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Month of Irises: Week 2 (Feb 8th – Feb 14th)

This post will be updated continuously during the next 7 days. For more details see here, but in short – come back every day to read something new I added for the day, see what perfume I chose to wear and share your SOTD. I know that there are some “lurkers” who follow the project but do not comment, so if you’re reading this, I invite you to join the conversation.

Week 1 of the Month of Irises went by quickly. I was glad to see all of you – with daily updates on your SOTD and just because. I urge all of my loyal readers and friends to participate in the topic even if you are not wearing iris perfumes – this month or in general: irises are just an excuse to do this daily exercise with updates but the main goal is to see all of you more often (but Rusty clearly votes for more irises).

Rusty and Iris

Thursday, February 8, 2018

SOTD

One of the silent (on this blog) participants has mentioned that Ormonde Jayne Orris Noir reminded her of Ormonde Woman. I intended to wear Orris Noir this month anyway but now I’m very curious to check also if I notice the same resemblance (beyond Iso E-Super that Geza Schoen and Linda Pilkington seem not to be able to get enough – not that I complain about that when it comes to their main line).

GIF OF THE DAY

Rusty tries to figure out what exactly I’m talking about when I mention the smell of iris…

Rusty Playing with Iris

Friday, February 9, 2018

SOTD

Orris Noir that I wore yesterday was nice and warm. As I was wafting it throughout the day, I thought that, while not the most complicated compared to many other niche perfumes that I’ve tried since I first liked and bought Orris Noir, it was not like anything else that I knew… And then I got home and remembered to try Ormonde Woman. They do not smell completely similar to my nose, but you can definitely tell that they are related.

Today I plan to wear Prada Infusion d’Iris Absolue with the goal, again, to fit both projects: Month of Irises and NST’s “wear a fragrance you initially thought was too [insert adjective] for you to wear.” When I tried it for the first couple of times, I thought it was too similar to my favorite original Infusion d’Iris EdP and didn’t think I would need or wear it – as long as I had the original. But as my decant is nearing the end, I find myself  browsing perfume sites for a small bottle of it…

RIDDLE

It’s not a riddle in the strict sense of the word since there is no real right answer but there’s an answer that I want you to find. So do not get discouraged if you do not “see” it.
Does this picture remind you of anything related to this month’s theme?

Riddle 3

Saturday, February 10, 2018

So, not really riddles fans? Oh, well… I’ll try to post an additional “clue” during the day but if still no, I’ll stick to pictures of Rusty.

SOTD 2/10/18

Ramon Monegal Impossible Iris – I’m curious to check how it smells on me in this weather: I don’t remember ever getting the rooty-ness that hajusuuri reported yesterday. Though, I have never had a chance to wear it in a cold weather.

Most of my today’s readers were here already for this post, but for several new comers I’ll post the link (there’s a nice music clip in there – in case you’re up for some music and film references) – Mission: Impossible Iris.

Sunday, February 11, 2018

I didn’t have time to play with my picture to substitute colors and post an additional clue for the riddle, so here’s an answer:

Vincent van Gogh Irises

Last year I took that picture with one red flower amongst white ones because it looked surreal. My friends and I discussed for a while how it could have happened. There were multiple theories, some very elaborate about how these flowers have that strange mutation when one of them comes out in another color… 2-3 weeks later, once the white bloom was over, the bush that grew next to it burst out with… all red flowers. And I realized that there was no genetic mutation or some other unexplained phenomenon: that single red flower just came out “before his time” – and that’s why it was so noticeable and misunderstood.

When I recently looked at my picture, it reminded me of this Vincent van Gogh painting with a single white iris surrounded by a more traditionally colored irises.

SOTD 2/11/18

I plan to wear Iris Poudre by Frederic Malle. I wonder: will I experience déjà vu all over again?

Monday, February 12, 2018

SOTD 2/12/18

For my birthday I’m wearing Armani Privé La Femme Bleue.

Tuesday, February 13, 2018

SOTD

HdP Opera Collection 1904. Asali (The Sounds of Scent) posted a wonderful review for this perfume.

Wednesday, February 14, 2018

On the last day of the Week 2 the SOTD thread is hosted by Tara on her wonderful blog (as if it requires any introduction) A Bottled Rose. Please visit her most recent A Month of Irises post, read her musings on some wonderful iric-centric perfume and comment there on your SOTD, whether you wear an iris perfume today or not.

Happy Valentine’s Day to those who celebrates!

