Champaca

This is a lovely light Green/Spicy Floral perfume, and it is interesting how the notes change as you wear. On me it starts out as bright citrusy white florals, then transitions to a really interesting tea/rice note then finally settles as a slightly spicy skin scent. This is the first perfume where I've really noticed the different elements as it wears and truly enjoy each one. I never thought of myself as a person who likes pepper notes but this perfume changed that! And this perfume has solidified my love for rice/tea notes. It is perfect for the office, sophisticated but not overwhelming or "old" (I am in my mid 20s and have trouble finding a scent that is both office appropriate and age appropriate, I've had clients think that I'm in my 40s at first glance! Age and experience is a blessing but I don't want my perfume be an inaccurate representation right now lol). Its sillage isn't crazy and the scent is likeable while still unique. I highly doubt anyone else in the building will be wearing it when I do! I have family members that can be overwhelmed by scents/perfume but this does not bother them. This is one of the few perfumes I own that truly feel like they can be worn year round, day or night. To me it doesn't lean super hard into a season or situation and is what I put on when I don't know what to wear. This is the first perfume that I have bought a full size straight from the sample, usually I try to use up a few more samples or finish a travel size before making the plunge. I know this will be a staple in my perfume wardrobe for years to come!

This is a beautiful summer floral. As it dries its not cloying like I find so many white florals. It's creamy, slightly citric and bright. I think the rice note smooths the edges. My nose can't really pick the notes apart, it almost smells watery and fresh but it doesn't cross the line like you would expect others in that category to smell. I read other reviews below calling this "generic" and not very remarkable, don't let those influence your choice to try this. Its delightful. I find it extraordinary, I don't find many florals I can't live without. I find most florals, especially white florals too loud and screechy, that is not the case here. Even though it's an eau de parfum, this scent on my skin pulls in close after first 1/2 hour and stays there for 4-6 hrs. It is a bit pricey but I bought the biggest bottle so that I may reapply at my leisure. On a side note, I was on a quest to find a gardenia scent I could enjoy. And although most say they smell nothing alike, my mind and nose is satiated currently. This is a beautiful scent. Addendum: I've been wearing this more frequently since obtaining a full bottle and I was wrong about longevity. It lasts at least 8 hrs easy, wafting in and out and on textiles it lasts for days. I sprayed this on a shirt Sat and the following Wed can still smell it strongly. It's softly projects and leaves a wonderful trail. One of the very few scents I've gotten compliments from. Beautiful summer breeze type of scent. I'm so in love with it.

This scent is inobtrusive but distinctive; it is familiar, but none of the listed notes stand out. This is a true unisex fragrance which I think could smell great on the most feminine woman or the most masculine man. It could absolutely be a signature scent for me if not for the low sillage and longevity. Initially I get a wonderful hit of champaca and neroli, which rapidly dissipates into a vague powdery scent (rice and freesia, I assume). After several hours I begin to get whiffs of champaca again. Unfortunately, the bitter and spicy elements I love in this perfume don't even linger as a skin scent - I have to shove my nose into the clothes I'm wearing to get any of the tea or myrrh. Edit: This has no staying power on skin, but lingers surprisingly well in clothes. This was a full bottle purchase for me!

Agree with other reviewers who have noted this as a safe scent. I don't find safe to be disagreeable though. I love this one for springtime, and quiet or low-key events like a friend of a friend's house party or memorial service. Something were I want to wear scent, and want to keep it light, pretty and unique. I haven't smelled much else like it. I find it to be one of the more ethereal fragrances in my collection. I do agree that the pink pepper can be intense, but I have not experienced this every time, just once when I wore it to work (maybe it had strange interference with the HVAC system? who knows with these things!).

I love champaca, frangipani and ylang ylang but these are demanding, loud hothouse divas that need to be handled with care. I think I can say with some confidence that this exists here in OJs olfactory translation of this potent note. The myrrh and tea really compliment this diva by taming her with a touch of smokiness and dryness so she doesnt holler too loudly. Once again pepper, neroli and freesia add the pepperiness the act like accents to this three dominating notes. Towards the end the myrhh and tea stay to the end of the performance. Its very nice but again weak like many of the OJs creations on me.

