Ormonde Jayne - Ormonde Woman

Perfume: Ormonde Woman
House: Ormonde Jayne
Nose: Linda Pilkington
Notes: Top: Cardamom, coriander and grass oil Heart: Black hemlock, violet and jasmine absolute Base: Vetiver, cedar wood, amber and sandalwood

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep.¹

The perfect scent for a rainy day in Canada is Ormonde Jayne's Ormonde Woman. It may be the perfect scent. I never tire of this perfume, it is endlessly mysterious and beautiful.

Ormonde Jayne is a niche perfume house based in London, England. I visited their little jewel-like shop on the Royal Arcade in 2008 and was charmed by the friendly service and then fell in love with the excellent perfumes. OW was my first purchase, but I have 2 others and probably more will join my horde² in the future. One of the best thing about Ormonde Jayne is Linda Pilkington's assertion that her perfumes will never be reformulated or discontinued. So I never have to worry about running out of Ormonde Woman and can spray with abandon!

OW starts with smooth spices and a striking green feel, from the grass oil. The coniferous note of black hemlock is there from the beginning and carries through the whole composition. It overlays quiet florals, like quiet flowers hidden in the shady undergrowth, and merges with the woody notes at the base of the composition. OW is very well blended, the notes don't stand out individually, but weave together seamlessly for the impression of walking in an ancient forest in the green-black shadows of enormous trees.

You might think with the smell of hemlock and grass oil and woods that this would be a masculine fragrance. It would work well on a man too, but it is one of my husband's favourites on me. Ormonde Woman is a feminine mystery "lovely, dark and deep."


^{1 Robert Frost
2} I should post a picture of my horde someday. It's small by perfumista standards, but it's growing.
Painting: Emily Carr, Forest, BC