I haven't had much exposure to the Ormonde Jayne line. It seems to have some fervent fans, but doesn't appear to receive a lot of blog time. I won a sample of Isfarkand recently through a small competition I entered on Nathan Branch's website. The perfume notes, according to Ormonde Jayne's website, are lime, mandarin, bergamot, pink pepper, vetiver, cedar and moss. Looking at those notes one would be led to believe that this is a fairly conservative men's fragrance and yes, it turned out to that way for me, albeit with very high quality ingredients. But that is not necessarily a bad thing. Not all perfume has to be (or should be) weird or forceful. Sometimes it is just nice and comforting to encounter and wear a fragrance that is just well made, sophisticated and versatile. And that is exactly what Isfarkand is. On my skin it opened in a style reminiscent of French Lover, by Frederic Malle. There's loads of pink pepper, with an almost gunpowder-like aroma, along with some citrus that was spicy and green, more like galbanum than the normal bright citrus opening one very often expects. The cedar was very prominent on my skin quite early on and Isfarkand felt to me very dry, dusty almost. It was almost incense-like in style, with some subtle, herby notes in the background which may have been the vetiver and moss. The dry down was very pleasant, woody and mossy, and was rather refined and restrained. I detected a smidgen of sweetness which I thought smelled like sandalwood, but I can't see the note listed, so perhaps I am wrong.
I think Isfarkand would be a perfect office scent, quite sophisticated and refined, very well made, but ultimately a touch boring for me. Nevertheless, there is nothing wrong with it and would make a perfect Fathers day gift I think. Not totally me, but certainly no dud either.
