Jo Malone is a very special brand for me: over the years, I’ve tested over a hundred of their perfumes, more than any other single brand. And thanks to the combination of their accessibility (several stores nearby carry the line), pioneering small format (10-15 years ago, not that many brands had even 30 ml bottles), relative affordability and focus on my favorite perfume family, florals, Jo Malone is the best-represented brand in my collection.
My top 12 perfumes from the brand are French Lime Blossom, Sweet Milk, Mimosa & Cardamom, Orange Bitters, Blackberry & Bay, Dark Amber & Ginger Lily, English Pear & Freesia, Lotus Blossom & Water Lily, Pomegranate Noir, Wild Fig & Cassis, Black Vetyver Cafe, Wood Sage & Sea Salt.
And even though in the last five years, only a couple of new perfumes interested me enough to get a mini bottle, I continue to check all their new releases religiously.
My recent trip to the Jo Malone counter at Nordstrom has almost resulted in an impulsive purchase. I saw their Scented Mementos collection and wanted it before I even sprayed any on paper.
“A limited-edition collection inspired by unique pieces filled with memories, found at the British antique market.”
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I’m not into antiques or trinkets. I don’t even like vintage perfumes. But every time in our travels we come across an antique store, in some childish hope I expect to find there something magical there… In all the years that I’ve been doing that, I bought just a couple of mini bottles. But since one of them was a perfect replica of Chamade extrait bottle, I keep searching.
I saw all of Jo Malone’s limited edition collections in the last 13 years, and I liked many of the perfumes as well as the colorful variations on the standard Jo Malone bottles. But these bottles from the Scented Mementos collection fit the theme spectacularly. Not only they are very different from anything previously released by the brand, but they are so eclectic and random that you can easily imagine them being picked up at a garage sale, flea market or provincial antique shop. In the photo above, they seem larger than they are in real life, and I was drawn to them.
I sprayed them all on paper strips… and liked three out of four, which paradoxically saved me from an impulse purchase right there on the spot. Even if it weren’t for my low-buy year, I couldn’t imagine buying three perfumes after a brief sniff, no matter how cute and cohesive I found the collection to be. So, I sprayed two perfumes on my wrist, borrowed my vSO’s wrist for the third, and continued shopping, periodically sniffing all three wrists to decide which one should come home with me. By the time I was ready to leave, I still couldn’t make up my mind and left without getting any of them.
At home, as we probably all do from time to time after sniffing something we liked, I started searching the web to see if maybe one of the stores had some promotion that would entice me to buy one of them… but then, even if could find any, which one? In the end, I was happy to see that the Jo Malone site had a discovery set for the collection (smart!) and bought it without hesitation.
Musk Memento (the rightmost on the photo) with a bottle that strongly reminds me of vintage Estee Lauder Pleasures perfume was the only one from this collection that I didn’t like. To my nose, it smells like a laundry detergent, and I wouldn’t have used it even as such since I prefer unscented ones. The positive aspect of this perfume is that it smells exactly as intended if judged by the brand’s description:
“A clean musk scent inspired by a ceramic soap dish. I’ve long loved the scent of a traditional soap bar […]. The nostalgia and comfort are captured in clean notes of soft musk and aldehyde, a sprinkle of English lavender and elegant cedarwood.” If I deciphered correctly from the recent interview in The Cheshire Magazine, the nose behind this perfume is Marie Salamagne. I liked just a couple of plethora of perfumes she authored, so I’m not surprised that Musk Memento left me unimpressed. Ironically, it is the most tenacious of all.
Ginger Beer created by (I think) Yann Vasnier is a spicy woody composition with a prominent citrus opening that quickly subsides, and after about 20 minutes all I get is a delightful slightly sweet skin scent. I can’t tell if it smells even reminiscent of the beverage it borrowed its name from (I’m not sure I’ve ever tried it), but I like how it smell. The Ginger Beer bottle doesn’t remind me of anything in particular, but it looks well-made and is pleasant to hold.
The last two perfumes, Emerald Thyme and Passiflora, were created by Anne Flipo. Emerald Thyme is a heavenly cologne for all 15 minutes of its development, and then it becomes a very pleasant skin scent. The juicy bright and slightly sweet lemon opening is mouthwatering (literally!). As it dries down, the sweetness goes away together with the lemon, and what is left is a masculine-leaning dry composition grounded by herbs. The Emerald Thyme’s bottle looks like many cologne bottles I saw before, but I can’t pinpoint any specific one.
Passiflora is the most feminine perfume in the collection. It’s warm and smooth from the first slightly spicy cardamom burst until the comforting ambery-vanilla skin scent in 30 minutes after the application. When I picture Passiflora’s bottle in my mind, I feel on the verge of recognition: I definitely saw another perfume in a similar bottle… but it slips away, and I cannot place it.
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I love these bottles. I quite enjoy Ginger Beer, Emerald Thyme and Passiflora, and would gladly wear them. But at $3/ml, these perfumes just shouldn’t be that fleeting! I can live with reapplying perfumes after 2-3 hours, and my collection of Jo Malone perfumes is proof of that. But a skin scent 20-30 minutes into the development?! It feels like they are giving customers just enough time to make a purchase decision at a counter. That doesn’t feel right.
