In 2020, I discovered a couple of new-to-me online retailers that sell decants, fragrance samples of different sizes. Because of COVID, I am not shopping in stores and I don’t think that stores have testers now anyway. Plus who can smell with a mask on?
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I ordered a Sampler Set of five 1 ml fragrances from Indigo Perfumery (plus they threw in a gift of another fragrance sample that they chose), and three of the six scents were winners for me. I’ll tell you about one of them today.
Atelier des Ors Iris Fauve
Iris Fauve means Wild Iris in French. During my recent fragrance journeys, I discovered that iris (along with violet and vanilla) is a key note in powdery fragrances. My favorites types of fragrances are spicy orientals including amber fragrances and powdery scents. I used to wear the powdery Ombre Rose in the 1990s, but recently it’s been spicy orientals all the way. What’s so perfect about Iris Fauve for me is that it is a “powdery oriental” and its notes and accords are a mix of my favorites:
- amber
- woody
- warm spicy
- earthy
- iris
- cinnamon
- powdery
- balsamic
- musky
- aromatic.
Atelier des Ors is an independent fragrance brand from Frances. Iris Fauve eau de parfum is a gender neutral scent that was launched in 2017. The “nose” or perfumer behind Iris Fauve is Marie Salamagne.
Top notes:
- Iris
- Cinnamon
- Bergamot
Middle notes:
- Patchouli,
- Cypriol Oil/Nagarmotha
- Haitian Vetiver
Base notes:
- Myrrh
- Labdanum
- Musk
- Liatris.
To me, Iris Fauve smells like a powdery warm floral. It smells like my idea of springtime, though it can be worn year round IMHO. But I am terrible at describing fragrances. Here’s a description from the brand Atelier des Ors that I read on the website for fragrance enthusiasts, Fragrantica.com:
Celestial veil. Delicately draping skin. Soft, powdered cocoon. Enchanting, surprising tender caress. Serenity. For this new creation, Marie Salamagne uses Iris and Musk, her favorite raw materials. The mythological character Iris, messenger of the gods, inspires this very personal perfume. The bearer of good news, Iris was cherished by Hera, the wife of Zeus. She also personifies the rainbow, known poetically as “the scarf of Iris”. Iris Fauve drapes the skin like a soft and reassuring caress. It is an intensely sensual composition. The palette contains smooth as well as powdery elements, spices and at times a defined animalic presence. A refined fragrance, Iris Fauve is warm and enticing, offering comfort and elegance. – a note from the brand
Now that is a great description! It is like the “scarf of Iris”, and it is warm, comforting and elegant. I adore it!
While no fragrances seem to last on me as long as they used to, Iris Fauve is pretty long-lasting. And the scent definitely projects because I have been asked by others “what am I wearing”.
After I tried the little 1 ml sample from the Sampler Set, I bought a 5 ml spray sample from another online retailer of decants (but I don’t remember which one though you can find it now at Scent Split) to make sure that I liked it. Well, I loved it.
And after I was almost finished with the 5 ml spray, I started looking for a full size bottle. I went to the Atelier des Ors website to check it out, and I was shocked to discover that the price is $275 for 3.4 fl. oz.! There’s no way I could spend that, but if you can, it’s also sold at Bergdorf Goodman and LuckyScent. I started searching for it elsewhere online for less.
At the time I placed my order in October, I think it was, the best price was on a Canadian discount website, perfumeonline.ca. Perfumeonline.ca is like Fragrance.net or any other of the discount online retailers in the US. It has a very good rewards program that made it appealing. I think it had free shipping for this order, but since it was my first time ordering from Canada, I paid an extra $3.95 for shipping insurance. The USPS wasn’t as screwed up then as it is now, and I received my order in a week or maybe a little less. I don’t remember exactly what I paid for my bottle, but right now it’s $148.28 USD at Perfumeonline.ca.
I was blown away when it arrived. The Atelier des Ors packaging is sooooooo luxe! It definitely looks like a $275 bottle of perfume. The black and gold packaging that the bottle came in is too beautiful to recycle.
It has an outer black and gold box with an inner, sturdier black and gold presentation box to protect the bottle that’s nestled against gold metallic paper. I love the sea urchin logo on the boxes.
The bottle is the thickest glass I have ever seen in a perfume bottle. It weighs a ton, lol. It has cut glass on one side in a pattern that looks like a sunburst. At the bottom of the bottle inside, there are bits of gold. Wow!
If you are a fan of powdery scents, I encourage you to check out Atelier des Ors Iris Fauve. Get yourself a sample for a few bucks and see if it suits you, too!
