Iris Prima

It a fragrance that doesn’t smell “fragrant” Of course, that isn’t a new idea. But this one — unlike Chanel No. 5 — It doesn’t attempt to challenge the public aesthetic of its time. It doesn’t smell “niche” either; it doesn’t try to be unexpected or extraordinary just to become an “attention-gatherer.” Instead, it feels as though it’s trying to escape your notice... For me, the more it tries to escape, the more I can’t help but notice it. ⸻ The Scent This iris does smell like iris. But it won't bring you the usual aloofness or self-contained feeling. It is an approachable and easy-going iris. This leather does smell like leather. But it brings delicacy and innocence (which is an unusual quality in a leather accord). Altogether, this fragrance isn’t “fragrant” in the conventional sense, but it’s pleasantly, quietly delicious to my nose. ⸻ Development and Performance Nothing dramatic, nothing unconventional. Once applied, it settles and blends seamlessly into the skin, lasting a comfortable 6–8 hours. This isn’t the kind of perfume that wears you or imposes a new mood, nor does it try to evoke some hidden persona. If it’s already part of you, it stays with you quietly — with a minimal sillage, only the intimate ones will notice. And if it isn’t you, you won’t feel compelled to understand it — because it won’t try to explain or prove itself either. ⸻ If I could paint this scent as something tangible, it would be a girl: no makeup, no jewelry, just well-groomed hair and nails, wearing soft, well-worn jeans and a loosely fitted, light-colored sweater. She leans by the window on a quiet afternoon, giggling at something that truly amuses her, but she’ll never let you know what that is.

Penhaligon's Iris Prima is my first niche house perfume and I couldn't be more satisfied with my purchase as this perfume is revealing itself each day more a gorgeous, rare pearl amongst all the perfumes I have or have smelt before. Being a blind buy I didn't know what to expect from it but this is one of the most stunning perfumes, that starts off beautiful and when it develops with every hour that passes it becomes even more interesting, powdery with a prominent leather note and a tart vibe. The perfume is really longlasting on my skin and I particularly love the sour and fresh smell of bergamot that lingers after many hours I've applied. A real gem created by the hand (or nose) of Alberto Morillas, one of my favourite perfumers and after some minutes I had applied the scent on my wrist I could tell it bares the typical DNA of Morillas perfumes. This is a niche perfume and it also has the genetics of niche but when it developed on my skin I had the impression I had smelt this fragrance before, not the same of course but very similar and I couldn't help but think of Lanvin Oxygene for women. They are both created by Morillas and even though they have very different notes still they are powdery and tart and very subtly, almost not noticeably sweet which is a winner for me because I love Oxygene so much and got so upset knowing that it's now discontinued. Oxygene is more sweet though and has that distinguishable milk note while Iris Prima is less sweet and more crisp. Now I can use Iris Prima more being that it reminds me so much of Oxygene and keep the few ml of Oxygene to sniff from time to time for nostalgy.

This fragrance is sadly discontinued but I was fortunate enough to acquire an unused 100ml bottle from a fragrance collector. I am relatively new to iris fragrances and naturally approached Iris Prima with a great deal of curiosity. My only prior experience with the note was in Givenchy Gentleman Reserve Privee, where I discovered just how much I enjoy the powdery character of Iris as well as with a small sampler of Iris Malikhan; which I also like but I think has more of an 'acquired taste' type of Iris composition. However, Iris Prima introduced me to an entirely different side Iris. I live in a tropical climate, so I'm generally careful with fragrances that are very powdery, heavy or dense. However, my workdays are largely spent in an air-conditioned office and Iris Prima feels perfectly suited to that environment and a cooler setting is where this fragrance can truly be appreciated. I'll say it succinctly; this fragrance is beautiful! It feels very refined and unsophisticated. However, don't let my use of the word 'unsophisticated' fool you into thinking this fragrance is in any way basic. Despite the many notes listed, Iris Prime knows exactly what it wants to be, a smooth, airy and powdery fragrance with a luxurious velvety texture that feels very balanced and inviting. It's a shame this is discontinued as I don't believe in collecting fragrances to never use them and I can see myself getting through my bottle fairly quickly. 9/10

