Iris Nazarena by Ralf Schwieger for Aedes de Venustas 2013

/ australianperfumejunkiescom

Hello Niche Nerds,

Last week I met up with Clayton Ilolahia from What Men Should Smell Like, he happened to have recently been to NYC and spent some time at Aedes de Venustas. There he was given samples of their newest baby: a sleek greyhound of a fragrance that feels like 3000 years of selective breeding have culminated with

Iris Nazarena by Aedes de Venustas 2013

Iris Nazarena Aedes de Venustas FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Iris, anise, musk mallow, juniper berries
Heart: Leather, cloves, rose, oudh
Base: Vetiver, amber, woods, incense

Straight out of the gate I get a sweet iris/leather mix that is very much like brand new shoes. After initial burn off my skin smells wet and earthy prettiness that feels so elegant and refined, green and sappy like the smell after cutting hydrangeas for the house. Iris Nazarena is all crustless finger sandwiches, cream silk blouses, yellow gold + pearl jewellery and Cape Cod in blue and white. In fact it reminds me of how I imagine the women to smell in the upper crusts of John Irving books. Glamorous, pretty, fresh and just a little spicy,

Iris Nazarena High Tea TempletonRyePost Stolen TempletonRye

Parsing Iris Nazarena is easy because even I can smell most of the given notes, or nods to them, but even more enjoyable is spaying myself quite lavishly and just breathing in the beauty of a fragrance that seems particularly well constructed and seamless. One of the things that I particularly like is that the opening greenness stays well into the heart, riding over the leather, oudh and amber effortlessly, though I imagine to make something smell this pure and easy must have taken an enormous amount of persistence. There are some faint crossovers here between Bottega Veneta and Chanel 19 but Iris Nazarena feels newer and easier. Like the other two are trying a bit hard, Iris Nazarena is so comfortable in itself that it doesn’t have to try.

My advice is to give yourself an extra spritz of Iris Nazarena, it’s light and sheer enough not to skunk but the extra spritz gives a fuller and deeper story, and sillage. Longevity is good, though it softens off dramatically after 2 hours to a very sexy whisper, and scent bubble quite close but noticeable.

I can see why people are raving about Iris Nazarena, it is a grand beauty but without the pomp and ceremony.

iris_nazarena Aedes de VenustasPhoto Stolen Aedes de Venustas

Further reading: Grain de Musc and Perfume Shrine
Aedes de Venustas has $245/100ml
Surrender To Chance starts at $7/ml

Did you try the Aedes de Venustas eponymous fragrance or have you smelled Iris Nazarena yet?

Till tomorrow be nice to yourself and those in your orbit,
Portia x

21 thoughts on “Iris Nazarena by Ralf Schwieger for Aedes de Venustas 2013”

  1. I’ve smelled it. It’s nice. But I don’t want to take it any further than that for the moment since it’s so damn expensive!

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  2. This sounds delicious, but heartbreaking when you fall in love and can’t justify a bottle.
    Or, or…
    OK bring on the decant!

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  3. You had me at ‘iris’, Portia, you minx! 😉 And then you had to seal it with “an iris that doesn’t try too hard…” <—insert lemming here
    xoxo

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  4. I spritzed this a few days ago and, alas, I was unmoved. Perhaps I was distracted but I got mostly…’perfume’ – you know, that generic ‘perfume’ smell. I mean, the iris was there….but it didn’t make much sense to me. I think I need to revisit it.

    xoxoA

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  5. Being an iris ‘ho, I did spring for a decant, unsniffed, which is rare for me. It hasn’t nudged my top 3 irises out of their spot, but I do like it; a worthy addition to my growing iris collection.

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  6. I liked this one a lot. I have a bunch of “favorite” iris perfumes and this seems different enough from any of the others to stand out… but, as you say, it’s sheer and not overpowering. It reminds me a little bit of Daimiris from Laboratorio Olfattivo, but that one is stronger, definitely less office-friendly (more leather and good shot of rum in it).

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  7. Great timing, I just tried this yesterday! While I think it is beautiful I see quite a bit of similarities with En cens de bois by Miller Harris (thanks to my mom for noticing this first). Both are very earthly rooty Iris’ with nice incense and woody dry downs. Phewwww, saved me some money for all those fall new releases 🙂 I will enjoy my decant though.

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