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koroleva – :
October 5th 2018, 16h 06m
Weather: Sunny, with a high of 17°C
Location: Gramercy Park
Reading: “The Left Hand of Darkness” by Ursula K. Le Guin
Listening:”Kichina” by G.B. Beckers
Wearing: Grey thermal shirt, black tailored chinos, vintage black army boots.
One word: Delicious! That was my first compliment received this afternoon on my way to my doctor’s appointment today in Midtown New York as I bumped into an old friend of mine. I am fairly new to Ormonde Jayne and this extraordinary fragrance house, despite that my father had worn “Champaca” for years.
Today, I decided before walking into my appointment, to stop by Saks and test out Ta’If. I am so glad I did. My infatuation for this Ta’If rose is inexplicable. The brightness provided by saffron and dates balances the typical powdery scent we normally smell from Roses. Though I believe Geza Schoen had thought about the fresh greenery scent of a Rose days before it begins to bloom. That’s what makes this scent clean, yet fresh and spicy without dipping into an itchy cumin spice. Ta’If has a certain Babylonian aquatic atmosphere that isn’t summery. It’s more of a babbling brook up Afghan mountains.
It’s coolness is like a geranium. Projection on my skin seems radiant and illuiminating and it’s longevity sits close to the skin which is fantastic in intimate spaces where you don’t want to offend surrounding peers. Once someone wraps their arms around you, they are enamored by Ta’If’s seductive spell. Thank goodness I find mild weather like today totally appropriate for this scent; crisp and cool.
hhhdddtpoasd – :
I sampled this in Selfridges in London. The scent lingered in my memory: floral, bold, colourful. For some reason it reminds me of the big Indian weddings and celebrations I would attend as a child. Women and aunties wearing bright, bejewelled outfits and statement perfumes, festivities sprawling across several days in fancy venues, bold personalities on display, relatives bickering and old friends reuniting. Gloriously overbearing food, colour, scents, laughter, tears. For some reason this perfume evoked all of that, and in particular the memory of a family friend who is now gone. I think it’s the Taif rose that reminds me of her personality. It’s a perfume for a sophisticated, popular and outgoing woman – confident, colourful, charming, personable, the life and soul of an elegant gathering. Two sprays of this perfume on my wrist and on a card lasted for days, until the spicy florals faded to a soft powder. Unforgettable.
Жека2042 – :
A beautiful composition that sings and lingers without screaming or shouting.
Resinous, spicy and wafer-like sweetness, yet not cloying. Sharp without being harsh; Soft yet strong…. moderately mild yet long lasting.
Feminine yet unisex.
So many paradoxes in this juice.
Utterly wonderful.
Possibly a near masterpiece?
Verdict: A veiled rose that loves to intrigue its audience….
8.5/10
tanita – :
This stuff is gorgeous but it’s gone after 30 minutes! The worst performing fragrance I’ve tried in a long time.
zrk014Negeltzex – :
You know when a fragrance instantly transports you like a time machine to a very specific and actually quite insignificant and innocuous moment in your life. In fact the smaller the event the more you marvel at the complex workings of the human brain and how it stores, and more importantly accesses memory.
Ta’if took me to a Sheffield dry ski slope some 25+ years ago… so weird. Anyway… I’ve decided that Taif roses are very interesting smelling and aren’t really very traditionally rosy. They are heady and floral but powdery and more like dried pot pouri petals, definitely have a quality of tea leaves to them, reminding me of tea chests, (something else you don’t really see anymore) wow this fragrance is really making me reminisce! There’s spice to this too from pink pepper and saffron which are definitely big players, with a warm ambery base. I don’t really like it, nor would I wear it but Ormonde Jayne is a quality brand and the line interests me greatly. I must say this is a unique fragrance at least to my nose and definitely polarising I’d say. If you go into it with the mindset you’re getting a rose based fragrance you will but not in any traditional sense, to me this isn’t rosy really.