I am loving this fragrance and my fondness for a Penhaligon's is totally unexpected. Prior to smelling Iris Prima the only Penhaligon's I had ever liked at all was Lavandula. Iris Prima opens like a traditional eau de toilette with fresh bergamot and a hint of resins and vetiver. Then a beautiful cool iris enters and takes over for a few minutes. It smells very fresh and natural like a real iris flower. However the perfumer made this happen, it works for me. Then the vetiver becomes a bit more prominent and a soft leather note enters. It's a beautiful soft leather, not a bitter dry cracked leather to my nose. It gives the impression of the soft leather of the bottom of a ballet shoe- truly. Some people have said they find the vetiver too dry and too prominent in Iris Prima. Fortunately that is not true on my skin. As the fragrance develops it softens with the vanilla and the jasmine comes in the drydown, a lovely soft floral note to balance the wood and amber. I find this to be a glorious scent on my skin. It is totally unisex to my nose- it could be worn easily by a woman or a man. Sillage is moderate when you first spray it on but it moves to a skin scent after about 90 minutes. But the skin scent remains for me all day. If you want to smell the fragrance more, spray it on your clothes as well. I find this to be full bottle worthy and I just bought a back up bottle, which I almost never do.

Iris Prima is an extraordinary perfume , an incontestable masterpiece. I've never smelt something similar or close to it yet but still it reminds me of things and places. The notes are in harmony with each other, yet I can detect them separately. The perfume opens with a zesty, fresh and sour bergamot combined with red pepper. The bergamot in this feels so realistic to me, it's like squeezing it out and you get that freshness right in your nose. But the true protagonist of the scent is Leather which is omnipresent from the opening to the drydown. What changes is the nuances that Leather takes while accompanied with various notes during the different stages. In the opening I get Leather and bergamot for some fresh vibes, during development I get Leather and Iris for some dry, powdery shades and finally on the drydown I catch whiffs of Leather and sweet notes of vanilla, Amber and Jasmine. It's a fragrance created so masterfully and majestically that is unmistakable, it has a remarkable DNA that identifies it from the other fragrances. On my skin the perfume has great longevity but it's not loud, it sits close to skin and I catch wafts all along. Sillage is rather moderate but present and I love to smell it when it quietly lays on my skin for hours, showing its different facets during the stages of development.

I discovered the existence of this perfume while travelling around the South of France on my own back in 2013. I've spent a good part of my life doing ballet - learning and teaching, so smelling this in Penhaligon's for the first time actually made me tear up. Elegant, poised, and exudes a quiet confidence, Iris Prima is by no means an ostentatious scent (doesn't really reflect the pomp and glamour that people associate ballet with) but I think any ballet dancer who's spent enough time behind the scenes will be able to appreciate this scent immensely. It smells musky (sweaty dancers), leathery (ballet shoes), powdery (talc and make-up), and woodsy (parquet sprung floors and wooden barres). The whole olfactory experience was like a flashback of preparing for a performance in the backstage of an old theatre. After seeing how moved I was by the scent, the salesperson was very happy to share the story behind its creation with me, and how it was inspired by the English National Ballet. I wasn't able to afford a Penhaligon's perfume then (still a student!) but it stayed on my mind for years and I wasn't sure if I'd ever see it again. I eventually managed to find an online seller who was letting it go last year and had no hesitation about finally acquiring it.

Iris Prima is inspired by the ballet prima ballerina. Iris is the prima ballerina here. Iris supported by hedione. It announces itself from the beginning, not too subtly, and is enveloped in bergamot and pink pepper notes, bubbly, sparkling and spicy. If this smell was a drink, I'd have a fridge full of it. But the iris is the dancer of the composition and immediately dances towards a note of jasmine, light, she is certainly not the prima ballerina. What is in the background! A leather note, suede, just like the label on the bottle. Iris gives elegance, bergamot lightness, leather structure. In the drydown the benzoin softens and gives thickness, the sandalwood binds so well to the leather, it’s difficult to tell them apart. But there are two problems. The first is that it is discontinued and the second is that it doesn't have a fabulous performance. It becomes a skin scent after one hour and has a medium duration. But everything is forgiven to Iris Prima.

