Iris Ganache Guerlain for women

I have a new bottle for sale. Please send me PM if you are interested.

Iris Ganache is a sweet powdery iris (somewhat synthetic-smelling) and patchouli which dries down to creamy and powdery floral. There is definitely a "lipstick"-type smell present, so don't expect a pure gourmand. It's far from being the best iris scent, of course; but the overall aroma is pleasant enough and very long lasting.

A very quick flash of Bergamot freshened my sense to receive the ultra rich, sweet and creamy white chocolate with a hint of cinnamon. The Iris added a scent to the chocolate to make it more special. As the rich sweet chocolate started to mellow, the vanilla and amber notes took over and lingered in my sense to tease my crave for some more chocolate. Although my encounter with Iris Ganache was brief and through a piece of testing paper, it was most memorable and tempted me to go back for more in the near future even though I am already an owner of plenty delicious fragrances.

Fantastic and plastic. I don't get any chocolate, just an extremely beautiful, dainty, doll-like aroma that reminds me of toys I had growing up. Synthetic in the best possible way. Sweet enough to please, yet strange enough to scare away boredom. Valley of the Dolls, pastel colors, and large '70s hairdos come to mind, although I'm not sure why. Wish it was a little bit stronger and more long lasting.

This one is gross on me. What else can I say. I get no notes that people are talking about here. I always look for Sherapop's description, because she is usually right on describing the frangrance. I could not do Insolence either, but many other Guerlain's I adore. Not this one....up for sale it goes...

This is like a love child of Insolence (Guerlain) and Penta Auburn (Tauer). You can quickly figure out the lineage, although the inherited traits are less displayed in the offspring. Unlike the parents, this is not a sillage monster. The opening is very sweet, bergamot is playing in the background and you are surrounded by a cloud of candied , violet-like iris. I agree with previous reviewers that this is not the usual carrot-like rooty iris but like jujy54 said, the real bearded iris.

Quickly, the opening blast turns into vanillic, ambery floral, staying very close to skin. Longevity is okish, I got about 6 hours. Sweetness remains through the drydown and although I love my vanillas and (other) gourmands, I find this too cloying. Perhaps controversially, this is quite toned-down fragrance. Those who are looking for a sophisticated, yet sweet gourmand will likely enjoy this. If you like your iris rooty/your fragrance with some projection, this probably isn’t for you.

Guerlain is a house that we must know every perfume. The L'Art et la Matiere collection is sublime, Iris Ganache proves this through an exotic blend of iris, white chocolate and vanilla. The result is a intriguingly powdery gourmand, refinement and elegance with a difficult to describe, the nose will translates but the words will not.

Edible iris! There used to exist candied violets, where the petals had been dipped in sugar syrup and allowed to dry so they crunched when you ate them. I think this is what Guerlain has attempted with iris Ganache!

Iris is one of my favourite scents, but this is defintely iris with a twist. It is not at all sombre, or earthy, rooty or carroty, it is light and airy but still manages to be long-lasting on my skin. I don't smell any chocolate but there seems to be something else "high-calorie" in this - ??sweet flaky buttery pastry?? This is a very cleverly executed take on iris and I'm very happy to have it in my collection (thanks Hilaire!)

I love this beauty..I love this house..powdery-soft iris with creamy chocolate..I agree that it smells milky, but in a good way mixed up with iris :)
A "must have" for iris lovers (incl. me) For me its perfect for all seasons..

Actually i don't loathe it, but it reminds me of Fath de Fath especially the extrait version. How lazy and lame in this collection to create and "inspired" by the latter!!! It's unbelievably fruity and gourmandy sweet with powdery musk on my skin, but it's not annoyingly disturbing, it just oozes quietly with demure courtesy. Comparing with the uncompetitive price and other reasons, it's merely a yay instead of a big wow here.

I LOVE this Guerlain exclusive! Powdery wonderful Iris......Would love a full bottle! Love the warm amber and vanille. Very gourmand and lovely! I have a nice decant. We'll see if I spring for the FB. Not a cheap perfume!

