Collection Extraordinaire - Bois d'Iris Van Cleef & Arpels (2009)

Collection Extraordinaire - Bois d'Iris by Van Cleef & Arpels

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Collection Extraordinaire - Bois d'Iris (Van Cleef & Arpels)

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Top 49 in Unisex Perfume

8.3 / 10 395 Ratings

Collection Extraordinaire - Bois d'Iris is a popular perfume by Van Cleef & Arpels for women and men and was released in 2009. The scent is woody-powdery. It is being marketed by Inter Parfums.

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Perfumer

Emilie Bevierre-Coppermann

Fragrance Notes

Top Notes	Salty notes
Heart Notes	Iris
Base Notes	Ambergris, Vetiver

Ratings

Scent

8.3 (395 Ratings)

Longevity

7.3 (301 Ratings)

Sillage

5.8 (287 Ratings)

Bottle

8.3 (276 Ratings)

Submitted by Kankuro, last update on 18.03.2020.

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Reviews

02/08/2020

8.0 7.0 9.0 9.5/10

Pollita
0 Reviews

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Pollita

Greatly helpful Review 31

Soft tones in perfect harmony

This morning I sprayed this sweetheart on a paper strip and carried it around with me. Wow, it's beautiful! I was blown away, and I held the thing under my nose all the time. Afterwards I grabbed my bike and cycled for about 1.5 hours, then jumped under the shower and put this sweetie on. But I couldn't smell much, only when I pressed my nose directly onto my wrist, which disappointed me a little at first. OK, check, I thought so. When I was just preparing my meal, my husband came and said that I smelled so wonderful. I was initially surprised: "You can smell that?" I replied in amazement. And then a compliment, which my husband rarely receives. The other day, I wrote about "not bad", remember? :)

All right, let it sink in. At least it seems to be well received by the people around me, but I want to get something out of it myself! The longer I was on the road with Bois d'Iris, the more I became aware of the scent I was wearing. Yeah, he's the 450 from Farmacia SS. Annunziata, which I also own. Bois d'Iris, however, is not quite as sweet, the sweetness is even a little bit softer than that of Farmacia. The dry one of the iris comes through a little stronger. It is creamy, subtly smoky due to the incense, myrrh is subtly perceptible and the labdanum grounds it. It's like laying down 450 with a touch of Passage d'Enfer. I only get a gentle breeze here and there. I guess ISO, which can cause such a flickering effect. Nowadays, not everything that noses have worked with in the pyramid of fragrances is in the pyramid anymore. He's not completely gone even now, quite the opposite. He keeps saying hello to my little nose. And my Mr. Pollito says it is one of the most beautiful scents I have. OK, if he says THIS, then I guess I have to buy him. I only have a small remainder of the Farmacia, so what.

Well, what do you know? Anyway, now I have a grin on my face and I am happy with myself and the world, what more could you ask for?

Boid d'Iris is certainly not a fragrance for people who like booms. I do too, but not on principle. If I had to wear Confetto and Sorriso every day, I would have a stomachache at some point, haha! This fragrance is a suitable companion for every nose that appreciates soft tones. And it radiates more than you think. I was really surprised. Looking forward to the summer with this treasure.

Speaking of treasure: I owe this treasure to the dear treasure-seeker, because the sample came from him. Many thanks for this!

22 Replies

08/25/2018

8.0 4.0 7.0 7.5/10

RossiFee
0 Reviews

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RossiFee

The Choir of Angels?

Iris holds the prayer book in her hand.
She resolutely opens the requested page in praise of God.
To her great joy.
The community rises like a quake. A divine song follows.
Actually, Iris isn't very religious.
She only likes to sing melancholic melodies in this old place with its splendid holy observers, who apparently know so much and then reveal nothing.
She hears the voices of the others.
The Choir of Angels?

Today she dares!

She'll drown them all!

Full throat, all her strength she will need, all will look to her!
It tingles all over her body, soft knees, her hands trembling and wet, she presses the black book even harder on herself.
Her heart's beating faster and faster, heavy breathing. Iris takes a deep breath...

Silence.

The crowd of believers settles down on the creaky old wooden benches, and folds their hands.
Here and there a slightly suppressed cough and coughing.
The singing impregnated air is purified by thick incense swaths until the last note has faded away.
The expectant silence and the request of a recurring prayer forces Iris again into the depths of the unfriendly hard eternal pew.

She missed her bet.

3 Replies

09/24/2017

9.0 3.0 7.0 8.0/10

ScentedSalon
96 Reviews

ScentedSalon

Affordable Unicorn

Bois d'Iris is what I wished Iris Ganache had been: woody, slightly sweet, irisy and creamy. Though Iris Ganache has a better quality iris note, it is so strong that it overpowers everything else. Bois d'Iris has room for all the ingredients. There is some sugar and cream, but not too much. The woods are earthy, dry and calming. The iris note is almost an afterthought and I wish it was a little more prominent. The opening reminds me a lot of Eau Duelle with the frankincense, and this incense is gooood.

Bottom line, this is a dupe for the impossible to find Iris Ganache if the iris was toned down and a bit of Eau Duelle was mixed in. Love the price and bottle as well.

