Irisoir Extrait and Attar (Sultan Pasha)

Irisoir Extrait (IE, 2025) by Sultan Pasha Perfumes starts with an ebullient charm of a bright, sappy/astringent, fizzy, peachy, rooty, carroty, (and later becoming an ambery) iris. Sweet and lactonic peach/apricot (i.e., Gamma Decalactone, Gamma Undecalactone and other similar lactones), red cherry notes are prominent. I also get crisp, green astringencies and sweetness of freshly picked crunchy pears and green apples (especially when we take our first bite), complemented by floral and fruity notes of sable grape, rose, orris, and violet candy in the extrait. β-ionone, linalool with zesty and sweet & green fruity facets are common in some varieties of peach and pear. So it could be any combination of those.

In IE, I also get a hot iron steam facet. Imagine, on a slightly warm day, you are wearing an astringent, fizzy and balsamic orris (butter and absolute) prominent composition. It is embellished with some fruity, creamy floral, woody and balsamic amber facets. You are ironing a slightly damp cotton shirt with a very hot steam iron. The smell of the hot steam (sans the heat) and that orris perfume is creating this gentle ‘bubbly warmth’. This slightly carroty orris hot steam note is more prominent in the extrait, especially in cooler climate.

It’s initial herbaceous (and touch verdant) astringencies with a diaphanous veil of cool ‘steamy’ air adds a lovely counterbalance to the overall sweetness. The bubbly/fizzy part reminds me of the style of aldehydic fizziness in Moonlit Reverie (2018, SPA). The orris (and fruity) sweetnesses smell waxy, crayony, carroty and a touch lipsticky. Underneath, in cooler weather, I also get a freshly opened chilled cola smell. It is fizzy with a tempered sweet smelling cinnamon, counterbalanced by clove (, or carnation), and a bright violet.

Irisoir Attar (IA, 2016) initially imparts a sharp cough syrup-like muted camphoric/mentholic smell for 5-10 minutes, and then moves to the background and presents a combination of the honeyed fruity facets from peach, apricot, mimosa, and possibly rose and jasmine. I also get a violet, and mimosa type flinty/metallic quality, which might be responsible for that initial medicinal smell.

The attar has chalky, rooty, waxy, and slightly lipsticky and dry (almost incensy) iris with deeper astringent (i.e., less top heavy) and violet candy smells. The sweet fruity sweetness is minimal and the initial astringencies are less volatile. Instead, I get a slightly spicy and deep dark cherry and berry compote note with the subtlest sweetness, a woody note with subtle flinty qualities (tonka, styrax/opoponax & violet) and a tempered sweet amber with a soft smoky incense – almost like a distant smoky siren. I do not get sweet carroty orris facet. [1]

The attar comes across as an avuncular sibling - a soft but deep incense quality where balsams become more prominent over time.  The fizzy cola vibe is barely perceptible (even in cooler climate).

The Second Movement: Spices, Florals and More

Cinnamon is more prominent in the extrait, imparting a dusty and flinty quality, especially when inhaled longer and thus evoking a subtly sweet and dusty incense note. The aforementioned bright and astringent orris accord, juicy and sweet peach/pear and cinnamon in the extrait gives off an overall slightly dusty, sweet and ambery orris.

That dusty cinnamon is not present in the attar. The aforementioned orris accord [see 1], darker violet leaf and red cherry & berry notes in the attar evoke a smell of dark chocolate fondue with a very thick cherry/berry sauce on top without ever overwhelming the composition. This reminds me of some of the rarest Indo-Malay ouds that have similar cinnamon, balsamic, waxy and slightly astringent orris and purple berry qualities.

Extrait’s animalic quirks: Usually only noticeable in warmer and more humid climate, and when inhaled longer, I occasionally get halitosis and dry saliva type notes of clary sage and, a barf after having too much cucumber salad at odd times (let’s just say I have bad experiences!) behind that hot iron steam note. They are also common in some orris, ambergris, muskrat, and other aromatics neat. In some instances, whilst wearing the extrait in warm (~30°C) and humid (90%+) evening, that bubbly/fizzy part gives off a fleeting human skin-like note. Upon further reading I found out that 2-Nonenal, also common in some orris aromatics, has a similar smell. Since I do not have it neat, I am unsure. But this was fun exploring. Regardless, these animalic qualities are barely noticeable unless you are looking for them.