This was a blind buy on Black Friday based on the reviews I had to have it. I am LOVING this one. The aroma is the cleanest, softest and most feminine non offensive scent ever. It's unique and therefore it is signature worthy. The only down side is I really wish it was stronger and lasted longer. It is sort of a fader. Honestly I could not see anyone disliking this other then the soft silage and lasting power. UPDATE: 3 hours later. Loving this even more. Yes it's a fader but something mysterious seems to happen on the skin. I am detecting Patchouli in here. It sneaks it's way out about 8-10 hours later stretching the lasting power to insane levels. What starts off as a good girl Iris develops into a slightly naughty yet clean gorgeous aroma. Not bad girl but I think it's the leather. Good Lord it's fabulous. BEST blind buy in a long time!

This perfume is exactly what I expected it to be – woody, dusty iris with the smooth leather and a shadow of sweetness. I have studied ballet and I have participated on performances at the theatre when I was 14-15 years old, and I remember the atmosphere and the smell of this wonderful world ... There was something dusty, woody, with sweetness of make-up, but also something resinous, glue-like from stage decorations ... Ballet is an enormously hard work which brings ballerinas to seem weightless and angelic; the part of the exertions, sweat and toil remains always hidden. It wouldn’t be fair to spoil the mysticism of the classic dance showing how hard it really is. The perfume that represents ballet must be refined, delicate, soft and elegant, but with solid base. And IRIS PRIMA has all these characteristics.

My daughter's ballet teacher is in perfect control - everything goes like clockwork. The girls are quiet and calm (at least on the outside), they're lining up for their hairdos and make-up, each mummy helper knows exactly which line to draw on the faces, their technique has been perfected in every single lesson, they are ready for their show or exam. After 12 years of driving her to ballet and modern dance classes, concerts, exams and medals I know the smell, and this is it: ballet shoes with satin ribbons sewn on exactly according to instructions, and powdery make-up (how on earth did the perfumers recreate those smells so perfectly?) And the bunch of dark purple irises I used to buy her afterwards to congratulate her on her results. The creators must know exactly.... It's what I call art.

This is the first niche fragrance I discovered that opened my eyes to a world beyond designer. It opens wit peppercorn and fresh citrus and as it dries down it is all about the iris and leather note. It's not a rough leather, but as others have commented, a ballerina shoes type of leather. Overall, this fragrance gives me a very vintage vibe- makes me think of a theater, dusty curtains, and wooden floors. The idea behind the fragrance (the ballet) is definitely appropriate. It is feminine and elegant, but has the supple leather accord to balance this out. As I have explored many fragrances now, I no longer consider it groundbreaking as a fragrance, but it is so memorable and elegant. I definitely consider this fragrance one of the gems in my collection and one I will wear often.

This is a deeply melancholic scent. I don't know how to describe it otherwise. I saw someone say that it's like standing in an abandoned theater, smelling the dust and the floorboards and the old leather seats, and as descriptions go it really doesn't get any closer. If you've worked with them before, it smells *exactly* like fat-based theater face paint. It is like meeting an older woman on a rainy day who tells you she used to be a ballerina, and you can tell from the way she carries herself that she never compromises on her grace nor her dignity, and this is what she smells like. This scent is a holy grail to me. I may be a man nearing his 30s, but sometimes I just want to smell like a retired dancer grieving bygone glory, or like a dilapidated theater. Iris Prima, my love.