Wessen – :
Wow what a great scent this is. Perfect rose scent with a right amount of everything. I smelled a few rose scent by far this the best one. Its not as strong and feminine rose scent more like balance rose with slightly peppery and a hint of amber and jasmine lingering all over it. Compare it to lyric man. This one is well balance while the lyric man focuses on heavy rose almost like dry rose to me but it smells good too. This is slightly tone down rose. Havent gave it a full wearing. But im loving it already.
3101tttt – :
So much pepper bud, overwhelming, so little tose.
369 – :
This is a gorgeous pink slightly spicy rose. I usually don’t like saffron in fragrances but here it is just right. It has a medium projection and I find it very appealing, almost magnetic in character. This rose doesn’t com with twigs and bransces for once, and it is not old fashioned either. I really like it. 🙂
NDeee3363 – :
I was hoping for a deeper rose note but, to me, the overall effect is more of an amber oriental with a pink sweet rose in its midst. As it dries down, a sawdusty smell comes through that I don’t love.
After smelling Perris Monte Carlo’s Rose de Taif, which is a soliflor and is deep dewy red with bright green leaves, I was expecting equal drama or a similar taif rose portrayal. It’s nice enough but doesn’t make my eyes pop open.
lemar – :
I really wish I smelled what other people smell in Ta’if. I’ve tried it numerous times over the last couple of years, and I don’t find it at all sweet, dewy, or fruity. To me this is dry as a bone, austere. Handsome, certainly, but not at all the lush rose that everyone else seems to get. It’s a bit heartbreaking, because the description makes Ta’if sound like something I would adore.
hana00 – :
This is a delicious easy to love, sweet rose fragrance yet not heavy or cloying. Its not a complicated or mind blowing avant garde but it is still a heavenly rose fragrance. I love this as much as I love 4160 Tuesdays Raw Silk and Red Roses.
Saffron and the ta’if rose really compliment each other beautifully with the dates adding more sweetness making it verge on becoming a gourmand. The rose was very strong from the start along with the saffron with the sweetness of the dates becoming obvious half an hour in. The pepper and freesia keep the scent lively and bright with amber giving greater depth. I suspect the jasmine and neroli also contribute the brightness of this luscious fragrance. The saffron and amber are definitely the most enduring notes here.
The UK has some of the most amazing daring perfumers on the planet as well as possibly the most conservative. British ladies do tend to be conservative about fragrance which is why SJP Lovely is so popular. Loud brash fragrances heavily applied are a big no no. If you want different then I dare you to check out the fragrances from 4160 Tuesdays. Sarah pushes the boundaries with her amazing story telling creations.
spp187JeomiWogkig – :
This fragrance was the cause of introducing me to Ormonde Jayne fragrances. 3 weeks back, my friend’s aunt asked me to bring her this fragrance from London, and instead of 1 bottle she asked for 2 bottles of 120ml each, and to be honest, this lady has quite a respectful elegant personality with quite a nice style, that besides the unique fragrances that she uses. Ironically, she never shares the names of the fragrances she uses with anyone BUT me & that by itself is a common thing between us BUT i never share any fragrance names with her 🙂
Now, that was 3 weeks back, and surprisingly one of my friends was in London with his wife on that time which made it much easier for me to get it for her sooner. So i emailed the ladies there to prepare the package (including my testers) and to get it ready before he gets there. My friend went there with his wife, got the package & went home. After maybe 2 hours of picking up the package he called me and he cursed me slightly telling me “Damn you, my wife loved the fragrance and she bought one for her too” as we laughed a bit.
Since that minute the curiosity begun to urge and i was quite exciting to take a sniff of that juice. So he brought it, i gave it to my friend’s aunt and we lived happily ever after…. right! …. WRONG… she refused to open the fragrance to let me sniff it and instead she said next week when you visit us i will let you smell it which made the curiosity urges a bit more on the insatiable side. So i waited reluctantly.
After a week time of waiting, she came from a funeral and brought the bottle with her as my eyes jumped… she said before applying “Another woman asked me about this fragrance today, but i didn’t tell her the name cause honestly i didn’t know it” although i know she wouldn’t tell her even if she knew the name, her glared eyes said that devilishly… & that even raised the bar of urgness.
