Two more summer limited edition scents…
From Elizabeth Arden, a summer version of last year's Mediterranean fragrance. Mediterranean Breeze is “the scent of a warm breeze infused with wild blossoms and the gentle spray of the ocean”, and comes in 50 ($47.50) or 100 ml ($57.50) Eau de Parfum spray. Available at dillards…
More online shopping ideas. If you missed the earlier posts, see also: Holiday fragrance gifts 2007, part 1, part 2, part 3.
I’ll take one: the Prada Infusion d’Iris coffret, with 100 ml of the Eau de Parfum and a scented candle on a metal base. It is hard to make out in the picture, but the candle is etched with the Prada logo. $150 at Neiman Marcus…
Still more limited edition collector fragrance bottles for holiday 2007 (if you missed the first posts, see Bunch o' limited edition collector bottles and Bunch o' limited edition collector bottles, part 2). Please note that a few of these may not be available in the US.
Pretty in leather: Prada's eponymous Eau de Parfum in a pink leather sheath. 80 ml for $250 at Nordstrom. If you want something even more so, Neiman Marcus has a version in purple crocodile for $550…
The iris note is very 'faceted'. I've been working on it for years. It's very difficult if you work with iris not to be overly rooty, not to overdo an earthy feeling or get too powdery. Like when you look at an Impressionist painting, it's about how you contrast the shadows and the light so that something appears more airy and more delightful than it otherwise might.
What I will say is that this fragrance is composed of traditional ingredients of a high-end quality, yet the result is something innovative, something that wasn't there before.
— Perfumer Daniela Andrier on Prada Infusion d'Iris, quoted in Purple Haze in today's Belfast Telegraph (link no longer working, sorry).
Infusion d’Iris is the latest fragrance release from Prada, and I was looking forward to smelling it on several counts. Iris is one of my favorite notes, and the iris perfume sold on a small scale in the Prada boutiques a few years back (sorry, not sure if it is still there or not) was lovely. I’ve also been impressed with Prada’s mainstream perfumes to date, and I am especially fond of Prada Man, so I was excited to hear that the same perfumer who created that scent (Daniela Andrier) did Infusion d’Iris as well.
My first impression wasn’t entirely positive. The first thing you need to know about Infusion d’Iris, if you haven’t smelled it yet, is that it is light. Really light — hence, perhaps, the massive vat of juice the model is swooning over in the ad shown above. It is just a wispy little slip of a scent. On my first encounter, I sprayed a little on a card, and thought it quite nice, but within an hour, it didn’t smell like anything worth worrying about either way.
Still, on my next shopping trip, I sprayed a little on skin on the way out of the store. It is just as well that Infusion d’Iris wasn’t actually for sale yet, as I might have gone back to buy it on the spot…