Ormonde Jayne Woman has not been an easy one for me. I’ve tried Woman many times and each time it has never “grabbed” me. And this made me sad because all of my fragrance friends love it. And then it hit me. This is one of those perfumes that smells much better from about 2 feet vs. sniffing up close.
OJ Woman opens as a spicy and woody cardamom and pink pepper. It’s very spicy and dry. These spice market spices seamlessly tranform into the spiciness of evergreen needles on the forest floor. The fragrance becomes greener and woodsier while remaining its spiciness. There’s an addition of a sweeter amber mingling with candied violets. The dry-down which like 10 hours later is woodsy and a grassy vetiver that reminds me of holy grass.
The first time I wore it, I got lead pencil shavings and a dried bundle of purifying sweet grass. Every other time I got this and something else. Some days it appeared more of a bewitching dark green forest, other times a slightly doughy, powdery violet with grasses. And like I said, it smells better from a distance. I get so many compliments when I wear this but when I put my nose up to this, I get a blurry, bitter mess. It’s always reminded me of this Dante Gabriel Rossetti painting, “Lady Lilith” for the colors and well, frankly for the subject matter (evil Lilith/hemlock):
Notes listed include cardamom, coriander, grass, black hemlock, violet, jasmine, vetiver, cedarwood, amber and sandalwood. Launch date 2002.
Give Ormonde Jayne Woman a try if you like woodsy fragrances or if you like perfumes like Ormonde Jayne Man, Sonoma Scent Studio Forest Walk, Guerlain L’Heure Bleue, By Kilian Incense Oud and/or Parfumerie Generale Bois Blond. It may say “woman” but this perfume is completely unisex. I talk about that in this post.
Ormonde Jayne Woman has above average projection and longevity. Like I have already said, it smells better from a distance.
Ormonde Jayne Woman is available for $126 at Ormonde Jayne.
Victoria’s Final EauPINOIN – Spice, sweet grass, woods. Complex and bewitching. Like the man I married, this one took a few years to win over my heart. It’s persistence paid off. It’s a lovely perfume.
Want more reviews? Try…
Perfume-Smellin’ Things (Uh-oh, Marina compares this scent to Dior Eau Noire)
Now Smell This (review of Man and Woman)
It has a lot of Iso E Super in it which might be why it smells better to you from a few feet away. I like Iso E but some people are sensitive to it and find it sharp. It’s supposed to make perfumes more radiant.
Elisa recently posted..Feelin’ aesthetical
I get this sharpness from 90% of the OJs and I blame the Iso E, Orris Noir is too bitter for me to wear.
The Iso E doesn’t bother me but I think it’s a bit of a crutch, maybe signature is nicer to say, for the line. I’ve noticed that the entire line smells its best from a distance.
Yeah, I tried Tolu the other day and found it QUITE sharp, unpleasantly so, and ended up covering it up with some OJ Woman, which has more sweetness.
Elisa recently posted..Feelin’ aesthetical
These days I’m preferring OJ Woman over Tolu. OJ Woman makes it better.
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