So she opened the fragrance and the party in my mind went “Throb” By Janet Jackson (the SNL Performance) applied the fragrance on my wrest once and on me arm second, and i was really extremely shockingly surprised! i was like “Really? is this the gem that 3 women loved it” i said this to myself of course cause i know her, she’s like me, she couldn’t careless about anyone’s opinion since she loves it & also to safe the sarcastic that she would make on me if i said anything about it.
I was quite surprised that it has nothing special in it, kind of weak performance & quite common to my nose! i wouldn’t even recognized it if anyone applied it!
The curiosity went off, the urge went down, and my advice remains still to English perfumers, don’t collapse your amazing history with common fragrances, be creative and take risks.
Yann – :
So many different reviews! I’ve tested this twice now and I get a definite middle eastern peppery rose with saffron, and powder drying-down. I’m not a big rose fan, but this is a superb arabian style formula without the oily, musky, heavy feel. I got the rose straight off so a definite try before you buy, mine was a generous Ormonde Jayne sample, I recommend it x
nolffoorgebal – :
Ta’if is very delicious gourmand rose perfume and blow me away. If you don’t like dominant roses and want to something different, just try it! Creamy, vanilic, slightly hazy and very longlasting. It is totally underrated but no problem for me. By the way, no powder! Where is the powder? I just love it!
ffan3 – :
Starchy abstract rose.
By abstract i mean it is not obviously rosey, but hints the different aspect of the flower – the sweet, fresh, tarte and plush petals. The abstract portrait is embodied in the overall picture of a sweet, balsamic, somewhat starchy somewhat powdery muskiness.
This starchy sweet balsamic pencil-shaving quality is a common ORMANDE JANE gene i often encounter in the line of perfumes.
TA’IF struck me as a happy and lighthearted fragrance. It is not necessarily sophisticated, deep nor noticeably ‘niche’. I could have mistaken this for a very well blended new addition to the mass market flankers.
Oh, and it reminds me of KEIKO MECHERI Bois de Santal, which is my pick out of the two.
dedushka4711 – :
I keep hearing that body chemistry is a myth and that all perfumes smell the same on all people. Well, reading the reviews here from the number of people who barely get rose from this when it’s such a hugely prominent note on me makes me dispute that.
I’ve always envied people who can wear powerhouse perfumes with wet, fiery roses that are shamelessly oriental. They smell so good on them, but when I try them, I just need to scrub because I can’t handle the power of them. Ta’if feels like my solution to this.
It opens with an in your face zing of pepper alongside a gorgeous saffron and the rose shows up almost immediately. Rose is tricky for me. Usually I can only wear a rose/patch combo or a very powdery rose, but this one is wet and lush and sensual. But, it’s subtle enough that it’s not a problem for me at all.
There’s a hint of creamy jasmine in the background and the orange blossom acts like a sort of picture frame for the whole scene.
The drydown is classic oriental amber.
I don’t notice the dates much, although there is a sweetness there that I think probably comes from them.
I find this womanly and sexy. It’s the wearable version of its heavier sisters. For people like me who like gentle florals, aqautics and soft greens, this is the ‘daring’ perfume for your collection. For people who already do the daring thing (and oh, how I envy you!), this one might be a little too faint hearted for your tastes.
Soft sillage and 7 hours longevity on my skin.
DofsDoumb – :
I fell in love with this perfume after reading about the production of rose oil in Taif. It is everything you expect it to be: sweet, thick, rich, and rosy. SO incredibly sexy and inviting without being mainstream. Also, I don’t get the powder that everyone is talking about at all. On me, it is a warm, spicy rose. Definitely with luxurious saffron and sweet dates. I use this word a lot – but I’ll use it again – it smells opulent.
UnMaria – :
High quality, put together by a perfumer who knows her stuff, but the others are correct– the rose is hard to find– at first, it shows itself as the frag develops– which might not be a bad thing, the florals that are there are very nice and the pepper/saffron smells great. But antfarm is right when she says POWDERBOMB. Where is all that powder coming from? I’m not a powder fan, but have to admit that it ameliorates the sweetness, and clears the air around you of humidity.
