Ta'if by Ormonde Jayne

My last post was about rose tea, and I've decided that my next posts should be about my favourite rose flavoured or rose scented products. I mentioned in my first post that I'm keen to write about many of the Ormonde Jayne perfumes created by a wonderful perfumer called Linda Pilkington. Ta'if is one of my favourites and is centered around rose. It already has a special place in my heart as I wore it on my graduation day.

Ta'if is named after the Saudi Arabian town famous for its centuries-old cultivation of a species of damask rose. Rising over 2000 meters above the Red Sea, it evokes a romantic image of lush fragrant roses overlooking the Arabian desert. The image is seeped in history and romantic mysticism of another world. This is how I experience this perfume. It is terribly romantic but also has a dark side, possessing some mystery and a touch of the seductress in its composition. I find it sensual and teasing but also sophisticated and regal. Perhaps it sounds like a strange perfume choice for a graduation but I find it fitting for most occasions, even the most serious, as the side that seduces is very subtle and fleeting and is only particularly noticeable very close to my skin.

Image from: here

 

Despite what its name might suggest, Ta'if is not a soliflore (a fragrance replicating the scent of a single flower). It has fruitness and spiciness within it, and the perfume would probably be defined as a floriental. Instead, it is a perfume that in my mind creates a rich, opulent world of the past, an exotic world of abundant spices and fragrant flowers, a world of ladies beautifully clad in gold and in flowing silks. A mysterious world that is so sensual it almost intoxicates.

In the first moments after spraying Ta'if onto myself, I sense a fresh green scent that is peachy and peppery. I notice a sparkling rose peek out delicately at times, almost as if it is playing a seductive hide-and-seek within the perfume. Once the greeness has faded a way a little, the sweetness of dates and oranges greet my nose in a cloud of oriental spices and sweetmeats. It's almost gourmand but not quite, it is so well balanced and is paired beautifully with the rose that seems to bloom and become more bold as it develops.

The Ormonde Jayne website describes the notes in the perfume as:

Top: pink pepper, saffron and dates
Heart: rose oil, freesia, orange flower absolute and jasmine
Base: broom and amber 

Unfortunately I'm too much of an amateur when it comes to perfumes to fully appreciate what broom or amber described as the basenotes is, but what I am able to sense once the wonderful sweet-floral-spicy seduction has calmed down is a warm golden woody scent, perhaps a touch a vanilla and something slightly sensual, a little musky something.

It is a truly wonderful fragrance. One day, I will definitely own a bottle of Ta'if. Hopefully sooner rather than later as I am dangerously coming close to the last drops of it in the small vial I possess. This 2ml vial was from a discovery set that can be bought from Ormonde Jayne. It is a fantastic sample set as it contains all 12 of the perfumes created by this fantastic perfume house. I highly highly recommend it to anyone who loves perfumes. I'll certainly be writing much more about my favourites from the set.

The set can be bought online from the Ormonde Jayne Website or in person in one of the boutiques. I visited the boutique in Mayfair (12 The Royal Arcade, Old Bond Street) when I bought my bottle of Frangipani perfume which I wore on my wedding day.