You know that quietly elegant woman, impeccably dressed, says the right thing all the time, and never attends a party with out a very thoughtful hostess gift? She’s the one with perfect bone structure and slimness that allows her to wear pretty much anything with an Audrey Hepburn like grace. Yeah, I am not her, but Ormonde Jayne Woman surely is.
OJW isn’t anything really unusual, except for the fact that it list black hemlock as one of the notes which sounded soo intriguing, bewitching and darkly dangerous. Gothic poison would be the words I would most associate with the percieved smell of Black Hemlock. 
Honestly, I don’t really get any of that from this perfume and feel a bit cheated when I think of what could have been. Granted, I have no idea what black hemlock smells like. For all I know it’s more chamomile and cream than it is bubble, bubble, toil and trouble, but listing the note suggests dark, dangerous black widow style seduction. But alas, like with my Madragore (Annick Goutal’s Mandrake Perfume in a purple to DIE FOR bottle. should have been deadly, bot droningly pleasant. ) dreams, it was not to be.
It begins with dried herbs and greeness. The first few wears, it was dusty grass and dried, old spices in a dirtyish cabinent that has been unattended to for awhile. Meaning, the spices had little vibrance left and have been overtaken by a larger canister of parsley. Just dried green and a tiny trace of unidentifiable wood-spice. Later it morphs into flowerpetal-flavor – - not the scent of flowers, but the taste in your mouth should you eat some edible flowers–slight silk but vegetal with woods. Usually, I got bored and forgot to notice I was wearing perfume.
Lately, I have begun to see a glimmer of what everyone raves about. Now I get very quiet spice in the opening, though it is still drowned out with the green scent wafting from a window. The florals have developed into a very soft scent of an elegant bouquet of whites in a tall vase, probably arranged at teh direction of Martha Stewart, elegant and appropriate. Woods are still present tinged with the tiniest bit of something creamier.
This seems very “just -so” to me. Well manicured buffed nails, no color. Shiny straight hair. Scarves and blazers and chardonnay. OJW possesses the certain maturity of a woman who is over asserting her sensual side, or just gave up on being bombshell and embraced her graceful and almost annoying perfection. BTW she is NEVER seen in a sweat suit or bothering with the PTA, not a suburban girl at all.
Lovely as it is, and LOVELY being the most apt word to describe it, it is definately not me. Perhaps I haven’t reached that level of maturity, or perhaps I am much to innately sensual to fall in love with OJW. WHatever the case, it’s nice to sniff from time to time as a change of pace. But, like visiting away from home, you don’t completely belong there and look forward to returning. It would, however, be more appropriate for other women in my life, and oddly, as discussed on NowSmellThis, Hermione Granger.
I have about half the sample bottle left, which I have decided to put away for awhile revisit when the mood strikes. It may not be love, but it might be an aspiration. Though I would never give up my curvy style for the gamine grace of Audrey, my figure would fight that one every step of the way. Could we be somewhat physically pre disposed to certain perfume types by our body shapes? Often we choose due to mood or who we want to become, though I do not wonder that certain perfumes appeal to people with certain natural attributes to carry them off.
notes: cardamom, coriander, grass oil, black hemlock, violet, jasmine absolute, vetiver, cedar, amber and sandalwood
