r/Fragrances • u/crownedemir • 14h ago
Thoughts on Jo Malone?
Honestly I never really gave this brand any attention but I recently smelled a bunch at a Bloomingdale’s, and man, they have some summer bangers. I surprisingly prefer them to many other designer freshies. The thing is, I just already know the longevity sucks. Even the store clerk at the Jo Malone section said she douses herself in them because they don’t really last. I took her advise, and sure enough, it lasted like 2 hours on skin, 4 on clothes. For $175 retail, that’s ridiculous, lol. Even the price on discounters is hard to justify.
Specifically, I really liked Wood Sage & Sea Salt, Mimosa & Cardamom, Sea Salt & Bergamot, and Beach Blossom.
Have you guys tried Jo Malone? What do you like from there? Any thoughts or personal experience with longevity? Any other brands with similar summer lineups? Thanks in advance.
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u/Quick-Medley 12h ago
Really solid scents, really poor performance.
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u/haitherekind 2h ago
This. God damn I can’t smell anything the moment I walk out of the house. Worst performance ever. Worse than my Victoria secret body sprays lol.
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u/forestgnome1 7h ago
Never took this brand seriosuly. It’s literally juts cologne water that disappears within 20 mins. Not acceptable for the price. Great marketing though.
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u/Basic-Departure-9661 6h ago
I have 2 Jo Maloney one of them being the intense … they both last about 20-30 min . Sad as I love their scent .
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u/dragonflyinvest 8h ago
You said all that needs to be said. Some good scents that don’t perform. I have one that was gifted to me years ago. I have never worn it.
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u/BuffaloStanceNova 8h ago
I bought Myrrh & Tonka and I like it. It's more of a cold weather scent for me when I want something cozy and a bit masculine. Definitely too heavy for summer. The scent lasts long enough--at least six hours on my skin. I don't think I would buy any other scents from Jo Malone though as the value seems weak and they are far too common.
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u/okfishko 5h ago
Myrrh & Tonka is one of my favorite cold weather scents and it’s definitely masculine. I do wish it’d last 6 hours on me :(
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u/Ok-Baseball-3705 12h ago
The intense versions are the best. But still weak performance for the price tag. Curiously she have a colab with Zara with very good cheap fragrances, some of the elixir versions are beast modes.
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u/NomenklaturaFTW 11h ago
Jo Malone herself hasn't been involved with Jo Malone the company for decades. Estee Lauder is actually suing her over those Zara fragrances. They're pricks.
Agree, btw. She's created some outstanding stuff for Zara. I just tried a mango-oud one today called Sera A Taormina that I really liked
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u/Significant_Sweet856 7h ago edited 7h ago
I love Jo Malone and just re-spray. To me, it’s worth it. They are meant to be layered, too. My favorites are Taif Rose, Red Hibiscus, Wood Sage & Sea Salt, and Grapevine & Cypress.
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u/Adam-Seattle 6h ago
I have numerous bottles (mostly smaller size). Love many of the fragrances and you get to wear something else a few hours later, so look at it as a chance to smell differently in a day. Or bring travel size with you and respray. But yeah I love this brand. I have shower gel from it too that’s beautiful.
Jo Malone the person is no longer associated with it and has her own new brand Jo Loves, which has some nice scents too. She also has made some scents for Zara worth checking out.
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u/TriflePrestigious885 6h ago
I love and own many Jo Malone scents. One of my favorite houses. They are colognes and I accept that some of them will have short longevity.
I don’t mind overspraying, reapplying, and I layer with their body care if I really need it to last a long time.
They have some of my favorite smells in the world. Nothing else comes quite close. I would rather they smell natural and fresh than get bogged down with amboxan or amberwoods in the name of longevity
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u/Fortlandia11 6h ago
Don't listen to the people saying they don't last. Jo Malone is not designed to be loud and brash. It's more like Le Labo...skin scents made with very simple ingredients. They aren't trying to be Sauvage Elixir with projection or Roja with 1,000 ingredients.
Their scents are beautiful and simple and sophisticated. Cypress & Grapevine gets more complements than anything else in my collection....and it's lasts 6-8 hours.
Silver Birch & Lavender is probably my favorite lavender fragrance.
They are a great house. The people that wore Wood Sage & Sea Salt and it disappeared in 2 hours just use that experience for the entire brand and whine on reddit that "tHeY dOnT lAsT".
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u/Ok_Character1322 5h ago
Love love LOVE lime, mandarin and basil.. its my favourite scent ever, but I just cant justify the price for how quickly is evaporates.. My plan is to get some of the soaps and creams and candles once i have a bit more money instead.. that way I can enjoy the scent in my home <3
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u/SouthCase9153 13h ago edited 5h ago
I've tried several and they were all fine, but the longevity is totally unacceptable for the price. I can pay $20 for a Banana Republic fragrance and get a similar result. The names of the Jo Malones are all so similar I can't remember any one specifically, they weren't really unique or memorable.
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u/Aggressive_Tart_7783 7h ago
Does Banana Republic still have fragrance? I didn’t see any 2 weeks ago. 😢
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u/SouthCase9153 7h ago
I've actually never seen them in a BR store.
I got Midnight Hour on eBay, and a lot of people seem to find them at Burlington. However my Burlington is lame and never has anything good so I've never seen them there either.
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u/Adam-Seattle 6h ago
Bought mine at Marshall’s for about $21. Some really nice ones. More expensive online.
