Alas, no photos - hoping someone took some shots somewhere. 
There was a tube strike in London yesterday, but somehow I dodged it and waltzed in with no trouble at all. When others started arriving I heard quite a range of colourful stories about their journeys in, which made me feel guilty! Roja Dove said: "That means you'll have a hellish journey home", but his prediction didn't come true. Maybe I had some credit in the karma bank?
The library room where the talk took place was opulently decorated; Roja and his assistant Shimon had arranged all manner of treasures around it, which were used as props during the session. One of the new candles from Roja's own range was burning and the room was filled with its scent. In a way, a little distracting from all the other sniffing, I thought, but soon I was too engrossed to notice.
If anyone's read his book, you'll get an idea of the type of things that he talked about. He was a confident, charismatic and flamboyant presenter. A little afraid of what "us bloggers" might say afterwards, it seemed, but that only served to add a certain endearing quality to his style.
We had the privilege of experiencing some of the rarest perfumes in the world, seeing antique Guerlain bottles and rubbing bits of myrrh and olibanum between our palms. Roja also introduced us to his own range - his semi-bespoke scents are all good. My favourites were #4 and #5 (and I'm sure others will chime in with theirs, especially you, Miss Crotch!
).
Roja's goodiebags contained one of his new candles and a brochure for his Haute Parfumerie.
The lunch was extremely tasty, but rushed because the talk over-ran. We skipped pudding (!) in order to rush to Ormonde Jayne where they'd thoughtfully provided champagne truffles and champagne to make up for the lost chocolate cake.
This was the first time I had the pleasure of smelling Ormonde's range and after having given it some thought, the only way I could summarise how the collection feels is by comparing it to art: where Serge Lutens is rich, thick oil painting with visible brush strokes (but beautiful, detailed brushwork) and L'Artisan is watercolours (sometimes vibrant, sometimes muted, but always translucent), Ormonde Jayne is painstakingly airbrushed and edited until you don't see any seams and it's just so darn nice and rounded and sophisticated that you either fall head over heels with love - OR - nod appreciatively, but get left a little cold. I guess there is a middle ground; I'm hovering somewhere there right now. I liked the smell of everything from the range, but only a couple of the scents seemed to sing at me. I tried some on my skin, seduced by the top notes, but within a few minutes they mellowed out in a terribly polite and soft manner. I make that sound like a negative, which is ridiculous, but I think it's more about the psychology of what I already own and what I might now be looking for.
IF I didn't already own some easy-to-wear scents, I think I'd feel more tempted. Anyway. Jury is still out; I have the full sample set to sniff now (lovely value I thought at £35; would make the perfect perfumed gift). Can't wait to give each scent the time it deserves and review them all.
In any case, this is a range that every perfumista should try out. There is a definite plus there - I didn't feel a dud existed. Soirdelune and I had a giggle in the corner because we were drawing comparisons between mainstream scents and some of OJ's. Tolu = a soft version of Obsession for Men. And so on. Ormonde Woman seems to have elements of Tocade, but, blasphemously, I prefer it to Tocade. Ormonde is not as sweet and not as sour; it's, well, easier to wear.
Ormonde Jayne provided lovely goodiebags; a full-sized shower gel, sample of OW and a mini catalogue.
At Floris, we had a personable and warm talk by Shelagh Foyle, the resident consultant perfumer to the house (and I had a giddy moment when she recognised me from the British Perfumers Symposium the other week). We got to view old ledgers with names of royalty, celebrities and politicians, sniffed & got a sample of Madonna of the Almonds, which was created to go with a book about the birth of Amaretto di Saronno. We had a fun debate about the brand's current packaging, versus its traditional image and it seems that they're at least thinking about how to appeal to the younger consumer and may be developing some new scents and branding to go along with that. Sheilagh let us sniff one of her stripped-down vanilla accords and it was a lovely, boozy Baileys/Tia Maria/Tiramisu-experience. The gem from this house: you can have a semi-bespoke perfume consultation for 90 minutes for only £100 and get a customised fragrance of your own to take away. I did a similar thing with Pecksniffs of Brighton a few years ago (back when their service used to cost £150 - it's over £200 now I think). Even though I'm involved in the industry, I'm still considering it. What a treat it would be!
I bailed out after Floris because I wanted to meet up with my husband and catch the same train home
Grant and Dani are wonderful and I admire them so much for their entrepreneurial spirit, for being so down-to-earth and smart at the same time. They had the kids in tow, but it was not the slightest bit inconvenient for us. Just felt sorry for the parent-slash-business-people for having to wear both of their hats at the same time!