.

What are you wearing today?

Images: My own

96 thoughts on “Month of Irises: Week 2 (Feb 8th – Feb 14th)”

  1. RUUSSSSSTYYYYYYY! <3
    Playing with iris flower, so cute!
    Yeah, first week passed quickly and it's a lot of fun.

    Today I am wearing Heeley Iris de Nuit.

    That was a check-in for day 8 :)

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  2. Missed the 1st week, but I should tune in for the second! I am wearing Hermes’ Eau de Gentiane Blanche yesterday and today. It is a scent of snowdrops for me, and I am remembering my Granny who passed away last year on 7th February… I was on the quest for a snowdrop scent for several months last year, and this one appeared pretty realistic! But Gentiane Blanche claims to have iris in the composition. Must not be orris butter, but more like a combo of synthetics to render the smell of dewy morning iris blooms. Bitter, green and waking from the ‘gentiane’, but creamy and soft from the other compounds, it can get closer to Hermes Hiris, and Hermessence Paprika Brasil for some noses, but is not as complicated. Very clear and meditative fragrance. One of the most minimal of Jean-Claude Ellena’s creations.
    Rusty is a star! As always.

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    • I’m glad you’re joining us for the second week.
      My sympathy on your loss: my Grandma passed away 16 month ago, and I still miss her acutely.
      For a while I thought of buying Gentiane Blanche – I liked it enough and the bottle is very nice. But then other perfumes came on top of my list – the way it happens with something that is “nice to have” but not “have to have.”

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      • Thank you, dear! My condolences for your Granny, as well. It is always with a warmth in our hearts when we remember them. And actually it is а remembrance day today in my country – a week before the start of the Fasting. Eau de Gentiane Blanche is not my daughter’s favorite – she says it smells of bitter plants, and wrinkles her nose. But I experimented and gave her to sniff it after an hour, without telling her what it is, and she liked the drydown, suggesting it smells of clean towels and some “nice little flowers”. I guess she is right, and I am grateful to all the people who advised me about it.

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  3. Oh my goodness it looks like Rusty is sniffing the flower at the end of the GIF! Love it.
    January was the slowest month ever but I suspect February will be the fastest.
    I’m wearing Cuir de Russie today with its leather and iris. It’s nice at a distance but I don’t regret giving my bottle to the Cookie Queen.

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    • What do you mean “looks like”?!! He was sniffing the flower! :) That was one of the reasons I picked that clip out of several where he was catching the flower and playing with it.
      I need to wear Cuir de Russie – maybe not for the project but just because: I haven’t worn it in a while and miss it.

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      • Of course. I should never underestimate Rusty :)
        Today, I’m wearing a sample of Iris Absolute by Washington Tremlett. I don’t know where it came from but think you’d like it. A baby powder iris with a bit of a vintage feel.

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  4. I could wear Cuir de Russie! And I do think I have and like Orris Noir. But where? Rusty with the iris, priceless. Reminds me to video Truffle with grapestalks. Better than catnip!

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      • If you have a chance to try it I would really recommend you do (maybe it will be one of the to be discontinued ones). If you can’t find a sample I am happy to send it to you (so far samples I sent to the US made it safely across the Atlantic). Rose Absolue was my favourite Goutal Rose, but Ce Soir ou Jamais is rapidly taking her place. Heure Exquise is my favourite Goutal iris, if not favourite perfume ever. For next year ;-)

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        • Thank you! I’ll try to find it somewhere closer to home since it feels a little excessive for a sample to travel half of the world just for me to try. But I appreciate the offer.

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    • I took “live pictures” specifically to be able to find a good picture or two of Rusty playing with the flower. But when I went through all of them, I realized that I just had to share that flower sniffing moment.
      The next time I see Iris Nazarena at the store I will give it a try – you’re the second person who wears it this month.

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  9. Day 8
    DIOR Homme EDT

    Quite masculine – the name says it all. On me it is lavender-Iris-vetiver. It packs a wallop so only 2 spritzes was enough.

    I initially red the bottom section as GIFT of the day and indeed it was. That Rusty starred in his own little movie. How cute!

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    • I don’t think I’ve ever smelled this perfume for the stupidest of reasons: I do not like those bottles so I never even considered it for my vSO (and for myself I rarely smell masculine mainstream perfumes). Does it make any sense for me to go to a perfume counter now, or is the one that you have “vintage” that since then was completely butchered?
      And yes, I also read it as a GIFT a couple of times as I was reviewing the post :)

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    • Thank you, Irina!
      He is my favorite cat too (unless it’s 6 a.m., and he starts meowing outside of the bedroom door complaining that he’s lonely, hungry and who knows what else ;) ).

