Florentine Iris

[Shollin]

Florentine Iris, from Single Notes.

 

First sniff: Powdery, watery and pale blue. A very definite scent, if that makes sense – it knows what it smells like and by God it’s sticking to it. Nice and strong in the diffuser - like being swallowed up in a soft blue flower.

 

Wearing: Decidedly powdery and flowery without being old-lady-ish. Pretty, but not me. Stayed true throughout the evening - I can still smell it faintly, nearly twelve hours after application.

[jj_j]

This one smelled sort of like an iris flower to me - for me, it's the big deep purple-blue ones! - but more like the leaves and the root of them, as well.

 

There was a house built before statehood (1907) on my parent's place - they lived there until shortly after I was born, while working on the home they moved onto the land and eventually moved into. Out front, there were iris ... they were there when my parents bought the land and house, and they were there when we had to tear down the "old house" about three years ago.

 

They were obscenely huge, and had finally started to stop flowering with their usual intensity, but I wept when I came home that Friday to find that the bulldozer had accidentally crushed them all when tearing down the house. The air was absolutely thick with the smell of almost a hundred years of iris plants, and it's something I've thought ever since smelled like the tears of an old house losing all its memories to something new and shiny.

 

Florentine Iris seemed to capture all these things. I know I'm greatly influenced by the name of the scent and my experience, but it really is the scent of uprooted, crushed iris plants in flower. It's beautiful, and has more complexity than you might expect of a single note. On, it has solid staying power and is softly true and intense without being overwhelming.

[Ina Garten Davita]

First Impression: Ahhh, this is why I *love* Morella so much.

 

Second Impression: This is a beauty, it's sharp and even a bit soapy but for some reason that does not detract from it's allure.

 

Final Analysis: I'm keeping this one. It's sweet and sharp and very unusual. Love it.

[UltraViolet]

BPAL blends which use Florentine Iris (vs. Vesper, Egptian, White Iris, etc.) as one of it's ingredients:

Morella

http://pic7.picturetrail.com/VOL202/154131...8/121047583.jpg

 

In the bottle

This is a pale gold colored blend.

Stronger than I imagined, has throw. Irises sometimes remind me of Kool-Aid. It's different than many of the florals I've tried, this is heavier but not too strong at all. I guess a thicker floral is the right word, it's slightly sweet and gorgeous. It's more of an earthier floral on my skin.

On

Florentine Iris smells like an earthier form of candied violets but not quite as sweet.

30 minutes

Doesn't change on me at all 30 minutes. It gets a little less sweet as it dries.

Throw:

great throw

Scent category:

Floral

Summary

Smells like candied violets, sweet and heady but a bit more green.

Purchase again?

Yes

1-5 rating (5 being best)

4

Edited December 6, 2005 by UltraViolet

[coulrophobe]

I agree with UltraViolet that Florentine Iris is a bit similar to violet - to my nose, both are a bit powdery, but definitely and decisively *purple* smelling.

 

I've always loved the iris blends, like Black Pearl, Florence, and the dearly departed Morella. By itself, Florentine Iris is sharper and has a bit of greenness. It's almost watery smelling as well... I suppose that's contradictory to it being "powdery," but it's a note that insists upon being complicated to my nose.

 

For a final verdict - I like it better in blends than I do on its own. I like something to soften it up, like the musk in Black Pearl. But it's still my favorite floral note, and I'll keep hoping for more irisy blends (while hoarding my precious SN imp).

[edenssixthday]

Florentine Iris - Iris usually turns bitter and foul on my skin, so I avoided BPAL blends with iris in them for a long time. Once I did start trying them, I never did have a bad iris experience (to my recollection, that is). I know why now: the Florentine Iris that BPAL uses smells a lot more like violet. Actually, it’s more like calla lily crossed with violet. It’s a really pretty scent, but not one that has much “oomph” on its own, so I doubt I’d wear it solo. It also sticks very close to my skin and fades within the first hour. So it’s not the most impressive single note, but it’s a great way to affirm that BPAL iris doesn’t go all wonky on me as most iris notes have in the past.

[Little Bird]

Florentine Iris starts out rather sharp and soapy on my skin. A rather harsh, slightly aquatic, floral fragrance. In the drydown, if I didn't know what I was wearing, I would have guessed that this was a violet blend. It smells like a dark, bruised little floral. A hint soapy, a bit powdery, and purple. This one becomes more and more powdery on me over time, getting lighter and fading away entirely within 2 hours.

 

I feel very 'meh' about this one. Florentine Iris is not my sort of floral.

[supremegoddessofall]

In your face, heady floral. Not really me. 3/5.

[PurringPulsar]

Florentine Iris

 

In the imp: a sweeter version of violet. It smells like sugary violet, like Faith, but different…it also smells like orris.

Wet on skin: very soft, orris-like, powdery and sweet.

Dry: this is very faint on my skin (the imp I have of this is practically empty so I just scraped a tiny amount of oil on my skin) but what I do smell is a very pretty, soft iris scent. Very similar to orris and sweetly sugared violets. This is the iris in Black Pearl. It is powdery and pale, but much fresher, and even a little greener, a little wetter than iris. It’s actually quite creamy, even a little bit of a skin scent. But I do get a vague ‘Parma Violets’ sweet scent here-maybe there’s some of this in Faith? However I don’t get the sometimes fruity purple floral scent I usually get with iris.

After a while: this becomes smoother, a little sweeter and creamier over time. it doesn’t change too much, but this is a very pretty scent. There’s a scent behind it which is almost buttery but not quite, it’s more like a vegetable oil scent…but it’s so faint and doesn’t distract me from the rest of the scent’s delicate powdery softness. It gets very faint very fast though.

Verdict: like Lobban, I only got a sniffy with a scraping of oil, so this smelt quite faint on me. what I did smell was very pretty-a lovely mix of iris, orris and violet. The scent is just like Black Pearl, that cool creamy violet-like iris scent, but isn’t as fruity as the iris in Florence (this could be because I applied so little). It does smell almost like a sugary violet, like Faith, or Parma Violet sweets. It becomes paler, softer, a little creamy, a little powdery, after an hour or so. And then it fades fast. Oh well. It’s a very pleasant scent though and I’m glad I tried it.

Emoticon rating:

Is it a keeper? I think so-even though I’ve run out of wearable oil in the imp!

[ami226]

The iris is kind of my family's flower. My mother has iris bulbs in the garden that used to belong to my great grandma and they have followed us through every move.

 

On the skin: A lovely, slightly powdery, blue scent! I could definitely see there being some orris in here because of the powdery hint that I have come to associate with orris.

 

It's pretty, but not for me. The orris really never works for me.

 

-ETA- The one is really interesting though, because when I smell it I don't immediately think floral. It is more just a soft, slightly powdery, sweet scent.

Edited August 12, 2012 by Catseyes

[zankoku_zen]

I wasn't actually expecting to like Florentine Iris.

 

I agree its a classic white floral - it's a slightly powdery, watery blue, classic without being old ladyish. It sort of reminds you to violets - but much more delicate, slightly more aquatic, and with just enough powderiness. It's slightly sweet, cool, and sticks close to the skin.