With Cymbaline in London - snifftastic

Cymbaline is a lovely lady who I've become friendly with as she has commented regularly on my blog and we've exchanged perfume samples. It also turns out that she is a Bob Dylan fan too, which is even better!

She and her friend Tanya were in London for a week's holiday recently and we agreed to meet up in London and I'd show them around the perfume 'sites', so to speak. I suppose one does not know what to expect when meeting someone for the first time, which is particularly strange when a friendship has developed over the internet. It was a first for me, but I can honestly say that Cym is as nice in the flesh as she is in cyber-world, and it turned out that Tanya was too.

I caught the train up to London and made my way over to Pimlico, meeting Cym and Tanya at their little hotel on Belgrave Road. I know the Pimlico/Victoria/Belgravia areas of London very well, having first stayed in a hostel in Victoria when my wife and I arrived for the first time in London way back in 2001. Later on, the company I worked for relocated to Victoria from Piccadilly, so I spent many a lunch hour traipsing the local streets, which coincided with the time when I first got 'into' perfume. It was just a matter of time before I discovered Les Senteurs in Elizabeth Street, not far away.

Anyway, we all walked the short distance from the hotel to Les Senteurs and spent a very enjoyable hour just sniffing and looking at what they stock. I think Cym and Tanya really enjoyed this little niche gem of a store. I know I certainly do and go back time and again. They've opened a new outlet near Marble Arch and I haven't been there yet, but I love the Belgravia branch. We sniffed so much stuff that it is hard to recall everything we tried. Tanya is a fan of leather, so I know she sampled quite a few leather fragrances, including Mona Di Orio's Cuir. Cym and Tanya must have sprayed perfume on almost every conceivable area of exposed flesh! Although my sense of smell was still not quite right on the day (still recovering from a cold) I did smell a lot too and ended up getting samples of ELDO's Rien and Antihero, MPG Iris Bleu Gris and Lorenzo Villoresi's Incensi. Cym and I also smelled the new ELDO Bijou Romantique and Fils De Dieu and Heeley's Agarwood. I have to say that none of the last three impressed me much on an initial sniff. The Agarwood in particular was very slight and to be honest, I am so over oud already, that it takes a very special oud perfume indeed to wow me.

We left Les Senteurs almost in a daze and moved on to the Amouage Boutique on Lowndes Street, not far from Harrods. Cym was very keen to visit the boutique and I must say that it is very elegant and well presented. Needless to say, it smells heavenly too. Cym ended up purchasing a solid perfume of what I think is Epic and also a cream. We also smelled the new Library Collection Opus VI. I think it is safe to say that all three of us loved it. Having tried Opus VI a few times now, I can reliably confirm that it is by far my favourite in the Library Collection and the best I have smelled from Amouage in quite some time. Its combination of dry smoky amber is potent and gorgeous. If you haven't tried it already, get your hands on a sample, I urge you!

It was lunchtime by now so we meandered over to a sandwich shop across the road from Harrods and had a quick bite to eat. Cym and Tanya found it very amusing that here in the UK most exit signs say 'Way Out' rather than 'Exit' and we also chuckled over some other British peculiarities and turns of phrase. We had a good chat about where they come from in Washington State. One thing we definitely seem to have in common is the weather!

After lunch we went into that curious temple of kitsch and style that is Harrods. After climbing about six flights of stairs we eventually made our way into Roja Dove's Haute Perfumerie. Again, I think I can safely say that we were in awe - so much good and rare stuff is on display here that it felt like a pilgrimage to me. A revelation to me was when Cym asked me to dab on Onda Parfum Extrait by Vero Profumo. Wowza! What a bomb of a fragrance and strong too. So strong that I still had it on my skin 24 hours later, but what a stunning perfume, so animalic and complex. Cym also steered me to trying Invasion Barbare by Parfums MDCI. Again, I liked it very much. I haven't tried much by MDCI but this is great. By this point we had tried so many perfumes that I honestly can't recall what else we looked at, but it was a fabulous experience.

We were so 'perfumed out' by now that we decided our last stop would be Ormonde Jayne's boutique in Mayfair, so we caught a tube to Green Park and on to the Royal Arcade. When we walked into OJ, it was empty downstairs and silent, save for the tinkling bell as we entered. We stood there and were immediately met with the distinctive OJ house note, coming no doubt from the many products on display. We heard a voice shout out from upstairs that she was coming down and soon were met by an exuberant and excitable short lady, who very charmingly started to explain the perfumes to us. Although I am sure that between us we had no space to spray, the lady began to spray us with Orris Noir, Zizan and Isfarkand and explained a bit more about her perfumes. It was only at that point that we all clicked that this was no sales assistant, but Linda Pilkington herself, the owner and creator of OJ! I am not someone who has met any perfumers, so it was a real treat to meet Linda. The thing that struck us most was how humble and gracious she was and she spent close on half an hour talking to us about where we come from, her perfumes and how they are made and sourced (only briefly of course - I doubt she would give away too many house secrets). All I can say is thank you Linda for your time and treating us like we were the most important people in your life for that short time. Charmingly, Linda had to dash, as she was about to receive a parking ticket!