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  11. Goutal Mon Parfum cheri par Camille today. I have only a tiny sample of this…. on first try it was too much patch for me (so it fits the NST community project, too!) I am really liking it today in the cold. Might need to obtain a decant!

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    • When that perfume was first released, I wanted to like it so much: the bottle was so beautiful, I wanted to have it in my collection. But it didn’t work on my skin at all. And now it comes in the standard plain bottle – so I’m not tempted any longer. But I know that many people liked it back then.

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  13. Delurking to report for week 2. This week I wore 3 iris-centered perfumes: 28 La Pausa, Orris and Sandalwood and Xerjoff XJ Irisss. I also wore 2 that list iris as notes but it plays a supporting role: Tauer’s L’eau and Escentric 2. I smelled great every day except today – the Xerjoff is stinky on me.

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    • Welcome to the light! :)
      All three of your iris-centered perfumes are on my list for the month. As to Irisss… Taking into the account the price, it’s a good result, I think :)

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  14. Hello tp Undina and to everyone, I’m enjoying these posts and comments very much.

    Yesterday I wore l’Heure Bleue edt and enjoyed it after staying away for many months. An attempt to wear it in the heat of summer did not go well. It was a relief to find it smelled great again. It has a subtle iris, to my nose the other flowers are more prominent.

    This evening I’m wearing a sample of Parfums DelRae Mythique in harmony with the Friday NST challenge. Mythique is a strange and interesting scent. It pushes at the limit of tolerable muskiness for me, but still hangs together nicely as a perfume entire. I hope that makes sense.

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    • Hi, tiffanie! Nice to see you :)

      Over years, I tried Mythique several times and drew to dislike it. Now I’m thinking: can it be that my sample had gone off and I didn’t realize it? Because initially it was OK though not interesting in the opening but I liked the drydown. And in the end, as I see from my last note, I decided that I should stop testing it.

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      • hi Undina, the iris in Mythique is very nice, but overall it is not a scent I will wear often. It might be worth sniffing again if you ever have the chance to see if your sample had gone off.

        I’ve added Purple Rain, Apres l’Ondee, and Wrappings to the list of scents with iris I’ve worn in February. Twelve days, still going iris-strong!

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  15. Day 9
    Impossible Iris

    I think you clued me in to the discount except you got free shipping and I didn’t. Impossible Iris is a chameleon and performs differently in the heat than in the cold. Today, it was rooty and effervescent!

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    • You have good memory! It was exactly as you remember – and I still wish we got that free shipping for you as well (I remember that it was tricky, I had to watch carefully through the order placing process to get it).
      I should wear it tomorrow – just to see how it works in February.

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  16. I vote for more Rusty GIFs! Wait there was no voting? 😉
    The front leaves of your picture looks like iris leaves, I think, but then again, I’m pretty useless with real life botany.
    I usually wear a lot of l’heure Bleue around this time of year, but somehow this year, when I think of wearing it I feel that it’s too sad and actually blue…
    Ombre Mercure was as I remembered, nice, but somehow not really good enough.
    I don’t know yet what I’ll wear today. I relocated my whole perfume “bar” and now I can’t visualise it properly 😊

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  17. Day 10
    Atelier Silver Iris

    One spritz before my hair cut appointment so I anticipate being back with Day 10 Scent 2. Hair freshly cut and I am now enjoying the last sips of my quadruple shot Caramel Macchiato (fear not, it was half decaf).

    I observed this scene (Starbucks):
    – woman enters looking for a table. It was early enough so 3 out 6 2-tops were open, and the entire family style table in the back.
    – woman orders a very complicated nonfat sugar-free no whipped cream drink (why bother if she doesn’t want any of the good stuff?), gets drink, places her drink on a more private table that someone reserved with a newspaper.
    – newspaper guy comes with his drink, tells woman that he had reserved the seat but was ok moving. Woman moves away.
    – Woman sits elsewhere, gets a call and tells the other person she’s at Starbucks
    – A minute later, a guy walks in, asks if she’s so and so and she says yes, hi, nice to meet you.; would you like to get a cup of coffee?
    – guy says no, he doesn’t drink coffee
    – exit “couple”

    I wonder how that blind date went?

