On Saturday I went to the Sloane Square store of London-based perfume house, Ormonde Jayne, for a Perfume Portrait. I took Lotte with me, as I know she loves perfume just as much as I do, and we had such a lovely afternoon! Ormonde Jayne was founded by Linda Pilkington, who originally created beautiful scented candles, and was handpicked to create the perfect candle for Chanel. She then moved into perfumerie, creating stunning perfumes for a number of high-profile clients.
The interior of the shop is very sleek and sophisticated, with mirrored walls, mirrored black surfaces, and beautiful glass perfume bottles decorating the shelves. Naturally the scent of the shop is one of those that you breathe in deeply as you enter, so as to fully savour the expertly crafted fragrances that envelop you.
We settled down with our bubbly and began the 'portrait'. Holly started by asking us if there were any particular smells and perfumes we like, and any we dislike. I explained how I usually have Miss Dior as my winter perfume, whereas I love Jo Malone's Blackberry and Bay for the summer months, and then every so often I love a spritz of Victoria Secret's Bombshell...coz I'm classy like that.
She then introduced us to the different 'families' of scents, with three different scents in each family. We went through each of them smelling them, and telling Holly whether we liked them or not, which she then ticked off on her card.
I absolutely loved some of them, especially the floral Freesia and Frangipani scents, but really disliked Tonka and Pimento Oil from the Oriental scented family. I did however love the vanilla fragrance from the Oriental family - it smelt good enough to eat!
Every so often I felt as though my nostrils were full of too many different scents, and I kept finding myself breathing deeper and deeper to try and smell each scent, so Holly brought out a pot of coffee beans. Apparently they help clear the airways and reset your sense of smell back to normal. It definitely seemed to work!
By the end we were worn out from inhaling so much, but in a weird happy daze from discovering so many lovely smells. We discovered that I love floral scents, both delicate florals and intense florals. Sounds about right! Lotte was the same, and we both discovered that one of our favourite scents is Whale Vomit, aka, Ambroxan, which we definitely had a good old laugh about. It's a funny scent, as some people can't actually smell it! It has something to do with your hormones, but it basically smells like a fresh salty man who's just emerged from a swim in the ocean (a very nice scent). My description was 'It smells of David Gandy in the D&G advert when he's laying in the boat in the middle of the water'.
Holly then gave us a few perfumes to try that she felt we would like from the results on the card. We tried Frangipani, Champaca, and Ormonde Woman. Our favourite was Champaca, however as the day wore on I actually preferred the scent of the Frangipani one on my skin, it was just so fresh and light and summery! The Champaca is also gorgeous, but a much heavier scent and as the day went on it didn't seem to 'age' as well on me. In fact I loved the Frangipani so much I think I may have to go back and buy myself a bottle!
A huge thank you to Ormonde Jayne for inviting us along for such a treat. It was the perfect girly afternoon and I couldn't recommend it enough! It would be the ideal gift for any lady who loves perfume, or even a fun birthday treat?