Bois d'Iris by The Different Company

Bergamot, Vetiver, Iris, Geranium, Cedarwood, Narcissus, Musk.

Bois d'Iris is a polite and pleasant smelling take on Iris. It wears light on my skin and I cannot claim to experience vegetal qualities during the wearings as others do. It seems that after the first few minutes, Bois d'Iris is relegated to a close quarters scent. It may not possess great throw, but up close it manages to smell rich, full and just plain nice.

The opening is a nice citric accord that falls just short of tart. Along with the citrus are well tuned earth tones and shades of violet. The violet rendition is very soft and smooth. There's no sharpness present and the narcissus-iris duo apparently work very well together. I can imagine leaf while smelling this and there is something slightly herbal about Bois d'Iris. There's just enough to notice, but not to categorize. A very deft touch was used implementing the vetiver, iris and narcissus. I find it a very balanced accord and certainly to my liking in spite of the overall volume.

After 15 minutes or so, the violet note becomes more apparent, but remains soft. The leafy aspect also is a bit more prominent once the geranium kicks in, but the balance of Bois d'Iris is steadfast. It's here that I know this is nicely done.

Bois d'Iris falls between both genders on my skin. There's just enough vetiver to embrace this as a masculine, but not so much that women couldn't easily pull this off. If I had to choose, I would say that this would rock on the feminine persuasion, but I also would wear it in a minute.

The only downside in my wearings ( if you could call them that ) is that the presence is tuned a bit low and reapplication might be necessary after around 4 hours. It appears it's a trade off as Bois d'Iris smells extremely nice when you need an Iris dominant fragrance that has manners. The woody quality hides behind the leafy violet, but it's there from the heart accord onward. Once the base and drydown commence, it becomes more obvious. However, never does Bois d'Iris evolve into a legit woody on me. It augments and nothing more, accenting the sensual musk and making for a nice finish.

I doubt if I'm in the minority that finds violet a tricky note to implement, wear and actually like, regardless of the fragrance it's in. When well done like Bois d'Iris, it's a pleasure to wear. Sillage is mediocre and longevity is about 4 hours on me. If you gravitate to violet fragrances, you need to at least sample this in the future. Thumbs up from Aromi for The Different Company's Bois d'Iris.