Violet Ida

I purchased a full bottle of this after receiving a decant as well as some boxed samples from Miller Harris. I thought I might have made a mistake because when I used one of the samples, it was just plain, dry, doughy iris. I couldn't find the same delicate, lightly sweet but non-gourmand scent I experienced with decant I received from a very good Fragrantica friend of mine. I loved it, but couldn't detect any violet. After I read the notes I realized why. Anyway, I wasn't feeling well when I tried the sample. My friend suggested that it might be due to being ill, or perhaps, horror of horrors, it had been reformulated. However, I has a hunch that it might be rated to the small amount of spray that came put of the sample, as if it was unable to diffuse properly. Whatever the case may be, I received my full bottle today, and I'm pleased to say that I'm back on the love train with Ida! Delicate and powdery, I don't find it to be a Lipstick scent the same way others have. I own Malle's Lipstick Rose, which represents that smell quite well to me. If this resembles any other fragrance in my collection, it would be Boucheron Iris Syracuse, though that is even drier than VI. Blissfully, I don't get a big dose of carrot seed. That's the note that ALMOST ruins Les Exclusifs Misia for me. This is all about iris, made powdery by heliotrope, and lightly sweetened by a non-gourmand vanilla. I have a suspicion that this will be a shape shifter depending upon the season. As always, I will now put it aside for a bit to give it a chance to settle, testing again in a week or two. This is my second purchase from Miller Harris, and I love them both. I've also sampled Etui Noir and think it's exquisite, but that's for another day. Longevity moderate, sillage moderate, it definitely leans feminine in my opinion. I'm just thrilled that I didn't panic and cancel my order, because it's a welcome addition to my collection.

I've had an eye on this collection from Miller Harris for a while, as fleeting sniffs in shops here and there have suggested that the scents are as wonderful as their enticing name and lovely bottles suggest. And now that I've finally gotten my hands on a decant of Violet Ida, I'm happy to report that at least for this one, that high expectation holds true. Especially in the opening, I really dig it: like the reviewer below me, I'm transported to childhood, but for me it's to my very earliest memory of "perfume", the one that came with my Polly Pocket beauty case. I know that doesn't sound good, and I'm sure that the scent was pretty bad, too, really, and this probably smells nothing like it. But it evokes the same feeling: instant joy and recognition, "oh yes, this is what perfume smells like!". No matter what the list of notes says, that opening smells like old-fashioned waxy lipstick, fresh pencil shavings (or I guess carrot seed), and sweet powdery floral notes (violet, or alright, iris and heliotrope). Whatever it is, it's a wonderful composition, well-balanced but somehow rather original however familiar it smells. I get why it's compared to Infusion d'Iris, for instance, but this is much more exuberant, much warmer. It's feminine and comforting, but also kind of glamorous, not girly. As it dries down it becomes less pronounced, the woody aspect is replaced by more powdery sweetness as the vanilla starts to dominate. Then it strays into almost-gourmand territory, which I also love, but it's less unique by then. It also seems to project less, but that might be an illusion, because I've gotten compliments on this one long after I myself stopped noticing it very much. I'm so glad to have Violet Ida in my collection for the upcoming colder months - can't wait to try it out in winter!

Woah, this smells very different to my other fragrances, which is a good thing... The only one I've smelt that is vaguely and I mean very vaguely similar, is iris goddess by floral street. They just share some notes I think. So there's a lot of carrot seed to begin, and actually throughout and there's also something warm. It's thick with makeup powderiness underneath it. Then something shifts and you start to get a tiny bit of vanilla, but the iris and carrot seed are really the main things. At this point, the fragrance has a definite vintage feel to it, old handbags and handkerchiefs and old makeup compacts. Later still, the heliotrope appears but it is so so light, and actually that is the best bit for me, it's a very delicate mix of the iris and to a much lesser extent the carrot seed, vanilla and heliotrope. It's almost like a sweeter version of how Aveno oatmeal moisturisers smell or something like that. This is really not my usual choice, this was a blind buy 🙈 I'm going to see how I get on, but right now, this isn't a love, but I've tried it only a few times. My plan is to spray more of this, brave the opening and see whether I can make the drydown more prominent, because that's the good bit. On me this is not a projection or sillage monster, if you want that, go elsewhere, it is very close to skin and delicate. I've read Brighton Rock and I wouldn't put this perfume with Ida, but that's perhaps just me. Edit: 6 weeks later and I really like this, now this is still a lot of carrot seed but I get sweeter and stronger powdery heliotrope vanilla. This was a success.

I got this as a sample directly from Miller Harris. I would never have willingly bought a iris/violet heavy perfume, but I am trying to expand my horizons with florals, and thought the description of this sounded lovely. I actually tried the Scherzo first out of the samples, and I honestly don't know what the hype is. I really didn't love it, and it lasted about 5 seconds on my skin. The second sample I tried was violet Ida. Upon first spritz, I immediately started panicking and thinking this is going to be too mature for my liking. It had a little bit of pungency in the forefront that might be the carrot seed that was displeasing to my nose. In about 20 minutes all I could do was hold my arm to my nose and inhale deeply over and over again. This scent is absolutely intoxicating. I cannot get enough of it! It has the most fluffy, powdery, vanilla tainted, bold iris, but airy, cottony, slightly marshmallow, feminine scent. I want to bathe in this. I immediately knew that this was probably the one I'm going to get a full size of. I've always struggled with finding a powdery floral scent that I love because for whatever reason whatever combination of scents it is, it always smells sour to me. Well this is it folks. They nailed it. I cannot stop smelling myself. And wonder if this could possibly be my forever signature sent. I hope that they don't ever change this!

Update: 4 months later and I’ve come to really love Violet Ida. The opening is rooty carrots and Iris with an powdery leather accord that smells like a expensive leather bag. Call me crazy but the dry down of Violet Ida smells very close to Shalimar Vanilla Planifolia- it’s a dense, sweet custard vanilla with a touch of leather. The interesting part is the carrot and the vanilla never meet on my skin. I wish the carrot in Violet Ida stayed around for the dry down but it’s still a keeper for me. I believe the name speaks to the color that this fragrance is evocative of. Irises are also purple and Violet Ida does make me think of the dusty, somewhat muted violet hue of the bottle. The opening of Violet Ida is all about the Carrot! Semi-sweet, rooty and earthy! This is more Orris root than Iris -more buttery and almost lipsticky. As VI dries down, it becomes sweeter as vanilla, heliotrope and amber starts to come forward. Even then for me, I wanted more sweetness. I’m not experiencing the “carrot cake” some speak of. Maybe with more wears... It’s 7 months later and I love Violet Ida! The more I wear this fragrance the more I love it. I am starting to get Carrot cake. Silage is above average and longevity is fantastic. This is why I don’t like to make my mind about a fragrance after 1 wear.