ESSENTIAL PARFUMS
VELVET IRIS
2025
PERFUMER
Dominique Ropion
buchu
galbanum
mastic
orris
labdanum
sandalwood
leather
I like Velvet Iris twice as much as on first impression, but half as much as I hoped. Bear with me.
When I first smelled Velvet Iris during Paris Perfume Week 2025, I approached it with the baggage of it being the most anticipated fragrance during the event for me. With iris as my absolute favorite note, as a general fan of Essential Parfums and with Dominique Ropion at the helm… how could I not fall in love with a ‘velvety’ iris?
Alas, my instant reaction to smelling it was disappointment. Where I was hoping for smooth iris highighted, all I initially perceived were spicy greens. I’d go as far as saying that it may have been the biggest letdown of what I smelled during that trip to Paris.
Lucikly, first impressions aren’t worth that much. After a full wearing, I’m still not loving the direction of Velvet Iris, but I like it significantly more and I could see myself growing into fully liking it overall.
The bitter, tart, almost stemmy greens are still there, but they are instantly flanked by more sweetness than I’d figured on the first impression. There’ve been a couple of comparisons to Les Abstraits Belle Ame. While I adore Belle Ame and Velvet Iris is not close as far as me liking it, style-wise I can see the overlap in the opening hour. It features that mix of tart (in Belle Ame provided by ginger), mixed with a cocoa powder-like sweetness and of course the nuttiness of the iris. Dry and powdery, in my opinion, slightly more traditionally masculine leaning, making them less conventional iris fragrances than many that are being released.
The iris here does not feel delicate, at all. Velvet, in this case, seems to refer to a suede leather base (more on this soon), not to the iris/orris being buttery and ‘velvety’ smooth. It’s not as rough as for example a Maison Crivelli Iris Malikhan, but goes in the general direction of that (even a hint of smokiness perhaps) & Belle Ame, more than it does of many soft, more feminine-leaning iris scents. It has a more dry woody-nutty vibe than the stronger carrot that I get in Iris Malikhan.
While the greens deter is less from my taste than I feared, it’s the suede-like drydown that I’m not a big fan of. I barely get iris and even the green fades, opting for woodiness, spiciness, sweetness and suede. Earthy & nutty still, but without a signature iris scent to my nose.
Overall, not the iris fragrance that I was looking. It’s a good fragrance & I’d probably like it more over time and with expectations more managed, but it’s definitely quite different from what I would’ve preffered in an ideal world. I think it’s intriguing enough and definitely worth a try, but as an iris-centric release, it’s not one that would spring to my mind as a recommendation.