A girl in a field of flowers by Gaston Bussiere, 1911
In a sea of modern, abstract fragrances, Les Indemodables – whose name means “timeless” – is wonderfully old school, with a line of fragrances based on classic olfactive families but given creative twists. Raw materials, which are extracted in-house, come from growers who supply the brand exclusively, which means the “vintage” of each perfume can vary from year to year along with yield and climate. The resulting fragrances showcase their luxurious ingredients in uncluttered, carefully crafted compositions using high concentrations of natural absolutes. Les Indemodables Iris Perle, from master perfumer Antoine Lie, is one of the best; a glowingly lovely iris fragrance festooned with heady flowers. If you have ever longed to bottle springtime, Iris Perle smells as though you stepped into an impressionist garden in mid-May.
Antoine Lie, photo via Instagram
On first spray, garlands of honeyed mimosa, fruity ylang and translucent iris seem to cascade from the bottle. At the very top is a juicy top note like blood orange, all juicy sweetness and tart rind, followed by a more watery, cool note that evokes cucumber one moment, melon the next. These unexpected fruity touches provide an ebullient entrée to the flowers, which also take some surprising turns. Lie teases out less obvious characteristics from his bouquet: mimosa, which comes out first, only hints at its usual powder puff delicacy, instead displaying its more sensual, honeyed side; the jasmine that follows quietly hints just slightly at decay, its fruitiness amplified over its more usual girlish or indolic qualities.
Painting by Chiara Cappelletti
And then there’s the iris. Les Indemodables Iris Perle contains a grand cru orris absolute – apparently, the world’s most expensive extract – in what seems like a sizeable dose. The orris brings a complicated set of aromas: unbaked sweet pastry, wet pavement, old paper, candle wax, face powder. The iris becomes a rich, seductive flower as it twines with ylang ylang and darkened with violet leaf. These ylang and violet create a dynamic tension, the tropical fruit headiness of the former both flirting with and pushing against the dark woodiness of the latter. Stepping back and smelling Iris Perle as a whole again, the iris is fully rounded: the green of the stem and leaves in the soil is hinted at by the inspired addition of clary sage the bloom fully open, the scent of rainfall over warm air and new blossoms. This is where Iris Perle stays until it slowly fades from the skin some hours later.
Still life, watercolour by Elena Kaliberda
And yet, despite the multifaceted floral notes in Les Indemodables Iris Perle, the composition retains a watercolour translucence. There are many gorgeous iris fragrances, but none that so perfectly capture the ephemeral loveliness of a breeze-blown May morning.
Notes: French orris absolute grand cru, Moroccan mimosa absolute, violet leaves, Indian jasmine absolute, Madagascan ylang-ylang, clary sage from the Alps.
Disclaimer: sample of Les Indemodables Iris Perle kindly given to me by Indigo Perfumery. My opinions are my own.
Lauryn Beer, Senior Editor
Les Indemodables Iris Perle, photo via Indigo Perfumery
Thanks to the generosity of Indigo Perfumery, we have a 50 ml bottle of Les Indemodables Iris Perle for one registered reader in the U.S. To be eligible, please leave a comment saying what you enjoyed most about Lauryn’s review. Draw closes 9/2/2020.
Please read Lauryn’s review of the three Les Indemodables you should be wearing here and Cuir de Chine here
Indigo Perfumery recently re-opened for business, taking the strictest precautions and sanitary measures as well as seeing one client at a time.
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