Closed Eyes, © Odilon Redon, 1895
Imagine you are a dancer on the stage and you’ve just finished the best performance of your career. Adoring fans throw flowers at your feet. You scoop them up and your arms are full of every kind of flower imaginable, from precious, exotic blooms tossed by well-heeled patrons to modest bunches of violets thrown by students in the cheap seats. You bury your face in them and inhale deeply. It’s impossible to pick out one scent, it simply smells of flowers.“Flowers” with a capital “F”; the Aristotelian Ideal of flowers. My friends, you’ve just imagined the scent of Ormonde Jayne Privé.
Linda Pilkington with some of her creations at Saks Fifth Avenue, New York, November 2018. photo beautyconcierge_nyc
I met Linda Pilkington, the perfumer behind Ormonde Jayne Prive, last week at a press event at Saks Fifth Avenue in New York. It happened to be my birthday and I considered it a special treat to finally to meet the woman behind so many perfumes I love. Although she’d just flown in from London, and it was a dreary, wet day in New York, Linda was so charming and excited about the perfume that it seemed as if it was a sunny spring day there on the second floor of Saks. Linda is a great storyteller, and not just olfactory stories. She regaled me with the tale of the birth of Ormonde Jayne Prive.
Flower Clouds, © Odilon Redon, 1903
It all began in 2002. She had recently established her new perfume brand, Ormande Jayne, in London. In the lab she tested hundreds of absolutes and oils from a number of suppliers in order to select the choicest ingredients with which to build her new line of fragrances. With this wealth of materials at hand Linda created a formula using 52 of her favorite ingredients, “ones that represented and evoked the most positive emotions,” according to Linda. It is this formula that is now being introduced to the world as Ormonde Jayne Prive but at the time was simply called “Geraldine” around the lab (Linda sweetly gives names to all of her formulations before they go to market.) Sadly, Geraldine had issues. Well, one issue really. Linda had selected ingredients from about 8 different suppliers all of whom had substantial minimum orders. The price was just too steep for a fledgling perfumer. Geraldine would have to wait; other formulas were developed in her notebook; eventually her notebook as filled and she was put in a box and placed on a shelf.
Flowers, © Odilon Redon, 1909
Linda Pilkington has been working like mad since 2002. Ormonde Jayne now has over 30 fragrances in its family yet Linda still blends and bottles all her perfumes in her lab in London. As with any growing business there came a time for a remodel to increase storage space. The workers found a box on a top shelf simply labeled “Linda’s Things”. When she went through it she rediscovered an early notebook with formulas, including Geraldine! She read it over and remembered her disappointment at not being able to produce it in 2002. However, times had changed. Suppliers had widened their offerings and she knew that she could probably create this perfumer using one or two sources which made it feasible from a business standpoint. It was a go! She was able to create the Geraldine all except for one vital ingredient, gardenia absolute. But after networking, researching, even attempts at begging and borrowing, Linda finally had that last ingredient in her lab and Geraldine was a reality, and re-christened Privé.
Two Young Girls Among the Flowers, © Odilon Redon, 1912
Many of the fragrances Linda has developed since her early days as a perfumer such as Champaca, Frangipani, Tolu, or Ta’if celebrate a single ingredient while an all-star supporting cast of notes allows them to shine. Ormonde Jayne Privé is different. Linda describes it as, “an out-of-this-world abstract floral.” It is an action painting of floral notes, moving and darting, not settling too long on any one. It opens fresh, green and exciting with pink pepper and citrus. It soon smooths out with notes of milky rice, osmanthus and freesia. At this stage it reminds me of Ormonde Jayne Champaca. Floral notes reassert themselves an hour or so into wearing, and play on your skin for hours. Just when you think you’ve captured the gardenia a violet pixie traipses through the scent, being followed by a languid jasmine. After many hours I can finally smell the base that has been supporting the bouquet of florals, a smooth vanilla and tonka layer that rests on your skin like silk. This dry down period is quieter but still flowery and very interesting. Blended at 32% strength this perfume has excellent longevity.
Beatrice, © Odilon Redon, 1885
Notes: Basmati Rice, Green Mandarin Oil, Neroli, Russian Coriander Seed, Freesia, Petitgrain Oil, Bergamot, Pink Pepper, Osmanthus Absolute, Magnolia Absolute, Champaca, Violet Accord, Ginger, Lily of the Valley, Blackcurrant, French Clary Sage, Jasmine Absolute, Gardenia Absolute, Orris Butter, Timbersilk, Vanilla Absolute, Musk, Sandalwood, Tonka Bean Absolute, Ambroxan
Ormonde Jayne Prive
Ormonde Prive Jayne is exclusive to Saks Fifth Avenue stores in New York, NY, Chicago, IL, and Boca Raton, FL or via the Saks Fifth Avenue website.Disclaimer: I would like to thank Linda Pilkington of Ormonde Jayne for the bottle of Ormonde Jayne Prive. My opinions are my own.
Marianne Butler– Senior Contributor
Thanks to Europerfumes the US distributor of Ormonde Jayne in the USA we have a 50 ml bottle of Ormonde Jayne Prive, a Saks Fifth Avenue exclusive for a registered CaFleureBon reader. To be eligible please leave a comment with what you enjoyed about Marianne’s review of Ormonde Jayne Prive, what your ideal flower is and your favorite Ormonde Jayne perfume. Draw closes 11/15/2018
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