KELLY & JONES: NOTES OF WINE REVIEWS

I used to be an absolute wine lover, and this is exactly why Kelly & Jones' Notes of Wine Collection, or the RESERVE collection was practically begging for me to try it. 

Taken from here.

They've created this line to "capture the fragrance notes of various varietals and are made especially to pair with a glass of wine". 

Now, while I can't really drink anymore, I still definitely wanted to try this. All those days of sniffing wine, checking the church windows/legs, letting the wine breathe, I mean, I've done the heavy lifting of the wine tasting, let's get some amazing perfume here. 

The backstory behind this house is lovely:

“WHO is wearing perfume in my tasting room?” the winemaker declared, as I

swirled my Chardonnay at a California vineyard. Right there in the vineyard, I’d

accidentally defied the rules of the wine tasting. Wearing perfume while the nose is

in the glass is strictly prohibited- rightfully so; it can interfere with the wine’s

aromas. But as perfume wafted from my skin, across the glass, it started to

enhance all the nuances of the wine’s bouquet. So I decided to break the rules, and

set out to create fragrances inspired by the art of wine tasting. The result is a truly

new concept in fragrance; an experiential and sensorial new pairing. This spirit of

"terroir" and the sensorially of nature is infused into all of our essences.

-our story

They also host wine smelling events, fusing perfume and booze! Anyone who's interested can check out these links, though they're mainly based around America and probably won't be moving anytime soon. 

https://www.kellyandjones.com/pages/events

The definite take away from this house, is whatever notes they list, you definitely get to smell it. A lot of perfumers I've found list a lot of notes that blend together that you can't pick out, but I can say with confidence, Kelly&Jones definitely delivers on every note it says it will. 

Ordering information:

I ordered mine as a sample pack from my beloved IndieScents. The official Kelly&Jones website I had emailed and asked for an official international quote for the shipping to Hong Kong, and the reply from Kelly was as follows:

Also, we would ship the order in a box rather than an envelope; this helps to protect the contents.

FedEx International Economy $114.83

FedEx International Priority $119.78

While she didn't clarify whether or not this was in USD or not, I couldn't bring myself to ask. 

I really wasn't sure, and buying from IndieScents only takes $15 dollars on any international order, so I placed my order with IndieScents instead (and they also have a loyalty program.) The turnover time for IndieScents took around 10 days, roughly around 7 business days, and took around two weeks to get to me. 

My order arrived in a big padded bag with bubble wrap around the little plastic bag, and all of them snugly labeled as my sample pack from Kelly & Jones. Less deluxe than the actual 50mL bottles, but there's nothing worse than blind buying perfume you realize you hate when you get it. 

My sample pack! Not as glamorous, but safety before sexy 

Here's an example of what Kelly includes with the descriptions of all the perfumes, which is absolutely lovely. For my convenience, I've only put one here, but you can check out the rest of them on the official website. 

Click here for more!

CHARDONNAY: Addictive + Sultry with Honeydew, Toasted Oak, Vanilla Blossom & Creme Brûlée

So let's start with Chardonnay! 

Much like all of them, this one has a lovely balance of all the notes that have been listed. 

It opens strongest with the honeydew/rockmelon with this mellow sweetness, but after it dries down, the vanilla custard and the burnt sugar caramel come forth a little more in the remaining times. 

For me, while it opens up a lot more fruity and has that muted lovely orange sweetness from the honeydew, the dry down reminds me a lot of Levante from Nobile 1942, which is one of my all time favorite scents. 

While it lacks the smidge of ~marine~ that Levante has, the sweetness of the vanilla and caramel make for a really lovely sweet gourmand. 

I love that this all smells exactly as described, but because it smells to me so similar to Levante, I have no need to buy another one (until Levante runs out!)

PINOT GRIGIO: Refreshing + Bright with Yuzu Grapefruit, Starfruit, Green Apple & Camellia

 This is definitely as fruity as it says it will be. It opens with a dry crisp green apple, but the yuzu/grapefruit feels more like a tangy citrusy afterthought to the scent. It's lovely and refreshing, and then after the dry down is just a nice balance of the Camellia and the apple. 