And so ended our perfume extravaganza. I took Cym and Tanya through the streets of Soho to a pub, where we had a pint of good English Beer, while the rain pelted down outside as evening approached. Over a beer we chatted about lots of different things, including music and Bob Dylan, of course!

We headed back to Charing Cross Station, where I was to catch my train home. I was sad to say goodbye to Cym and Tanya, even though we had only just met really. I could have spent a few days with them. As I made my way home that evening, I ruminated on the day's events and couldn't help feeling that perfume fanatics are some of the nicest people out there.

Cym and Tanya, it was lovely meeting you in person and I sincerely hope we will get the opportunity to meet again in the not too distant future.

Scents of the day - Ormonde Jayne Tolu and Orris Noir

I recently acquired the Ormonde Jayne discovery set, not by any endeavour on my part, but thanks yet again to the generosity of a good friend and perfume fanatic. Thank you so much!

I have tried a few from the OJ line in the past, including Ta'if, Isfarkand, Ormonde Woman and Champaca. Having tried Orris Noir now too, I can quite easily recognise a very distinct house note. It's an elegant, slightly peppery, slightly woody, slightly floral accord. If that seems strange, its because I can't really pin it down and describe it. Those of you familiar with the OJ line may know what I mean by this. 

Orris Noir is very good. It strikes me, like all the OJs I've tried, as cool, sophisticated and elegant. I can't claim to detect a massive and distinctive iris note here, but it smells great. I wouldn't describe Orris Noir as a dark or black fragrance, but it does feel like a smell of the night, rather than the day.

Tolu is interesting, because along with Ta'if, it doesn't seem to have as much of that house note that the others in the line do. Tolu is all about balsams and resins and it is fairly sweet too, but balanced. I like it a lot. It stands out in the line as one of the more irreverent of the bunch, the one who likes to let their proverbial hair down. In a line of sophistication and restraint, this is refreshing.

Two rose scents of the day

For some reason I've been on a bit of a rose kick recently, as you might have gathered. Perhaps this follows from my posts on rose last month, which made me think a bit more about roses.

Anyway, today I wore Ormonde Jayne's Ta'if on one wrist and Guerlain's Nahema on the other. Ta'if is hard to peg down. It is a rose fragrance, obviously, but it has more going on than just that. I can't quite figure it out yet. It is quite a sweet rose perfume, without being cloying, as there are also wood and resins that temper the sweeter notes. I like it.

As for Nahema, this was the first time I have worn it. It is a very complicated perfume, starting with quite a brash and piercing rose note, then becomes dustier and more aromatic, before morphing into what I think is a rose chypre, but I could be wrong. There are a lot of aldehydes in here too, if I'm interpreting the perfume correctly. 

Both perfumes are long-lasting. I sprayed on both around 10 this morning and they are going strong 10 hours later. Ta'if and Nahema are nothing like each other, but if I were to choose one, probably on the basis of it being more intriguing, I would take Nahema.

Editions De Parfums Frederic Malle French Lover

French Lover (or Bois D'orage as it is known in the US) was one of the first fragrances I sampled from the Frederic Malle line. In many ways I had only recently become addicted to the whole perfume thing and Frederic Malle was about as niche as could be, for me, and in many ways still is. I admire quite a few perfumes from the line, but I would say that in general, they are not easy perfumes to like; they require a bit of perseverance and even then, there are some you might not grow to like. French Lover is one of those for me. For some reason I have never taken to it, although I do acknowledge that it has a certain something about it. The notes include pimento, galbanum, iris, angelica, cedarwood and vetiver. Other sources list incense, patchouli, mosses, musk, clove and bergamot. What I do know is that French Lover opens with a crackerjack shot of pepper/pink pepper, that reminds me almost of gunpowder, which I think might be the initial burst of galbanum. It is dry, dusty and almost cough-inducing, but as the top notes fade a more recognisable galbanum note seeps through, greener and sappier. Alongside this I detect a very definite clove note and some musk and cedar. There is a floral vibe going as well, or I thought it was floral but perhaps it is angelica. After about fifteen minutes or so I detected a vaguely sour note, slightly spicy and citrusy, which I thought is bergamot. That strange gunpowder note lingers. 

French Lover kept on reminding me of another perfume. At first I couldn't put my finger on it and then it struck me: Isfarkand by Ormonde Jayne. Isfarkand is all about pink pepper, musk and cedar, not a huge leap from pimento, musk, spices and cedar, it must be said. Thinking about it a bit more, I also detect a similarity to Cartier Declaration, without the cumin note. Into the heart and early dry down French Lover softens considerably, with a sweeter mossy note that strengthens and takes this into less austere territory. I must say that I don't detect any iris or patchouli, but that's not to say they aren't there. 

Writing this, I still can't quite say why I don't like French Lover more. It is a good perfume and I know it has lots of fans out there. Perhaps it's the association first of all - I don't personally think French Lover is a very apt name for it. I don't find it a particularly sexy fragrance. If anything it is quite austere and severe, particularly in the first third of development, but that's just my personal take on it. I think it is definitely one of the more masculine fragrances in the Malle line, but having said that, it would be interesting to smell this on a woman. I think a lady who enjoys the style embodied by Ormonde Jayne in particular would quite possibly enjoy this.

Image credit: a33.idata.over-blog.com

Ormonde Jayne - Isfarkand

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.