Linda Pilkington of Ormonde Jayne: "I'll never reformulate or discontinue" (the 2nd part)

Continuing on our chat with Linda Pilkington of Ormonde Jayne (if you missed Part 1 you can read it here), I am again reminded of how the fragrance industry is in many ways both shaped and detached from the complaints of consumers. It's all very well when we (the blogosphere, the perfume aficionados, the forum participants, the fragrance writers among us) say that companies should pay attention to what we say because we're the ones who buy a LOT of product and we're repeat customers, but what happens in the specific and intricate interaction between manufacturer and consumer on a practical level? For this second part of our interview with the founder of niche British brand Ormonde Jayne, this was our objective.

Elena Vosnaki: Linda, we talked a lot about the new service you provide in your stores, the Perfume Portraits profiling, but what happens with your "market", so to speak? I know you're a small company and was wondering if the profiling has given you more insights into the kind of customers you attract, about their statistical data which might be used in your marketing schedules further on.

Linda Pilkington: Actually this is more difficult to answer than it seems. It's true that tastes and patterns emerge during the profiling service, yet I notice big differences in the segmentation of our own market depending on where the customers come to. Let me explain: We have both our boutique at the Royal Arcade and a space at Harrod's. It's fascinating to me that the clientele that shops at those two spots is completely different.

EV: Different, in what regard?

LP: Different in that they have different shopping habits and go for different scents out of our catalogue. To give an example, Sampaquita is our lowest seller in our boutique (ranking at #12), while it's the 2nd best-selling Ormonde Jayne fragrance at Harrods! A similar phenomenon is witnessed with our masculine Isfarkand.

EV: Very interesting from a luxury business point of view! What accounts for that chasm in your opinion?

LP: Let's see...I think the clients who know us from the Royal Arcade boutique have been with us for years and we have created a bond, so they trust our guidance. The area [Ed. note: It's in Mayfair, W1] is well to do, quite old-fashioned and therefore there's a good service tradition. The customers are treated with the utmost respect, we listen and we gently guide. For instance, I would never allow my staff to say "oh but you're wrong" to a customer like it's sometimes heard at department stores. It's not the same thing as "mistaken", not at all! Some sales people elsewhere don't get it, but it's downright rude! At Harrods on the other hand, although I insist on customer service, it's a different demographic. The crowd hanging there are often tourists and less "dedicated" perfume shoppers, therefore there is a wider margin for more easily acceptable compositions.

EV: Speaking of Harrods, how was that market move conceived and planned? Let us into your market scheduling a bit. Upon first being told you'd be carried at Harrods I had a light-bulb popping in my head "hey, they're going to be at the Haute Parfumerie at the Urban Retreat!" [ed.note: That's the Roja Dove parfumery hall full of classics and niche]. But it turns out you're in the heavy-duty perfume department of Harrods instead.

LP: It's not an either or situation. It evolved through a need on the part of Harrods themselves. I love Roja Dove's perfume hall, he's got an amazing collection there, but the offer was made by Harrods because they wanted to inject a couple of niche lines into their perfume sector on the ground floor. So there we are!

EV: Fab, should make perfume shopping at Harrods all the more fun! Now how about expanding into other markets. Is there any plan for the US? Our American readers are on pins and needles about this!

LP: I can certainly sympathise. You know, 60% of our sales are from American clients. That's a huge part, taking into account we're not located anywhere in the US. I attribute it to our standards and the word-of-mouth, along with our mailing system that allows customers from all over the world to order online. Even though we have a Dubai spot, an America-soil boutique is just not in the cards. But to give you an exclusive, I'm revealing we're looking into forging some bond ~if all goes well~ with US distributors at the end of 2010 or in 2011. We'll see...

EV: So what is Ormonde Jayne planning, apart from this new sitribution, for the future? Launching a new perfume next year? Tiare has been received with enthusiasm and almost inebriated panygerics (that's from me) so you're on a roll obviously! *laughing*

LP: Oh, no, no, I don't really plan to issue any new stuff for the next couple of years! I want to focus on how to smell, how to aid people to smell better, more productively and this is what we're doing with the Perfume Portraits right now.

EV: Which brings me to another issue I had been meaning to address: Do you believe that people have the necessary means to convey their scent impressions in tangible terms? I often sense during consulting and interviewing folks for projects that they seem a bit lost for words...

