Beautiful stuff PART III: chameleon iris
One of the best-known and also most popular ingredients in modern perfumery is probably the good iris. If you look back over the last five to ten years and ask about very popular fragrances, you will inevitably find that many fragrances simply use this note and use it beyond recognition. The range extends from inexpensive designer fragrances to extremely expensive niche fragrances. In terms of quality, the scale is also enormous, and with some candidates you notice how quickly they simply want to jump on a certain hype.
My personal first points of contact were with 
Valentino Uomo Intense (2016). I picked up a bottle relatively close to the release date. At that time, I was not yet into the theme of fragrances, but the bottle appealed to me and I was also enthusiastic about the DNA. This fine and dry powder combined with leather and vanilla was simply very pleasant to wear and didn't strain my olfactory nerves. It seemed noble, very friendly for many occasions and radiated a beautiful presence. A fragrance that still fascinates me today, even though I would no longer wear the fragrance in mass. My experience with the fragrance made me sit up and take notice, and I realise in retrospect how beautiful the composition of the fragrance was and how pleasantly dusty iris can be brought together with other notes.
I later got to know 
Gentleman Givenchy Eau de Parfum, which is in a similar vein. However, it didn't manage to excite me in the same way, because something was missing.
After I had dabbled more in the perfume sector and was also looking for inspiration, 
L'Homme just flashed up so often. How could it be otherwise, because the hype phase of the fragrance hit full force at that point. The fragrance was able to draw the wearer into an aura of fresh laundry and lend an elegance that was previously unheard of. A real all-rounder that could be worn in any season. A fragrance that has certainly lost none of its fascination to this day and is still considered one of THE fragrances. Even though the fragrance seems very timeless, I noticed in the course of my fragrance journey that at some point the realisation came: "It's too smooth".
Little by little, you evolve and then a L'Homme comes across as boring. It remains a fragrance that you can put on without giving it much thought, but the question in my review was whether you simply want to get lost in the crowd. Because the note of iris also wore off at some point for my taste. Especially in fragrances that ostensibly use this note, a point is reached at which too many fragrances want the same thing.
Here, too, I tested 
L'Homme Intense afterwards, but was very disappointed. It was completely contrary to the original DNA and seemed mentholated on my skin.
If someone is looking for extreme iris as a lipstick-like component, there is no getting around the "Dior Homme" range. The original formulation of 
Dior Homme (2020) Eau de Toilette contained iris and both 
Dior Homme Intense (2011) and 
Dior Homme Parfum still have the note in the fragrance pyramid today. However, the perfume is one of the examples that I remember negatively. It was way too much iris for me, too much dusty lipstick that pulled all oxygen out of the room and took my breath away. The Intense was sweeter and much more pleasant to wear. However, all three are not fragrances that would end up in my collection.
The most expensive iris fragrance I ever had under my nose was certainly "17/17 - Irisss | XerJoff". It was so lauded that I had to try it out of curiosity.
What can I say, it was another dry-as-dust Irisss. The note is said to smell carrot-like at times. That can be confirmed in this case. An interesting fragrance, but not mine.
My conclusion for the ingredient is at least quite clear. As soon as the iris is not too dry and too lipsticky and forms a good blend with other notes, then I like a fragrance. But if it becomes too extreme or too motley, then I'm definitely out.
That's why my current Iris TOP-5 is as follows:
Reflection Man
Oceania
DarkWinterCS