While this one isn't necessarily my favorite out of this collection, I found myself wearing this a lot in summer because of how light, fresh and fruity it was. Just a light whiff of this was nice to have. 

I also had some pinot grigio a while ago with this, and ones with the fruity apple really gave it a lovely compliment to round out that dry flavor! 

RIESLING: Sheer + Ethereal with White Peach, Anjou Pear, Bergamot & Raspberry Leaf 

Taken from here

Oh my love, I love you Riseling. Out of all of the white wines, I've always loved Riesling the most (Kabinett and Aslace were my absolute favorite) and gourmand/fruity scents are my weakness. This was basically a match made in heaven, for me.

I basically tried this entire collection for Chardonnay and Riesling, and I am honestly glad to have bought this. gain, so impressively, true to all the notes described. It has a bright peach, a juicy pear (the green bell shaped one) and hints of berry. The bergamot feels more like its there to round out and balance the scent, just to give it a little more complexity to its sweetness, and it just is such a sweet fruity scent. It dries down without much of a difference, and I would occasionally get wisps of pear. 

And, great praise to them for giving an actual authentic and very realistic scent of the peach and the pear notes. 

Honestly, there's not much description or review needed with this perfume because this lad is a straight talking honest perfume with exactly what they say they'll be. 

MERLOT: Sensual + Modern with Rhubarb, Red Currant, Mission Fig & Candied Violet

With this one, I could definitely make out the violent and the red currant, with a slight hint of rhubarb in the base notes, but that was about it. I didn't like this one too much, as none of the notes stood out to me too much and not notes I personally enjoy.
To my, this and Rose smell a little like, nondescript brand perfumes you smell in shopping malls when they give out testers. It's just a lightly femme, sweet, fruity scent to me. 

Like with the Cabernet, I don't like reds as much as whites anyway, so this didn't scream to me. 

CABERNET: Spicy + Provocative with Pink Peppercorn, Black Cherry, Tobacco Flower & Vintage Leather 

 Oh this one is very interesting. Like I said before, these descriptions are very accurate.

It literally smelt like, lashing of leather with a lot of pink peppercorn and a hint of tobacco. It had a smidge of black cherry just to make it a little bit sweet but this one is definitely a great unisex smell.

Honestly, I'm just impressed it smelt exactly like a leather shop, except if you sprinkled all of that with peppercorns. You could actually smell the spiciness of the pepper and the musky leather scent and honestly, totally and completely accurate and I absolutely hated this.

Not because it's not a good perfume either, it's just one that I would never wear. But if you like the sound of this one, you should definitely get this, because it is incredibly accurate.

I handed this off to a good friend of mine who prefers darker scents, and it works lovely on them, but definitely not on me.  

ROSÉ: Seductive + Sheer with Pink Currant, Osmanthus, Herbes de Provence & White Woods

Last one, Rose. This, as I said before, smells a little bit like a nondescript brand perfume. This one is one of the lighter ones, with the osmanthus, and just has a lightly 'floral' scent that I just don't really care for. It is clean cut and feminine, but lacks any sort of 'food' scent that I generally find myself drawn to. 

To round up: 

 Most of these have a very subtle projection and silage, but are noticeable enough that they don't fade away into obscurity. I wear them occasionally in my hair and clothes rather than on my skin, and most of these lasted around 4-5 hours. 

I got this whole sample pack (each are 1.5ml with a spray) for $20 off IndieScents, though they don't offer Cabernet anymore or the sample pack either unfortunately! Each one was about $3.5USD at the time, but their 1.5mL samples only sell for $4USD each still. 

You can access IndieScent's offerings here: http://www.indiescents.com/brands/Kelly-&-Jones.html

Alternatively, you can buy from Kelly&Jones directly (which is worth it if you live in the US!) and they offer a sample for the EDPs (sans Rose) at $25 USD, which makes it about $5 USD for 0.03 oz, or 0.9mL. I think IndieScents has the better deal, but buying from the site directly offers you a coupon code for $25USD off should you buy a full size of the RESERVE scents! 

My personal recommendations are Chardonnay and Riesling, and these will be solidly on my wishlist until I decide I can bear to part $75 USD for a 50mL version of this.