For better eyesight

To tell the wood from the trees

Carrot soup for lunch

Orris Givco^® isn’t a molecule but a mixture created to match the smell of orris butter and make many iris perfumes possible. It contains ionone beta, dihydro ionone beta, methyl cedryl ketone, and several other molecules. Deconstructed as such, I can make sense of what I smell—it has the sharpness of ionone (for a violet note) toned down by a sturdy coating of dense but pliable wood in the form of methyl cedryl ketone (also known as Vertofix Coeur, imparting a cedarwood note). As a whole, Orris Givco is beautiful and smooth, powdery like a luxurious matte texture. Woody and floral and wanting to be green when it grows up, it also has a tiny bit of the sweet carroty aspect (not the vegetal).

The maximum recommended concentration of Orris Givco is 2%. It’s more hypnotic at full strength—I could sniff this all evening… in fact, I have been.