Straight-ahead iris, and not orris root either to my nose. My parents had bearded irises at the side of the house, and when you are three or four years old, those tall, blowsy blooms come right up to your nose. I myself have bearded iris by my house now, and I know what iris smells like;it smells like this.

Now, I'm not used to Guerlain being so monochromatic, and was not used to wearing a solifloe, which is how I experience Iris Ganache. However, it has grown on me, and I do get compliments. I don't know Insolence, and am not eager to, but I have L'Heure Bleue. Iris Ganache is less pastry, less melancholie, maybe closest to the sunny day version of Après L'Ondée, which I now find quite appealing. Had best get more as I hear discontinuation is in the air.

Follow-up, I wore this for a solid month on the passing of my dad, which I wanted to mark with a fragrance, and iris was suggested for mourning. Since then, I save it for observing the anniversaries of loved ones' passing. It is both sweet enough, and somber tho not too somber, to fill this role.

Iris Ganache is a wonderful, powerful powderbomb. It has this quality of filling my entire head when I sniff it... A unique, perfectly ball-shaped cloud of sweetness. The floweryness stays om for a couple of hours. After that, the drydown is still strong it reminds me of dried-down Shalimar and also of Dulcis in Fundo: A creamy oriental vanilla.

I've been trying all the iris perfumes I can find recently and so had to try this one too. Perhaps it's a bit like lavendar filled chocolates, where the lavendar adds that very slight je ne sais quoi to what is essentially a chocolate experience, but I can't say I fully found the iris in this concoction. It went on moderately floral, soft, very pretty. It dried down to a very gourmand praline which actually made my teeth hurt to smell. Don't get me wrong - it smelled great, it actually made me hungry - but I had to scrub it off as I didn't want to smell like a fudge factory (which was my husband's exact comment: "you smell like a fudge factory").

Could it be possible to have an iris-based chocolate, which lacks the sweetness associated with the second ingredient? If so, take this new creation and place in a glass full of cognac. This is the opening of Iris Ganache, and so it remains until the end (decreasing the intensity of some notes, like cognac that appears only in the opening), faithful to the name. A feminine scent that could easily be shared with the opposite sex.

I agree with Celina about the similarities to Aprés L'Ondée, L’heure Bleu and Insolence.

What I don't get is the "white chocolate" note so many others seem to smell.

I know when I bought this at Harrods the snooty sales assistant mentioned white chocolate to me, and I think perhaps Guerlain wanted to market this as an Iris gourmand and that's why the white chocolate myth (in my view) has taken hold.

To me white chocolate smells milky and slightly urinous and salty. What I get from Iris Ganache is more akin to caramel, pralines and butterscotch with a pale, silvery, dry and diaphanous halo of Iris hovering about it.

Over time the gourmand aspects of Iris Ganache fade for me, and it becomes an Iris, Amber, Musk and Vanilla fragrance which I love for its balance and the quality of its ingredients.

It's so much less sweet than Insolence and consequently a lot less feminine, it's much richer and infinitely stronger than Apres L'Ondee and is therefore much more suited to evening wear, and it's much more powdery and floral than L’heure Bleu (and also lacks some of the nuttiness too) so it's somewhat less edible.

Iris Ganache is obviously a part of a Guerlain tradition of Iris and pudding-like gourmands and because of its electricity and magnetism and beautiful character I love it and highly recommend it.

I have only tried Iris Ganache once but it left a huge impression on me. My brain literally registered that I had just eaten the most delicious, fluffy iris and white chocolate praline. Talk about molecular gastronomy in its highest sense.
It is a very particular perfume, requiring a certain mood and taste. I think this is a fragrance that could grow on me to actually buy a full bottle just to be able to enjoy the gourmand sensation. I haven't developed an obsession for its genre just yet, but knowing myself it will happen eventually. :)

I LOVE this fragrance! I think it is the most beautiful iris out there and I am an iris lover. It is a unique one of a kind and everyone shoud try it! I think hevean smell like Iris Ganache! I will not discribe it, because the others already did. A real masterpiece from the perfume art!

