iris: 65 posts

The rainstorm… Après l’Ondée, which translates from French as “After the Rain Shower” seems like a radiant and exquisitely graceful composition, and yet there is the suggestion of a brooding darkness hiding in its opulent layers. My own relationship with it is complex; it is both a fragrance that served as a gateway for my intense passion for everything Guerlain and a scent of nostalgia. It reminds me of my first year in the United States, when feeling displaced and homesick, I would walk around Marshall Field’s, the large department store in downtown Chicago. The Guerlain counter, with its large booklet describing each fragrance, drew my attention. I was determined to find a perfume that would be mine because Guerlain had always fascinated me.

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Star rating: 5 stars–outstanding/potential classic, 4 stars–very good, 3 stars–adequate, 2 stars–disappointing, 1 star–poor.

Serge Lutens Iris Silver Mist is iris to the power of 10. Despite its raw strength it manages to convey the ethereal softness and exquisite silkiness that make iris one of the most prized materials in perfumery. Although Iris Silver Mist is not a classical Serge Lutens oriental like Ambre Sultan, Chergui or Fumerie Turque, it has the distinctive aura and unconventional construction of other fragrances from the line.

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Star rating: 5 stars–outstanding/potential classic, 4 stars–very good, 3 stars–adequate, 2 stars–disappointing, 1 star–poor.

Even if Ormonde Jayne Orris Noir does not present its promised black iris, it more than makes up for it with its exquisite combination of spices, incense ashes and velvety woods. Its form crafted out of resinous and balsamic notes is nevertheless rendered as luminous and weightless, like silk, rather than wool. …

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Star rating: 5 stars–outstanding/potential classic, 4 stars–very good, 3 stars–adequate, 2 stars–disappointing, 1 star–poor.

Nuit d’Amour is the latest limited edition from Guerlain, which follows the 2005 launch of Plus Que Jamais. The fragrance was inspired by Gustav Klimt’s Lady with Hat and Feather Boa (Dame au Chapeau et Boa de Plumes). I am rather at a loss as to what about the flat floral oriental blend is meant to evoke a beautiful Art Noveau painting depicting a flushed redhead tightly wrapping a dark feather boa around her shoulders. Although Plus Que Jamais was a level below the classical Guerlains and their depth and complexity, it nevertheless captured the opulence and romance marking the house’s creations. Nuit d’Amour, on the other hand, veers too far into territory that has already been well explored and exploited. …

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Star rating: 5 stars–outstanding/potential classic, 4 stars–very good, 3 stars–adequate, 2 stars–disappointing, 1 star–poor.

Inspired by the introduction of oriental and American spices to Europe, Hermès Paprika Brasil lost me before it even managed to set its sail. The watery and cold effect of the top note was rather anticlimactic, if one expected the vibrancy of spices and the richness of paprika. Instead of searing heat, at most Paprika Brasil conjures a damp morning mist of an autumnal day, a character it retains as the composition develops.

The dominant presence in the composition is that of iris. Its dove grey outlines are noticeable under the transparence of the vegetal top note. However, the iris is pale and sheer, a ghostly shadow of its rooty sumptuousness that one can glimpse in Serge Lutens Iris Silver Mist. …

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