Sakura

“Delicious.” This was the same descriptor used by two different people (one, a young male police officer haha and the other, a lovely grandmother) who both commented on this fragrance on my first day of wear. Full disclosure: In my excitement, I might have oversprayed (two sprays each arm, one spray at the décolletage, one spray over the head while swooshing my hair). I rarely buy (or blind buy) these days with a collection as large as mine, nor have I reviewed a fragrance in some time. I’ve had a long term obsession with finding a cherry blossom forward fragrance to love but have only been disappointed in my search. So... I nearly fell over when I read Fragrantica’s review by Nicola Thomis and learned of this new release. After reading her review and studying the notes (and being already familiar with Ormonde Jayne’s style), I was pretty convinced there was a high chance I’d at least enjoy it a little. So I made my first blind buy in years (?) from Ormonde Jayne’s website directly, and received it right on the release date. Well, let’s just say it exceeded my expectations. I won’t do a note breakdown (Nicola’s review is spot on). I’m just here to say this is indeed a stunner. This is my new favorite in the Ormonde Jayne lineup (Ormonde Woman and Nawab of Oudh are hard to beat!). For lovers of elegant floral woody musks, you must test this! This is not in the genre of big, bold Delina-esque fragrances or the like. It is in keeping with Ormonde Jayne’s aesthetic: gentle, refined, feminine, not childish. What I couldn’t believe was the over the top [positive] reaction from people around me on my first wearing. I knew I already loved it, but I can’t say my feelings are always shared by others lol. It projects! So really four sprays is all you need. As for the cherry blossom note—it is there and blooms beautifully among other florals. I mostly pick up the tart (think gentle and soft yet juicy) opening, and beautifully blended florals with osmanthus as particularly noticeable to me in the gorgeous development and warm, comforting drydown. It’s hard for me to hate a fragrance with vanilla and sandalwood as a base, especially when done as tastefully (magically) as this. Honestly, I haven’t swooned like this over a fragrance since my last great love, Madama Butterfly II by Senyoko. I actually find some vague similarities there... Edited to add: This fragrance seems to shine in the warm, humid South Florida climate. Besides cherry blossom, some of my most-loved notes blend with it to create a delicate, powdery halo: sugared violets, rose, osmanthus, sandalwood and vanilla being most prominent. The key is balance and expert blending. I also agree with some of the sensations Nicola Thomis described: Shimmering and ethereal yet also rich in its water colored, romantic detail. If one of Monet’s impressionistic paintings could be translated into fragrance, Sakura would be a fine example. It is surprisingly robust in its longevity and sillage for such a delicate composition. Truly magnifique. Happy testing!

This perfume opens very bright, zesty, and peppery. I can smell the coriander and what I think is supposed to be the cherry blossom. It is sweet, but not too sweet. It's not heavy but I have a nice bubble scent. It just smells very womanly to me. I think it's more on the feminine side, but then again, I subscribe to the belief that perfume in general is unisex. This is fresh, a little flirty, and just really pretty. Ormonde Jayne is one of my favorite perfume houses and I'm so glad I finally bought a full bottle (the bottle is so lovely, by the way.) This is best for spring and summer, but I think it could definitely work for early or mild autumn. Silage is intimate/moderate and longevity is moderate-long lasting for me. EDIT 12/26/2025: My mom told me the smell of this perfume reminds her of a babydoll's head, and now I can't un-smell it :(.

I believe this is my 3rd review on Sakura. I know fragrance is subjective but I truly don't understand the handful of negative reviews. I keep coming back to her, I consider Sakura my most worn 'signature scent'. Definitely one of the easiest reaches in my collection for when I want to feel clean, pretty, and chic. An interesting take on cherry blossom. All things considered, Sakura is definitely more complex than other offerings from Ormonde Jayne- such as Levant and Damask. Maybe she's not for everyone, perhaps not blind buy safe because of the spices, but if you're looking for something that's a little out of the box I'd highly suggest giving Sakura a try.