Candied iris in a very unique form, mixed with patchouli and amber, sugar, and playdough, or something else plastic like?
I have decants of this one, thanks to sweet Juliette has a gun, and enjoying it completely, although it is a very unusual perfume, not mass liked. For me, it's a symbol of perfumery, because it is novelty in a fascinating form! I have never smelled anything like it before. Lasts forever, and the silage is very good. The price however, since I looked into purchasing a bottle, is way out of my budget. Overall, a perfect 10, but surely an acquired taste. I wish I had a bottle....

I thought IG might be interesting, and it is but for the wrong reasons. There is something so discordant about this pairing of Iris and chocolate, and this did not smell like any Iris I've had the pleasure of meeting. If I had to draw a comparison, I'd say that IG smells like white chocolate drizzled over an old sache. Oh dear.

When first I smelled this wonder,I was taken back to my grandmothers iris beds.They were the long gone natural scented lovlies.I thought of Easter and hiding the eggs ammong them.It does have a bit of spice that magnifies the iris.The chocklate only adds to the easter candy feeling.I love the woody dry down.It reminds me of the end of EAster day and sitting beneath the massive trees in her yard.A fairy tale fume!

Interesting concept. This fragrance is based on the contrast between the new and the old Guerlain fragrances. It starts with the dry down of an Old Guerlain (powdery, dusty, vanilla and iris) and it dries to the tones of the new Guerlain L’art et la Matiere (rich oriental vanilla/ patchouli/ musk).
However, it lacks balance. The powdery vanilla starts too strong and sweet, overpowering all the other notes. It reminds me of Insolence that I don’t like just because of too much sweetness and vanilla. I don’t think this is a gourmand fragrance either. The white chocolate has a plastic tone in it. Maybe dark chocolate, leather or tobacco would have been better choices.

I like the cedar, amber and musk notes. They bring something sensual to the composition. Leather instead of white chocolate would be a better match for them.
Cinnamon, bergamot? Not really. Patchouli? Too much. The weird sweetness is not balanced well by the patchouli.

Beautiful dry down thou. Really beautiful, sensual and balanced.

If you add Après L’onde, L’heure Bleu, Bois Farine and Insolence and shake well you might get Iris Ganache.

7.3/10

I truly love Iris Ganache! I've looked for an iris fragrance for a long time and after almost giving up on the note I tried IG and knew it was hg material! It is Iris dressed up in elegant furs with violets peeking from underneath. Yes, there is chocolate and some patch (both part of my beloved Coromandel) but always at the steering wheel of this roadster is the most gorgeous iris you can imagine cruising along the boulevard leaving all the other carroty smelling iris frags in the dust. Definitely FBW!

Guerlain IRIS GANACHE is a close cousin to INSOLENCE, with all that that implies. Basically, if you like the METEORITES opening of INSOLENCE, which morphs into a sweet plastic iris, then you'll like IRIS GANACHE too.

I love METEORITES, but I cannot wear INSOLENCE. I had thought that it was the plastic raspberries, but now, by process of elimination I have deduced that what I find repellent in both INSOLENCE and IRIS GANACHE is the combination of plastic iris with cloying sweetness. In the case of INSOLENCE, the sweetness comes from raspberry; in the case if IRIS GANACHE, the note is white chocolate. Both of these fragrances seem more like something that I would have expected from the house of Calvin Klein than from Guerlain. I have no desire even to finish my sample vial. Désolée!

well this was a surprise love at first sniff. Iris Ganache immediatly made me think of delicate little sugared iris flower petals topped on a light crème Bavaroise. This is definelty a gourmand but not in any pastry, sticky cupcake kind of way. It's a light floral, floating iris with a touch of crystalized sweetness and a subtle backdrop of something warm and creamy with that beautiful Guerlain refined vanilla.

Edit: I caved and bought it! as the drydown progresses, the iris becomes more prominent, the sugar settles, and the bavaroise becomes only a backdrop.