VM I hate civet and Soirdelune were both so articulate, intelligent and classically beautiful (kept imagining VM as a novelist or a reporter, accepting some award or another and Soirdelune as an escapee from a Jane Austen novel). And so funny! I felt so lucky to spend any time whatsoever with them (kind of felt that under other circumstances, they'd have been the cool, professional women in one table, occasionally glancing at the red-headed, garish bimbo in another!).
Also met some other people who are lurking, but not posting (post, post!) and a charming and eccentric aromatherapist who lives a sort of double life between Grasse and London.
Today, I headed back to London for some other business, but spent a couple of wonderful hours rifling through, what I now have decided to call, The Best Street In London: Marylebone High Street. On the same stretch, you have:
- Fresh
- Cologne and Cotton (an adorable boutique with things you might imagine based on the name, but the cologne part is surprisingly impressive, with brands such as Fragonard, Molinard, D'Orsay, Coudray, Rosine, Annick Goutal and more. I bought some cute earrings and a present for my expectant best friend - a fluffy hedgehog toy, but honestly, I could have spent a fortune in there if I'd had a fortune to spend. I particularly enjoyed the old-fashioned charm of Coudray and have decided that one day I'll get Musc et Freesia EDT as well as the luxurious tub of body cream).
- Aveda salon/shop
- Neil's Yard Remedies
- Space NK (make up, skincare, perfume)
- L'Artisan
- Ortigia
- Diptyque. Had a very long chat with the SAs here; am impressed by their loyalty to the brand, by their pleasant manner and excellent level of customer service & growing more and more appreciative of this house's scents - new loves: Ofrésia (the clever clogs among you may spot an emerging theme) and Eau Lente.
- The Apartment (a saucy lingerie shop that also happens to stock Etat Libre! Today I've discovered that according to Etat Libre-ology I'm a hotel slut).
There is also Paul's bakery and a Pizza Express on Marylebone High Street. Seriously: am yet to find a more perfect line-up
So, overall, I've had two days of perfume heaven & feel excited about the scents I've tried and look forward to spending more time with some of them.
Looking forward to August very much - the tour will include a few more stops & the group will be a little larger, all of which spells out = awesome. Sign up in the August meet thread if you haven't already. The full schedule will be confirmed soon, but the ticket prices will be very affordable and it'll be money well spent.
There was a tube strike in London yesterday, but somehow I dodged it and waltzed in with no trouble at all. When others started arriving I heard quite a range of colourful stories about their journeys in, which made me feel guilty! Roja Dove said: "That means you'll have a hellish journey home", but his prediction didn't come true. Maybe I had some credit in the karma bank?
The library room where the talk took place was opulently decorated; Roja and his assistant Shimon had arranged all manner of treasures around it, which were used as props during the session. One of the new candles from Roja's own range was burning and the room was filled with its scent. In a way, a little distracting from all the other sniffing, I thought, but soon I was too engrossed to notice.
If anyone's read his book, you'll get an idea of the type of things that he talked about. He was a confident, charismatic and flamboyant presenter. A little afraid of what "us bloggers" might say afterwards, it seemed, but that only served to add a certain endearing quality to his style.
We had the privilege of experiencing some of the rarest perfumes in the world, seeing antique Guerlain bottles and rubbing bits of myrrh and olibanum between our palms. Roja also introduced us to his own range - his semi-bespoke scents are all good. My favourites were #4 and #5 (and I'm sure others will chime in with theirs, especially you, Miss Crotch!
).Roja's goodiebags contained one of his new candles and a brochure for his Haute Parfumerie.
The lunch was extremely tasty, but rushed because the talk over-ran. We skipped pudding (!) in order to rush to Ormonde Jayne where they'd thoughtfully provided champagne truffles and champagne to make up for the lost chocolate cake.
This was the first time I had the pleasure of smelling Ormonde's range and after having given it some thought, the only way I could summarise how the collection feels is by comparing it to art: where Serge Lutens is rich, thick oil painting with visible brush strokes (but beautiful, detailed brushwork) and L'Artisan is watercolours (sometimes vibrant, sometimes muted, but always translucent), Ormonde Jayne is painstakingly airbrushed and edited until you don't see any seams and it's just so darn nice and rounded and sophisticated that you either fall head over heels with love - OR - nod appreciatively, but get left a little cold. I guess there is a middle ground; I'm hovering somewhere there right now. I liked the smell of everything from the range, but only a couple of the scents seemed to sing at me. I tried some on my skin, seduced by the top notes, but within a few minutes they mellowed out in a terribly polite and soft manner. I make that sound like a negative, which is ridiculous, but I think it's more about the psychology of what I already own and what I might now be looking for.