Well I had written an very long review only for the "submit" button to sabotage me. Anyways this is amazing citrus, fresh, sweet, woody, musky fragrance. I feel like I can wear this all year round, especially since the dry down turns so woody/musky. It's quite beautiful. I feel like the coriander really makes this very different than your average citrus perfumes. I'm happy I got a full bottle. edit: Almost a year later, and this is truly one of my favorite fragrances. I feel truly revitalized when I wear her.

This perfume is an instant LOVE, I never felt so good floral perfume like this. And this is my first Ormonde Jayne becouse I like the beast mode and beast longevity and they are a little softer for me but not this One! This perfume is projects very good ang lasts all day! I mostly get the cherry blossom and the cyclamen with bergamot, cedar wood and some green- delicious, a true compliment glitter! Thanks for it, I will buy a back up bottle soon. Recommend as a blind buy gift too.

Sakura is stunning! It truly reminds me of Sakura Blossom here in downtown Toronto. I love the spicy opening of this perfume and find that it has great longevity in spring/ autumn weather. In summer it performs horrendously but I wouldn't wear it then anyway. I love this perfume so so much! It's unique and I haven't smelled anything quite like it. Love catching wafts of it through the day. It layers very well with fresh and deep perfumes alike. Full bottle for me.

I absolutely adore this ravishing scent! For me it is my perfect winter scent - had it on during a bitterly cold day in Scotland and by lunchtime three strangers had asked me what perfume I was wearing. This is an incredible scent: sweet, slightly spicy but glorious from start to finish. Not a traditional cherry blossom scent by any means - instead we have the sophisticated grown-up version. So very elegant. Probs not a safe blind buy...but oh my...this is DIVINE!

This is a great simple yet creamy spring fragrance... There is something that almost smells like play dough in here??? Maybe the vanilla, cedar & Sandalwood combo... This opens up very citrusy, green and fresh but settles down quickly to a creamy almost sweet almost almondy scent... the projection is not the best and it’s not my favorite Cherry Blossom scent but it’s still interesting and I quite like it

Really very beautiful cherry blossom - light, bright, sunny scent! Unfortunatelly longevity is almost non existant on my skin... Otherwise it would be full bottle worth, I would grab it immediately. But for now I have to skip it - such a short-living scent is not worth of 175 eur per bottle... It does not even stay on cloths... But once more - it's really beautiful!

If you find Chanel Chance Eau Tendre girly and suitable for day time, then Sakura Ormonde Jayne is the more refined, elegant and mature version which is suitable for formal or night summer occasions.

I have just put it on in a store and received compliments from 4 people. Reminds me something from my childhood but not sure what exactly. I guess I need it.

Sakura is a beautifully soft and clean sweet floral perfume, with a gorgeous dry down. It opens with bright citrus, bergamot, lime and mandarin combine with a blast of pink pepper alongside a hint of dates and saffron. Ambiguous green notes become present on skin, surrounded by a bouquet of airy florals - mainly rose, as well as a gentle incense. The notes listed on fragrantica are very different than the official listed notes. The base takes the sweet rose from the heart, and deepens it with vanilla, cardamom and woods. Oud is an officially listed note, however I don’t find this very apparent. Sakura is a very pretty fragrance, easy on the nose and easily enjoyable. It’s very nice, but quite gentle and from the official notes listed I would have expected a bit more depth and character. Intensifying the oud, dates, rose and frankincense would’ve rendered this a truly great fragrance.

So I'm testing Sakura sample today. And while I am still waiting for the base notes to set, what I get on my skin now, is something similar to.... Montabaco. :) Well slightly sweetened and just with a hint of cherry blossom. Sakura is far more woody and less floral that I expected. By no means bad, but in such a bottle I didn't think I can find something in fact so unisex. My thoughts: They knew Montabaco is an excellent fragrance (I have a bottle myself) but in the same time one that is less appealing to women maybe due to it's austere look, so they've created a pink bottle and with some minor modifications got a female version of their bestseller. :D Will I be looking to buy Sakura? No. But it definitely is a release of the best quality Ormonde Jayne is known for, so I can recommend buying it nevertheless. Both for women and men. :)

This is the most complex and interesting cherry blossom fragrance I have smelt. The first spray has a real funkiness/skankiness- quite earthy almost a cumin note. It settles to a pretty, powdery almost nutty floral. I love this house, OJ nails a beguilingly beautiful, uncommonly interesting, understated, perfectly blended, non-shouty fragrance. Sakura lasts well on my skin, I get about 5 to 6 hours.

