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Iris Bleu Gris: one of the oldest and probably the most unique masculine iris?

post #1 of 32
3/22/09 at 1:43pm
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  • cpk
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I have been on an iris quest and tested several "masculine" iris scents. I have bought IBG, Iris Silver Mist and L' homme du Coeur. After several wearings of each I have come to appreciate the greatness of IBG. It was created in 1988, long before the "masculine iris" vogue in perfumes. Most other iris frags for men use the powdery note and build on it to create an atmosphere of introvert melancholy. IBG on the other hand goes on a totally different road. It sparkls with a bright green note. We know that iris absolute comes from the root, not the flower of the plant, but IBG smells like the stem of the flower would smell if the fragrance came from the flower, if you know what I mean. It is an extrovert, radiant fragrance, that stands in a genre of its own. Only ISM, created in 1994, can offer a similarly unique take on iris, capitalising on the carrot-like notes of the iris. Strangely enough all other male iris scents that followed in the 00s have chosen to focus on the melancholic aspects of the note. If you are a big fan of Dior Homme, IBG is something that you will probably find incomprehensable because it creates a joyfull, energetic vibrant aura, unlike DH, Prada, or even L'HdC. In fact I would find "Iris Bleu Or" a much more appropriate name for it.
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post #2 of 32
3/22/09 at 9:35pm
As a lover of iris scents, I find it odd that I still have not smelled Iris Bleu Gris.

Side note: I had a friend over last night, and I was showing him my bottles in my wardrobe and he smelled Iris Silver Mist and loved it instantly. He was not familiar with the smell of iris, but he got the 'cold' aura that ISM gives off.
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post #3 of 32
3/22/09 at 10:08pm
Definitely yes. It was the first MPG fragrance I tried, and many iris fragrances and absolutes later I still view it as a singular iris fragrance. I don't find Iris Silver Mist particularly appealing .. maybe its premise is to blame..."Muhahaha!! I want the ultimate iris and iris only ...iris iris iris...Roucel, heres some francs, grab every iris molecule you can get a hold of and stuff it in one of my rotund bottles! Go on now, shoo!". Iris Bleu Gris takes you through fresh citrusy greens, a field of blooming jasmines after a vanilla drizzle, before settling on a fantastic iris root absolute note. A complete journey.
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post #4 of 32
4/11/09 at 8:23pm
I finally got to smell this today - I ran into a tester of it at a luxury niche perfume store in Coral Gables.

I though initially, the tester was off, because I really didn't expect the top notes to be so un-iris prominent. Is that citrus and/o clover in the top notes? But then when the iris finally arrives it's neither powdery nor too root prominent...it's just dry, floral, diffusive and plush soft.

Wow...I need to test this one again. BIG thumbs up!
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post #5 of 32
4/11/09 at 9:32pm
I love this one & find it perfect in every way. Dry, smokey almost vetiver in the meadow-grass ending, but thankfully, not too dry for women.
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post #6 of 32
4/11/09 at 10:08pm
I really like this one as well, but I felt it smelt very formal. I couldn't really get into it for that reason.
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post #7 of 32
4/11/09 at 10:11pm
the absolute king (queen?) of iris scents:

Fath Iris Gris

It's been out of production for decades. Occasionally, some comes up for sale online (it sells for a ransom). I missed a full bottle last summer ($700). ThePerfumeCourt had some last year. i bought a sample decant. (They may have bought that bottle for all I know!)

If you can find a sample, grab it. Nothing on the market today comes close to this masterpiece. Someone should reverse engineer it.
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post #8 of 32
4/11/09 at 11:30pm
It's killing me--I love iris scents generally and found a half price bottle of this scent, but I don't like the smell. It's sort of salty/soupy to start and doesn't get much better for me.
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post #9 of 32
4/12/09 at 9:10am
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mikeperez23 View Post

I finally got to smell this today - I ran into a tester of it at a luxury niche perfume store in Coral Gables.

I though initially, the tester was off, because I really didn't expect the top notes to be so un-iris prominent. Is that citrus and/o clover in the top notes? But then when the iris finally arrives it's neither powdery nor too root prominent...it's just dry, floral, diffusive and plush soft.

Wow...I need to test this one again. BIG thumbs up!

