Hey there Posse, The Ormonde Jayne brand has largely passed me by. I have a couple of the travels that I’ve bought in splits and a sample set bought from the Ormonde Jayne site. I have liked everything I’ve tried from the house and find them very wearable, though a couple are a bit too transparent for me to put down any money for bottle ownership. Sampaquita is different, quite hefty and with an awkwardness that is intriguing and beguiling.
Sampaquita by Geza Schoen for Ormonde Jayne 2004
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
Ormonde Jayne gives these featured accords:
Top: Lychee, Grass Oil, Bergamot, Magnolia
Heart: Sampaquita Absolute, Freesia, Muguet, Rose, Water Lilies
Base: Musk, Vetiver, Moss, Ambrette Seed
Sampaquita is the Polynesian jasmine, like but unalike the jasmines we are used to.
That super green opening is almost astringent and makes my lips pucker in happy anticipation. Bittersweet, like so many of the best things in life, and crisp Sampaquita opens like a fragrance from another time, its oiliness like the shimmer of aldehydes across citrus and vetiver. Once the snappy opening recedes I am given a beautiful resinous green bouquet of which I can mainly smell lily of the valley and some dewy jasmine. It’s a cool tropical bouquet, maybe a shady dell after a rainstorm, surrounded by lush tropical growth but shadowed and eerily green.
Across the road from our new apartment is one of Australia’s oldest cemeteries. The only others I ever see in there are a family of Ibis. There are only about 200 tombstones of the wealthier dead from some of our historical families and a celebrated explorer but there are apparently over 1500 people buried without headstones, mainly orphans, mentally ill and prisoners. There is a wall dedicated to them all with their names and date of death. The cemetery is surrounded and the wall is shaded by some large eucalyptus and other trees. Today while walking Gucci (my beautiful 15 year old rescue Greyhound) we stopped there amongst the sprinkling rain reading some of the names and dates and I was enveloped in a beautiful, ethereal scent that was both cool and melancholy. It was Sampaquita, a perfect accompaniment to wandering the halls of the many mainly forgotten dead.
Further reading: Perfume Posse and Olfactoria’s Travels
Ormonde Jayne has £70/4 x 10ml travels
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $4/.5ml
What is your green or melancholy fragrance? Do you like the Ormonde Jayne fragrances, which ones particularly?
If you liked this then drop on over to Australian Perfume Junkies and continue the fragrant conversation there, we love visitors.
Portia xx
Great review of the fragrance that I think I would like to try as I like his work and I also like her fragrances cemeteries are definitely cool there’s something very peaceful about them the older the better. I like the history behind the names the dates the architecture of the area and everything that goes into what got us here so I think you need to go back to understand how you got to where you are.
Hi DonnaS,
Yes, very peaceful in there during the day. I think once we get to spring that I’ll probably take my lunch there and get some sun in the park. Gucci will be very happy tethered under a tree sitting or lying near me and I can read there too.
Perfect.
Portia xx
Loved your post and your photographs, Portia. Tolu is my favorite from the OJ line, I like the scented candle as well. They are amazing ! I Will try Sampaquita again, it sounds like a great summer fragrance the way you describe it.
Hey there Esperessence,
Yes, I think it would be lovely in summer.
Portia xx
cemeteries* I hate making spelling mistakes.
Noted
I, too, love old cemeteries, and the weather on your visit was the perfect shade of melancholy grey. Sampaquita sounds interesting; it is one of the OJs I never got round to trying after a rather impulsive blind buy of several others wasn’t as successful as I’d hoped. I ended up swapping away Tolu, Woman, and Ta’if, but it wasn’t a complete fail, as I fell hard for Orris Noir and still bring it out when the weather turns cold. How strong is the freesia note in Sampaquita? It is one of the few notes that resolutely goes wrong on me, and has been the root of my hesitation in sampling it.
Orris Noir is a bit melancholy, but I think the winner in my collection for that award would be vintage Dune. I absolutely love wearing it on those dark, stormy days where the wind blows the heavy rains sideways, and the trees turn a milky green as their thrashing leaves expose their pale underbellies.
Have you posted pics of Gucci before and I missed them? Greyhounds are such graceful and lovely dogs!
Hi there LisaInDenver,
You know I can’t remember picking the note Freesia at all, though it could jump out a slam you in the nose. My lack of notice could have much more to do with me just finding bits and pieces while I’m enjoying my ramble.
I LOVE Dune and I have a couple of bottles of the PdT that I hoard. MMM
Maybe I have not posted Gucci, I will next week.
Portia xx
What a great post, Portia! There is something very lovely and evocative about cemeteries: so much history in one, so many stories. I can’t recall sniffing Sampaquita but I do love me some Ormonde Jayne Woman. Thanks!
Ann,
Though I don’t know you in person I think that if you love woman then Sampaquita will be an even easier love.
Yes, the cemetery is soothing, it reminds me that at the end I will get a proper lie down and some well earned rest.