Once the initial sharp citrus opening settles down I find it smells slightly similar to The Ghost in the shell, but has more of a spicy/peppery floral thang happening. I like it but idk if it's full bottle worthy and definitely not for the price.

I truly love cherry blossoms: the trees, the color, the shape, everything about them is so lovely. And i have yet to find a perfume that get close to cherry blossom. This one is too musky, too weak, not-happy vibe.

I really like the spicy tones in this, but I don't think it's as the name suggests. I thought it would be more floral. I do enjoy the peppery notes though! Smells different than I expected but I like it!!

Another simple, light floral in a pretty bottle. The opening of Sakura is very green, watery floral, limey and citrusy with vague smelling flowers. It could be the cyclamen flower that I am getting here, but I don’t know how it smells. But nothing to do with cherry blossom scent in the opening... Judging by the composition and the multitude of notes listed, it seems to be a pretty complex, multilayered kind of fragrance. But it doesn’t smell complicated or anything intriguing. It’s just a soft floral with some hints of cherry blossom and a semi sweet vanilla, woody base. Performance is not impressive either, both as far as longevity and sillage is concerned it performs quite poorly. On my Sakura is a real skin scent after about an hour. And for the price these Ormond Jayne’s perfumes are being sold currently, I would not bother or recommend unless you buy them as a gift for a teenager. As their first perfume type of situation. The packaging and bottles of all of them from the collection of La Route de Soie is very pretty, a very vibrant orange, colourful, eye catching so these would make a good first impression in such instances. Or for someone who has so much money that buys perfumes not necessarily just for the scent.

I've been thinking about what to say about this fragrance for several days. And actually, I still have no idea. First expression - strong wood, after two hours - disappearing wood and whole fragrance. Lacks longevity. This 'bouquet of flowers' that is listed... Yes, it's there, but there are too many of them!!! As a result, they don't blend well with the woods, and you don't understand what's happening.

I really wanted to love this but the citrus notes dominate the entire scent, I wish they were more subtle to give room for the florals to come through. I think if you're looking for a soft citrus scent this would work for you but all I get are the top notes which consist of mostly citrus and pepper. I'm wondering if I should revisit this scent in the spring or summer?

Pretty, clean, and very much in the soap genre. Sakura smells like fresh, feminine shower foam soft florals, smooth, and easy to wear, but nothing that really stands out or sticks in your memory. It’s nice, forgettable, and honestly the same vibe could be achieved with a good shower gel and a fluffy lather. Pleasant, polished, and... next.

The way I have been stalking Sakura for the last few months only to be disappointed when I finally got my nose on her. It's a bit sour and band-aid ish to me???? I think it's the pink pepper and lime combo that throws me off. Glad I didn't blind buy.

the pink peppercorn note is somewhat overpowering at first, but it dries down quite nicely after a while. a skin scent for sure. the lily and cyclamen are significantly more noticeable than the cherry blossom, so the name’s pretty misleading. 2.5/5

