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Iris Pallida

Iris is one of Sylvaine Delacourte’s favorite raw materials, it is also one of the most expensive in perfumery.
You’ll find it in large quantities in L’Heure Bleue of Guerlain and in Florentina from the Sylvaine Delacourte Musk Collection. 

The iris

The iris comes from the iridaceae family, originally from East Asia and the main producers today are Italy, Morocco and China.
There are 2 botanical varieties, the iris Pallida and the iris Germanica.

Iris flowers have a delicious scent. Almost at the price of gold, the iris hides its olfactory treasure in its roots often called rhizomes, or stems.

The origin of the name of powdery notes, comes from the first rice powders which were perfumed with iris. 
Powdery notes are fairly dry, slightly woody with hints of violet. 
If powdery notes were a color, they would be a pastel tone. It is a very evanescent and airy note, quite difficult to grasp.



The iris Pallida 

The iris Pallida, native to Italy, is called a rhizome, an underground stem.
These odourless stems will be cleaned and dried for about 3 to 4 years because it takes at least 3 years before the iris reveals its perfume. 
The iris stems will patiently secrete the irone, a major component of the iris scent. They are then stored in bags for another three years until they dry completely and the majestic scent appears. 
It takes six years in total for Pallida iris to deliver its olfactive masterpiece. 
Then, the rhizomes or stems are reduced to fine particles and treated by distillation, resulting in a paste called iris butter, whose maceration in an organic solvent and extraction finally leads to the iris absolute. 

The iris Pallida flower is majestic and sovereign. In Greek mythology, the iris was considered the messenger of the gods. Iris means rainbow in Greek.

For perfumers, the iris is the embodiment of luxury, through the beauty and purity of each of its facets. In a perfume, it exhales a radiant heat, unique, both powerful and controlled. 

Its scent is multifaceted with delicious notes between violet and mimosa, woody accents, light raspberry and carrot notes. In perfumery, we use carrot seed essence to replace or support the iris effect.

In Italy, the iris is cultivated on steep and poorly exposed land and harvested manually.
The plantation is done from mid-September to mid-October. The harvest takes place three years after its plantation between mid-July and mid-August.

 

 

The Germanica iris

In Morocco, Germanica iris is more robust and simpler to cultivate but the scent is less sophisticated. The rhizomes or stems are torn off and rid of their soil.

There are then two possible treatments:

  • Peeled rhizomes: they are peeled manually then washed. This step is long and tedious, one person treats 40 kg of rhizomes per day.
  • Unshelled rhizomes: they are cut into slices. The rhizomes are then dried for 10 days and stored in sheds under precise conditions of aeration and humidity for 3 years. 

It is during air drying that the irone, the noblest and most expensive component of the iris, develops. 
The rhizomes therefore require 6 years of treatment before reaching their optimal quality. After 6 years, the rhizomes are reduced to powder, 3 treatments are then possible:

  • Steam distillation of the iris powder which gives a waxy and white or concrete paste or butter (10 to 35% irone), then a vacuum distillation with wax absolute = Absolute Iris (65% to 85% irone).
  • Iris Powder treated with Volatile Solvent Extraction = Resinoid Iris Powder (viscous product containing 1 to 3% irone).
  • Iris powder treated with Iris Tincture or Iris Infusion containing tiny amounts of Irone.

The two main constituents of the iris are irone, a very expensive constituent representing the quality of the iris, and myristic acid. One can use irone alone, which is the product of absolute luxury.
Iris butter can be calibrated in terms of its iron content (8% for example) by adding natural myristic acid containing irone, which itself comes from the process of obtaining the absolute.

Perfumes where iris plays an important role

Iris Pallida by L'Artisan Parfumeur

Iris in Sylvaine Delacourte fragrances

You can find the iris in Florentina and Dovana from the Musk Collection by Sylvaine Delacourte. Discover them thanks to the Discovery Box.