Jardin d’Iris

Orris — the root of the iris plant — is one of the most expensive raw materials in perfumery by weight, not because iris is rare but because the root has to be dried and aged for up to five years before it develops the powdery, slightly carrot-like facet perfumers actually want. Noor Verdier’s 2016 formula was the first new composition the house released this century, deliberately built light: eau fraîche concentration, mostly water carrying a trace of the oil, meant to be reapplied through a day rather than worn once and trusted to last.

It is also the only composition in the current catalogue built by a perfumer trained partly outside the house — Noor apprenticed at a fragrance school in Grasse before joining the family workshop, and the formula’s structure is noticeably more modern in proportion than anything else in the ledger.