Despite that, if they had released a set of mini-bottles for this collection, I would have paid even more per ml just because I would love to have this bottles in my collection.
Images: my own
Undina's Looking Glass 
Wow! You really do love JML as a house. Do you think Lauder Inc have improved on Jo Malone’s initial output?
The green bottle reminds me of a Houbigant masculine.
The one I’m keen to try is the Ginger Beer. I didn’t manage to get me hands on Ginger Biscuit of either release. I enjoy ginger beer in both soft drink & alcoholic form. So it has my name all over it!
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Out of the 12 top favorites, 4 were created either before EL bought the brand (1999) or Jo Malone’s departure from the company (2006), which means that in the first 16 years, Jo Malone (person) created 4 perfumes I love, and in the next 17, EL launched 8. Clearly, for me it worked out. Too bad they discontinued most of my older favorites.
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What were your favourites. I loved Blue Agave & Cacao. It was available on their Archive site
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LOVE the reviews Undina. You’re so good at getting the texture and mood in a paragraph.
I don’t know which bottle is which scent but LOVE the green bottle. It’s calling my name loudly.
Portia xx
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Thank you, dear Portia. I appreciate your kind words.
If you were to click on the photo, it would open on a larger size with readable names. The green bottle is Emerald Thyme (surprise! ;) )
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I am totally drawn to Ginger Beer – I too might easily go for a small bottle. Love the brown glass. I don’t have much JM in my collection, have tried many but the price to longevity ratio has never inspired me to buy often.
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Most of my favorites stay on my skin at least for 4-5 hours, which is enough for me. But there were others that would do the same disappearing trick within 15-20 minutes after the application, so I understand your rationale.
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wow! What an interesting concept for Jo Malone! those bottles are so different from anything they’ve done, as you say. I’ll have to take a trip to the mall to spray these.
Also, your list of Jo Malone loves is very similar to what mine would be, and you have a lot of the older ones on there. Do you think they’ll rerelease French Lime Blossom? I always regretted not picking that one up.
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They did re-released it once in the Archives collection. I think you should send them an email or ask somewhere in social networks: if enough people would do that, they might.
I have a backup bottle, but would love to know that it’s available if I need to buy more.
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I checked Ebay after I wrote this, but too expensive there!
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I’m the same way regarding antique stores. I always get a thrill from going in, but usually leave empty handed. The musk bottle reminds me of the older Goutal bottles.
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Goutsl bottles were ribbed (those were my favorite bottles, especially when they were colored). But the form has some resemblance, I agree.
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I prefer the old Goutal bottles too. I think I got one of the last ones (of Ninfeo Mio), but as it was a tester, it wasn’t tinted like the regular ones.
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I must not follow Jo Malone too closely because somehow these passed me by, or perhaps lack of access outside of NYC nixed my ability to try them. I really do like the bottles for Ginger Beer and Emerald Thyme!
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Those two are the best of four (bottle-wise at least), so maybe it’s not that bad that you didn’t get to try them ;)
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I had no idea Jo Malone had released quite so many perfumes!, and am definitely some years behind the curve in terms of my awareness of later releases. I think I would have liked the same ones as you out of this collection, and passed on the one that was too like laundry musk – I have real problems with that style of perfume. It is a shame JM has got so expensive these days. I remember when you could get a 30ml bottle for about £30. ;)
PS RIP Vintage Gardenia!
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I was curious about the price, so I calculated (with the help from Google) how much in today’s money the price that I remembered paying for some of them years ago would be.
I think that I payed for the first bottle I bought myself $60. In today’s money it should have been about $85-86. It’s $90 now – so, they did raise prices about 5% on top of the inflation. Not as bad as it seemed to me but still, considering the quality, I’m not sure it’s worth $3/ml.
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Great reviews, Undina. I’ve been wanting to sample this line, especially the Ginger Beer. I’ve enjoyed a few Jo Malone scents over the years with Wood Sage & Sea Salt probably my pick. I agree with you, Undina, that the musk bottle looks very similar to Pleasures.
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I think that on my photo the Musk bottle looks a little wider than IRL, but in person it is closer to Pleasures.
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I too enjoy Jo Malone fragrances, Undina. At first, I was a bit skeptical. After some time, I realized the genius of the note combinations, as well as their ability to be layered, creating some interesting and more personal profiles. I did enjoy Ginger Beer as well.
Something else worth mentioning is comments I’ve heard over the years saying that Jo Malone fragrances seem to degrade quickly. I don’t really find this true in the following list of ones in my collection, some of which are almost 15 years old. I find that they are better than when first spritzed. Perhaps a bit of oxidation helped. These are some of my favorites.
Dark Amber & Ginger Lily
English Oak & Hazelnut
Gardenia & Oud Absolu
Nutmeg & Ginger
Sweet Lemon
Vanilla & Anise
Pomegranate Noir
Wild Fig & Cassis
Wood Sage & Sea Salt
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