From Gucci's first haute perfumery line, The Alchemist's Garden collection begins with a conceptual laboratory “filled with curious jars and mesmerising scents”. The collection is design to be layered (in various combinations) to create a bespoke blend.

 

The bottle features “white lacquered glass with a porcelain effect, adorned with gold accents” with an image of an owl, explaining it “decorates the bottle, with luminous eyes reminiscent of an iris.”

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Gucci’s ‘Tears Of Iris’ is THE MOST naturalistic iris soliflore perfume I’ve found so far. The angelica, sandalwood and musk remain soft, so as not to distract from the magnificent beauty of this iris. Gucci explains why iris was selected as their hero ingredient: “the iris flower emits a sensual, woody scent blended with sandalwood, angelica seeds and musks.”

 

As a flower, iris is an intricately delicate note to capture. Most make it powdery, but Gucci successfully represents iris as succulent but deeply florally creamy, whilst still innocent, fragile and nude in its stripped-down beauty. If it were a song, it would be a ballad - heart-felt, tear-jerking, beautifully structured yet simplistic and award winning, an ode to iris.

 

The parfum and perfumed oil version are amazing. I fear that a £240 100ml parfum might have me crying Tears Of Iris.