04/25/2016

8.0 6.0 8.0 8.0/10

SmartyScent
4 Reviews

SmartyScent

Perfect iris

Oh my GOD, this fragrance smells really velvety and smooth, the best iris one imo, not so earthy nor dusty but creamy and very well balanced, romantic still powerful and better than bois d'argent too. Longivity is amazing and sillage is medium. Definitely one of my best and closest to my heart in terms of smell. Thumbs up van cleef and arpels ;)

11/27/2015

ColinM
516 Reviews

ColinM

Helpful Review 6

Silver iris

I must admit it: I’ve a penchant for iris fragrances. As long as they’re even just decent, I always like them a lot. It amazes me how versatile this material can be, and how many nuances it offers. It can smell warm and luscious, dusty and cold, “grey” and “red”, plushy and earthy, and always so refined and mysterious. Anyway, Bois d’Iris is surely a remarkable must for any fan of this material, probably even more than other more praised ones in my opinion. It explores the colder-dustier and more balsamic side of iris, pairing it with dry resins, warm amber, a very peculiar sort of “greyish”, massively incense-driven crisp woody note, and a sort of rarefied foggy pine-forest feel. So imagine a breezy, balsamic, woody and above all, dusty-powdery incense scent, completely unisex and actually quite dark somehow, or better say “cold”, peaceful yet somehow aloof. Almost “lunar”, I’d say. And extremely refined: the dustiness has some very fascinating sort of sparkling texture – “silver powder”, so to speak. Dior named a scent “Bois d’Argent”, but that name would be so better for Bois d’Iris actually. By the way the two scents are indeed quite similar, but I prefer Bois d’Iris, for a couple of very simple features: less pretentious, more substantial.

What fascinates me about this scent is how it creates a shimmering, rarefied sort of “silver incense” vibe played on iris powder and resinous-balsamic woody notes, without using directly incense. I mean, this fragrance smells quite incensey to me, but in a peculiar way, “incensey and not-incensey at once”. Maybe more than incense I should say “a whiff of cold, azure-grey smoky breeze scented with iris and luxury resins”, as it feels weightless and airy yet surprisingly substantial, balsamic, enveloping. Truly one of a kind, extremely enjoyable and fascinating. Shortly – if it wasn’t clear already – I really like this scent: it feels quality, it’s extremely sophisticated, it’s delicate but not light or too close to skin – just elegantly discreet. I own other iris based scents, and this has definitely its own personality which makes it worth owning even if you think you’ve “smelled them all” when it comes to iris. Maybe a tad too expensive, but a true class act!

8/10

05/01/2014

7.5 2.5 5.0 5.0/10

WRoth
153 Reviews

WRoth

Helpful Review 1

Collection Extraordinaire - Bois d'Iris

This fragrance opens with a peppery, green iris note under which I detect a smooth, powdery base. This base slowly rises to the top and engulfs the peppery-green quality of the orris. What I see reminds me at first of Iris Bleu Gris (smooth, powdery) and Iris Silver Mist (peppery, green) combined, but once the notes have settled in my skin I see a cousin of Infusion d'Iris. There is a smooth woodsy base in the same vein, a dash of resins and balms to add elegance and polish and last but definitely not least the same silky orris note at the heart of the composition. Bois d'iris, however, is less fresh and vibrant than Infusion d'Iris, as it does not contain any citrus notes; in fact the nose has focused more on sweet and vanilla-like notes. Despite this, Bois d'Iris is not a gourmand scent like Iris Ganache. The woodsy base becomes stronger and more prominent as the fragrance progresses, as does the myrrh which I can now see as a separate entity (as opposed to a resinous harmony with labdanum, frankincense and ambergris) enveloping the woods and orris root. Having smelled my fair share of iris scents, I am now sure that Heeley's Iris de Nuit is its sibling. They are very much alike, but whilst Iris de Nuit is sparkly excitement, Bois d'Iris is smooth serenity.

11/24/2012

7.5 7.5 6.0/10

Sherapop
1239 Reviews

Sherapop

For vanilla lovers only...

I've worn Van Cleef & Arpels BOIS D'IRIS a couple times now, punctuated by a few other iris-centric perfumes, and I've decided that my initial impression was sound: this composition contains every bit as much vanilla--if not more--than iris. So that may be good or bad news depending upon one's view of vanilla.

I myself am ambivalent toward vanilla: sometimes it works; sometimes it does not. I definitely don't get overly excited about vanilla-extract facsimiles, but a complex vanilla creation is always welcome to my nose, provided that it smells very natural and is not cloyingly sweet.

BOIS D'IRIS meets those criteria, but I must admit that it is not my favorite iris perfume. I think that I prefer the other niche-quality iris perfumes--by Heeley, MPG, L'Artisan Parfumeur, Hermès (Hermessences--yes, there are two iris options...), the list goes on and on--to this one.

I do recommend this Van Cleef & Arpels composition as a stand-out among vanilla fragrances, but vanilla appreciation is absolutely a prerequisite to wearing this perfume. In fact, I think that a better name would have been IRIS VANILLE, because the woods are far less pronounced than the vanilla. I should perhaps add, however, that the sweetness does not approach that of FEERIE edp, which to my nose is a kind of fruit syrup scent.

This composition seems much closer to something from L'Artisan Parfumeur than probably any other house. BOIS D'IRIS is definitely more of a subtle niche creation than a mainstream designer fragrance--as it should be, given the price!

01/17/2012

SystemeD
58 Reviews

SystemeD

Very helpful Review 3

Woody Iris, as promised!

There's a sweetness and creaminess in Bois d'Iris, but not a sugary one. And while the centerpiece is a fresh iris note, Bois d'Iris is woody throughout.

There's a very clean vetiver here, too, although the drydown is mostly ambery, touched very lightly with incense, and with a hint of labdanum's leatheriness.

If you were disappointed by the sugariness of Guerlain's Iris Ganache, and if you enjoy woody and ambery fragrances, you must try Bois D'Iris.