Atelier des Ors Iris Fauve sounds absolutely lovely, Allison! You are so wise to try these sampler sets. This is such a great way to discover new scents, and to avoid purchasing the ones that don’t work for you!
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These days, Sampler or Discovery Sets are the only way to go! Will we ever go back to testers in stores? I truly wonder
Iris Fauve sounds like a fragrance I’d really like. I love sampler sets. I got one from Imaginary Authors and one from Veronique Gabai that led to finding glorious fragrances I dearly love.
Oh, I am glad you reminded me about Imaginary Authors, Gabrielle! That brand has been on my list to try. I agree that samples and sampler sets are the way to go, especially these days. I am not familiar with Veronique Gabai, but I will do some research! Francesca Bianchi is the other indie brand that I’ve gotten into lately. Do you any favorites in those two brands that I should look into specifically? I know I have somewhat limited tastes being such an oriental loyalists, but I still am curious.
I love orientals, myself. Guerlain’s Mitsouko has been my signature fragrance since I was 14. As for Imaginary Authors, they are a very unique brand and I don’t think it’s easy to categorize any of their scents. My faves that I have tried are Cape Heartache and City on Fire (which, I kid you not, has a burnt match accord). Veronique Gabai is a more traditional fragrance house, but wonderful. The fragrance they have categorized as an oriental (Noire du Mai) doesn’t work for me because strong rose accords do not work with my chemistry, but I am madly in love with Souvenirs de Tunisie, which they call a white floral, but on me the citrus and sandalwood notes come front and center instead in a marvelous way.
OMG, the fragrance you flagged sound divine. I will visit both sites and start putting my wish list together. I love the names of the Imaginary Authors scents – so imaginative. And who doesn’t love French names? You know, I always thought Mitsouko was a chypre. I honestly didn’t know it was an oriental scent in spite of its name! You learn something every day. And you certainly were an advanced 14 year old! I think I was wearing Love’s Baby Soft and Heaven Scent 😉
Oh, you can actually choose the 8 scents you want to sample when you order a set from Imaginary Authors: https://imaginaryauthors.com/products/short-story-collection-1
That’s great to know, Gabrielle! It was the same with the Sampler Set from Indigo Perfumery – although it was 5 samples plus an extra gift sample for $18, you could choose whichever you want as long as they were all different. I will check out Imaginary Authors soon – as soon as I get a cash infusion, lol
Oh! I forgot to ask – did you get the option to choose the perfume for your Ipsy Glam Bag Plus? I did and I’m quite excited to try it.
I am honestly not sure if I got perfume as an option for my Ipsy Plus bag. What was the scent? I just got my bag yesterday, and it is the least interesting bag I have received. I want to see if the Valentine’s bag is any better, and if it isn’t, I will unsubscribe for a while, I think, or go with the every other month option.
The fragrance is SOURCE ADAGE c’i’aan Eau de Parfum. It sounds interesting. I am so sorry you got such a dull assortment. That stinks! I’m still waiting for my bag, but I’m more pleased than usual about what I got to choose. I finally got the Kate Somerville Goat Milk moisturizer, which I’ve been longing to try. Also the fragrance. Not too excited about the Purlisse moisturizer, but I do think the Pixi face palette looks like it will be pretty. The High Eye Q eye cream seems cool too, as at least it will be a chance for me to try a CBD skincare product.
I will be so eager to hear what you think of the fragrance. I do not think that I got that choice. I would have gone for an EDP. Your entire bag sounds terrific! I am so glad that you are getting such good products. I will review my bag soon so you can see what I got. I think I will rate it 2 or maybe 3 stars and see if maybe I’ll get some better choices next month!
I can’t wait to read your review. Definitely downrate it and the products because that’s the only way you will get better. I actually decided to sign up for Glam Bag X next month (sort of a birthday present to myself – tomorrow’s the big day) and got in in time. We shall see whether it’s better than the fiasco that was Ultimate.
I noticed the Glam Bag X card that came in my Ipsy Plus Bag, but I didn’t really look at it. I thought that it was an option that you signed up for as a subscription going forward. I just went to the website to check it out, but as you said, the February bag is sold out. I have a feeling it will be a great one since it’s the first X bag. They are taking names for the May X bag, but since my regular Plus bags have been so lackluster for the past 3 months, I wasn’t sure I wanted to commit to sticking around till then. I can hardly wait to hear what you get! Fingers crossed that it’s as excellent as I expect it will be! And Happy Birthday to you, dear friend <3 I hope it's a good day and a happy, healthy year for you xoxo I was trying to wait to send this till it was midnight here (it's 11:09pm here) and the start of your special day, but I think I have to get into bed. Enjoy!!