When the weather gets cold, I often find comfort in incense and amber fragrances. I thought I was fine with my current collection of thick resinous, spicy amber scents and then I tried Ormonde Jayne Tolu.
Tolu is refined. Tolu is a modern sweet resinous scent. It doesn’t attempt to recreate 19th century spice routes. If Tolu reminds me of anything “old”, it only reminds me of late 1950’s Vogue fashion photography where the graceful, long-necked model is draped in taffeta and honey-hued furs. Tolu is an elegant, modern amber.
Tolu opens as spicy and fresh with an interesting “nuttiness” to it. It’s like honey-soaked tree nuts toasted over heady orange blossoms. I was taken off guard by this caramelized sweetness of this perfume the first few wears. Tolu gets better with time. In fact, every hour of wear it gets better. This is one of those perfumes that really starts to smell “louder” or blossom with wear. The heart is this amazing blend of spicy orange blossom, rose attar and resins. It reminds me slightly of Hermès 24 Faubourg but in the Ormonde Jayne style. The dry-down is a rich and warm with sweet resins like tolu with powdery amber mixed with frankincense.
Notes listed include juniper berry, orange blossom, clary sage, orchid, Moroccan rose, muguet, tolu, tonka bean, golden frankincense and amber.
Give Tolu a try if you like amber or resinous fragrances or perfumes like Hermès 24 Faubourg, Calvin Klein Obsession, Guerlain Shalimar Parfum Initial, and/or Sage Amber. Tolu is unisex in my opinion. It’s a great choice for anyone that enjoys wearing resinous scents. And with Tolu you get sweet resins paired with sheer, spicy neroli and florals. Try it if you are looking for a cool-weather orange blossom.
I find that the fragrance is long-wearing and has great projection.
I admit that I didn’t “get” Tolu at first. It took a few wears for me to fall in love with it. Why? I’m conditioned to like heavy, thick, “literal” amber perfumes…think Serge Lutens. By the 3rd wear of Tolu, I couldn’t get enough of this sophisticated amber.
The 1.7 oz EDP of Tolu retails for £80 and is available at Ormonde Jayne.
Victoria’s Final EauPINION – Powdery, floral spiced, modern amber. The addition of heady orange blossoms is what makes this fragrance stand out from the rest. It’s one I want to add to my collection.
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Nathan Branch (a quick sniff)
Tolu is my fav of that line – so glad you’re enjoying it!
bloody frida recently posted..Nearly a week of scents
It is quickly becoming my favorite from the line. I tried it a few times during the summer and wasn’t crazy about it. It’s perfect for me now.
This sounds delicious! Must get my hands on it!
Maddy recently posted..Man Tested, Man Approved: Geo F. Trumper Almond Shave Cream
I think it’s worth trying.
I’ve been using a sample of this for about 3 months now and concluded that it’s not FBW. I just can’t shake the powdery vibe and towards the end of it’s life on me, I just feel like I’m wearing baby powder.
Aaron recently posted..Hello world!
It smells like straight up baby powder on my husband. It was actually a scrubber for him. He’s super sensitive to powdery fragrances.
On me, I like it. It’s more spicy and it’s powdery but in a tasteful way, not a low-brow diaper bag way.
This is why we must try on skin before buying anything.
I love Tolu, and I think your description and that photo are just a perfect fit. It’s so sad that when it doesn’t work on someone’s skin it goes baby powder.
Amber is weird like that. That one Huitieme went all diaper bag on me but I sniffed it on somebody else and it smelled like a spicy amber. Oh, well. I’ll take this as a “win” for my skin.
It’s not my favorite OJ’s perfume but I liked it enough to participate in a travel set split (after using up my sample). Now I need to start wearing it to figure out if I was wrong to get only one 10 ml spray 🙂
Undina recently posted..«О, Ёлочка!» – O Tannenbaum!
I really didn’t like this one the first few wears because of the “toasted nuttiness”. Finally it “clicked” with me and I’m finding out how I can get a 10ml, lol.
Im a guy and my name is actually Tolu lol So it’s either I buy this or me or my amazing woman. hen people ask her what she wears, she’ll say ‘Tolu’ 😉
lol! You have to have a bottle of this (or gift a bottle of this) because of that!
It really is a good fragrance.
MMMmmmm! “Honey-soaked tree nuts toasted over heady orange blossoms” and some sweet resins… Sounds so yum! The rose and frankincense concern me because I almost never enjoy those when present, but the rest sounds just fab!
I appreciate frankincense but I can.not.do those dry, acrid resins in large doses. However, I love rose and there isn’t much rose in Shams (or at least I don’t pick it up).