Portia xx
Oh, the Scorpio in me loves old cemeteries, and in our little rural one dates to 1861. So fascinating and sad to see the dates on the stones, including some born in the late 1700s, and of course, all the wee babies and children.
We have a young Yankee soldier buried there; his story has been lost to the ages, but we all take turns tending his grave, and making sure it has plenty of flowers for Decoration Day. We only have his first name (Thomas) and that he was 16 when he died in 1862. People have researched the battles fought within a hundred miles of here, but can’t find any matches. We’d really like to find his people and let them know he is being taken care of.
I have only ever tried Tolu from OJ; I remember being slightly disappointed. It was early in my journey down the rabbit hole, so I should probably give the line another try!
Hey Tammy,
Loving that you all tend the soldier.
There is a 10ml of Tolu right here on my desk that I bought in a split, I like it very much.
Portia xx
I love poking around cemeteries. We’ve got a couple massive ones in Cleveland and supposedly are haunted, but it’s really sad when you see headstones of young children and babies from a 100 years ago. I’ve tried OJ Woman but didn’t care for it, all I smelled was tuberose and it was too much like Fracas.
Hey Eldarwen22,
Yes, it is sad to see the children. Things were harder then. There’s a stone in this yard that seems to be all children of one family but some of the dates are decayed so there may be some older people.
Portia xx
I live in Charleston, SC and we have a number of old cemeteries, so please include me on your next trip to the U.S. (Love your dog’s name, by the way). I bought Tolu from Ormande Jane and really liked it. Along with the bottle came a sample of Orris Noir which is really subtle and beautiful. So how did you find the longevity of Sampaquita? Does it remind you of anything else you’ve tried?
Heya Ellen,
I would be thrilled to hit South Carolina on our next USA visit. WOW! Love getting invites.
Gucci came with her name, she is a skinny, spoiled, blonde bitch and one of the greatest joys of my life. She gives the best cuddles of any dog I’ve ever had.
I have Tolu here but can’t remember how it wore, I’ll give it another go on your recommendation.
Sampaquita lasted while I walked the dog and then wrote the piece, including running out to get a couple of better shots of the Ibis and some coffee breaks. Then I had some running around to do and I completely forgot to take note. I think a few hours, maybe 4, maybe less? No, I can’t think off the top of my head that it did, um, maybe Futur by Piguet a bit from my fuzzy recollection? MMMMM Good question.
Portia xx
Loved your pictures. So evocative,especially the one with the ibis. My dogs are also one of the greatest joys of my One of my dogs barks at me every time I sit in a chair to read and only stops if I move to the couch so he can sleep next to me. Pure love.
AWWWWWW so cute
Beautiful review Portia. I too love cemeteries. We have a beautiful one in Toronto called Mt. Pleasant. My daughter was at a conference near Heathrow. She had a bit of time to spare and went to London to get me some Ormonde Jayne “Orris Noir”.
It’s described as being “Not for the faint of heart” I guess I’m not because I love it and feel it’s one of the most exquisite fragrances I’ve ever smelled.
I also had a sample of Woman but preferred Andy Tauer’s ” Le Maroc”
I’ve recently fallen in love with Tom Ford’s Jasmine Rouge. Now I want to try Sampaquita.
Cheers!
Thanks BevFred,
I do get a bit freaked out in there walking Gucci at night because there are no lights. I’m going to petition the local council for a large light at each end just so I can feel fully safe.
Thanks for the idea of Orris Noir, I LOVE the name. Does it feel really noir?
Jasmine rouge, still on my FB list.
Portia xx
What a wonderful post. Thank you. I grew up next to a large-ish cemetery, so I generally find them charming rather than scary. Re Ormond Jayne, I like several of the OJs but the only one I was moved to buy is Champaca. I’d taken a small decant with me on a trip to Thailand/Cambodia several years ago (a trip that probably seemed a lot more exotic to me than to an Australian, to be honest) and Champaca’s odd incense-floral turned out to be a perfect backdrop. Now when I wear it, it gives me the feeling of pleasure and wonder I had in Bangkok, Siem Reap and elsewhere.
Hey March,
I love Thailand and it’s interesting that you mention Cambodia because I was talking to a buddy tonight about finding some time to go there. They are PLENTY exotic even to Aussies.
There is SO MUCH to see and I’m nearly 50!
I better get my wriggle on.
Portia xx
Wow, you make this sound just my thing, Portia. Gorgeously evocative review. Must re-test. I still need to find a wearable jasmine. Put me down for that Highgate cemetery trip too 🙂
Excellent. that will be a really fun trip if we all go. Val likes to go to cemeteries, she took us to see the catacombs of bones up in Austria too. That was a trip.
Portia xx
I really should get around to trying the JO line. I have a bottle of Woman. It is extremely rich and quite beautiful. I don’t really seasonalise my fragrances but only wear this one in the winter. I love cemeteries. If we have time let us go to Highgate in London. Bussi.
Deal and date Val. Can’t wait.
Portia xx