JO MALONE LONDON Blackberry & Bay Cologne

I received a sample of this from Jo Malone in their FB giveaway.
This is such a delightful fragrance. I wasn't expecting to like it so much actually.
Without meaning to buy into the ad campaign too much, it does remind me of blackberry picking in August as a child, and making warm blackberry syrup to pour over vanilla ice cream.
It opens with tart grapefruit, which really emulates the tart aroma the berries have. It's like the smell you get when you stand close to a lot of blackberry bushes - the vetiver may contribute to this, but I can't say that I particularly smell it. The blackberry then gushes in and is so true I was surprised. Slightly bitter, fruity, aromatic. The floral notes soften it in the dry-down, but it does remain clearly a blackberry scent, now a bit sweeter and floral, rather than the aromatic opening. As much as I appreciate how realistic the opening is, it is the lovely squashed berry dry down that is the best to me. It's like setting in to the ice cream and blackberry syrup on a late summers day, relaxing as the scent of flowers passes by on the breeze.
This is the kind of treatment I wanted of Pomegranate Noir, which turned too spicy and lost the fruitiness.
You'd have to spray a bit to get much sillage as this stays close to the skin, staying power OK, about 5 hours. A must try for blackberry lovers.
EDIT: Revisited this recently and was shocked by the difference I noticed in projection and staying power. Two concentrated sprays gave me really good sillage and lasted from 11.30 am until 11pm that night.

This fragrance is a dream. Brings me to the sunny coast picking berries with my sister as a child, eating two for every one we put in the basket. I layer this with an oil dupe for longevity, its not great on its own in that regard. In the summer, it smells sweeter, like a juicy berry and the colder weather highlights the herbaceous bay note. Definitely unisex and a comfortable fragrance for just about any occasion.

If you like bay, you're going to love this. I figured I would like it, but didn't expect it to be quite so refreshing. The berries here are freshly picked off the bush, not like a sugary jam. And the bay leaf is fresh and green (of course), not dried like you might be used to smelling from your spice rack. I think this is solidly unisex, nothing too sweetie femme or barbershop masc - it sits in a very neutral, botanical place. I find that this lasts longer than WSSS (the only other Jo I have to compare), but it doesn't aggressively project or anything. I love layering this with Demeter Firefly to add a wet grassy element - it gives the feeling of drinking a tall glass of water in the summertime. I always assumed citruses to be the pinnacle of freshness, but this guy beats them all. Love it.

Blackberry & Bay is sublime, a very good alternative choice to the normal sorts of late summer/autumn fragrances that are about, that said I do think this is perfect for the height of summer too, its herbal and refreshing.

It opens up with a fresh, sharp blast of grapefruit which mellows out and reveals a basket of freshly picked blackberries, and I have to hand it to JM, this is an amazing realistic interpretation of a blackberry based scent, nothing synthetic or chemically in here whatsoever. The grapefruit and blackberries intertwine and a herbal, green snap of bay comes out with some mild, floral notes to round it all off.

This is purely unisex and I can picture it on anyone, its elegant, classy and very country garden-like. Longevity is decent, I get about 6-7 hours wear from this and as with all JM scents, close to skin silage, again, it lasts for ages on clothes so if you want to extend its life, mist your clothes or a scarf as well as your skin.

This also smells divine when its layered with English oak & Hazelnut, it adds some extra depth and complexity :)

Imagine forest in summer, fresh ripe blackberries warmed by the sun. You can smell their distinct scent plus all the greenery surrounding them. It is definitely not a sweet or floral fruity smell, more earthy and green.
I absolutely love it! It is perfect for daytime wear and reminds me of European summer.