LP: "Lost for words". Indeed! Some people just have a natural talent in describing perfumes. But it's also a cultivated ability and this is what we're aiming at. Because there is no specific vocabulary conceived on smell, we often borrow from other senses or from other subjects, for instance from the sense of touch (a soft or rough fragrance), from vision (shiny, dark, light), from music (the notes, the high or low pitch of the perfume, whether it's deep or not) etc. It's difficult but worth it. In that regard there has been an amazing boom after 2000 thanks to the Internet, there have also been much more talk about scent and smell in the press (particularly in the English-speaking press); it's all been very positive about our business. \

EV: Is it only positive though? I am thinking that this new medium is also opening up Aeolus's flask! Can an internet writer or forum participant cause harm too?

LP: Oh, definitely! In fact the Internet can become a rather scary place too sometimes. The power of the quickly transmitted word is huge, especially now that Facebook and Twitter and social services platforms have become so popular, not to mention blogging. Let me illustrate with a peripheral example: There was an episode that was reported by India Knight, the Sunday Times columnist, about a woman who went to watch a live stand-up comedy performance by a Scottish comedian [ed.note: Frankie Boyle] . A mother [Sharon Smith] watched the show where he made jokes pertaining to people with Down's Syndrome and her being a mother of one, she became increasingly uncofortable, exchanging some hushed comments with her husband. But the comedian was annoyed by the talking and he approached her and asked why they were talking during his show, upon which she blurted out it wasn't a funny matter. He joked it was the most excruciating moment of his career, but then said they had paid to come and see him, they knew his harsh style so what should they expect? The mother clarified it was her own upset and she was discussing it privately with her husband, not him. The comedian quipped it was the last tour ever and that he didn’t give a f*ck! But that's not the end of it: The woman came home and actually blogged about it, she tweeted addressing India Knight and then it was all over the news and people were talking about it for days! It was scary in a way, how it spread so fast, all off a comment off the stage!
So, to revert to our fragrance world, companies are scared of the uncensored word online, of bloggers especially because they're so quick and opinionated and thus they're trying to exert or gain some sort of control back again.

EV: Upset because of what is being written: We'd come to that, wouldn't we. I'm grabbing the chance to correlate it to something that's being bothering me. There is a lot of talk about how IFRA and regulatory bodies are acting for the protection of the consumer, but in fact it's more out of fear of endless litigation resulting in time and money-costing law suits. Another restraining of one's free choice & free speech in the name of something else.

LP: There are LOTS of law suits apparently of people accusing products of causing allergies, triggering asthma attacks etc. I think there isn't much sense in regulating essences such as lime unless there is some fear of the law suits. Big companies have actually more to lose, as these law suits go on for years.

EV: Right! And I'm asking you, even though I shouldn't perhaps, out of tact, but since there is this scare going on and all major companies are reformulating right and left, how do you react to this? Have you had anything reformulated? Are you discontinuing something because of the new regulations? Or low sales, even?

LP: No, we haven't reformulated anything. I never will. Nor discontinue any in our fragrance rotation. We have 12 fragrances now and I absolutely love each and every one of them. I don't want to make any changes!

EV: So what happens if someone comes and asks about risk of allergies etc?

LP: I say "If you think madame that it might be give you any risk of an allergic reaction, it would be best if you didn't buy this perfume". We talk over some of the ingredients (if the customer knows about any specific trigger or if we think there might be some) and I say "just don't buy it". In the end, I don't give a f*ck if they buy or not, as long as we're stand our ground and do not mislead. *laughing*

EV: I'm sure there are lots of perfume enthusiasts who appreciate your stance a lot! Linda, it's been an utter pleasure talking to you once again and I thank you on behalf of myself and the readers of the Perfume Shrine.

LP: Thanks a lot as well, Elena.

Related reading on Perfume Shrine: Ormonde Jayne news & reviews

Paintings by Joël Rougié, Les Filles d'Automne, Le grenier aux souvenirs et Une Fille aux fleurs jaunes.

Linda Pilkington of Ormonde Jayne: "People Should Stop Making More Perfumes!"

There are perfume lines which have a level of quality that is consistent, the hallmark of attentive planning and meticulous care to the last detail. In the case of Ormonde Jayne, it's a case of cherchez la femme, or in other words Linda Pilkington, its founder and soul. Personally I consider Linda a friend by now: Not only have we over the years gone over our children's respective routines, laughing at the little things, as well as our womanly preoccupation with meeting the many roles modern women are expected to fulfill, but there is also a special pleasure in exchanging news and chatting on developments in the fragrant industry which rises beyond the "saving face" methods of most perfumery owners. Linda, despite her ladylike manner and her pretty petite physique, doesn't mince her words and that's a refreshing quality to find amidst a world that is immersed into producing and selling a sanitized fantasy.
The stepping stone for our conversation I'm transcribing for you here has been a new service that is offered at her own brick & mortar boutique and the new corner at Harrods, called "Perfume Portraits", but it evolved into so much more... so I am breaking it up in two parts (Part 2 will be up next week).
I hope you will enjoy it as much as we both did!

