Belles Rives

As an Iris lover, impossible to resist to buy this very latest issue from the excellent niche line of Paris based La Parfumerie Moderne. The frag is supposed to symbolize a (boat) trip around the shores of Geneva Lake (and the frag is indeed evocative, at least for the colors of it's ingredients, of this marvelous place). After a classic citrus-spicy opening comes a majestic Iris, neither dry nor buttery, but still nicely sweetened by a fine sweet-smoky myrrh. The third dimension here (like the Mont Blanc Massif as seen from the northern shores of the lake) is a superb clean Osmanthus - an association with Iris which caught my curiosity and I am actually quite impressed by the idea and it's realization. The woody-musky base notes are well balanced and leave the front of the scene to this very nice iris-myrrh-osmanthus combo of finest quality. A masterpiece for Iris lovers like me, with a reasonable longevity of approx. 8h.

Very nice iris, not boring or dry, good suede-alike nuance, that iris usually creates, when paired with vetiver and cedar. Due to very prolonged citrusy opening, I imagine that it would be EVEN better on male's skin, but still it is pretty much genderless juice on slightly generic side. Perhaps, I am not sympithizing to that cool "Cosmone molecules" mentioned in description. My skin skips the myrrh side altogether in this fragrance, which is strange, usually my skin amplifies myrrh big time. My favourite iris so far was in Chanel's 28 La Pausa EDT, but I consider Belles Rives as more bright and summery alternative, bergamot and jasmine take it to the hot weather level.

It takes "du cran" (or guts) to create a niche brand and then, without relying on any marketing gimmicks, to simply launch perfumes that smell as great as great gets. Of this house, my favorite is Belles Rives (with Cuir X a close second). I have a thing for most iris-based scents, but this one is extraordinary. A cool beauty with surprising presence and longevity, neither too woody nor too powdery. It's weightless and remote, like Delphine Seyrig in Last Year in Marienbad. Yet despite the coolness, it's not unfriendly. I love it, and I wish more people knew about this perfume because it deserves to be known and remembered.

superb combo of light-heavy, with iris at the center but not dominant. the cedar and osmanthus are really well integrated and flit in & out throughout the surprising long life of frag. i have all the parfumerie moderne and consider them to be Corticchiato's best work by far. belles rives might be his finest yet

Don’t order from their website. We ordered a bottle in November, the owner claims he shipped it but will not provide any tracking info. We had to notify our credit card company to get reimbursed. Super shady!

Caveat: I'm not an Iris lover. This is essentially an Iris scent, very rooty and powdery, with osthmanthus (which I love) lending a whisper of sweet-leather, cedar and vetiver supporting the Iris, bergamot lending a brief bit of astringency. It's not a leather perfume though--but Iris. After a couple of wearings, this has lasted about as long as it took me to write this review, with silage quite low. I liked the scent itself "okay" for what it is (Iris lovers take note--you just may adore for the rites of spring) but it's not a love, and with such disappearing notes, not for me.