Iris de Nuit
Heeley (2000)

My first impression was favourable, obviously a very ionone-y composition, and I'm not partial to ionone as a rule, but this one is pleasant. I got the earthy tone remarked on by R Baker below. There are associations to parma violet and fragrances like Fahrenheit or Grey Flannel

A nice, doughy iris with a mix of violet and ambrette on top that gives it a vibe that's simultaneously icy and like an old lipstick. There's a leathery suede undertone that (with thanks to Possum Pie for pointing it out) smells kind of like glue. Or, more specifically, the paste we used to make as kids using flour and water. There's a doughiness that calls to mind Mitsouko's doughy grease-paint note as well, while a boozy coumarin adds sharpness.

I like this. While, on the surface, it feels like a simple iris perfume, there's a lot of depth here. Thumbs up!

Like many Heeley's, I find the cleanliness and precision attractive. There is a concentration on a structure that presents an uncluttered
Floral beauty. Iris is centre certainly, however it does melange gently into the other notes in such a way that hints at a transparency and yet a dream-like fuzz.
Drydown offers a soft powdered soap.
Very nice however I prefer touch of Castoreum and Cinnamon Violets of Cuir Pleine Fleur.

Blue Nude by Pablo Picasso 1902

The iris note shines through the top of this fragrance. There is a "Pixi Stix" dry powder candy vibe here also. The dry-down is a beautiful Iris mixed with some kind of strange musk and glue.

The iris top note is very nice, on the bright sight, with an earthy component that is not compromising the elegance that characterises this iris. It blends quite well with the synthetic ambery vine in the drydown, that also includes a pleasant violet note together with a somewhat nonspecific woodsy base note.

I get moderate sillage, good projection and ten hours of longevity on my skin.

Whilst I am not mad about the second have of the development of this creation, this iris, whilst not competing with the great classics, is one of the very well executed contemporary iris creations. 3.25/5.

If there is anything to come out of this iris quest I've been on lately, it's that I really love Iris de Nuit. Pairing a fresh, carroty iris to a greenish violet, this fragrance manages to evoke both a rain-soaked English garden and the clean lines of the Chrysler building.

It's also one of those rare fragrances that clearly emits a color like other fragrances emit a sound or an image. If you're someone who experiences scents in a synesthetic way, then you must try this fragrance and tell me if you agree.

There is a wistful tone to this fragrance that reminds me somewhat of Après L'Ondee with its similarly doleful air. But although it shares some of its faintly anisic, herbal qualities, Iris de Nuit feels very much of this century – modern, streamlined, bound to this earth - not cut adrift in a permanent fugue state.

Iris de Nuit is a clean, transparent fragrance, but the ambrette seed adds a vegetal, muskiness that blurs the sharp edges of the violets and iris until it takes on a slightly “fur”-like texture. Angelica root imparts the green, mouth-sucking astringency of green rhubarb stalks, less of a smell than a crisp, herbal “taste” I can read with the back of my tongue. In the base, there is a slight herbal saltiness from ambergris and a haunting woodiness.

But the details hardly matter – you can't dissect such haunting loveliness. Every note in this fragrance knits in so tightly with the others that one gets just an overall impression of a series of overlapping tints and tones – duck-egg blue fading into violet and then night blue, like being inside a cubist's art installation or just standing on a dusty road somewhere watching darkness fall.

This is probably the cleanest iris scent I've tried so far, in a month-long search for an iris frag purchase. It started off with a whiff of rubber and salt, which says ambergris to me, and then it swung towards a fresh, clean but sophisticated iris and violet accord (violet definitely playing second fiddle here--just adding a sense of freshness) with a tickly little herbal edge. I think I'm getting some waxy orris butter as it comes together, but that may be a Jedi mind trick. The parts are definitely more than the whole.

This is definitely a dandy's iris (male or female)--neither powdery nor prim. With its cooling effect, this wears more like a splash. It has nice sillage compared to some of the other "straight" irises I've tried. We'll see how long it lasts.

Clean Orris...

So Iris de Nuit by James Heeley is a fragrance composed around orris root, the root of the iris flower. Personally, I love iris. My signature perfume has an iris/orris root note and I love how it smells clean and earthy at the same time! Here we have a clean, slightly earthy orris note paired with powdery violet and clean vegetable musk (ambrette seed). A very clean musk. There is also a carrot seed note which I think must be similar to (although I haven't tried it - Hermès - Hiris, which has the same note). Either way, I like this one... and as I was wearing it today I received a compliment! Which rarely happens! To me this reminds me of very clean laundry sheets, and earthy powder (hard to describe actually)! A lovely fragrance. Especially as I am a huge fan of iris/orris root. For me personally I have already found my perfect iris fragrance, which does not smell like this one. So for me I don't think I would buy but if you like a "clean" but interesting smell you could try it out.

Genre: Floral

Heeley's iris scent is a lovely one, as close in its dark rooty ambience as any I've smelled to Maurice Roucel's iconic Iris Silver Mist for Serge Lutens. Iris de Nuit shares with Iris Silver Mist both a hint of anise and a certain doughy, almost foody character lacking in most other iris scents I know. It is, however, at once milder and more natural smelling than the Lutens, and so I find it easier to wear.

On the downside, sillage and projection are both moderate at best, and I have to apply a lot of Iris de Nuit before I start noticing it. Whether olfactory fatigue contributes here or not I cannot tell. The rooty, yet oddly translucent iris accord persists in a linear fashion, fading, rather than altering, into its soft, musky-woody drydown. Iris de Nuit is neither very powdery nor very floral, and I believe it could be worn with ease by either men or women. Though not among the strongest, I do think it one of the finest iris-centered scents available.

Iris de Nuit is in my opinion one of the best contemporary iris on the market, together with L'homme de coeur by Divine, with which it shares a similar approach to the material. A transparent, cold, sharp, perfectly shaped and restrained yet dense and substantial iris note, angular and straightforward, with a few else around: a light hay note on the base (something making Iris de Nuit quite close to Cuir Pleine Fleur), carrot, light green notes. The main iris note is deprived of any "buttery" waxy rootiness – it has a slight carroty-rooty smell, but it's dry and light. It strikes me how this manages to smell almost "rural" thanks to carrot and hay, still completely "contemporary" in its sophisticated, almost abstract meaning. Great job with notes and composition here. Really elegant, pleasant, versatile and totally unique. The drydown comprises also a light ambery note, although it's overall quite linear and does not change much (this may be the only slight "con"). For me, one of the best Heeley's around together with Cuir Pleine Fleur.

8,5/10

Smells very much like one of the Prada offerings..
A soft and subtle iris with good sillage and projection..
Kind of plastic smelling imo in the opening with a very mellow cedar and amber drydown. Very tamed..
Well composed but not my cup of tea..