Elena Vosnaki: Linda, it's with much interest that I learned you're offering a new service to your clients. How does Perfume Portraits work and why is it different than other consultations?

Linda Pilkington: Perfume Portraits is a quick profiling process offered at our stores by specially trained staff, aiming to guide the clients through not only the portfolio of Ormonde Jayne fragrances, but through the building blocks of the scents, the raw materials composing them. This is a lot different than asking the client their formed preferences, because it allows them to converse with the materials themselves rather than the finished products and encourages a gut response that aims at the subconscious rather than an intellectualised "fabricated" reaction. I have too often seen people coming into the shop thinking they'd go for some genre, only to discover they completely went against type. The most surprising case involved a gentleman (we have lots of male customers) who was very butch, the biker type with the helmet, the Perfecto jacket and the boots and all, he looked very masculine, very virile and acted the part and when we actually sat down to do his Perfume Portrait I found out he loved white flowers! Feminine, lush, delicious flowers, like orange blossom, jasmine, freesia, things like that. He caught me by complete surprise! In the end he went his merry way having bought Champaca, our rice-steam & flowers perfume, which to him was utter bliss.

EV: Haha!! Love this! More anecdotes to share?

LP: Another gentleman was very hard to "crack": He was so silent, the quiet type; not easy to pigeonhole at all. But you see, Perfume Portraits just requires to respond with a "yes", a "no" or "maybe" to the essences presented for sniffing so it's non dependent on a specific vocabulary, which can be intimidating to the non initiated. Not every one of our clients is a perfumista, but they're discerning and they do want to find something they will really love.
The most baffling case was a lady who came into the shop, sniffed all the seperate essences and didn't like any of them! Exasperated, we had to ask "what do you like to wear then?" She explained she used to get vanilla extract for cooking and put that behind her ears! But she wanted to find something more sophisticated. So we tried to introduce her to a sweet scent, with an element of what she liked, but considerably notched up; we offered Ta'if, our saffron and roses combination which includes sweet dates that would appeal. She liked it a lot and got a bottle, but the most extraordinary thing is how much her husband enjoyed it! He mailed us a while later to let us know he loved the smell and welcomed the change! That's a case of a successful turn-around we're proud of.

EV: It definitely is! Any "naughty" stories while doing the consultations?

LP: Ah Elena, I could tell you hundreds! Are your readers up to them?

EV: I think so!

LP: Well, then, there's one: There was someone who was going through the essences and the oils we offer; there's a cluster of 21 raw materials, three from each of 7 families (hesperidic, light floral, intense floral, balsamic, oriental, woody and atmospheric). So stumbling upon one, I was surprised to hear "it smells like when you touch yourself". But you know what, it was the right impression. It did smell like that! And I didn't perceive any aversion on their part in saying so, so I felt comfortable to proceed. So you see, there's a lot to the process of finding out preferred smells, it's not always just going for the pretty smells.

EV: So, do you think that there is some correlation between how attuned someone is to smells in general (pretty and non pretty, in perfumes or in everyday life) and how much they're into perfumes?

LP: Definitely! I'd go further and say that people who are into smells are more sensuous on the whole. They embrace the sensations brought on to their senses by stimuli from other activities, such as cooking, gardening, pampering themselves with beautiful frabrics or even sex, and they're therefore more receptive to perfumes.

EV: This is what we have been empirically commenting on, online on the perfume fora, comparing notes, so to speak, on how many of us are into cooking, appreciating fashions on a tactile level, the arts etc. Now, please let us know about the procedure itself. And please define what constitutes the "atmospheric" family of essences you mentioned!

LP: I made up the term "atmospheric" for oils that have an effervescence to them, an unusual sparkle, such as those entering Isfarkand and Zizan. It's a fantasy term!
Seated at a bespoke testing table, trained staff take notes about the client’s likes and dislikes, favourite perfumes and other aromas. The customer is then invited to smell three raw ingredients from 7 different families. At this stage the client is only asked to say if they like the aroma or not, and not to try to relate the scent to a perfume they might wear. This segment takes all but 6 minutes, because we don't want to overload the client, but to bring out gut responses, letting personal taste be guided by the mind’s limitless scope to decipher the aromas around. When that's done, two or three Ormonde Jayne perfumes that may suit by summarizing the favoured oils are recommended. Again, the favoured perfumes are presented on a second collection of black and gold ceramic stones. The client will then choose the perfume they like best. Sometimes this could be two or three perfumes and the chosen perfume is finally sprayed onto the wrists.
We also take notes on other preferences, if they prefer to take baths or showers, if they like oil of cream consistency best, their habits, who served them at the shop, what they bought if they bought anything, alongside a telephone number. This is all filed in a personalised card so that it's always available to the client for reference. You'd be surprised at how many husbands walk through the door meaning to get their wife a gift and don't know what her favourite fragrance is! But also how many clients bought something, they need to replenish, but in the interim have forgotten the name!