White and yellow florals: Extrait has lactonic creaminess of tuberose, common jasmine, and possibly ylang ylang and a fruity frangipani. Their indoles (animalics) never come to the fore. There is also a cakey, slightly ‘doughy’ and green violety (i.e., slightly leafy/herbaceous) mimosa, balancing the overall sweetness. Now various creamy, lactonic, and subtly sweet floral qualities have morphed into a slightly flinty and balsamic floral accord, where the deep balsamic orris note still persists. Deep in the heart (~2 hours onwards), I get pink dusting of sweet heliotrope and lilac qualities. The creamy and cackey floral qualities last between 3-5 hours (s.t. weather).

Violet, carnation and rose: Their top and heart notes are more prominent in the attar and last and develop more than in the extrait. Initially, violet is angular, and slightly crayony with a gentle vegetal/earthy hum. Eugenol is more prominent in the attar – especially once the top dissipates. A carnation/clove (i.e., eugenol-like) smell in the background with subtle sweet and spicy rose notes (also common in some berries and sable grapes – imagine the incense-laden sweet note of Turkish or Moroccan rose absolutes from Morocco or Türkiye) counterbalances the overall sweet cinnamon and fruity odours (as the latter can become quite sweet, if not careful).

Though the attar is less sweeter than the extrait, neither of them is gourmand. Attar’s fruity sweetness is supported by various balsamic and incense notes where the balsamic qualities are providing a wonderful background coupled with those creamy white floral facets. However the overall creamy floral profile is less prominent (than in the extrait) – acting more like a compliment to various astringent, spicy, earthy, balsamic and woody facets in the attar. Also, I have not noticed any prominence of indole in either variant.

This bit is hard to describe, but let me try. Between 40-60 minutes, in the extrait, I noticed touches of celery (or a leek, I always confuse these two!), crushed fresh coriander leaf with the gentlest galbanum. This verdancy reminds of a similar smell in Nuit de Bakélite (2017, Naomi Goodsir) notes, albeit at a very high dose in the latter.

The candied violet smell is quite beautiful in the attar, which is less prominent in the extrait. In the spray, it is still quite diffusive and astringent especially due to apricot, peach, red and black berry type smells. However, 50 minutes onwards, spicy floral facets of rose, and carnation are getting more prominent. Additionally, an angular herbaceous quality gives me a nose-tingling feeling possibly from the aforementioned coriander-, celery- and galbanum-like facets.

In the attar, white and yellow floral type sweet, creamy qualities were less prominent than in the extrait. In attar those facets work more as compliment and in the background –  adding an elegant counterbalance throughout. Around 45-50 mins, the initial astringent (bright but tempered green, fruity and a touch herbaceous effervescences), bubbly and dusty qualities in the extrait have tone down enough for the creamy, doughy, lactonic and ambery floral facets to shine. That's why those floral qualities are able to bloom and be more diffusive and noticeable.

Vetiver is soft, balsamic and slightly candied (violet leaning) in the extrait, similar to Vetiver Oriental (2007, Serge Lutens) but with less pronounced inherent rooty note of vetiver. In the attar, vetiver is less pronounced and I do not get that slightly sweet green (head), and earthy and rooty brown vetiver type (trail) smells. Instead, I get a slightly oily and earthy hum that I also associate with violet leaf absolute and a sweet balsam. The style of vetiver use (, especially in the extrait) is very similar in Sultan’s Vetiver Blanc (2016) – the rain-soaked evening stroll tuberose soliflore. In all three, vetiver is expertly used to temper various floral and fruity facets to different directions.

Bitter almond (i.e., benzaldehyde – the principal odorant of b.a. e/o) and an adjacent subtle sweetness of sweet heliotrope are more prominent in the extrait. It is less noticable in IA. In both cases, I noticed a flinty sweetness similar to tonka bean absolute, fresh vanilla tincture, benzoin/styrax heart, top flinty and balsamic heart of styrax, and similar aromatics – adding an overall ambery quality to the orris structure.