I purchased a 10 ml decant of this as my own personal introduction to this house. I admit I was won over by the pink ombre bottle, and I tend to have good luck with cherry blossom scents in general. I thought 'I'll buy a small size and then spring for the big bottle' since I loved the bottle so much. However, I'm glad I bought a decant, and didn't spring for the full bottle initially, because Ormonde Sakura sadly wasn't for me, and I ADORE floral fragrances. But this? I didn't even use up my decant. I gave it away. I just couldn't wear it. It was too sweet and while it's well crafted, it just had too much jumping out at me at once. Too messy (on me). Too sweet. Not tempered by any warmth, the sweetness is very candied and the florals are a bit sharp (I think one flower in particular is to blame but more on that in a sec). Sadly there is not much depth to it, despite all the notes. Smells a little dated (not in a good way, either - and, for the record, I LOVE most vintage fragrances) and is a bit reminiscent of bathroom freshener (sorry!). I like when a fragrance is well blended on my skin. This was not. At least for me. Another cherry blossom fragrance I recommend over this is Kenzo Flower Ikebana Sakura (it's sweet but it's very natural and botanical-smelling, also the florals and the sandalwood mixed are BEAUTIFUL - it's simpler than this, MUCH more inexpensive and it's just more unique, imo, and it lasts 24 hours on my skin, much like this does). The notes in this that I think really messed me over in this Ormonde Jayne fragrance are the cyclamen and the pink pepper: they just detracted from what I think the overall vision was for this fragrance. But if you add a cold floral like cyclamen and mix it with pepper, 2 spicy notes? it's just going to fall apart. At least on my skin, since my skin tends to enhance both those notes with each fragrance I've tried that contains them, and I know what cyclamen smells like because L'Eau d'Issey has a TON of it too. That's the reason L'Eau d'Issey didn't work for me either. Cyclamen in its synthetic perfumer form, just has this very starched smell when combined with certain notes, and can smell cold and astringent on me. Not refreshing, not aldehydic. Just...strange. I give this fragrance its flowers for its good longevity though! Lasted 24 hours on skin and clothes.

You need to like razor sharp greenness in perfumery--Sakura opens fiercely, lots of pink pepper and coriander and lime. (Random: I'm not opposed to green lime openings as I own Simone Anderoli's Malibu Party in the Bay). The florals here, imo, don't contrast enough with the sharpness of the pepper and citrus. These florals are sharp, biting, a touch soapy and headache-inducing (cyclamen, freesia, water lily, osmanthus--you should know if you like these). Unlike some of the other reviewers, I don't find this scent to be well balanced. It needs something to round it out a bit--a juicier heart, a creamy accord--maybe rounder base notes. Anyway, you'll get soapy, piercingly green florals with a bit of sweet vanillin at the bottom. The overall vibe is young, sharp and sweet, and on my skin, it's pretty linear. Reminds me a bit of the Chanel Chance line. Not my thing.

Was sent a free sample of this, expected to love it or at least like it... hated it!! I like florals, and I love woods and spices, but this one is a total mess to me! To much going on and lots of clashing. Also, after less than 20 minutes I found that nothing stuck around but the base notes. So was left with an incredibly sweet, chewy, musky, sandalwood-cedar. Sakura is not a fitting name. Sakura evokes delicate flowers in brisk wet spring weather, not a tonka-vanilla-amber sandalwood bomb (to me those are cozy warm sensual notes, not fresh chilly out under a cherry tree in spring ones, definitely not floral enough). Edit: smelling the dry down on fabric, there actually are some non-base notes remaining, a tart citrusy note and something vaguely floral. Gotta be the lime, osmanthus, cyclamen, and a hint of cherry blossom. I wouldn’t mind this on someone else.

Revising my initial impression.... tried to like this perfume but really couldn't. Very strong head note (juniper and coriander which smells strong cumin) and bottom note (bunch of woods that overtakes the whole fragrance that pretty much destroys a puny attempt at the olfactory painting of this fine, delicate, oriental flower that is sakura. For reference, I am an Asian woman and smells plenty of sakura and sakura perfumes. My fav so far is that from the Body Shop :) It is simple, sensual, light and pleasant.

I really wanted to like this, just as I love the other Ormonde Jayne fragrances I've tried (Ta'if, Levant, Tolu), and had been looking forward to trying this as soon as it came out, but this one is surprisingly harsh for something named after such a delicate note. Very heavy on the citrus. It opens almost like a household cleaner. The drydown is better once the cherry blossom and other florals come through, but it's too cedar-heavy for my personal taste.

i was really excited when i saw this fragrance because i love cherry blossom and it seemed to standout from the typical cherry blossom fragrances, however the composition of notes is just not good. there's too much sharp green right off and not enough florals for it to invoke any happy positive feelings other cherry blossom fragrances do. plus the drydown is oddly soapy and musky. 3/10

Disappointingly light and fleeting. All I get is light bright florals and lime in the opening, and then sadly, nothing. Not a single whiff.