Smells like someone wearing an iris-based fragrance and making ganache. The scent of the cream permeates the air, which is already infused by the person's fragrance. Sweet, edible and true-to-life.

Initially, I was confused and slightly repulsed by the odd, slightly sour, very first moments of cinnamon and bergamot combined..but Oh My, a few moments later, I understood this culture clash, how it could blend to create new ideas and artistry. During the first half hour to hour, the scent seems watery, almost grassy at times, unexpectedly very natural, indeed.

The cedar and patchouli in the middle notes are almost my favorite, they make the scent stimulating, thick, velvety, and deep, earthy. Oh but that fragile, fair, and lofty iris -or -the highetst quality Belgian or Swiss white chocolate, makes it impossible to choose a favorite here.

The white chocolate here is a ganache-definetely-the concept of ganache is that it is a thin chocolate sauce, not sweet, not a syrup- very much a pure cocoa. It's used as a refined decoration or accesory to a lovely desert plate, but, hidden behind that facade of beauty only, is a delicate and refined smooth flavor that deliberately boosts the taste of the whole dish. Here, that concept is acheived. One doesn't "smell chocolate" here, one senses a veil, a sublime nuance, that yet arises amidst the whole compostion, changing the notes, not to be ignored, but never overbearing or gauche.

The amber is viscous, and sharp at times, along with the patchouli, it keeps this scent on a spicy edge, at all times. The white musk is shy, hard to notice. The vanilla at times is monotone, but never artificial.

I enjoyed this scent for many long hours today. Although I love Oriental Woody perfumes, sometimes they fall short of my expectations. This perfume exceeded them.

un très beau parfum gourmand mais pas écoeurant, ce n'est pas un réel cuir (et tant mieux) il est très fin et féminin, par contre son prix est absolument indécent et injustifié...Dommage, sinon je l'achèterai sans hésiter.

Oh! Not what I was expecting! I thought this would be a nicely done chocolate, with a somewhat woodsy or spicy flair, and a floral heart....but no.

The first whiff I get is that of.....lipstick? I don't get bergamot OR cinnamon in the top notes. I think what I'm smelling is the iris--a somewhat watery and sweet floral...but to me, it's not done any justice. Where are the rest of the notes??? Perhaps I just received a bad sample. I'll wait a while longer to see how it plays out...but I'm very disappointed with the beginning.

Update: Oh how I WISH I could smell what everyone else smells when they wear this. I just don't get anything more than plasticky iris. SNS made it sound SOOO lovely with her idea of what a good ganache provides....but I'm the unfortunate one who doesn't get ANY chocolate from this. Oh well.. All I get is a perfumey lipstick.

Iris is one of my favorite perfume materials, although it is often interpreted too literally. Just when I thought here was not much left to do with it Guerlain came up with this brilliant blend.

A good ganache provides chocolate a rich texture without adding sweetness: slowly blend a warm, heavy cream mix to dark chocolate, and deepen the flavor with cognac. Can you smell it?

Iris Ganache delivers the scent promised by its name: cool, dry iris root tempered by a lush but not cloying gourmand blend that will make you drunk with olfactory pleasure.

Playful, yet sophisticated. Unique. My only complaint is the eventual dry down to Guerlain vanilla. Enough already. But this did not prevent me from buying a full bottle, No regrets.

Iris, heavy cream, white chocolate. Sweet without being cloying. Iris with the stems on with a background of silk that is chocolate scented only. The chocolate is very much there, but not strong or too ‘chocolatey’. Surprisingly pleasant, but also very expensive.

When i first tested Iris ganache i was thrilled because it was the first time i found iris in a truly gourmand context. I still like it now although the thrill died.I especially like the opening notes with cinnamon combined with green and spices befire it hits a lavishly constructed white chocolate part.I don't really detect the iris but the dusty feeling of the scent, it's pretty much her deed. The dry down is guerlain's vanilla. Nice but sort of overprised for what it is.