I ever said anything about it, won't you?