EV: I assume they throw out the bottles? But tell me, why are ingredients presented on ceramic and not on blotters or sprayed in the air (under some form of tincture or dilution, naturally, when technically feasible)?

LP: Well, another reason behind the Perfume Portraits consultation was that we wanted to eliminate the congested atmosphere in our shops. We have 12 fragrances in our line now. For a client to go through them all it would be asphyxiating, not to mention very confusing, to spray each and every one of them in rapid succession. Have you noticed how when you enter a perfume hall you're greeted by the scented air hanging over from previous customers testing? Even in the first hours after opening. There are just too many perfumes around! I think people should just stop making more perfumes. Give it a rest for a while!

EV: "People should stop making more perfumes": Now, there's a quote! Especially coming from someone in the business who has a lucrative brand. Linda, explain yourself, darling!

LP: There are just too many perfumes overall. Pressure to issue new things all the time, at least in the mainstream sector. At Ormonde Jayne, which is a thoughourly niche brand, we're free to operate at the beat of our own drum. Why rush to bring out a new one? There's no reason to!

EV: But aren't you interested in taking advantage of the new techniques and materials which as they emerge dictate trends? I'm thinking about the many magnolia-focused fragrances we've seen, or the resurgence of tuberose recently in so many niche releases, accountable to new supplies and methods of rendering.

LP: I'm not bound by trends! I'm simply not interested in trends! Of course it's natural that "trends" are formed through the options of new suppliers or new techniques of extraction of oils which de facto interests perfumers. But that doesn't mean one has to have a new fragrance out because of that. Magnolia, which incidentally is a favorite flower and note of mine, is already highlighted in our fragrances. I just don't see the need...

To be continued...
In Part 2 Linda Pilkington talks about the market and some intriguing little-known facts about luxury clients vs. mainstream clients, her plans for Ormonde Jayne for the future both in the UK and in the US, and the surprising & scary power of the Internet.


Paintings by Joël Rougié "Les Demoiselles aux Fleurs Jaunes" and "Les Ballerines"

Ormonde Jayne Ormonde Woman: fragrance review

"The Chevalier stops, dazzled, at the door: the mirrors covering all the walls multiply their reflections in such a way that suddenly an endless procession of couples are embracing all around them". ~Slowness, Milan Kundera

If you asked me how I knew that the initially named "Ormonde" would be one of my favourites in the Ormonde Jayne line, then I'd tell you that having sampled the lot of them, its languid decay and bittersweet melancholy stood out in my mind for weeks to come and all of a sudden I realised I had to have it! Its dichotomy startled me: Was it dicepherable as that rare genus of a dry woody originally aimed at women (yet men are welcome to borrow) or was it a Sibyllic opaque alloy of contradictions? Ormonde Woman exemplifies admirably what Chandler Burr described: "Ormonde Jayne has created a collection that possesses the quality I most value in perfume: a wonderful and mesmerising strangeness". Pretty, beloved notes take on a grotesque façade that makes them appear convulted in the most arresting way, like figures seen in profile at the mirrors chamber of some far away fun fair through the convulted lens of David Lynch.

A peppery green whisper of Ormonde Woman on a summer day makes me appreciate its haunting, eerie beauty even more, reeling me from the dreary conventionality of mainstream releases into a subtly wicked fairytale. Though woody fragrances are typically pigeonholed in the cooler season, I like to bring out the most understated among them for reveling in their sophisticated embrace even on the sunniest of days. Brooding claustrophobia where no sunlight can penetrate seems to engulf you when woody fragrances unfold in the snow and sleat, and yet wait and luminosity cuts through the enchanted cobwebs, making them sparkle like jewels when cast under the bright morning sun.

