Mike212

Le Lion out-niches the niche houses, and it does it with no nasty amberwoods. It’s loud, strong, and smoky, but it’s also warm, vanillic, and cozy. I can sort of see the Shalimar comparisons, but this has a prominent labdanum note and what smells like a hefty dose of Guaiac wood and it’s far smokier than any modern Shalimar. It’s also literally 10 times as strong and doesn’t go acrid baby powder the way Shalimar can. As a perfumer, this level of naturalism, balance, wearability, and potency is what I aspire to. A masterpiece.

You might assume that a perfumer as accomplished as Morillas would, for his signature line, eschew common super-amber-woods (AmberMax, Norlimbanol, etc.) and instead create an amber out of vanilla, benzoin, and labdanum. You’d be wrong. This screechy juice is as overdosed with super-ambers as any $20 Lattafa. I couldn’t scrub it off fast enough.

This starts peppery and then stays a smoldering incense for 10 hours. The labdanum in the base rounds it out. The effect is very similar to Armani Bois d’Encens, BUT the Armani has nasty “amber wood” molecules (AmberMax or the like), whereas Mortel Noir is unsullied by that garbage. Compared with Aedes de Venustas Copal Azur, it’s less sweet. Compared with Avignon, it’s softer in scent but much longer wearing. Lovely!

Most Iris scents are either weak and fleeting (Prada Infusion d’Iris) or not Iris scents at all—they are often more about vanilla (Shalimar Millesime Iris), amberwood (Maison Crivelli Iris Malikhan), chocolate and vanilla (Dior Homme Intense), or chemical carrots (Serge Lutens Iris Silver Mist). Iris Pallida 6 is 90% iris with subtle, supporting notes of almond, suede (very subtle suede—not like “leather” scents), and musks. And while it won’t give my doorman’s Sauvage any performance anxiety, it is detectable on myself for most of a day. Just stunning and worth whatever they charge for it.

This smells like synthetic grapefruit toilet bowl cleaner. Performance is good, so if that’s all you care about (looking at you, TikTok), buy this. Is it “fresh?” Sure, in the same way grapefruit body wash is “fresh.” But it smells cheap. Take away the tacky Gehry bottle cap, the fancy name, and the absurd price and this is not special in any way.