NityBiort47 – :
واحد من اجمل عطور الروز التي جربتها بل هو ثالث عطر روز يعجني من مجموع عطور الروز التي اطلعت عليها، توظيف رائع للنوتات التقريرا لاحقا … باذن الواحد الاحد
ZIDAN13 – :
I’m in awe. Ta’if is one of the rare fragrances in which the effect of the whole is so much more than the sum of it’s parts: like the sound of a perfectly balanced vocal ensemble in a resonant space – you can sense all the individual voices, each with its unique style of beauty, but their effect together is sublime. I especially enjoy the way Ta’if projects a tangible presence without crossing the line into something overblown. Exquisite!
mihail1946 – :
Rose is not that much dominant, it is very well mixed with other notes, maybe I should say hidden! so the name “Ta’if” is a bit misleading in my opinion. I can see some similarities with Etro Rajasthan, but Rajasthan is more spicy/fresh with some citrus tones, but Taif is more powdery and dense.
adidasss – :
I was expecting a lush rose from this, but it was a cloying powder-bomb, as well as ultra-sweet with my skin chemistry. Very long-lasting though. Seems to work for others.
zaic – :
I didn’t expect to fall in love with Ta’if as I’m not fond of rose-heavy fragrances. At first spritz it was as I had expected. A beautiful ripe blousony rose. While I carried on with my day however, the rose blossomed into far more than that singular deep pink note. Sweetness of dates, warmth of spicy saffron, tickling prickles of pink pepper, rich resinous flow of amber. The rose now joined by broom and orange blossom. An exotic resinous veil pulled around the whole beautiful story. My nose and heart now overtaken by a dream of 1,001 nights, magic carpets, colourful bazaars filled with silks and stars and mystery and playful camels (ok… now I’m getting carried away, but having a whole Arabian fantasy sneak up on you will do that).
Swoon-worthy Ta’if, I’m intoxicated.
Edit: This has become one of my most worn fragrances. Sometimes I hardly smell the rose and the orange blossom plays the star. Or the pink pepper. Resins always present. So beautiful.
edwardvip – :
I had Big Expectations towards Taif. And somehow disappointed.
I sprayed it on my wrist… waited… smelled… waited… smelled… etc…
Where is the Rose ? – I said.
I was totally puzzled.
The rose showed up after about an hour, but, not like a mezzosoprano singing a Lied, fullthroated, with a light piano following, but like a shy singer that is covered by a loud orchestra, or chorus.
Everyone playing it’s partiture well, all the singers highly skilled, technically impecable… but, somehow it is not a solo, as one can expect. There are some accents here and there, very lightly pointed.
My question, bothering me yesterday all afternoon: why call it Ta’if? Call it Arabian Pavillon… Call it the 1001 Nights… Call it Lawrence, The Prince of Arabia.
The rose is maybe one and a half hours in a kind of center of all the development that, on my skin, was about 8 hours.
And, let me tell you: I felt this perfume as more suitable for a man than for a woman.
Anyway, it intrigued me, and that is a good thing.
My sample is big enough to give it a few more tries.
I will be definitely back on this topic.
vernroock – :
I experience Ta’if as a gourmand that is visited periodically by rose oil. Ignoring the synthetic-smelling but short-lived freesia discord at the top, I find it balanced and even beautiful.
A blend of saffron, date, broom and amber notes would be a reasonable approximation of the long heart of this fragrance. At this stage its texture reminds me of paste, minus any negative connotations. Not as dry as smoke or dust or powder, yet certainly not moist. I think this smells like a very judicious use of labdanum.
I find no woods; I agree with Kterhark that a woodsy or mossy drydown would provide a more satisfying conclusion. I don’t have a toothache, yet, but a brisk stroll outdoors would be nice after this rather heavy meal.
wakula – :
Ormonde Jayne is one of my favorite perfume houses, and Ta’if is a hauntingly beautiful scent after the peppery blast of a beginning starts to fade off. In fact, the drydown is the loveliest rose imaginable. I used to think I didn’t like rose scents, however, I have discovered that earthy roses, like L’artisan’s Voleur de Roses and spicy, woodsy roses, like Ta’if, are to die for. Not to mention the hubby likes them, too.
