Babylonia Ormonde Jayne 2022

Babylonia was one of my favorites from the tasting menu set (along with Champaca and Damask).
My immediate impression was it smells like walking into a Lush store. You’re hit with quite a strong melange of smells: sweet tart blackcurrant, some citrus, some indistinct florals, something gourmand, a bit of powderiness. It’s like you can smell everything and yet no single thing. As it dries down it becomes a soft powdery floral.
The initial scent is just so lovely and nostalgic for me that I just might have to buy a full size bottle.

This scent is friendly and gentle. The invigorating, citrusy fruitiness at the beginning naturally fades over time, but it gives it a slightly buoyant quality that lifts the mood without being overly summery and hyper.
In the base, it then has a pleasantly lightly vanilla-tinged softness, with a very slight floral note, but really just a hint, which makes it a pleasant, discreet, and warm companion that neither overwhelms oneself nor the surroundings. Therefore, I find it quite wearable in the office or elsewhere at work.
Sure, this is not for a grand entrance. And perhaps this scent is also unspectacular, but it does not deserve those bad ratings of less than 6 points, because it is very finely composed and well crafted. It doesn’t have to appeal to everyone’s taste - those who want the scent trail to be noticed before entering the room will not be happy with this one, that’s clear - but I think the craftsmanship should be acknowledged.

So far, I only know "Byzance | Ormonde Jayne," which I actually liked quite a bit, but it felt strangely "weak" at the same time; somehow it didn't evoke enough in me. Nevertheless, I still found the fragrance concept of the fallen empire intriguing.

It starts with a very prominent sugary blackcurrant like in a women's designer fragrance and then takes an interesting turn; it becomes heavier like wine and develops more acidity, oscillating between playful lightness and serious melancholy, departure and collapse.
Like a brightly lit candy shop, where suddenly the lights flicker and the music starts to stutter, the seller's grin droops like a shirt on the line, whose clothespin has fallen off. Excitingly morbidly beautiful.

Then it brightens like the sun pushing through the clouds, sweet-powdery with the blackcurrant in the background and a slightly oriental character that maintains a spring-like lightness.
The fruity vibe gains a bit of warmth and becomes softer (I often find blackcurrant to be scratchy).

In the later stages, which progress quickly, the fragrance becomes even more powdery, and I am reminded of other scents; at times I think of "Trade Routes Collection - Constantinople | Penhaligon's" in a feminine way and without the lavender, and a bit of Peregrina towards the end.
What remains is soft, sweet grape sugar powder, and the longevity is not the strongest.
Overall, a pretty fragrance, but I must admit that I am generally not a big fan of blackcurrant in perfumes, although the one in Babylonia does not remind me of a penetratingly sour soda like, for example, "Meliora | Parfums de Marly," but rather comes across as softer and of higher quality.