Le Cri de la Lumière

-Opens weird and sharp-smelling. -Dries down to reveal more prominent aldehydes, and a hint of turkish rose. -This scent isnt mainstream for sure. It's interesting, like many others in its lineup. -Not fbw due to the strange opening. (-)

As an iris lover, I have long wanted to try this scent. Featuring a light-yet-decadent powdery iris note as a focal point, Le Cri is a bright, clear aldehydic floral scent with a soft yet satisfying chypre base. The aldehydes add subtle sparkle, brightening the florals to perfection without overpowering the scent with blinding white soapiness. It is a exercise in balance, with each note serving to complement the iris-rose accord beautifully. So far, I am very impressed with Parfum d'Empire as a house, and quite admire Marc-Antoine Corticchiato's work as a nose. Le Cri is very different in style to the dense, mossy compositions I have already tried from Parfum d'Empire (Corsica Furiosa, Vétiver Bourbon et al.), but it is just as good. Le Cri opens with a delicious, powdery iris note, feather-light yet luxurious. The luminous aldehydes round things out, adding a crystalline quality to the florals. As it develops, rose emerges, and in doing so, forms the lipstick accord that forms the heart of this scent. The raspberry complements it perfectly here too, adding a hint of fruitiness. As it develops further, the musky ambrette emerges, complementing the powdery iris-rose accord to perfection. It is softly sweet, slightly woody and very smooth. The earthy patchouli forms an unexpected, subtle chypre base alongside the woody notes and musk, tying everything together beautifully. It fades to a musky, mossy skin scent with remnants of the powdery florals remaining. Sillage and longevity are moderate. It is a feminine-leaning, transeasonal, daytime scent in my opinion. A beautiful, lightweight iris-rose chypre, Le Cri is immensely wearable and exudes sophistication. If Serge Lutens Iris Silver Mist is a steely grey thunderstorm, Le Cri is a bright, cloudless sunny day. 4.5/5.

Have to be tested, a must.

9 - Woody, vegetal rose. Lots of powdery iris on first smell, but quickly turns into a citrusy aldehyde-musk combo. This, unfortunately, is one of those things my brain interprets as "old lady" so we'll see how this goes. 9:30 - after a rather confusing journey of notes in 30 minutes, it's sitting at the bergamot being super hyped up on top of some sort of dry, peppery floral that isn't rose or iris. For the rest of the day it was just a super perfumey white floral. There are better offerings both in the genre and from this house. Meh. It teetered on screechy in the heat (90+ degrees) but never quite got there, which is actually reasonably impressive. Longevity was extreme but sillage minimal after the first couple of hours.

Begins with an extraordinary dance between rose and iris... so well coordinated, bright, and tangy-green with musk and Ambrette that it’s hard to distinguish the rose from the iris. As if a new flower has been created. I’ve never smelled quite as crisp and clear a floral accord. The Iris somehow blends with the aldehydes to lift the rose. I love it. I can see why Luca Turin loves it. Dries down to a woody lightly musky Ambrette floral pillow. (But it projects a lot for at least the first 3-5 hours!) The alchemy that makes the rose-iris so brilliant is that rather than a typical heavy patchouli rose and a typically powdery iris, instead it’s a floral with both the fresh intensity and fast-evaporating qualities of citruses. Yet they last! I apply three sprays of Cri de la Lumiere—and it lasts, as an ambery uplifted yet crisp floral, all day. Beware: for the first hour your WHOLE house will smell like HEAVEN! I’d buy a FB for a gorgeous spring scent. I’m male and this floral WORKS.