Glad you liked it. Believe me it is tyhe kind of fragrance that groes on you. If you like it now you 'll love it later. And a note for those who ddin't like it. MPG fragrances have a very unsettling start. As a fellow BNter replied in a post I put up for Santal Noble, the topnotes af all MPG fragrances seem discordant as if they battle each other for the fisrt minutes after application. As much as this might put you off at first, if you manage to capture the beauty of tyhis type of construction you find yourself hooked on it. As if the scent runs amd flows on your skin before it finally settles where IT wants, not you.
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post #10 of 32
4/12/09 at 9:43am
It is probably the second fragrance I have tried that is heavy Iris, the first being Dior Homme EDT, which i did not like at all because it was so powdery but I love Iris Bleu Gris, I think the drydown is just amazing and uplifting
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post #11 of 32
4/12/09 at 9:50pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by cpk View Post

Glad you liked it. Believe me it is tyhe kind of fragrance that groes on you. If you like it now you 'll love it later. And a note for those who ddin't like it. MPG fragrances have a very unsettling start. As a fellow BNter replied in a post I put up for Santal Noble, the topnotes af all MPG fragrances seem discordant as if they battle each other for the fisrt minutes after application. As much as this might put you off at first, if you manage to capture the beauty of tyhis type of construction you find yourself hooked on it. As if the scent runs amd flows on your skin before it finally settles where IT wants, not you.

Yes, I always approach MPG scents this way. More recently I sampled Jardin du Nil and gosh...I kept thinking about why the perfumer would've made that geranium-dragged-thru-the-locker-room note so strong, when the dry down is one of the most loveliest florals I've smelled in a long time. Who knows why? It's just an MPG fragrance. That's why.

Yes, Iris Bleu Gris has slid right up to the top of my Decants To Get list.
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post #12 of 32
4/13/09 at 10:52am
I just tried this for the first time and I thought that the topnotes have a lot in common with the topnotes of Santal Noble. Incense, vetiver and a little nutmeg? It's been a couple hours and I'm not getting an iris note that reminds me of what I'm familiar with from Dior Homme, Bois d'Iris or L'Homme de Coeur. I'll keep sniffing and see if I can get this one to snap into focus. I like it but I can't make it into an iris scent yet, or even really a floral.
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post #13 of 32
4/13/09 at 11:01am
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"If you are a big fan of Dior Homme, IBG is something that you will probably find incomprehensable because it creates a joyfull, energetic vibrant aura, unlike DH, Prada, or even L'HdC."

I hate to say I told you so. But if you manage to get those scents as iris ptototypes out of your head you will enjoy a unique pleasure. Or at least I hope you will.
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post #14 of 32
4/13/09 at 11:15am
Well, I'll keep at it and I'll hope not to find it incomprehensible. All I'm saying is that I'm struggling to find the iris note. Is it more prominent later in the drydown? Often it takes me several wearings to understand a frag, and you're probably right that my assumptions about iris are getting in the way to some extent.
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post #15 of 32
4/13/09 at 11:29am
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Strollyourlobster View Post

Well, I'll keep at it and I'll hope not to find it incomprehensible. All I'm saying is that I'm struggling to find the iris note. Is it more prominent later in the drydown? Often it takes me several wearings to understand a frag, and you're probably right that my assumptions about iris are getting in the way to some extent.

Yes because it is different iris note from what you expect. Sometimes we associate a note with others that usually accompany it. If somenone sticks to citrusy vetivers they will probably not get the vetiver note in Route du Vetiver or VE. I couldn't get the vetiver in Vetiver Dance until I tried JM Black Vetiver Cafe, just because it is in an unusual company of notes. Forget the dark powdery iris you expect. Think green iris.
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post #16 of 32
4/13/09 at 11:37am
Thanks for the encouragement, cpk! I like the comparison to vetiver frags: that's helpful.
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post #17 of 32
4/13/09 at 12:49pm
Can one easily wear IBG in hot weather?
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post #18 of 32
4/13/09 at 12:55pm
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I have still to try it in Athens's upper 30 C yet but I think it will feel uplifting.
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post #19 of 32
4/13/09 at 1:11pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by mikeperez23 View Post

Can one easily wear IBG in hot weather?


I tend to wear it most often in hot weather.
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post #20 of 32
4/13/09 at 2:07pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by cpk View Post

I have still to try it in Athens's upper 30 C yet but I think it will feel uplifting.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Vibert View Post

I tend to wear it most often in hot weather.