This was a little disappointing. It's not bad, but it's not special, like I wanted and expected it to be. It's pretty light, and not a sillage monster in any way. On first application, I get a lot of iris and powder. During the immediate drydown, the leather comes in a little bit...and after the first couple of minutes, this becomes very soapy. After about two hours, it's strictly a skin scent. It's a lot sweeter, mostly amber and leather. This is very light, totally innocuous, and perfectly nice. But it's not much beyond that. As a small-time ballerina myself, this is not in any way reminiscent of the art. Not the shoes, not the theatre, not the sweat or the competition or the cattiness or the jealousy. This is just a nice, normal, office scent. Disappointing. 4/10

Lately a local beauty brand started importing some of Penhaglion's perfumes. Sniffing all those I could put my hands on, I took an instant liking to this one. It took me some time figure out whether I love it or just like it a lot. After a few times I wore it on my skin, I know now that this is love. Leather scents combined with a powdery iris seem like an easy enough scent, yet here the beauty comes both from the thought put into creating a well balanced duo of the two, and also from adding the right notes to round it up perfectly - vetiver, sandalwood, pepper, a touch of citrusy notes. Since this perfume takes somewhat different turns on different skins, IMO because of the various undertones, I suggest to try before you buy.

Dry leather with a citrus opening that turns into a slightly sweet, distinctively powdery iris as time goes on. I could see how some of that dryness would come from vetiver. It's almost a bit like walking through a rare books repository. Very appealing. Doesn't quite have the same punch as other leathers like Rien, but one doesn't need to nasally kickbox every day. :) According to other reviews, the bergamot is not that prominent- but for me, the opening is all about it. I'm glad, because bergamot usually hides from me. My main objection to this, that keeps me from falling for it completely, are the longevity and price. Longevity is about three to four hours, and then save a bit of powderiness on the skin, it's gone.

Entirely unisex floral-leather-suede. The somewhat "band aid-ey" suede note is present from start to finish. There is a bright hit of citrus at the start, but that doesn't last long. The sweet floral-iris heart does fare better and co-exists beautifully with the persistent leather accord. The scent profile overall is not super sweet--the jasmine at heart, a bit of vanilla in the base--but has a well-balanced delicacy to its sweet/aromatic vibe. While it doesn't smell exactly like these scents, it conjures a similar vibe to Daim Blond (minus the fruit which dominates the profile of that one) and Ava Luxe's Film Noir (mostly in the "band-aid-ey" suede--FN is definitely darker and smokier from what I remember).

Summary: very beautiful, I just wish it had more sillage. Still evaluating how much it lasts on my skin. Update: It loses strength quickly in terms of sillage, but it remains as a skin scent for hours and hours. I have a sample. --- A pure elegant autumn scent, but with some warm and enveloping resins which make it veer into the seductive realms of sexiness. A polite leather (suede, maybe?), assertive but not brash, with no tar notes. Just a polite dry bitterness of a good leather or suede. Then, lots and lots of benzoin, a very discreet and supporting vanilla, some woods, and, for me at least, hits of star anise mixed in. I like it very much. Comforting, elegant and sexy in an almost spiritual way.

I have loved it for years and for some reason had a hard time writing anything about it. The bergamot in the top is quite strong, but it brings an effervescent quality, nor a sour one, that ultimately calms down. I smell leather at first, but the heart becomes the softest suede with baby powder and creamy iris. It has a supple, velvety texture that is irresistible. Not particularly sweet, I find it more complex and interesting than Prada's iris fragrances (which are still very beautiful imho!) or even Chanel's 19 Poudre. A classy and elegant fragrance that reminds me of pink leather ballet slippers. Really perfect for a night at the ballet.

Iris Prima opens with leather and iris then dries down into a powdery sweetness that vaguely evokes the smell of makeup, and tulle - like a costume that still holds the fragrance of the performer who last wore it. It does remind me a little of "Chantilly" by Houbigant though not quite as sharp. In my opinion Iris Prima is more a reflection of the well-rehearsed opening night performance rather than the exacting, disciplined journey and the romance of getting there. Perhaps though, the fragrance is exactly "en pointe" in that respect, a polished example of hard earned grace. I do love a fragrance that has a story to tell, and this one does.

I just received this from my secret santa and I am in love. I've sampled it before but to be able to spritz with abandon is an entirely different thing! It has all of my favorite elements - it is fresh and sparkling (bergamot), yet warm and cuddly (vanilla and benzoin) and altogether unique. The leather is so soft and delicate and really does remind me of ballet slippers. The fragrance calls to mind dancers warming up with their cozy leg warmers and soft pink wrap sweaters in a studio where the sunlight pours in over the gleaming wood floors and gracefulness abounds.