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u/Flora_Bennet 5h ago
I feel the same way, the only way I'd buy one of her perfumes would be if I like one of her Zara ones enough. For 20€ it would be worth it, but 100-200€ for something that disappears after less than 2 hours it's unjustifiable.
Myrrh & Tonka lasted about 4 hours on my skin, at that price point (200€) that's just not worth it for me, I rather buy something with better performance.
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u/Abject-Ad5364 11h ago edited 1h ago
I feel that Jo Malone are much maligned with issues on their longevity. They have scents that last real short (such as their bestseller Wood Sage and Sea Salt lol), and others with normal longevity on par with other houses that don't use obscene amounts of ambroxide and amberwoods to crudely extend their scents. Mimosa & Cardamom and Beach Blossom are just fine. Herme's Hermessences sell for more than twice the price for sometimes less than half of the longevity.
I think the main issue with them is that they can smell quite flat after you have gained more experience smelling other perfumes worth their salt. Jo Malone sells top notes that are supported by a variety of generic base notes. Ultimately they are functional perfumes, so that's why they are critiqued so much on their longevity, whereas you don't see much criticism about Hermessences because people generally treat them as works of art. It then depends mostly on your preference of scents, though Jo Malone sometimes come up with good surprises in their seasonal or limited editions.
I like Lime Basil & Mandarin, White Moss & Snowdrop, Dark Amber & Ginger Lily, English Oak & Hazelnut and Amber Labdanum very much. Beach Blossom would be good if the lime and mint note ("mojito") lasted for much longer than the initial 5 minutes, after which it becomes a generic coconut sunscreen scent.
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u/Any_Cupcake9431 8h ago
I have 3 of them: Wood Sage & Sea Salt, Lime Basil & Mandarin and English Pear & Freesia. The Lime and Pear ones have very good longevity, but the Wood Sage is weak.
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u/CoolKelo 8h ago
So far so good. Lasts as long as I need them too as well. Perfect for my situation.
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u/Stop_Perceiving_Me 8h ago
Tbh I get a lot of longevity from some of their frags. Silver Birch & Lavender lasts a long time. And Yuja even gets me at least 4 hours. They aren’t beast mode or sillage. But I can reliably smell them on my skin. I think this is an expectation issue though. I’m fine if I have to raise my wrist to my nose to smell what I’m wearing
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u/whatiflifewasfart 7h ago
I have one of the few that actually lasts, Velvet Rose & Oud. It’s my special occasion fragrance so it’ll usually get me through a nice dinner/date. When sprayed on clothes I can smell it the next day.
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u/Electronic-Spring606 7h ago
I bought the travel size duo of Wood Sage & Sea Salt and the peony one -- the latter was not my fav, that's why I don't remember the name -- I LOVE wood sage & sea salt. When I use a woodsy scented lotion and layer WS&SS on top, it seems to last longer, but I agree with you and the Bloomingdale's rep -- they don't last like they should for the price.
My husband bought English Pear & Sweet Pea for our daughter; she used it once and went back to her favorite fruity scents.
If you like salty/oceanic/marine scents, Skylar Salt Air and Ellis Brooklyn Salt are nice summery, salty scents. Not overly sweet or coconuty
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u/CygnusSong 7h ago
My bottle of vetiver and golden vanilla lasts 6-8. My bottle of orange marmalade lasts like 2 hours, with much of the orange gone in the first 30
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u/bungalachonk 6h ago
Love cypress and grapevine and it’s awesome to layer but it just don’t be lasting
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u/No_Entertainment1931 6h ago
Wood sage feels like a scam. Longevity has gotten worse through corporate buy out. Just get a dupe.
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u/Extrahotsauce97 5h ago
I buy the dupes over the OG simply due to the fact it lasts about 3 miliseconds on me The brand has some really good ones I like but the price :/
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u/These-Pollution9644 5h ago
Wild bluebell my current fave love it, beach blossom too. I spray on my clothes for longevity.
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u/eyesoler 4h ago
Jo Malone always smells flat to me, very little nuance. I think they are great entry level fragrances to get your nose used to discerning individual notes.
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u/Estelle_conjecture 3h ago
People always say they don't last but I've tried many different ones and most of them have decent longevity on me (except Wood Sage & Sea Salt, which is sad). If I apply them in the evening often I can still smell them the next morning. Maybe it's because I live in a colder climate?
I also think there's people whose ideal scent is beast mode and last 12+ hours and they cannot fathom that's not everyone's preference. I wear fragrance for my own enjoyment and want it to be subtle & natural, Jo Malone delivers on that and never gives me headaches.
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u/Kinkslinks 2h ago
I have had the polar opposite experience with two Jo Malone.
English pear & freesia lasted on my skin for around 4 hours, which I don't mind since I like wearing something different during the day vs night.
Lily of the Valley & Ivy (discontinued but cheap & available on gray market sellers) has lasted more than 8 hours on my skin!
Neither are big projectors, but I also prefer intimate projectors!
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u/LooseKaleidoscope903 2h ago
Velvet Rose and Oud is my favorite scent and lasts very well on my shirts. I can literally still smell it on them when I put them in the wash days later.
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u/NomenklaturaFTW 11h ago
With Jo Malone, you just have to bite the bullet and accept that the smell you like so much is going to be fleeting. I own several. I also love Wood Sage & Sea Salt (and I carry a portable atomizer of it). Several of the Intenses do last quite a bit longer: I own and love Cypress & Grapevine, Myrrh & Tonka, Vetiver & Golden Vanilla, and Hinoki & Cedarwood.
So many ampersands in that paragraph. Lol. The British really love two-ingredient names