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    • You can get an espresso shot with decaf coffee? Wow, I have never knew. It is funny how particular you are with your drink. I even went to check the caffeine content in different Starbucks drinks (and now I want coffee! :) ).
      Are you sure it was a date? I can’t imagine people arranging to meet for a date with an approximate location (that requires to call and re-confirm where someone is) or not finding our whether both parties are fine with coffee/tea. Where would they go from there? Bizarre.

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  18. Hello-one of your silent readers here, who is really enjoying your month of iris. What is the beautiful piece of fabric, under the first iris post? With M. Rusty sitting at the table? I love it. I used lots of Iris Silver Mist, in keeping with your theme. Why do people think this smells cold, or carroty? I think it smells delicious and divine. There is something about all iris fragrances that seem elegant to me. Roses are magnificent, peonies are so cheerful-but iris cannot fail to be elegant. I love all sort of iris. They grow wild here. Once I came around a turn in the road and there was an entire field of them. I have never seen anything so beautiful. These iris tend to be smaller and deep dark purple. The smell is delicate and they grow in almost swamp like terrain, so i associate them with the smell of the earth they grow in.

    I have an orange cat too-his name is Marmalade. His fur is nowhere near as elegant as Rusty’s fur-Marmalade has a funny loping walk. Almost a strut. When I reach down to pat him he stands on his hind legs to make my job easier. And he uses his paws like hands, and will sometimes reach up and touch my face to express affection.

    Thanks for the beautiful blog,

    Carole

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    • Hi Carole! I’m glad you stopped being a silent reader (though I appreciate that kind also).
      Your story about Marmalade made both me and my vSO smile: your cat seems to be very affectionate, and we both like when cats aren’t aloof. Do you have his ictires anywhere to share?
      The fabric you saw is a silk scarf with the same picture as I posted today as a riddle answer :) A friend gifted it to me, and I like it very much.
      I agree that iris perfumes are elegant. But some of them do have that carrot-y aspect, which I do not mind – same as coldness of some of them (unlike with cats, I don’t mind some austerity when it comes to perfumes :) ).

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      • I used to have a matching set-Henry and Marmalade. Both orange, both gorgeous. But Henry went missing this summer. I’m still heart broken over it. He was a huge cat-a big strong tabby, with a super affectionate personality. He was scared of everything. I saw him that morning, and when he didn’t come home for supper, I knew I was in trouble. I live in hope he’ll reappear.

        Wearing an unusual iris today-Siene d’Orange. Not sure I would have known it has iris, if I had not read the scent notes. It’s very pretty and soft. I like super quiet scents – they’re great for office wear. Oranges and suede. Deserves more mention in the blogosphere :)

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  20. Day 12
    SHL 777 Khol de Bahrein

    Dusky musky Jordan Almond hard shell sweet iris, plus, the bottle is GORGEOUS! I am racking my brain for an iris that would fit the NST Community Project this Friday…

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    • I don’t think I tried this perfume. Should I? Do you really-really like it?

      I’m trying to think of anything for NST’s project: so far – not a single idea even without limitations of it being an iris-centered perfume.

      Lucas has a perfect sample for NST’s Friday – A Bulldog in the Atelier (or something like that) – but it doesn’t have iris in it.

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  22. Happy Birthday, Undina! I hope it was a delightful day for you.

    I wore another big dose of Apres L’Ondee this evening. It suits my mood and the cloudy weather perfectly. It smells more of heliotrope for me though I know the iris is singing in the floral chorus. I love it.

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  27. Day 13
    Prada Infusion d’ Iris Absolue

    Day 14 ❤️
    Chanel No. 19 EDP

    Love both of these. The Prada was theow first bottle I deliberately bought at the largest size available.

    I was going tio “save” No. 19 to wear on the 19th and I thought why wait? Wear it now!

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    • I like your idea for No 19. I can totally do it! So far I’ve worn only the EdT, and in my schedule I still have EdP, extrait and Poudre – so I’ll wear one of them then.
      I should get d’Iris Absolue soon: you never know when it gets discontinued or, worse, reformulated.

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  28. Pingback: Februiris – a Month of Irises | Chemist in the Bottle

  29. I know I am way late to the birthday wishing here on your blog but I hope you had a beautiful one! Iris is a note I quite enjoy but other than the classic Prada Iris I don’t think I really have any other iris-centric scent. If I could wish for one it would have been by Laurie at SSS. I will be reading through to see what iris scent I should give a whirl. <3

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