Initially I thought I wasn’t getting much sillage or lasting power, but on my second sampling, quite the opposite was the case—Ta’if stayed for a good 8 hours after applying a spritz to wrists, inside elbows, and the base of my neck.
Ta’if has streaked its way to the top of my Want list. I love it. The house of Ormonde Jayne suits my chemistry perfectly, and I can foresee that a large part of my perfume collection will soon be from them.
Rockone1 – :
I also own the Ormonde Jayne discovery pack and am working my way through the perfumes. I have tried four so far and this is my favourite of the bunch (at this point).
This is a gorgeous lush but also very woodsy perfume and it packs some punch. Very multi faceted and a good balance of slightly sweet, woodsy, spicy and floral.
The dry notes in this remind me of “Very sexy” by Victoria’s Secret. This has a dry spicy flowery vibe that VS posseses. Although this is much prettier in my opinion. Both contain pepper which is why it reminds me of that perfume.
Pink pepper is a huge note in this perfume and again, adds to the dry feel of it.
It blasts you at first but then fades quite quick on me, all of them have so far unfortunately. This one is the strongest and long lasting of the scents I’ve tried to far and would definitley consider a full bottle of this one.
🙂
Paxa1122 – :
Interesting take on Taifi rose, but I think that the Middle Eastern houses have a better understanding of it’s intrinsic beauty, likes and dislikes!
arediefrews – :
Inspired by one of the other posters, I treated myself to the ormonde jayne ‘discovery pack’. I’m having so much fun working my way through the samples. I’m about 3/4 of the way through, and so far Ta’if is my favourite. It is zesty, spicy and balmy. It lasted a full 8hrs on the skin, but I would say it’s a case of longevity versus sillage – which was not particularly potent at all. For me, I was not overly impressed with the opening notes, but the dry-down won it with it’s musky, vanillery appeal.
Makefpload – :
Parfum review
This is an ‘I love you, I love you not’ fragrance.
It opens as a tart, green, innocent bud (love) plucked from the fruit tree when no one was looking, only to turn into a naughty Lolita with one abrasive left hook (not love).
On the skin it warms up to a full bodied white (love), and wafting throughout is an overpowering sweetness, as if someone forgot to scrape the sap from the oak barrel before aging (not love).
Drydown is amber and moist (love), yet I find myself wishing for some oak moss or sandalwood. It takes a turn for the gourmand (not love), but not so much that I’m put off by it.
I should add that I like my rose scents to come with ‘some history’, ala Nahema or Pour Une Femme. These frags don’t play sweet, and that Ta’if does leaves me thinking its a note worthy submission that stops just short of classic.
xLeks – :
As I expected, this is basically a rose scent, but it also has a synthetic sandalwood note at the opening, a hint of honeyed tobacco, and a very strong citrus in the sillage. Maybe the sweet tobacco-like scent that I smell is the “date” accord.
The rose is accompanied by enough spice, saffron, and other floral notes to keep it out of soliflore territory. If I had to characterize the rose, though, it would be a very dark red one, at the peak of its bloom. Once the scent settles down into it’s main theme, which to me is a rosy, musky, sandalwood, it stays linear all the way through to the end. The scent is strong and long-lasting, with plenty of sillage. I really like this take on rose, and find that it’s far enough toward the spicy-woody-musky end of the spectrum to make the flowers enjoyable. A big thumbs up for Tai’if!
seregin003330 – :
I almost get a plastic note in the open but luckily it’s brief! After that a sweet rose alongside a subtle saffron- the rose is still at the front..it reminds me of a gentler, less spicy aoud rose from Montale. Easy to wear but tickles the nose! The sillage is not overwhelming but always present..very wearable and not mundane at all.
joy44 – :
Ormonde Jayne TA’IF is a splendid saffron rose composition to my nose. There is enough saffron here to adorn the rose perfectly without overwhelming it. The rose and the saffron meld together to produce a truly floriental experience, which I myself would not characterize so much as a rose as an oriental perfume. I believe that the orange blossom and the peach are contributing to the de-rosification of the perfume as a whole as well.
