This is an iris fragrance that takes what you think about the noble rhizome and turns it on its head. Powdery or rooty? That’s the question asked of all iris fragrances. Iris Malikhân not only gives you both but feeds them to you in surprising ways. Galbanum resin and lentisque give the earthy orris a thrillingly green, bitter facet that elevates it from soil-encrusted root to sunburnt garrigue. A touch of blackcurrant leaf adds to the resiny, woody dryness, joining with cypress and a supple leather note to form an impression of the interior of a Florentine leather craftsman’s atelier that has just taken possession of a pile of lambskins. This is sturdy enough to remind you that leather is the hide of an animal, after all, but not so rough that it stains the glowing purity of the orris.
But if Iris Malikhân presents a complex, ever-shifting landscape morphing from root to herb to resin to leather for most of its life, the drydown sets it down firmly in a soft cloud of powder. Think woody orris roots stacked five high and across in a shed, dusted with layers of darkest cocoa powder and a powder made of crushed dried mimosa petals and leathery vanilla pods. Sweetly powdery, oh yes, but not at all like the feminine rosiness of a Guerlain lipstick or a Caron face powder. Rather, this is a pale, honeyed wood powder with a piquant pink pepper note running through it like electricity. An iris that runs from cool/green to warm/vanillic in one elegant swoop, Iris Malikhân is the rare iris fragrance that can be carried off with equal aplomb by both men and women.