At first wearing of my little sample, I swear I could not smell it on my skin. I had applied unscented lotion after my shower, so perhaps the lotion absorbed it? On second try, with no lotion, I could detect it and it is fantastic! Fresh, green, woody, spicy. In the drydown it gets a little sweeter and more floral. It's a very light, uplifting and comforting fragrance. Could wear this anywhere, anytime. But the longevity is pretty weak- 4 hours later and it's all but gone. If it lasted longer this would be absolutely signature worthy.

I like it - it's pleasant, easy to wear. Smooth, not screechy at all, not headache inducing. I do find it smells a bit generic/not too unique. I don't think it's worth it for price point, and I have other Ormonde Jayne perfumes I much prefer. I have a sample of this from a set that I will happily enjoy, but I don't see myself buying a bottle of this. Edit: After revisiting this a year after, it's actually quite grown on me. I think it almost feels like the summer time versions of Ormonde Woman. Lovely!

This is a calming, comfort scent to me and I truly love it and douse myself in it on hot days. Primarily it smells like a toasted nutty rice tea, with a citrus twist. The floral aspects don't really stand out to me on their own, but may act more as a watery floral tea essence. It's soft and light but lasts quite a long time on my skin. I'm so curious about the Cacharel Noa Perle now! Too bad it was discontinued because I'd blind buy it just to compare.

I love!!! A dewy green, tea-laced scent, delicately floral, approachable and escapist. Straight away it immerses you in green tea and subtle neroli with this ever-so-slightly lactonic character coming from basmati rice—think of rice water rather than the grain. Champaca is a little orange flower and here it blossoms with a creamy sweetness, tempered by the light woodiness of bamboo. Beautiful and balanced, perfect for Spring.

Love love love the opening. Flowers dancing on a bed of sweet greens, sunlight filtering down upon the whole scene. Tropical palms, light twinkling off water. This impression goes so quickly - in 90 minutes or so at which point it's a lovely calmer light floral. Three hours in, it's a musky skin scent. Love the opening so much I'm tempted to buy a full bottle knowing I'll just need to spritz a few times throughout the day.

I tested this in a perfume boutique without looking at the notes first. I had no idea what champaca was at the time. It smells really fresh and clean and has a wonderful balance between green and slightly floral. I should have known when I fell in love with it that it also has a tea note, because that seems to be my favorite lately. This is absolutely full bottle worthy and I will be reaching for it a lot this spring.

Just recieved mine and I have to say this is stunning. It opens up warm, a tad green (due to the bamboo), spicy and fruity. Suits the summer season perfectly. This is reminiscent of the other scents from the early 2000s such as, Lancomes Miracle, Clavin Kleins Truth and Cerrutis Image so it has a nostalgic factor but this is longer lasting and higher quality. Definitely leans feminine. Thank you Geza Schoen!

This is not a bad fragrance at all, but it is much more green to my nose than floral. It reminds me of Truth by Calvin Klein, but the Ormonde Jayne is more beautiful and complex. I received this as a gift, but I don't think I'd buy this unless it was discounted. I do enjoy it, though.

Champaca has been my go to scent for a very long time. This perfume suits all occasions. Somehow this manages to be mildly sweet, but green and refreshing floral with good lasting power. I love this and also Frangipani from the OJ line.

This is the most beautiful scent I have ever smelt. If anyone knows a similar fragrance as soft and bright as champaca that men can also wear, please suggest me.