The rooty, piney and spicy opening of wet earth and sinister anthropomorphic grasses mingles with a sweet, almost licorice-like violet delicacy in Ormonde Woman's heart, uplifting the composition into a sophisticated enigma; one which cannot be dissected into sexual temptation and loss of innocence, yet one feels they're all there, under the trampled leaves like a not-so-innocent adult Red Riding Hood who strayed off the path to become a she-wolf. The poison cup offered comes in the dangerous guise of black hemlock absolute, a rare essence that the founder Linda Pilkington utilises in rarely foreseen quantities to concoct just the right hypnotic spell. A tireless traveller, Linda has fostered relationships with growers all over the world from Laos and the Philippines to Morocco and France, gaining her remarkable access to the most unusual exotic oils. The drydown of Ormonde Woman bears facets of a dry, non-sweet amber that peters out inivisibly. Fabric Magazine said it well: "Her signature scent Ormonde Woman made from black hemlock is a real femme fatale, all black feathers, felt capes and illicit affairs"

Notes for Ormonde Jayne Ormonde Woman: cardamom, coriander, grass oil, black hemlock, violet, jasmine absolute, vetiver, cedar wood, amber, and sandalwood.

Ormonde Woman can be purchased directly from the official Ormonde Jayne website or at their London boutique.

For our readers an amazing offer: Mail sales@ormondejayne.com with "Perfume Shrine Ormonde Woman" in the title to receive 200 complimentary deluxe samples of Ormonde Woman! The 201st person will get an Ormonde Woman Bathing Beauty Gift Box!!

Clarification after a question to OJ: The new packaging in the square rather than oblong bottle has been raised in price due to costs involved: the costs of essence oils have risen, the caps are in glass instead of plastic and the whole presentation has become even more luxurious!

Related reading on Perfume Shrine: Ormonde Jayne news, interviews and reviews

Painting Anansi & death by Johanna Uhrman via jonnakonna.com
Mirror picture via guardian.co.uk

The elusive Seraphim by Ormonde Jayne: the What, the How and the Why

Today I am trying to disentangle the thread of the elusive Seraphim by Ormonde Jayne and to clear misunderstandings: surely such an elusive fragrance should have something important to say instead of putting question-marks all over the place. Surely some segments of additional info could surface and on occassion of my conversation with perfumer and founder of Ormonde Jayne, Linda Pilkington, I set out to shed light indeed into the mysterious web of luxury and exclusivity that Seraphim has weaved.

Seraphim was developed for the art concept store 20 ltd , a design house with pieces from famous and upcoming designers such as jewler Solange Azagury Patridge (of the modern demi-chypre Cosmic) and fine art photography. Seraphim, the fragrance by Ormonde Jayne was issued in 2007 in only 50 bottles: the lucky club of owners would be allowed to get refills from Ormonde Jayne (for £270), but that would be it! The bottle, with its beautiful abstract design and its antique gold ribbon around the neck, rests in a box lined with black velvet whose outercase is hued matte gold.
The price tag at the awe-inspiring £450 for the original 50 ml bottle (about €628) is probably enough to deter a blind purchase. And yet the uncompromising attention to quality standards that Linda keeps makes one daydream and wonder...

But why the elitist approach in the first place? Linda was gracious enough to reply in detail: "Ormonde Jayne has many customers that have ordered bespoke scents over the last decade, individual clients who want their own perfume, as well as clients such as Anouska Hempel and Chanel who have commissioned exclusive scented candles or perfume for a special event. As a perfume house, "exclusive" ends up being inevitable at some point, although the vast majority of our work is for the Ormonde Jayne boutique. Also, we saw it as a good opportunity to introduce Ormonde Jayne to an international market, and perfume lovers that might not be familiar with Ormonde Jayne".

Since this explains the exclusivity clause better than any hypothesis on our part, my next question inevitably centered on the price tag. "It was a commission for 20Ltd and my sole duty was to create the perfume and design a bottle and box that was different to the rest of the Ormonde Jayne brand. The price for Seraphim was decided by 20 Ltd, but there were three factors that made it much more expensive: The first was the actual formulation, ingredients like Iris are very expensive. The second was the very small run - just 50 bottles. As the look of the bottle had to be different from the Ormonde Jayne range, we needed to pay for the services of two different brand designers - one for the bottle itself, and one for the box. This involved sourcing velvets and new papers and producing the actual bottle. Now these are the sort of costs which if you are producing a few thousand balance out, but if you are only making 50 bottles, it makes the unit price shoot up. 20Ltd took it from there and were entirely responsible for the next stages, including marketing and advertising. They set the price and they received the money. It wasn't my duty to advertise it all and this is why it doesn't appear on the Ormonde Jayne site".

Which brings me to my last tentative question: who bought it? "I am under the impression that a small percentage of the clients were the perfumistas of the world, however I believe that most of the perfume was sold to the client list of 20 Ltd."

