Iris (2007)
by L'Occitane

The papyrus shows up in the opening provides an interesting note to couple with the iris and pink pepper of the opening: It makes for a unique introduction. There is a violet note in the opening, too; it’s quite light and I don’t know if it is a separate violet note or if it’s the iris itself – either way, I could do without it. The galbanum comes through strongly, and this is one of those galbanum types that I find too aggressive – I don’t see this strong, rather harsh green note as adding anything constructive to the fragrance. I don’t get much of a drydown, what little there is rather generic .

There’s not very much in Notre Flore Iris that I enjoy… I love a good iris note and I enjoyed the papyrus note, but I simply do not like several of the other particular notes that were chosen to augment the what-was-supposed-to-be a dominant iris fragrance.

20th April, 2010.

Forget the scent pyramid, IRIS is L'Occitane's no-nonsense but no less pleasant take on iris and violet. It's powdery but not dry - I rather like it. But if depth and complexity are what you're after, you're out of luck.

17th November, 2009.

The perfume pyramid on the L'Occitane website lists these notes:

HEAD:
* Italian bergamot
* Pink pepper
HEART:
* IRIS
* Galbanum
* Violet
BASE:
* Papyrus
* Tonka Bean

The pyramid suggests a deeper scent, but it's hardly that at all. I couldn't make out the pink pepper in the beginning because you instantly take notice of the smell of violets. The iris is very powdery at the start, but the violet seems to take over for the rest of the scent. I have no idea what papyrus smells like, but the base seems to leave you with just violets and tonka. The overall feel of this scent reminds me of Guerlain's Insolence without its monstrous raspberry and pulp regurgitations, and thank goodness at that!

IMO, they should've named it Violet, but I guess it's Iris that's hot right now.

14th October, 2007.