One of the biggest and happiest perfume news if you live in the USA is that Ormonde Jayne is coming to Osswald early next year. I can't begin to tell you how thrilled I was last week to get an official confirmation that the UK-based brand will finally be available right here in NYC . I'm not sure if all the body products will also be stocked but I do hope so. This is a good a reason as any to talk about Ormonde Man, the other half of Ormonde Woman.
Ormonde Woman is often described as bewitching. It's the scent of sacred forests, fairies dancing among the violets, unicorns grazing nearby... Yes, it's all that. Ormonde Man is very similar. Very. Yet it's somehow pared down and more of this world. The notes are very similar with black hemlock, various spices and woods setting the tone, but the final result is a very suave woody perfume with evergreen veins and an almost incensy feel (the result of the coniferous juniper that defines Ormonde Man's opening). The fragrance manages to be both very elegant and just a little wild.
I often cite Ormonde Man as a "masculine" perfume that women should at least try if not adopt as their own. I most certainly did-- the husband asked for a bottle a couple of years ago and I obliged, and ever since then I've been borrowing it for my own use. The husband loves this perfume for its elegance, I wear it for its depth and the magic it possesses (sans unicorn).
Notes: juniper berry, bergamot, pink pepper, cardamom, coriander seeds, oud, black hemlockvetiver, cedar, sandalwood and musk.
Ormonde Jayne- Ormonde Man will soon be available from Osswald (osswaldnyc.com). Right now it can be purchased from ormondajayne.com where the travel kit of 4 x10ml atomizers is priced at $100 (shipping charges seem to have been adjusted back to a semi-reasonable $18 after months of it being around $80).
Photo from the set of Bringing Up Baby (1937, directed by Howard Hawks).
I love Tolu but had no idea shipping was $80. That's simply astounding to hear.
ReplyDeleteI always struggle to articulate the difference between Ormonde Man and Woman (I wear and love both, as does my male partner) but I think you've nailed it -- I do seem to reach for Man when I want something sweeter and lighter, a more breezy everyday kind of witchery.
ReplyDeleteWonderful news about Osswald! At last! Ormonde Woman was the first OJ I tried and even after so many years I remember every detail of the room I was in, the angle of the light - everything - as I realized with a sense of shock that black hemlock was a perfume note my olfactory life had not been complete without and that this was an utterly unique and fantastic perfume I would never, ever want to be without. Ormonde Man is, of course, indispensable for me as well (as are several other of her perfumes). I tracked down some Tsuga Canadensis (apparently the black hemlock absolute that she used), but it can't compare to the beauty with which she's used it in her perfumes.
ReplyDeleteAnna
After much sampling, I sprung for a fb of OJ Woman. The London shop lost my order (but managed to charge my credit card right away) and it took four people 2 months, countless emails and 12 phone calls to sort it out. When the bottle finally arrived, I realized while I intellectually admired the juice, it wasn't what I wanted to actually smell like. Too musty, too emotionally removed. So sad.
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