Once on you, forever with you. That’s the magic of Ormonde Jayne, an authentic and luxurious bespoke perfumery that is taking the perfumery industry by storm. The Sybarite was invited to visit Ormonde Jayne’s exclusive boutique in The Royal Arcade in Mayfair. Greeted by a wave of unique scents, the store’s wide variety of fragrances and theatrical yet inclusive layout is a delight for the senses. The scents are handmade in London with ingredients from all around the world, sourced and combined by Ormonde Jayne’s own designer, Linda Pilkington.
Linda’s interest in perfumery started as a teenager when her mother gave her her first perfume. She was instantly in love with the beauty of fragrances and since then, she has not stopped collecting small miniatures and samples from all over the world. Her strong passion for fragrances has followed Linda her whole life until she finally opened her very first boutique in London. “I didn’t plan on opening a boutique. I was making candles for Chanel and when I left the store and I was walking down this Arcade I saw a sign that said ‘to let’ and I thought, wow it would be so nice to have a boutique here. There was a phone number on the window so I phoned it and I could hear someone’s phone ringing next to me. There was a lady standing next to me, it was her boutique and I was ringing her. So we chatted and by the time I arrived home, I said to my husband: “You’ll never guess what: I’ve got a shop!”.”
The Ormonde Jayne boutique opened on 30th November 2001 in London’s Old Bond Street and since then it hasn’t ceased to amaze all visitors and loyal customers, at how unique this incredible brand is. The store is absolutely beautiful, with three complete refurbishments in its lifetime as Ormonde Jayne, but it has never lost the character that defines it. Decadent interiors, large ceilings, orange tones – sit down at the circular bar and be magically led around making your very own Ormonde Jayne scent.
From the very first moment we stepped into the boutique, Linda Pilkington embodied the Ormonde Jayne spirit and didn’t stop surprising us with her charm and delicacy. Glass of champagne in hand, sharing out chocolates and telling us all about how Ormonde Jayne came to be, Linda shared scents and stories and ensured every second at the boutique was an experience to remember.
We had the wonderful opportunity of customising our own Ormonde Jayne Signature Scent with the lovely Linda by our side. 15 unmistakable fragrances to choose from created with extraordinary ingredients including: Champaca, Black Hemlock, Sampaquita, Oudh, Basmati Rice and Ta’if Rose. What fascinated us was Linda’s knowledge of the origins of each of the ingredients, telling us stories on how she used to travel all over the world to source the most unique scents and how Ormonde Jayne was actually one of the first to use Oudh in their perfumes.
Choose your “forever” bottle from eight different stunning colours: Emeral, Amethyst, Midnight Blue, Mandarin, Slate, Blush, Scarlet and Champagne. The attention to detail in each of the colours, the experience of choosing each unique scent and bottling something you have created yourself (at the strength of the scent you like) was a dazzling and rather fun experience.
Ormonde Jayne’s perfumes are handmade in their independent studio in Kent, creating timeless, understated, intelling British fragrances. Their packaging is made from 100% recycled paper and is also plastic free.
What we were doubly excited about was the sneak peek of Ormonde Jayne’s limited edition Christmas candles, due to launch late this year. Come September, Ormonde Jayne will have three different festive home candles to choose from: Etoile Christmas Candle, with warm notes of mandarin, cardamom and cinnamon; Nocturne Christmas Candle, a woody scent of log fires and pine cones and Mystere Christmas Candle, a fresh Christmas sparkle, enveloping the room lavishly with sybaritic pleasure. Ormonde Jayne’s chosen charity Great Ormonde Street Hospital will receive 10% donation from each candle sold.
We were amazed by Linda’s passion and hard work she puts in each one of her scents… Once you try Ormonde Jayne’s perfumes, you automatically understand her love for perfumery. We were treated like absolute queens. The Sybarite thanks the entirely Ormonde Jayne team, especially Linda, for a truly unique experience.
A beautiful boutique, owned by a beautiful heart.