Perfectly good treatment of the note - but IMHO not as inspired or as lovely as many others from Ormonde Jayne, and some of its other white/yellow flower scents (Frangipani, Sampaquita) seem a bit more ebullient and special to me than this one. Champaca can be seriously strong - even overpowering - but while the usual OJ seasoning of pink pepper and extra notes does calm things down, and keep the whole mix from cloying, it somehow doesn't get all the way to the opulence I'd expect for OJ prices. For me, for once, this treatment is less long-lasting and a little less impressive than CDG's Luxe Champaca. Really down to skin scent only in only 2 or 3 hours and only the most discreet whiff of loveliness thereafter. Still borderline unisex, but about as femme as OJ scents really get. So not out of this world, but then, a mediocre Ormonde Jayne is still more excellent than many other houses' top-of-their-game winners. Polite applause, but not a wild screaming fan club, for this one I think. ETA on another wearing on a crisp cold day: no, I was wrong - this is great! Really strong, convincing pepperiness makes it both richer and pricklier, more exciting, than many an over-sweet go at the note - the bamboo and tea also coming across more clearly. Still not the very top of the house's game but really intriguingly spicy, teasingly herbal, and convincing throughout. Longevity also stretched a bit further in the cold, oddly - going pretty strong for 4-6h.

Ormonde Jayne Champaca is a light, sheer scent based around the tropical white flower known as Magnolia champaca, said to be the tree under which the Buddha achieved enlightenment. The flower has a swoony, tropical, narcotic, almost fruity scent, but here it’s treated in an ethereally fresh and subtle manner, with clean green notes in the opening, and a dry green-tea background hum, as well as some milky toasted rice in the heart. This is actually as much a rice scent as a champaca scent. It makes me think of a shady tropical verandah. Deep in the drydown there’s a spiced, sticky note that I assume is the myrrh, making this into a mild floral-rice-pudding dessert. It’s all very polite, and I can usually take my white florals quite a bit bolder than this; I’d love to try a full-bodied, epic champaca fragrance sometime, with all the nectar-dripping indoles intact. But I can’t really call Ormonde Jayne Champaca “boring” either. The sticky rice note is unusual, as is the green tea; there are no cliches here. This would make a really great bridal fragrance, I think. White florals have the kind of lush femininity that goes well with the one day in your life you’ll wear a poofy dress, but this one is light and transparent enough not to offend a crowd of guests.

Champaca is head and shoulders above the smellalikes listed, but it's fair to say it does share similarities with some of the shampooey, fruity, ozonic fragrances from the early 00s, at least in its dry down. It's very nostalgic for anyone who discovered fragrance for the first time in the late 90s, like I did. It specifically smells like something I wore to school, which had a pearly bronze plastic cap and was in a round bottle, and cost about a tenner from Boots. However, it's done very well. Incredibly balanced, with a delicious fruity heart and a pleasing halo of soapy, clean white florals. This is a very beautiful scent - definitely on the feminine side - which would suit a Gen-Z barefooted bohemian in white cotton as much as an older CEO or TV presenter. I enjoy the fact Ormonde Jayne florals are so wearable. Yes, they are expensive, but often I shell out on a niche fragrance that in the end is a bit too odd, quirky or difficult to wear often.

Ormonde Jayne's are outstanding; you must recognize that they're so well constructed and so well blended, that you can even justify the steepy price for those fabulous little bottles. That said, Champaca is not my favourite of the line (so far, this prize belongs to Tolu & Tai'f and second best, Woman) but without doubt this is a masterfully done floral. Quite prominent on the initial notes (read: it is strong), I can smell white flowers, orange blossom, Jasmine and Champaca, Tiaré, Magnolia - while I do not get neither the basmati rice nor the green tea notes. Probably the flowers are a bit overpowering... The base is resinous and musky. It has a better staying power than the other frags in the line. As I said it is not my favourite, but it is surely an unusual floral that deserves to be tried at least once.

A transparent bright and light fragrance consisting of almost equal amounts citrus, light florals and tea with the green tea being slightly dominant to the other notes. It’s quite linear and fairly short lived on the skin, with a moderate sillage. The lemony magnolia perfectly mirrors the citrus notes in this and there is very little contrast or drama within these notes, it’s a smooth as glass and pretty fragrance that will appeal to anyone that likes the Asian style of much more restrained, refined, and minimal type scents. Although I like this I will probably gift the travel spray I have to my daughter who loves Versace Bright Crystal. I feel like this one is kind of in that family, that light sparkling style of pretty and inoffensive scent.