Serge Lutens — Iris Silver Mist

Decanting from 2013 Bell Jar.

The iris fragrance. Not one of the best — the best. Full stop. Created in 1994 by Maurice Roucel, the legend goes that Serge Lutens kept sending him back to add more iris until Roucel had poured in every iris compound he owned — and that became this. Orris root at maximum concentration: cold, metallic, rooty, chalky, faintly carrot-like in the way only real orris is, with galbanum adding damp loamy earth and clove keeping everything bitter and austere. No sweetness, no softening, no concessions. The resinous base of benzoin, labdanum, vetiver, and incense breathes underneath without warming it into something comfortable. This is orris as it actually exists — the root, the rhizome, the thing dug from the earth — not the powdery cosmetic version the rest of perfumery has been chasing ever since. If you love iris and haven't smelled this, nothing else you've smelled counts yet.

Notes:

Top notes: Iris, Galbanum
Middle notes: Orris Root, Clove, Cedar, Vetiver
Base notes: Sandalwood, Benzoin, Labdanum, Incense, White Amber, Musk