I honestly can’t remember which of our group first mentioned JD to me (looking back it was VerbenaLuvvr) but I thank them. It was the gateway to JD scents, of which there are a few, and all of the ones I’ve tried have been winners.
Rugir de Gardenia lists coconut and strawberry before it mentions gardenia and orange flower but don’t let that either fool you or scare you off. I don’t discern the strawberry at all and the coconut seems to serve up just some of the rounded fattiness of the nut just to serve the gardenia (isn’t coconut what they use as a carrier for other oils?) There’s sandalwood and a heapin’ helpin’ of Juste Filthy style musk in there as well. No bad thing IMHO.
This isn’t a shy or retiring gardenia (Is there one? Has there ever been one?) but that’s kind of what I like in a gardenia. Although not the most manly of scents, I do wear it, mainly when I am alone and can enjoy it. (for some reason I find gardenia a really restful scent)
For some reason I tend to think of gardenia scents as a bit old-school. So I think of them in terms of film noir and the books that were made into those movies. Were I casting a version of “The Big Sleep” with perfumes, Vivian Sternwood would be something like Bandit, while her sister Carmen would be Rugir de Gardenia: all pretty-pretty on the surface, but don’t turn your back. (they’re Charlotte and Camilla in the 70’s remake.)
Rugir de Gardenia is available at the JD website, $12.50 for a sample and $115 for 50ml. (lasting power, as seemingly everything with gardenia, seems eternal.) My sample was a gift with purchase, and I have a couple of others on the way that I will be interested to experience- I like this line.
Are you a gardenia fan? Do you have a favorite? A shy and retiring one? Let us know in the comments.
Images: My iPhone, Pexels.
I also love live gardenia plants, though I can’t seem to keep them alive. Perfumes that I have tried simply do not smell true to the plant. I’m still looking. I am fond of Kai oil and PG Gardenia Grand Soir is pretty realistic but that’s it for me. It would be heavenly to find that holy grail gardenia perfume.
I just remembered something I saw a while ago. I won’t buy it at $530 for 50ml (gasp!) but I may break down and try it. Luckyscent carries Bogue Profumo Gardelia 2025.
I might have to brave ScentBar..
I have JD’s Black flower which I like a lot. Reading your review and looking at the website, there are so many others that I was unaware of and that I’d like to try.
There are a lot of them. So far all of them winners.
Dangit, I KNEW I should have tried this! I adore Gardenia, the funkier the better. That strawberry nonsense scared me off. I’d like a bottle of Juste Filthy and a decant of Scatamalis hehehe.
It scared me too. Luckily cooler heads prevailed. This is fun-kay..
My father had a small gardenia plant that performed (ie, bloomed) several times and smelled lovely.
I can’t recall smelling any gardenia perfumes and I’m pretty sure you can’t get this here. It does sound well worth seeking out …
Oh I am sorry that they don’t ship. There are bunches of gardenias out there (usually pricier though)
As a young kid when we were stationed in San Antonio, we had a gardenia bush near our front door. And the blossoms on it smelled absolutely Heavenly. I love the scent of real, fresh gardenias. Perfume gardenia scents tend to knock me over the head with a sledgehammer. I have and enjoy Kai perfume oil which is like a green gardenia, and Narciso in the white cube which is a soft, powdery gardenia. Love when you compare scents to vintage movie characters, Tom. That’s so fun!
This one is definitely in sledgehammer territory, but I like that about it.
I love gardenias as cut flowers. Few things more quietly decadent than a freshly cut gardenia floating in a bowl of water, perfuming the bedroom. Sad to say I’ve never found a perfume that really captured their essence. Natural gardenia can’t be distilled so perfumers rely on tuberose and jasmine among other things to convey but never really ‘get’ gardenia’s lushness. When I was growing up, Tuvache’s Jungle Gardenia was popular. Created in the 30s, worn by Liz Taylor and Joan Crawford and later reformulated by Coty and Jovan. I never had a bottle, as my mother declared it a ‘scent for loose women.’ Chanel did a gardenia for the Les Exclusifs line, but it was pretty timid.
I had a vintage Chanel Gardenia Parfum. It was different from the Exclusifs version. The vintage was glorious. Mushroomy, loamy & earthy, alongside carnal white flowers. It has been gone now for many years.
Oh that is sad to read..
Don’t be sad. I wore every last drop
That’s a healthy way to look at it. Celebrate having enjoyed it rather than focusing on not having it anymore.
I actually have an old bottle of Jungle Gardenia with just a smidge left in it (the Jovan version) and “loose women” would be the target audience. Not a bad thing.
I wish we had a gardenia plant..
Tom-Gardenias do very well in SoCal. When I was living in West L.A., I had a potted gardenia on my tiny front porch and it bloomed most of the year. It was a delight to come home from work and cut a blossom to for inside.
Good to know. Unfortunately my apartment faces North and gets very little light. So I think I might just need to stick to scents..
Heya Tom,
Do you remember we spent time with Jeffrey Dame on the ScentSation bus tour. He’d just released his leather and dirt fragrance. One of the perfumes I wish I’d bought three gallons of when it was easy to send perfume around the world.
Gardenia! Love it. My fave is Epic Gardenia from Strange Invisible Perfumes. I’m sure mine has gone slightly rancid, which gives it that fabulously revolting bleu cheese lying stagnant under a lilting white floral. So good.
Portia xx
Why don’t I remember that?
It was a VERY full day.
Indeed. I can’t remember the street your friends live (lived?) in the Edward Fickett house..
Tom, was that the gents on the peak of Hollywood Hills?
Yes indeed. One of the drives I take to charge the battery on the car is up Laurel Canyon, over Mulholland, then back down Nichols into West Hollywood. I seem to remember them being near there.
Not that I am going to drop in or anything.
It was ! But I really enjoyed getting to know Jeffrey Dame – and I ended up getting a bottle of his Jungle Gardenia for a friend ( I think he now owns the marque)
Overall I think he does exquisite perfumes!
He is really good. Now where was I? In a coma? We did pack a ton of stuff into that day..
Epic Gardenia! I have that and Lady Day. Maybe I’ll wear it today. Well, after exercise class lol.
How could I have forgotten about that? One of these days I have to hitch the team to the Conestoga wagon and trek out to Venice and visit them again. Wonder if LeLabo is still next door?
Yes. Still there. Opens at 11 a.m. every day.
Good to know! Thanks!