Thanks - I thought so, I wanted to make sure. I kind of like the fact that most MPG scents can be worn comfortably in warm weather.
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post #21 of 32
4/13/09 at 5:30pm
I find IBG to be rather damp in its presentation like many of the other MPG scents. So they naturally have a cooling aspect. Lovely stuff, BTW.
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post #22 of 32
4/14/09 at 4:23am
Hey all, I get it!!!!!!! Zowee!!!!!!!! What IS this thing they call learning?
Okay so this is really nice stuff: floral and damp/rooty in a contained way. Doesn't actually strike me as austere, at least not ten minutes in. It smells very much like the day today. That brightly overcast spring rain sort of light, as though the sun is very powerful just behind the clouds and you can sense it as much as see it. And the white early spring flowers that are popping up everywhere sort of crystallize the light.
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post #23 of 32
4/14/09 at 6:52am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Strollyourlobster View Post

Hey all, I get it!!!!!!! Zowee!!!!!!!! What IS this thing they call learning?
Okay so this is really nice stuff: floral and damp/rooty in a contained way. Doesn't actually strike me as austere, at least not ten minutes in. It smells very much like the day today. That brightly overcast spring rain sort of light, as though the sun is very powerful just behind the clouds and you can sense it as much as see it. And the white early spring flowers that are popping up everywhere sort of crystallize the light.

When I smelled it this weekend I did the same thing, in the perfume store. Embarassingly I walked over to the owner of the store and told him I thought his tester for IBG might have turned. He of course grabbed it, sprayed some on and said he thought it was OK. He told me to wait a few minutes for the iris to appear. Sure enough, in about 10 minutes, the smell of iris rose off of my arm - like Ruggles and you mentioned...in a very greenhouse, hermetically sealed, kind of steamy fashion. Extremely unique juice.

I want a bottle!!
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post #24 of 32
4/14/09 at 8:49am
Quote:
Originally Posted by mikeperez23 View Post

...I want a bottle!!

It's available at Perfume Emporium for $89....

p.s. I want one too!
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post #25 of 32
4/14/09 at 10:42am
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I hate to have to post this guys. You might have to make a run for it.....
http://community.basenotes.net/showthread.php?t=222751
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post #26 of 32
4/14/09 at 11:45am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Snafoo View Post

It's available at Perfume Emporium for $89....

p.s. I want one too!

You sir, are an enabler. Shame on you.

((hiding credit card))
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post #27 of 32
5/27/10 at 1:11pm
Got a decant of this a couple weeks ago, I have been enjoying this immensely in the hot weather we're currently having here in Miami. It definitely has that signature MPG house note...whatever the heck that is? And, yes, I can see how this might be described as vetiver-like iris. It is a bit sour...tangy like. In a Bernard Duchaufour sort-of way.
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post #28 of 32
5/27/10 at 1:15pm
I've given this a few wearings, and in general found it to be sour and soapy. I'd love to love it, but I really don't.
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post #29 of 32
5/27/10 at 2:25pm
IBG is so iris prominent as M7 is a vetiver prominent fragrance, if you know what I mean.
I think this is what may cause a frustating feeling o an iris lover when he gets to know IBG.
I wouldnt recommend it as an iris fragrance, but its a good scent anyway.
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post #30 of 32
5/27/10 at 5:06pm
I was just basking in sone gorgeous dark violet irises this morning, and when there are many of them like that you get this subtle heady fragrance in the air that's really sublime. Iris Bleu gris smells just like that with something sharp and tangy added to give it edge - maybe geranium?

For me the ultimate time to wear it is on humid cloudy or rainy days. There's nothing better on a day like that.

In other weather it can seem really anemic.
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post #31 of 32
5/27/10 at 7:23pm
I love this scent - it has the definite essence of Paris. Something chypre-like, bright yellow, green and flowery. And iris is just a mediator between topnotes of citruses and basenotes of vetiver and moss.
It`s summer morning in Paris feel - when you are coming for coffee and croissant to street cafe and ready to see and smell all the marvels of the city.
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post #32 of 32
5/28/10 at 7:35am
It is one of the most smoldering and repulsive fragrances I've put on my skin, I kid you not! Most masculine? Rather the other way around. I wore tiny bit on my wrist on the train and I just wanted to crawl out of my own skin. When I read the comments here, it doesn't even sound like it is the same fragrance, not by a mile. Cooling, masculine and great in hot weather? No, it is warm and damp, one of the most huge scents I've smelt and extremely feminine.

Weird how this stuff works. I just want to write this, so no one thinks it is a safe bet in any way.

PS. I'm a huge fan of Divine l'Homme de Cœur, Serge Lutens Iris Silver Mist and Christian Dior Dior Homme. Huge fan. Oh, I even appreciate Hermès feminine take on iris, Hiris.
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