The longevity of TA’IF is excellent, and the sillage big enough to remind me of its presence hours after donning this delightful creation. Although this is fairly linear, for that reason, it’s consistently compelling from start to finish. Highly recommended to rose and oriental lovers alike!
aleksanl7 – :
This is divine. I don’t like peach in my drink or food, but I do somehow love peach in my perfumes and this is so lovely rose with soft peach accords. I do not consider this sexy, dark or spicy. Ok, at the opening there is some spicy saffron, but it fast it fades out to leave me with comforting, soft rose. Very beautiful.
arondurdy – :
This is quite a shy rose. Upon opening the peach seduces with its juicy dulcet tones, a very soft saffron floats dreamily past and then…anosmia for a good 5 minutes. Ta’if bursts back onto the scene with peppery nuances and fruity rose as if its sudden eclipse would never be noticed.
It has the same mood of Very Irresistible to my nose, a sugary rose, although infinately softer and more natural, as if this fruit-infused rose might actually exist in some hidden paradise of the world.
Perhaps this stage of the perfume is too fruity for my tastes as it seems like I have to struggle to find the rose in there. The rose does sour and become more interesting but it still seems to be receding.
It is an interesting fragrance but the rose is not significant enough to really capture my imagination.
Neuttypayophy – :
I swoon over Ta’if. I love the deep, spicy richness of the pepper-saffron opening. I especially love the deep, almost candied rose that holds hands with the saffron and the rich fruitiness of the dates. There’s a hint of light sweetness (freesia?) lying like a bridal veil on this voluptuous rose. The tonka base is gorgeous as well. All in all, I am entranced with the translucent crimson feel of Ta’if and will be begging my friend to make me a decant forthwith!
A note on scent persistence: my skin is rather dry, and I typically get 3.5 to 5 hours’ worth of fragrance from an edp. (Lucky NLS, to be getting 6 hours minimum!) Ta’if lasts about five hours on me, which is good given my usual (short) scent length.
SveTOCHKA – :
I seem to be the exception here, as Ta’if lasted about six hours on my skin. I would say that’s on the low end of average performance for an Eau de Parfum.
I’m not sure what to make of this fragrance. It’s a sour/bitter rose with a spicy/woodsy drydown. I alternate between like and dislike. It reminds me somewhat of YSL’s Rive Gauche, though a little less sweet (and Rive Gauche is certainly not a sweet fragrance).
It is safe to say that Ta’if is an interesting and complex fragrance. I’m curious to try other Ormonde Jayne scents after this one. Worth a try if you enjoy spicy florals and price is not a concern. Seems like a good evening/formal fragrance.
kydinovatv – :
Ta’if is a high octane salty-sour rose with gourmand accents. The first several minutes of the scent gave me the impression of entering a flower shop, redolent with the fresh, cold fragrances of greenery, spice, and petals. The drydown produced a saltier, almost pickled rose note that clung to my skin for hours and hours. Finally, just when I decided the scent had breathed its last, I detected the faintest hint of powder and spice, a dainty farewell before the fragrance faded into oblivion. Not my favorite Ormonde Jayne (that would be the incomparable Woman), but worthwhile nonetheless.
Maksi – :
I love the beginning, where I get the spicy saffron, date and orange blossom. The rose later is so delicate and warmed by the amber and tonka. It’s not really floral, which is good because I’ve never liked a strong rose. I don’t smell the vanilla yet. I’m thinking about buying this because I love the beginning so much, but I don’t find it lasts long enough. I also like the Orris Noir, the spice is similar.
Fliporad – :
What a great rose! Dark spicy with so lovely juicy note at the beginning! It’s really delightful – to feel saffron (I feel a gourmand echo), peach (juicy freshness) and citrusy-floral orange flower. But at the very beginning there is spicy-cozy impression, strange and almost not floral.
The rose, which is so fragile, appears after a while, with pure lines and sensual character of white flowers. The rose appears with its sharpness and warmness, so beatiful and misterious rose.