At this point dear readers you would be dying to know my impressions of it. Wish I could give you that pleasure, but I am lamentably not in a position to do so. Perhaps someone of you will reveal that they are! For those of you who are simply curious or toying with the idea of investing, you can see and order the fragrance clicking on the 20ltd page

Notes for Seraphim:
Head notes: (Fresh flowery notes) Bergamot, Rosewood, Ylang Ylang
Heart notes:(Powdery) Rose, Violets, Iris
Soul notes: (Sensual) Musk, Amber, Madagascan Vanilla, Coumarin

Pic through 20ltd

Interview with a Perfumer: Linda Pilkington of Ormonde Jayne

Talking to the woman behind the heady array of exquisite scents circulating under the brand name Ormonde Jayne proved to be not only deeply stimulating but also utterly delightful. Linda Pilkington has the well-bred, kind voice that matches her tiny attractive physique and her romantically auburn hair and she has all the charisma of someone who is pursuing her high standards with conviction and confidence in pursuit of elegance and quality. Becoming a mother for the second time recently, she radiates the warmth and –dare I say- the slight panic that such a position unavoidably entails, yet her generosity with her time was enslaving. Her honesty is palpable as she admits to me that all this attention from the Internet community is something new and exciting to her, as she has been so late in computerizing her business (only about 2 years ago) which retains the artisanal character that has helped made it a sensational underground success. “We learned the hard and slow way”, she laughs heartily. Indeed her reception of the Internet perfume community boom has been one big surprise, as she reflects when asked her opinion on how the market has changed in the last few years thanks to online criticism and discussion: “There I was making the first tentative batches of Orris Noir and a lady came into my shop and tried it on herself. She loved it and then went on to Makeup Alley and talked about it, how it was so wonderful and very new. At the time I knew nothing about this. Soon after I was getting calls asking about the new scent and I was going crazy: 'But how did they know? It hasn’t been featured anywhere yet!' It was only later that people began to tell me my fragrances were talked about online and I became aware of how truly changed the market has become”.

So, why Ormonde Jayne? Linda explained to me that “Ormonde Studio has been my first laboratory’s name and when I thought about creating my own boutique 6 years ago I found it rather daunting to have to go into a shop that bore my own name on the ledge every single day. So I picked Ormonde and Jayne which is my surname and thus emerged Ormonde Jayne”. This is such a British attitude, that my Mediterranean ears have a difficult time grasping, especially when looking at Ormonde Jayne’s revamped boutique look, fascinated by the vibrancy and the drama: Black glass chandeliers hang decadently from the ceiling, while the ivory stone floors welcome the weary traveler into a haven of luxury contrasting beautifully with the black shagreen perfume boxes in mandarin-colored packaging, tied with black satin ribbons. And if you’re tempted to look in the hidden drawers, little treasures shall reward your curiosity. The Ormonde Jayne store features wonderful candles and bath products, one of which is the indulgent Parfum d’Or Naturel (a gel-like mix of natural sugars, oils and finely milled gold leaf), as well as traditional extrait de parfum and parfum concentrations. Indeed Linda was first noticed for her intensely fragrant candles, a faithful client of which is Annouska Hempel who uses them for both her home and her hotels. Her first commission on such a candle came from another house, namely Chanel, through a long-time friend who wanted a candle to burn in their boutique interiors. This got her noticed, as she was previously working at Nihon Noyaku, a London-based agrichemical company and soon after the vision of her own business started materializing.

Going now through my notes kept during our conversation I can’t help thinking that her dedication to traditional values translated in a modern way is exactly what is needed in an oversaturated market. I was eager to find out how she positioned herself as almost everyone is doing their own version of niche now. She quickly elucidated that “Although there are lines with products that have a very limited distribution, such as Armani (Privé) and Prada (exclusive blends), they mainly work from a marketer’s angle, especially since they have to ultimately answer to big conglomerates. We, on the other hand, place 95% of our budget in the ingredients; there is only one person, Sarah, doing our marketing. I don’t have my hands handcuffed by accountants who want to produce something to please everybody and thus we can also use more exotic raw materials. And because we’re such a small company we have no problem locating small-yield, erratic supplies of rare and unusual oils, such as the black hemlock which we get from a Canadian supplier. We are therefore able to use 3 to 4 kilo of compound for 150 bottles (25% essences in Eau de Parfum and 30% in extrait), where for the same amount of oils bigger companies {she names a huge one here which I won’t repeat} produce millions of bottles! This makes a great difference in the finished product’s quality. Some people laughed when they heard we used black hemlock for our signature perfume Ormonde Woman ~but that’s the secret of our success: daring to go where no other perfumer has gone before”. A tireless traveler, Linda has fostered relationships with growers all over the globe from Laos, Madagascar and the Philippines to Morocco and France, gaining her remarkable access to the most exquisite oils. Ormonde Woman, whose fans include broadcaster Susan Hitch, features black hemlock: a femme fatale ~ black feathers, felt capes and illicit affairs aplenty. Tai’f is the combination of rose with precious saffron, dates and luxurious orange blossom absolute while Osmanthus features the precious absolute and doesn’t merely claim it as a “note”. Tolu featuring real civet tincture in a market full of the ersatz ~as does Orris Noir as well~ is an amalgam of animalic warmth and come-hither radiance.