This is absolutely rank, smells to me like wet rotting flowers.

On paper it smells floral and sweet, on my skin it smells like garbage. Shame!

Being a fan of Ormonde Jayne, I was mildly disappointed by Sakura at first, as it reminded me of the ground floor of a department store. More elevated, yes for sure, but that's not how I want to smell. Two sprays into the air filled the bedroom with a "feminine" scent, as my partner described it. Then I decided to wear it outdoors before deciding to give it away. The magic happened then, I couldn't get enough of its dry-down. I suppose the mistake with the first wear was that I sprayed it in the air. I must say, the name is rather misleading. I think this one is mostly about cedar, sandalwood, and osmanthus. Now I'm looking forward to emptying my travel-size bottle this spring/summer.

This is so beautiful. I've never smelled anything like this before. It's sweet and something deep is making this sultry. I would have sworn there was saffron & coconut in, but I don't see either in the notes. It's hard to describe but I immediately bought a full bottle. If you want a light spring floral, this isn't it. If you want something sweet, sexy, a little vanillic, a lot floral, with a little kick from the pink pepper, that is totally unique... give it a try. This is not a spring/summer scent exclusively. It'll be good all year. I'm addicted.

I have mixed feelings about Sakura. On one hand it has too much pepper, coriander and green notes to feel like the beautiful Sakura trees, to represent the bottle color. On the the other hand, the late drydown has the sweetness of the cyclamen, the freesia, osmanthus and other floral notes lifting the mood of the scent and providing a very charming sillage. However, from up close it remains soapy, green, peppery, woody, and to be honest not too pretty. I guess I need to sample it one more time, but I don't think I will buy a full bottle.

shout out to samples. we are so lucky that there are an abundance of websites out there and places that people will sell us decants without having to buy full bottles all the time. there truly is no better time to be a fragrance enthusiast. all that to say, i absolutely hated this lol. thought i was going to love it / potentially be a spring beast but it was sharp, green, spicy, and dried down a bit soapy on me. an overall not well-blended mess on my skin.

This is not a pretty spring floral fragrance for me.. all I get is a blast of citrus at the opening and then ALL the coriander and cumin.. I’m sensitive to coriander, so maybe that’s why it’s so overwhelming to me, but this is not what I imagined from just looking at the notes. I love Ormonde Jayne’s Damask and Levant.. they’re both such pretty sparkling floral scents, but THIS, I can’t stand :(

I’ve used two 2ml samples directly from Ormond Jayne. This is gorgeous! Beautifully citrusy opening where I really get the juiciest lime, orange and bergamot. It quickly settles into a lovely delicately floral powder scent. But sadly it has zero lasting power on me! Literally an hour and a half and then nothing. It makes me sad because if this even lasted 4 hours on me, I would buy it.

Not a fan of the opening. I get a sour spicy smell? Then spaghetti sauce??? But after 30 minutes or so you start to get the most beautiful sent of cherry blossom, violet and almonds... The dry down is so intoxicating just sweet enough but sexy... Love!

Agree to Imegaphone. The spices of this are too loud and screechy. This is not a typical cherry blossom in the sense of sweet and dainty. It is very harsh to my nose and definitely not a blind buy. Unfortunately this isn’t for me.

While the begining is this spring time, fresh cherry blossom which made me wonder whether I should get a full bottle, the dry down is a persistent fruity shampoo I cannot imagine wearing.

There is this screechy note I can't get past that is giving me a headache. There are too many notes listed to pick out what I'm smelling. But I can see this smelling fine on someone else.

1st wear test... I’m praying for those middle/base notes to kick in. I’m very overwhelmed by a spicy cumin. Very medicinal.

Lip sticky at first then something green or herbal ,not aure, blasts . Good smelling but not something I would wear .

The opening is very nice but does not last long unfortunately. It becomes a common cedar - amber - musk combo.

Too much pepper and coriander with green citrus notes, I don’t like it

Too peppery , too earthy to be called sakura and bottled in pink !

Omg this smells like Kalamata olives. No thank ya!!!