Probably the most hyped-up fragrance for the past few years, the Jo Malone colognes are everywhere. You see them raved about in blogs and magazines and even youtube videos. People hunted them and some even swore by them, making a cult line behind the exclusive cologne brand.

Quintessentially British, Jo Malone is a fragrance house known for elegantly simple scents with unexpected ingredients and a unique twist. With an understated style, defined by an unconventional sense of sophistication and inspired by modern British culture, Jo Malone is curating collections between world-renowned master perfumers and London's leading creative talent.

As we know, their colognes and perfumes are expensive. They are considered high ends and "exclusive" brand in the world of colognes and fragrances. So being a budgeted blogger I of course couldn't go and buy them all 😅

So what's a girl to do when she wants to try out some Jo Malone fragrance but they're too expensive ?
A girl go and purchase the samples first, LOL.

Don't get me wrong, even their samples are expensive (here in Indonesia). You could get free samples from Jo Malone stores in other countries but not here. We don't have Jo Malone official counter and their samples are worth IDR 80,000 - 100,000 on the market here.

Yes, the small teeny tiny tube of samples that you get for free from the Jo Malone store, we can only get them here by buying them from specific sellers. Other seller offer a share-tube, meaning she opens a bottle of Jo Malone original perfume and then she decant the juice into small spray containers and re-sell them again at a price. So that's why you'll see different containers on my photos here in this post. Some of them I bought in their original free sample vials, and a few of them I bought in shared-containers (decants) so I can have a little bit more product.

I will try to break down each of the scents that I got and hopefully this would help you determine which scent you would probably like and would prefer to get (because they're expensive so you don't want to buy them blindly, right?). These are sample sizes but they all are original Jo Malone colognes. 

PS: I don't have all of the Jo Malone scent variants (because there are so many of them) but I'll try to collect them and will add another post if I purchase new ones in the future :)

PSS: Perfumes and colognes work differently on different people, so please bear in mind that the reviews below are based on my own body chemistry. Now, let's start!

Wood Sage & Sea Salt

“An uplifting unisex fragrance that features a top note of ambrette seeds, heart note of sea salt, and the woody earthiness of sage as the base note. The scent is inspired by breaking waves, sea salt spray, and the mineral scent of rugged cliffs.”

When I sniffed it off the vial it smells like a smokey incense-like aroma with a sharp salty tone that almost like smelling salt in the air. And actually that’s the exact things I smelled when I wore it on my skin. A little bit breezy / beach-y scent, a little bit incense-like, overall a unique combination that's hard to explain. This might make a very unique scent that will left people around you wonder what scent it is, because it is very unique and totally not a generic perfume scent. 

If you love being “unique” with your scent you might want to try this one. This is actually my favorite Jo Malone scent from this batch. Sadly, although I would love to wear this scent and keeps people wondering, the scent didn't seem to go well with my body chemistry. This has low sillage on me, I couldn't even smell it on myself just a few hours after wearing it. I could add another layer after a few hours to bring up the scent again but I don't want to use too much of the sample because it's expensive. So yeah, that's just too bad... People wouldn't probably notice it on me because the scent-throw is just too weak on my skin. Also, the longevity was only moderate. It stays for about 5-6 hours but it only stays close to the skin so no one can smell it :(

English Pear Freesia

“Inspired by a walk in an orchard and captures the luscious scent of just-ripe pears, cooled by the autumn air, ready to twist free from the tree. With freshness of sweet pears, wrapped in a bouquet of white freesias, on a subtle background of scrambling wild roses and skin-warming amber, patchouli and woods”

My first impression from the first spritz is a rather blunt scent with a little bit of tart. Followed by white floral notes with a hint of fruitiness. Like a soft scent of vintage floral with a touch of baby powder fragrance. This one works out fine with my body chemistry. I can still smell hints of it on myself even after several hours of applying. On my body it has medium scent-throw because other people can smell it on me within very close range. To my nose it smells very sweet, with a heavy floral scent, a little bit fruity, and with a hint of crisp freshness to it.

English Pear Frisia is one of the popular scent of Jo Malone. Overall such a lovely scent, very girly and feminine fragrance, reminds me of an imaginary walk inside a lush botanical garden in the morning, with dews and sunshine all around. I like it (although not my first choice) mostly because this has the strongest sillage / scent throw on me, plus this also has the strongest longevity on my body out of all the Jo Malone vials I’ve tried in this batch.

"The essence of charm. Peonies in voluptuous bloom, exquisitely fragile. Flirtatious with the juicy bite of red apple and the opulence of jasmine, rose and gillyflower. Mingling with the sensuality of soft, blush suede. Luxurious and seductive."

Blackberry & Bay

Pomegranate Noir

Hugs n' Kissies,