Launched in 1994, when Serge Lutens was still partnered with Japanese cosmetics company Shiseido, he commissioned French perfumer Maurice Roucel to create a fragrance inspired by the Tuscan tradition of using iris rhizomes to perfume linen cupboards.

This is one of the few Lutens fragrances not created by Christopher Sheldrake.

It opens with a green metallic tang from galbanum. Soon, its earthy aspect links to damp, earthy, cold Tuscan iris pallida rhizomes. It smells raw and vegetal and real. The sensuous iris blooms as it settles, growing less raw and more elegant. Warm cedar and creamy sandalwood support the iris by adding a soft, woody contrast. A note of clove appears for a little while and sidles up beside the iris, its gentle spiciness playing off the cold rootiness of the iris. Vetiver bolsters the green aspect of the iris as musk creates a powdery effect; it’s helped along with benzoin, which is soft, powdery, and a little sweet. Incense adds a resinous depth to the base, while white musk finishes it with aquatic overtones that feel like rain.

Iris is the star of this fragrance, and it’s present from start to finish in every phase and stage. Its powerful earthy rawness at the start can give you…well, a start. Over time, though, it becomes less assertive, not softer, but graceful and quite sheer, revealing layers of warmth, woodiness, spiciness, and greenness. It is so beautifully done that you know you are experiencing a masterpiece.

Notes: Galbanum, iris, cedar, sandalwood, clove, vetiver, musk, incense and white amber.