Iris Cendré
Naomi Goodsir (2015)

It's funny - whenever I go shopping at a niche perfume store, after a long-winded explanation of what I like, they always show me Iris Cendré first. This has happened at Aedes, ZGO, MInistry Of Scent, all the Scent Bars, basically everywhere. And despite sniffing it so many times, somehow I got it in my head that I didn't like it. Which is silly, because it really is very good.

So what does it smell like? Basically, a really nice iris perfume. It's a bit more rooty and "chilly" than classic Dior Homme, but shares some of the creamy, vanillic undertones. It's not as "icy" as Chanel No 19, though it shares its interplay of leathery iris and ambrette seed. The cedar isn't a star player, but there's a point midway though the day where the woods broadcast with surprising strength.

Maybe it's just that I can only really think of Iris Cendré in terms of other iris perfumes that makes me think it's "unremarkable" despite it being really good. I don't know. It definitely deserves a hearty thumbs-up, but I just can't see myself buying a bottle despite its quality.

A straightforward iris, buttery, clean, somewhat dreamy, moderately dense and almost like a one note perfume. I don't perceive any citrus (maybe they disappear two seconds after application), nor any other embellishments - tobacco, amber or leather. The iris reminds me of the Prada iris perfumes but with more depth, and without the nuances. It's almost as if the iris note has been separated carefully from Infusion d'Iris or 31 Rue Cambon and amplified, drowning out everything else. I perceive a green tinge to the fragrance, something that hints at a touch of galbanum. However, it's pretty much just iris to my nose. I don't find it to be particularly powdery, and it isn't too 'rooty'. I've worn it a few times, and I find its strength is well calibrated as I experience excellent duration of over several hours and a close but consistent waft of sillage.

Iris Cendre is a very solid offering; however, I find it somewhat underwhelming because it is a little unexciting for me. I feel it is lacking in dimension and development. I find to have a calming effect, an attribute that I enjoy quite a bit. I perceive an intelligence, and I know a few people for whom this would make an excellent signature scent.

3/5

Genre: Floral

“Rooty” and “doughy” have been used before to describe this scent, and I concur. This is a very poised, rounded iris composition, redeemed from being overly powdery-pretty by (yes,) a peculiar ashy note, which manages to provide just enough edge to make things feel both modern and interesting.

A little bit of leather in the background reminds me ever so slightly of Maître Parfumeur et Gantier's marvelous Iris Bleu Gris, but the two scents otherwise travel in very different directions. Whereas Iris Bleu Gris uses leather chypre cues to evoke a kind of gentlemen's club sophistication, Iris Cendré feels comparatively streamlined and utterly nostalgia-free. In short, an iris that doesn't feel redundant in an increasingly crowded field.

Mother and Child by pablo picasso 1901 Cambridge, Harvard Art Museums

It reminded me of an imbalanced Dior Eau for Men. The Iris was unsubtle and caked in sickly sweetness. Should probably have been classified as a feminine scent.

Thrills to begin, dunking the wearer in a tub of iris butter – lovely rooty stuff with hints of smooth, caressing suede and a smooth fatty density, which in this case, is ever so appealing. Its singlemindedness is the attraction. When so many perfumes drive straight into the cul de sac marked ‘competent but safe', it's a relief to have standouts. It's lightly smoked, the smoke adding barely-there complexity, and there's an intriguing cedar-spiked-with-cardamom note right in its middle which comes across like an undulation in this iris bath.
This perfume takes the earthy, doughy aspects of its starring note and stretches them without succumbing to brute tendencies. Maybe it's the diffusive nose-blanketing quality of the violet ionones that spreads this even smoother and helps create the immersive feel.
However, Iris Cendre deflates as it goes along becoming a skin scent in a couple of hours with a spicy leatheriness creeping in that does no favours to the rather wonderful experience that had preceded it.