YAY Perfume Posse! It’s my BIRTHDAY! Well, yesterday was technically my birthday but you can bet your life I’m still celebrating today.BFF Kath has organised a small crew of us to go see Australian actor, writer and comedian Celeste Barber. Most famous for her hilarious real life approximations of iconic pop-cultural advertising and self aggrandisement on Instagram. If you don’t know her then you MUST check her out, six million followers and climbing. It’s taken me years but I finally put down the money and bought myself a bottle of Sampaquita. Though it hasn’t been on the list per se, it has always been a strong love and I went through a 10ml travel in a couple of years. It was finally time. So I’m going to wear it on my birthday.
Sampaquita by Ormonde Jayne 2004
Geza Schoen
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 astringent and fruity. It makes my lips pucker in happy anticipation. Any juicier and my mouth would be watering. 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, freesia 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. Also picking up an extra creaminess that didn’t used to be in my older iteration, a bit ylang-ish. It’s a welcome addition and very pretty.
I think ambrette seeds give my nose a particular smell, it’s animal and vegetal and catches me unawares in a bunch of fragrances till I read the notes list. It’s as if a tree had armpits and we are smelling them about 3/4 of the way through a warm workday.
Sampaquita is totally unisex and not so big that it would be uncomfortable in a workplace, unless you have a zero fragrance policy.
Surrender To Chance has Sampaquita samples
Do you have any of the Ormond Jayne fragrances? Did you ever try Sampaquita?
Portia xx
Portia also writes for Australian Perfume Junkies
HA! Thank you on both counts Hczerwiec!
Portia xxx
“It’s as if a tree had armpits” — I love your brain. Happiest of birthdays, sweet Portia!
Happy belated birthday, dear Portia!! (Sorry I’m late with my wishes — been an uber-crazy week in retail.) Sounds like you are celebrating in style and enjoying yourself!! PS Now i’m diving deep in the sample drawers to find my Ormonde Jayne, too. Have a wonderful week! Hugs!
Thank you Ann,
Good luck in the drawer, I hope you find one.
Portia xx
Happy Birthday Portia, and best wishes for a spectacular year ahead! You are smelling wonderful in Sampaquita.
I have sampled many of the OJ fragrances, and thankfully for my wallet, most were not FB loves.
Except for Rose Gold. How I love this perfume! I have gone through two decants, and desperately want a bottle. It will be a Christmas or birthday (have to wait until May) splurge.
Hey Kathleen,
Thank you.
OOOOH! Rose Gold will be a fabulously glam present when you get it.
Portia xx
Happy Birthday Season, Portia! When it lasts longer than a day, you can declare it a season. I have never smelled any of the Ormande Jayne frags. Maybe someday I’ll encounter them.
Oh Pam, This birthday has been going since Monday! Tonight’s dinner and then lunch tomorrow and I’m done.
Yeah, Ormonde Jayne has an excellent sample box. Worth finding and having a sniff.
Portia xx
Happy birthday! I put on a spritz of Tiare, my sole OJ scent, in celebration…
Thanks AnnieA,
You smell fabulous.
Portia xx
Dear Portia, I hope you had a beautiful birthday! You certainly deserve it.
I’m always torn between Sampaquita and Tiare, both lovely white flower perfumes. I couldn’t decide which one I loved better. OJ Woman is a beautiful woody classic which I love best from her line.
Hey Neva,
It has been a lovely birthday. Tonight is the dinner, a bunch of mates at the local Chinese.
Tiare is gorgeous too, yes. I love the dark melancholy that surrounds Sampaquita though. OJ Woman is the big hit of the line today. Loads of perfumistas are naming it as their ultimate OJ. I’m going to have to grab a bottle.
Portia xx
Happy Birthday to you! Isn’t it such a great feeling to finally get something you’ve been longing for in forever?! Have a sample of OJ Woman but I can smell that it will be a bit….complex!
Thanks JenniferS,
Yes, it’s really nice to finally have it among my beauties.
HA! complex is a VERY good word for OJ Woman. A few big sprays, go lie down and enjoy the madness.
Portia xx
I haven’t got any OJ. They are bit spendy for me at the moment !!!!
I hear you Matty,
They are quite pricey. It would be different if we were signature scent kinda people, then it would be a once a year spend.
Portia x
Happy birthday, you smell great! I think my fave use of ambrette is in AG’s Ce Soir ou Jamais – it elevates the rose to something painfully exquisite.
Ahhhh, I love Ce Soir ou Jamais too Morrigan. Thanks for the reminder. there’s a bottle of it around here somewhere. It shall get some summer 19/20 wearings.
Portia xx
“I think ambrette seeds give my nose a particular smell, it’s animal and vegetal and catches me unawares in a bunch of fragrances till I read the notes list. It’s as if a tree had armpits and we are smelling them about 3/4 of the way through a warm workday.”
A paragraph and a vision I may never forget.
Happy Birthday, Doll!??????
Hey Richard,
That is a lovely thing to write. I think? I’m hoping you mean it is inspired rather than insipid.
Thanks, it’s been an extremely good one.
Portia xx
Happy birthday, you smell fabulous! 🙂
Thanks on both counts TaraC,
Portia xx
Happy birthday, dear Portia!!!! I can’t wait to read on Sunday how you celebrated. I am sure you were surrounded by love and scent. I have tried these OJs, but none are a love. The Frangipan was a like. It reminded me of something like Jessica McClintock but not very strong:
Osmanthus
Zizan
Tolu
Frangipan Absolute
Thanks Gina,
Yes, it has been a lovely birthday.
Interesting that Ormonde Jayne hasn’t hit the spot for you. I bet your wallet jumped up and thanked you. they’re kinda spendy.
Portia xx
I have a travel set – Frangpiani, Champaca, Woman; Tsarina, Ambre Royal. Woman is my favorite by far, eventually may find a bottle in my collection. Had the opportunity to sniff them all in the tiny boutique in London which was a real pleasure as I didn’t hate a single one!
I keep not buying WOMAN but I REALLY want it MMKinPA,
I don’t know why. Maybe I’ll just bloody splurge for my birthday.
Portia xx
Ormonde Jayne Woman is my signature scent ~ooooooh the black hemlock!!!! so dusky and seductive!!!!!
That is a freaking cool signature scent Mindy,
I bet you absolutely slay in it.
Portia x