For the third season of my weeklong test drive (WTD) I’ve chosen Jo Malone. When I was planning it I thought it would be a full-fledged summer by now for which Jo Malone’s colognes are perfect. This year summer just doesn’t start about which I have no complaints since I’m not especially fond of the heat and I would be happy to live in “light jacket” weather all year round. But it’s the end of June, we’ve got at least a couple of very hot days and I decided to stick to the plan.
Jo Malone is a brand with which I’m very familiar and comfortable. I own more scents (in both full bottles and decants/samples) by this brand than by any other. Most of these colognes are very easy to wear because of their WYSIWYG (what you sniff is what you get) qualities. Many perfumistas are dismissive of them because of that but there are people who actually value exactly this trait – staying the same through the complete life cycle of the scent on the skin.
Jo Malone actively promotes combining scents (colognes and other body products) from their collections to create your personal favorite mix. I like the idea of combining. I like the interactive tool on their website. I like that those colognes, even not being soliflores, when combined, do not clash, do not create scents that are too busy or disorganized. Having said that, I want to admit that I always plan to play more the combining game and almost always end up using my favorite colognes “as is”.
Most of Jo Malone’s colognes have an average sillage (it’s present but rarely offensive), fair tenacity (on my skin they easily stay 4-5 hours) and a very user-friendly packaging/pricing: most scents come in 1 oz (30 ml) for $55 and 3.4 oz (100 ml) for $105. Don’t spend time looking for them at discounters. Some you can find slightly cheaper on eBay (with all usual caveats) but I would suggest waiting for a good gift with purchase from stores that sell this brand or subscribing to a newsletter from the brand’s website: they often send codes to get 9 ml travel size of one of their scents that can be used in addition to getting a free shipping and two samples of your choice.
Image: my own
See all episodes from the current season:
WTD, Episode 3.1: Kohdo Wood Collection by Jo Malone
WTD, Episode 3.2: Tea Fragrance Blends by Jo Malone
WTD, Episode 3.3: Nectarine Blossom & Honey, Lime Basil & Mandarin and Pomegranate Noir by Jo Malone
WTD, Episode 3.4: In the Search for the Perfect Linden
WTD, Episode 3.5: Orange Blossom by Jo Malone
See previous seasons:
Weeklong Test Drives, Season 1: Annick Goutal
Weeklong Test Drives, Season 2: Yves Rocher
Undina's Looking Glass 
Sometimes a linear scent is exactly what I want. I have two Jo Malone samples that I haven’t really tried. Perhaps I’ll do a “sniff-along” if you review Pomegranate Noir and Lime Basil & Madarin.
Looking forward to your reviews!
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I’ll see how it goes. I plan to not-a-review more than seven scents so I’ll try to include these as well, I think on Wednesday. Let’s compare notes.
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I always shunned Jo Malone, but the line has some gems. I also love the fact that they offer 30ml bottles. Looking forward to hear more about the line in the coming week!
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I stumbled upon the brand long before knowing what “perfumista” meant and it was so much better than most of the mass market offerings that I was destined to find at least a couple of favorites. But since I am (borrowing your definition) a “serial collector”, I could not stop and ended up liking more than just a few.
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Im looking forward to your test drive! Ive always wanted to love the Jo Malones scent but I find them hard to wear due to some skin chemistry issue. Today, however, Im trying out JM Nutmeg and Ginger. I found a bottle in my moms bathroom cabinet and couldnt resist giving it a try. So far (1 hour) its great!
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Nutmeg & Ginger was a scent that I didn’t want to try for a long time because for some reason I thought I wouldn’t like it. Last December during the friendly sniffing event I decided to give it a try (since my friends were trying all the scents I was very familiar with, so I had nothing better to do) and I liked it. Not enough (yet :) ) to seek a bottle but enough to get a sample and use it a couple of times.
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