Woods: I get soft woody qualities similar to those of styrax, cedar, sandalwood, massoia bark, astringent pine, and possibly buddha wood with a distant honey/beeswax hum.

The extrait retains those flinty, dusty, fruity sweet facets until the trail with reduced intensities. In the attar, flinty sweetness and amber tempered down enough that it does not ‘disturb’ the spicy, balsamic, incensy and slightly woody and balsamic trail. This difference is clear in cooler climate.

1.5 hours: In the extrait, floral, balsamic and incense and wood qualities/materials are making the composition quite incensy (but still less deeper than in the attar). It is still covered with a cloud of orris heart (fruity, balsamic, floral and the tail end of the initial astringency). Imagine grinding some aged orris root extract, using them for incense and then heating some in a large room and entering the room few minutes later and you are hit with that beautiful incensed orris profile.

2 hours in, IE still imparts a rooty, astringent, airy, definitely more bubbly, sweeter (creamy-, berry-, violet- and amber-like) orris accord that is more exuberant. It has this effervescent and fizzy qualities -  coming from violet, top orris notes, cherry, peach, possibly peach-like sweet pears (imagine you took a bit of freshly picked juicy pear and it has a delicate & green fizzy sweetness). The violet candy facet is less multifaceted (i.e., little or no earthy quality).

IE diffuses a lot more as it is in spray form. 
I am still getting an elegantly dusty wood (with a delicate dose of darkness – possibly from the overall incense vibe). This dusty part also has a delicate contribution from various soft woody facets (similar to cedar, sandal, pine, possibly buddha wood, etc) in the extrait.

In IA, I am still getting that dark, slightly oily and earth and almost berry-inflected incense qualities furnishing it’s orris. 
Also, top notes of spicy materials are far less prominent in the attar. The ‘earthy violet’ is absent in the extrait. Overall, ~1 hour in, the orris ‘accord’ in IA is still less sweeter, but deeper. It has an incense quality with various berry notes and a slowly blooming spicy and sweet musky trail – quite similar to some rare Indo-Malay oud oils and chips. In cooler weather, I get that aloe hum over 3 hours with various facets playing a hide and seek game with each other.

1.5 hours onwards, that ‘oudy orris’ in IA gets more prominent in cooler weather - ouds with ambery orris (albeit less intense) notes elegantly fashioned with cherry and red-purple berry type incense glint with light cinnamon dusting and gentle crayon and waxy touches. In warmer weather they are less playful and move quickly towards a ambery orris trail. The cinnamon and other spicy odours remain deep in the heart and the balsamic, incensy, oudy and slightly musky facets pulsates until the end (at least 6-7 hours on my very dry skin).

Major Notes in IA vs IE

Trail

In warmer climate, Irisoir extrait gets sweet ambery, where tonka-, fruit-, vanilla/styrax-like sweet balsamic and ambery notes get more prominent. Orris stays within a vanillic amber territory in warmer climate and less so in cooler one. The chalky and astringent orris notes are still persistent (albeit with reduced intensity), with subtle incense and less intense (than in warmer climate) sweet balsamic facets in cooler weather. 

In Irisoir attar, I get a berried balsamic incense with reduced flinty and amber intensities and a delicate woody undertone. In cooler climate, it is less powdery, and gives off a beautiful ‘purple-coloured’ woody incense smell with a wispy cinnamon glint – almost as if you’re smelling some long forgotten Indo-Malay wild oud’s top notes and trail at the same time. 

Shams E., a good friend of mine, gifted me a generous amount of IE in April, 2025 and have finished almost 3 ml. That is quite a rare thing for me! Time to save some money to get a full bottle. I personally do not care about sillage and projection. FYI, sillage in both (especially the extrait) are quite powerful and long-lasting on my very dry skin – at least 7-8 hours in warm and humid climate (and more in cooler climate). If you love, or are seeking 1930s-1960s orris and violet prominent perfumery with modern sensibilities, I think you will adore listening to Sultan’s august orris hums over many wearings.

Afterword: I wrote this impression slightly differently – describing various specific and umbrella notes of both (IE & IA), developments on skin in cooler and warm climates and major differences. I intentionally did not follow a chronological olfactory transition as it became way long - ~3500 words plus more diagrams! If I can summerise them graphically, I’ll share.