IF I didn't already own some easy-to-wear scents, I think I'd feel more tempted. Anyway. Jury is still out; I have the full sample set to sniff now (lovely value I thought at £35; would make the perfect perfumed gift). Can't wait to give each scent the time it deserves and review them all.
In any case, this is a range that every perfumista should try out. There is a definite plus there - I didn't feel a dud existed. Soirdelune and I had a giggle in the corner because we were drawing comparisons between mainstream scents and some of OJ's. Tolu = a soft version of Obsession for Men. And so on. Ormonde Woman seems to have elements of Tocade, but, blasphemously, I prefer it to Tocade. Ormonde is not as sweet and not as sour; it's, well, easier to wear.
Ormonde Jayne provided lovely goodiebags; a full-sized shower gel, sample of OW and a mini catalogue.
At Floris, we had a personable and warm talk by Shelagh Foyle, the resident consultant perfumer to the house (and I had a giddy moment when she recognised me from the British Perfumers Symposium the other week). We got to view old ledgers with names of royalty, celebrities and politicians, sniffed & got a sample of Madonna of the Almonds, which was created to go with a book about the birth of Amaretto di Saronno. We had a fun debate about the brand's current packaging, versus its traditional image and it seems that they're at least thinking about how to appeal to the younger consumer and may be developing some new scents and branding to go along with that. Sheilagh let us sniff one of her stripped-down vanilla accords and it was a lovely, boozy Baileys/Tia Maria/Tiramisu-experience. The gem from this house: you can have a semi-bespoke perfume consultation for 90 minutes for only £100 and get a customised fragrance of your own to take away. I did a similar thing with Pecksniffs of Brighton a few years ago (back when their service used to cost £150 - it's over £200 now I think). Even though I'm involved in the industry, I'm still considering it. What a treat it would be!
I bailed out after Floris because I wanted to meet up with my husband and catch the same train home
Grant and Dani are wonderful and I admire them so much for their entrepreneurial spirit, for being so down-to-earth and smart at the same time. They had the kids in tow, but it was not the slightest bit inconvenient for us. Just felt sorry for the parent-slash-business-people for having to wear both of their hats at the same time!
VM I hate civet and Soirdelune were both so articulate, intelligent and classically beautiful (kept imagining VM as a novelist or a reporter, accepting some award or another and Soirdelune as an escapee from a Jane Austen novel). And so funny! I felt so lucky to spend any time whatsoever with them (kind of felt that under other circumstances, they'd have been the cool, professional women in one table, occasionally glancing at the red-headed, garish bimbo in another!).
Also met some other people who are lurking, but not posting (post, post!) and a charming and eccentric aromatherapist who lives a sort of double life between Grasse and London.
Today, I headed back to London for some other business, but spent a couple of wonderful hours rifling through, what I now have decided to call, The Best Street In London: Marylebone High Street. On the same stretch, you have:
- Fresh
- Cologne and Cotton (an adorable boutique with things you might imagine based on the name, but the cologne part is surprisingly impressive, with brands such as Fragonard, Molinard, D'Orsay, Coudray, Rosine, Annick Goutal and more. I bought some cute earrings and a present for my expectant best friend - a fluffy hedgehog toy, but honestly, I could have spent a fortune in there if I'd had a fortune to spend. I particularly enjoyed the old-fashioned charm of Coudray and have decided that one day I'll get Musc et Freesia EDT as well as the luxurious tub of body cream).
- Aveda salon/shop
- Neil's Yard Remedies
- Space NK (make up, skincare, perfume)
- L'Artisan
- Ortigia
- Diptyque. Had a very long chat with the SAs here; am impressed by their loyalty to the brand, by their pleasant manner and excellent level of customer service & growing more and more appreciative of this house's scents - new loves: Ofrésia (the clever clogs among you may spot an emerging theme) and Eau Lente.
- The Apartment (a saucy lingerie shop that also happens to stock Etat Libre! Today I've discovered that according to Etat Libre-ology I'm a hotel slut).
There is also Paul's bakery and a Pizza Express on Marylebone High Street. Seriously: am yet to find a more perfect line-up
So, overall, I've had two days of perfume heaven & feel excited about the scents I've tried and look forward to spending more time with some of them.
Looking forward to August very much - the tour will include a few more stops & the group will be a little larger, all of which spells out = awesome. Sign up in the August meet thread if you haven't already. The full schedule will be confirmed soon, but the ticket prices will be very affordable and it'll be money well spent.