This brings us to the perennial discussion of how tastes and perceptions shape our choices: “We don’t always reveal everything, because ladies buying fragrance might not like knowing that [civet] is the animal’s anal glands’ produce that we put in the mix, but the effect is there. Some materials are not used for their own smell per se, but as a way to open the bouquet, to let it gain in depth and texture, like with wine”. To the question of whether the mainstream cult of “clean” or the resulting antipode niche snobbism of embracing “dirty” notes has affected her vision, she does not have an answer: she strikes me as someone who doesn’t even let herself be influenced by trends and she tries not to smell the competition, so as to keep her integrity as much as possible.

Origins and background play a big role in our olfactory profile. Linda’s interest in smells has been active since childhood: she used to gather herbs and oils from around the world, growing flowers from seed and collecting perfumes, some from big houses like Guerlain or Dior: one of her favorite combinations a long-time ago was layering Eau Sauvage with Diorella, two of Roudnitska’s cool masterpieces, making her “feel extremely sophisticated”. Little by little her interest took a more formal path, engaging in one-to-one tuition in perfumery and collaborating with a German perfumer by the name of Geza Schoen (of Escentric Molecules), whom she met years ago through their combined love of Iso-E Super, an aroma chemical patented by IFF which has a complex odor profile of woody, floral and ambergris notes, used as a supreme floralizer. Geza didn’t have a laboratory at the time, Linda had the equipment, so she asked him to come onboard and allowed him use of the facilities and welcomed his acting as a consultant. “He really gave me some great advice, I remember. He vetoed one note I wanted to include in Frangipani and he turned out to be right. Reversely, he OK-ed the use of pink pepper, which proved to be very successful”.

Linda was also preparing delicious chocolates and immersing herself into the world of a full-blown foodie all the while. As I also am a fellow cuisine enthusiast, I couldn’t help asking her what her favorite culinary aroma is to receive an immediate and startling in its candor answer: “It has to be basmati rice! I find it so nice, so warm, so cozy! I was living with Chinese neighbors who prepared it and the steam of it wafting through the windows smelled like coming home. So it brings me comfort...” No wonder her post-modern gourmand for serious perfumephiles is Champaca, entwined with the unusual trail of a plate of hot basmati rice steaming up. And that was before anyone even thought of putting rice notes in a fragrance! It is with some distraught that she divulges that Space NK, the mega-store of beauty owned by the Gap, has just launched a fragrance also named Champaca; which of course is rather unkind, seeing as there was already her own successful fragrance on the market. It is the way of “big fish eat small fish” again and this casts a slight gloom at this part of our conversation. I can see that it’s not possible to copyright such a generic term as “Champaca”, the name of an exotic flower, but still it leaves a bad taste in the mouth.
Another incident which aggravated her was the claim posted online that her body products had not been tested for risks of allergy, a claim that she is adamant is completely inaccurate and damagingly false although it was retracted later on in light of the facts. But this is where the responsibility of a perfume writer comes in, I guess: doing one’s research, corroborating facts, asking for data verification...

To revert to our previous, happier subject of favorite smells Linda also admits a predilection for truffles, the intensely fragrant mushrooms that have me enraptured too; their shreds on any plate give a heavenly aroma of earthy delights. “I also tremendously enjoy the deep, liquorish smell of the very green, very wet odor of a vast, dense forest, like those I walk in in Bavaria, Germany and Austria”. Another one of her favorite smells she hasn’t ingrained in her line is gardenia, her absolute favorite blossom: “The best gardenia I have ever smelled was in California during a trip. You know how Americans try to do everything bigger and better! Well, this was an amazing, envelopping smell. I know there is a very costly and limited supply of natural absolute and I have found a supplier {which I can’t divulge}, so options are open. And prepare for a new men’s fragrance which Nick Foulkes, a loyal customer and friend, is about to write on”.

But perhaps the most interesting and entertaining anecdote about the Ormonde Jayne fragrances was the following, which I leave you to savor through the witty wording of Linda Pilkington herself: “Some years ago, Tattler magazine asked us for samples of some of our fragrances for a 4-page story they were doing. It turned out they did an evaluation test featuring Dr.Luca Turin, in which he was supposed to pick his top 3 favorites out of 63 presented fragrances while blindfolded! The definition of a blind test, so he wouldn’t be influenced by brands and names. He picked up one of the Joy fragrances (I don’t recall whether it was Eau de Joy or EnJoy) and another mainstream fragrance from Guerlain. And the third one was my Frangipani! The rest-as they say- is history”.


