Providence Perfume Co Irisqué bottle with Michelyn’s photo of an Iris taken last spring
“Dead my old fine hopes
And dry my dreaming but still…
Iris, blue each spring.” ~ Ome Shushiki (1668-1725)
Whatever else I may smell this year, I know that Providence Perfume Co. Irisqué will be on my top ten of 2021 list. A bold overstatement? Not in the least. While I am given the opportunity to sample many perfumes, any number of which are pleasant and wearable – it has become a rare occurrence when my nostrils are ecstatic and a fragrance sings like a nightingale on my skin. That’s precisely what happened last week when my sample arrived from Pawtucket, Rhode Island. I’d been on tenterhooks waiting for the labels to arrive so that Charna Ethier could send samples off – and Irisqué was worth the wait.
Charna Ethier of Providence Perfume Co courtesy of the perfumer
Eleven years have elapsed since I voted independent botanical perfumer Charna Ethier of Providence Perfume Co. the Rising Star of 2010. Two years later, ÇaFleureBon voted her Natural Perfumer of the Year, and once again, in 2014 Charna garnered the title of Hardest Working Perfume Person. Since then she has realized her dream of a brick and mortar venue (she’s been through three!). Is it possible that all of us are biased? I tend to doubt it, considering our wildly divergent tastes. Charna’s fragrances are never run of the mill, mundane, ho-hum – so if you prefer an unremarkable fragrance, don’t look here: there will always be a twist or a novel edge, a voluptuous turn which is uniquely hers. Her aromatic materials are top-notch and she is uncompromising when it comes to the quality and composition of her perfumes. One may not choose to wear them all, but you will never be bored.
Maxfield Parrish Moonlight with figure, 1932
I adore iris in all of its incarnations, although lately gourmand versions, no matter how well-executed – will be an “automatic no” for me if they cloy or are syrupy (I’m experiencing ‘death by gourmand’ during this pandemic). My first true iris love was Maître Maurice Roucel’s Iris Silver Mist – one of the best (and first) blind buys I ever purchased. Next in line was Jean-Claude Ellena’s Bois d’Iris for The Different Company. Smelt in proximity to Irisqué, they are each marvelous, but a good deal sweeter than Charna’s creation. Providence Perfume Co Irisqué is racinous and rhizomal in the extreme, bright and dusky, an Earth Mother/Father/Child perfume. The perfumer refers to it as an “orris butter bomb”, and it surely is. This quality is what makes it so very appealing to those who enjoy an unadulterated, deeply rooty iris which smells as if it were freshly plucked from the soil: delicately floral and exquisitely musky.
Maxfield Parrish Ecstasy
I am thankful for the absence of vanillic notes in this fragrance: ambrette, with its vegetal floral musk imparts its own particular powdery sweetness, and certainly the über-abundance of irones provided by several forms of orris/iris add a touch of violet which is sweetly damp. The evocation of freshly turned soil and roots is achieved by a whisper of oud and the sweet herbal earthiness of carrot seed, which supports all things iris and reminds us of its origins. Frequently when there are laments about iris scents the descriptors run to ‘chilly, austere, metallic, prim, and carroty’; some perceive a lack of warmth. Charna has sought to compose a warmer iris which is seductive. I’m not convinced that Irisqué is warmer than the boozy iris perfumes or rice-powdery ones – but if the earth itself is throbbing with sensual depth and allure, then Irisqué definitely meets the criteria for raciness.
Notes: iris pallida, iris germanica, orris root tincture, orris butter, orris resinoid, violet, carrot seed, oud, ambrette seed isolate
Samples kindly provided by the perfumer – many thanks! My nose is my own…
~ Ida Meister, Deputy Editor and Natural Perfumery Editor
Thanks to the generosity of Charna Ethier of Providence Perfume Co. we have a 4 ml rollerball bottle of Irisqué for one registered reader US, EU and Canada. You must register here or your comment will not count. To be eligible, please comment upon what appealed to you in Ida’s review and where you live. Draw closes 4/3/2021. Do you have a favorite Providence Perfume Co. Fragrance?
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