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I'm wondering about these fairly mass market new Iris scents

I'm wondering about these fairly mass market new Iris scents 11 years ago
Last couple years the upper tier mass market's been awash with releases featuring Iris big time. Things like Shalimar Parfum Initial, Coco Noir, Balenciaga Paris, the multiple reformulated Dior Hommes, etc.
Honestly, what is claimed to be Iris in them, is pretty much the same big (new?) aromachemical, isn't it? No way it's natural Iris, not with this foghorn projection and blandness, and definitely not at those prices. Methinks somebody devised this evil Iris-like thing somewhere in a lab and hushed it up.
Any info or thoughts on this, anyone?
11 years ago
www.chandlerburr.com/newsite/content/emperorof scent/perfumeprevious.php

Iris, handled correctly, is liquid good taste. It also, incidentally, does not exist. It is impossible for technical reasons to wring any natural scent from iris flowers, and all iris scents are created with synthetic molecules: Ionones, inexpensive but quite nice, irones, very expensive and gorgeous, and marvelous orris aldehydes can simulate terrific iris scents. Here are four masterpieces built on the smell of iris: Chanel 19, the most abstract, Bois d'Iris by the niche French house The Different Company, the most severe, the most austere, and Iris Poudre by Pierre Bourdon for Frédéric Malle's collection, the most velvet, thick, luxurious. The least severe is Dior Homme. Polge has used a light, assured, masterly touch that turns this iris into the sheerest sheet of crisp silk, as close to perfection as it's possible to get. It has the grace of a Japanese maple and the cool of a leopard. It is the most elegant thing I've smelled in years.
11 years ago
Thanks for the link Cincy. Kind of funny how he writes so much like his idol LT hehe.

Anyway, what I was trying to imply in my OP is the question whether there is a new Iris in the industry. Apparently, the success of big Iris centered niche releases (Iris Poudre, some of Chanel's Exclusifs and others) inspired a trend in upper mass market, just like what happened with Oud. These 'iris' notes are everywhere now, but they are definitely not the terribly expensive orris butter, nor the complex molecule compounds which were used in Chanel 19 and the pre-reformulation Dior Homme.
This latest Iris can be compared to the latest Musk. Did you notice how they've used the same vaguely Musky aromachemical in a bunch of recent releases (especially those signed by Morillas and Demachy)? Seems like it's the cheapest of the current bunch of musk-like formulas and it renders all perfumes it's used in very similar to each other in their nostril singeing industrial finish. It's impossible to mistake for any other musky compound and it seems to be the go-to musk molecule in the industry today. The same goes for all these so-called Irises in the reformulated Homme, Shalimar Initial and ironically Chanel's own Coco Noir. There's a strange similarity among these scents, a big, hovering, airy, bland accord, vaguely reminiscent of the niche Irises circa 2007 and unmistakably chemical in nature.
Again, like what happened with Oud, it seems that niches brought Iris back, some by use of the real orris butter, others by meticulously recreating it from expensive high quality molecules.
Fast forward the Oud trend to today - everyone and his dog are making oud perfumes, mostly little chemical woody numbers which claim to contain oud notes. Needless to say, chemists must have been pretty busy churning out the cheapest oud alternative possible. And Iris. Because Iris seems to be the feminine Oud nowadays.
I'm a big Iris fan. I love the rootinesss, the funky carrot nuances, the old_lady_lipstick connotations and the lush air of sophistication , but these new Iris-wannabes I wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole.
/end of rant/

So, the question remains: whodunit? What's this new chemical stinker being shamelessly passed for Iris?
11 years ago
ChapeauClack:
Thanks for the link Cincy. Kind of funny how he writes so much like his idol LT hehe.

Funny that you mention this: I assumed that it was CB quoting LT!
Rolling Eyes
11 years ago
Ahaha sherapop really?
It crossed my mind too, but then I saw it was his (Burr's) periodical top 5 so I guessed it was he who did the writing... the weirdly Turinian writing. I haven't read his Emperor of Scent, so can't really judge whether he always writes like this.

I'd love to know what's your take on this contemporary Iris thing Smile
11 years ago
ChapeauClack:
I'd love to know what's your take on this contemporary Iris thing Smile

I guess that I'm not appalled by the situation, since I do love the entire Prada "Infusion d'Iris" series, even though I doubt that it contains real iris, given that my jugs cost less than air freshener per milliliter!

But I have other iris perfumes, too: MPG "Iris Bleu Gris" seems very authentic to me, and I like it very much. Same story for Keiko Mecheri "Iris d'Argent", which is supposed to be for men, but I disagree and in fact like it more than her "Iris Pourpre".

I should also say that I draw a big distinction between orris and iris--or their representations. The carroty quality of "Hiris" is very different from the powdery quality of "Ferre" or "Bois d'Iris" or "Iris Poudré", for example, but I like all of these perfumes!

Acqua di Parma "Iris Nobile" is another example closer to "Hiris" than to the lighter-shaded iris perfumes familiar to me, but I like it, too. I'm not all that keen on the Yves Rocher "Iris Noir", but they apparently use only natural ingredients, so I don't know what to say except that their house base annoys me a bit.

Well, that was a bit of a ramble. The bottom line is: I like iris, and I am not too troubled by "the iris problem", since I do not consider the perfumes you cite to be iris perfumes in the first place. I will say that I saw some Crabtree & Evelyn Iris body products at TJMaxx and considered buying them but refrained...
Cool
11 years ago
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