Ormonde Jayne has been chosen by The Walpole (the trade body that represents British luxury goods brands) as one of the six Brands of Tomorrow and the masculine Isfarkand has been awarded Wallpaper’s "Best Scent". Linda Pilkington is opening a second perfumery in Dubai's shopping emporium, Boutique 1. For now Linda's fragrances are exclusively available through the Ormonde Jayne boutique at 28 Old Bond Street in the Royal Arcade, London (map image here), or through the Ormonde Jayne website.

Pics provided by Ormonde Jayne, not to be reproduced without permission.

Tolu by Ormonde Jayne: fragrance review

"What is the deeper meaning of the simple but magical expression to "smell nice"? That intangible aura emanating from the skin embraces a hint of linen, a flashing image, a caress of silk and a musical rustle, in other words a direct and powerful link with the unsaid, the unperceived, the unimagined, the impossible and the intangible."
~Dominique Rolin, La Voyageuse

Dramatic oriental fragrances often demand dramatic presence. But should you fall short on the latter, Tolu by Ormonde Jayne is providing that intense feeling that great seductive orientals usually pounce on with a friendlier manner that magically "smells nice" (and so much more!) in a very tangible sense. The first time I put this on, with nothing more glamorous in mind than a dinner à deux at home, I recall it elicited a beloved's interest in finding out what is this golden elixir which suspended time and made that moment an instant of shared passion. It was Tolu of course and ever since it has haunted my dreams: a juicy incense of an oriental, full of the feminine powers of a heroine in a Procopius tale.

Tolu by Ormonde Jayne opens with a full blast of rich, lightly spicy and ambery orange blossom that is intense, envelopping the senses into an embrace of honeyed warmth and comforting powder. The calm powdery feeling imparts a velvety sheen that becomes almost tactile, inducing you to touch and be touched. There are no other floral nuances that emerge distinctly from the composition, unless you really strain to do so. Instead this ambery heat is largely accountable to labdanum, a rich resin with a story of its own. Frankincense, the ecclesiastic incense resin, imparts a cooler touch that tempers the pronounced sweetness of the other ingredients (both Tolu balsam* and labdanum-based ambers are sweet), accounting for a fragrance on a par with great florientals such as L'heure Bleue, Bal a Versailles, Boucheron Femme or 24 Faubourg. If any of these move your heartstrings in a nostalgic melody, you should definitely try Tolu!
The marmoreal quality of these somnobulent resins is queenly and feels like the most luxurious cashmere shawl imaginable in hues of rich burgundy or shady olive.
Beautifully crafted from what smells like expensive materials, it is one of the compositions in the woods-resins family in which Linda Pilkington's good taste truly shines. In a sense this is a hark back to what proper fragrances for feminine women were all about, before the advent of sparse sketches: enhancing the womanly allure, smelling expensive and opulent, but never vulgar, presenting a round, composite formula instead of a clashing juxtaposition of fighting polar opposites for the sake of celebral intrigue. Tolu instead is very much sensed and felt rather than analysed intellectually.

Although its warm nature might seem like it is only promised to the guiles and needs of a harsh winter, Tolu has a velvety sheen that evokes smooth bronzed skin luxuriating under the veil of an aromatized body oil, not unlike Patou's long lost Chaldée; the Oil is exactly the form of choice for the summer in my mind, while the Eau de Parfum and Parfum would be wonderfully warming in the colder months.
Tolu lasts excellently on the skin inducing you to catch whiffs of it rising up from a heated decolleté all day long, well into the night.

Eau de Parfum is £58.00 for 50ml, parfum is £112.00 for 50 ml. Also available in Hydrating Bath and Shower Creme, Essential Body Oil, Replenishing Body Lotion, Scented Candle and a luxurious Gift Box in various combinations of products.
Exclusively available at Ormonde Jayne UK boutique: 12 The Royal Arcade -28 Old Bond Street, London W1S 4SL or online at Ormonde Jayne.com


Notes:
Top: Juniper berry, orange blossom, clary sage
Heart: Orchid, Moroccan rose, muguet
Base: Tolu balsam*, tonka bean, golden frankincense, amber

*Tolu balsam is a resin from a Peruvian tree from the south of the country with a sweet vanillic touch

Painting Girl with Red Hair by Fabien Perez, courtesy of paintinghere.com. Pic of bottle courtesy of OrmondeJayne.com