Description
Ermenegildo Zegna is launching a new collection of men’s fragrances – Essenze by Ermenegildo Zegna in collaboration with Estée Lauder Cos. Inc. The collection is expected on the market in December 2012.
Five new fragrances embody values of the company – passion, commitment, vision. The fragrances are: Italian Bergamot, Sicilian Mandarin, Javanese Patchouli, Indonesian Oud and Florentine Iris. The designer was inspired by his luxurious high-end men’s Ermenegildo Zegna Couture Collection and hopes it will put forward the house’s name in the world of fragrances.
Perfumers who worked on perfumes of the new collection are: Pierre Negrin, Frank Voelkl, Harry Fremont and Jacques Cavallier. All fragrances have one ingredient in common: Calabrian bergamot, but have very different compositions. An interesting fact is that Zegna owns the bergamot harvest used in this collection.
Florentine Iris encompasses three different iris notes, accompanied with bergamot, jasmine, violet and musk.
The fragrances will be available in 124 ml (4.2 oz) flacons. Each fragrance and its flacon have a different color, to mark the central ingredient of the fragrance.
alexey8459 – :
As a fan of bergamot+iris fragrances, I was curious to smell this.
It was love at first spray: I was at an airport, saw the Zegna counter in the perfumery department and readily put my hands on this masterpiece.
One spray after another I just couldn’t get enough of its delicious opening.
It smells divine: the notes are pretty much the ones listed here (while an experienced sales assistant swears she can smell a light touch of oud, too). It starts with a sparkling, bright citrus and jasmine, but iris is easily already there. Then iris becomes the main player, with all its gorgeous, powdery, floral blast. Finally, the base notes turn into a musky/clean drydown. Overall, it is a masterly blended perfume with a linear and expectable evolution.
As with most iris fragrances I become anosmic after a few hours, so I can’t really tell about longevity and projection.
But I have good reasons to say that this isn’t a monster, and it only creates a nice bubble and leaves a soft trail around you.
However, one day I explicitly decided to overspray: 2 after each of my ears, 2 on the front and behind my neck plus a few sprays on my hair, inner elbows and on the shirt I was wearing. About 12 in total. I think it was too much, I have never received so many compliments in one single day: all of my coworkers could smell me at a huge distance, I filled a large office room. Four of them said that I smelled really good and could perceive the clean/powdery touch of it (one of them thought it contained a note of incense).
This is not synthetic at all, everything in it smells natural.
I also don’t think this is a head-turner or a panty-dropper (the originality of the composition is in the blending, rather than the notes themselves), but those who will notice you will also recognize your good taste and the high quality of this scent.
Maybe just a bit overpriced, but the quality is all there.
Final rating: 8.5/10. One of my favorites.
slawa633 – :
Best of the best… Nothing about it smells senthetic or cheap.
niam – :
If you approach this with Dior Homme or Valentino Uomo on your mind, you’re gonna be so thrown off. This is completely and totally fresh, like Windex. I don’t know if MFK makes an iris, but if they do it probably smells like this (or it should)
Евгения_Женя – :
I don’t even know how it’s possible but on me all I can smell is jasmine, jasmine, jasmine.
Knowing this line and how well they manage to showcase the key ingredient, I was so looking forward to a gorgeous iris. So sad it didn’t work for me.
errowJeosse – :
This scent is a hidden gem & has a monster longevity:
I wear it in a spring day, went to work, hang out after that,
Went back to sleep, woke up next day having pleasant whiffs of this
My wife thinks she can wear it too, so I hid it :-/
pcdok – :
This is elegance and pleasant scent. However, it is very feminine. I do not feel anything sexy if a man wearing it.
My wife likes it on herself. She will buy for herself
mpr345speagoessenda – :
This is a quality iris crossed by an acute aroma of clean and slightly sparkling laundry.
Constant and straight until the end I find it almost feminine but fits well to a man, well dressed, by day, but not in the office.
Perfect on Sunday mornings.
Personally the absence of evolutions tires my nose, although I recommend you try it because the quality is high and the longevity is excellent.
With just 2 sprays I can detect it even after a shower.
I like it … but I would not have enough opportunities to wear it to justify buying a whole bottle … then …
Sunday morning I prefer to sleep!
vom845Bessinepome – :
I am aware that this perfume is ment for men but it’s soft and beautiful and on the feminine side.
I had it on my purchase list for a while but decided not purchase it because of the ending. The bergamot at the ending ruined my plans.
Beautiful but no.
nupKeegeruina – :
Have you ever had an impression that you fall in love with something that does not fit you? It is perfect, gorgeous but not yours. These are the feelings I had when first smelled this perfume.
In my case I decided that no matter what but I will possess it. The result was a bilateral deception. I thought that I look great with this smell and the perfume thought that it makes me better-looking. A lot of people have not even noticed the trick but I knew about it all the time.
The smell is overwhelming. The one you can say about ”it showed out first, than me”. The thing you can say about is ringing. There is no delicate smell of iris at all. It is more like the concept how the iris flower would smell due to its appearance, but in reality it does not. I got a lot of compliments wearing it, but a always felt that these compliments have nothing to do with me. They all are about the smell.
I can recommend this Iris to everyone who likes to impress by his taste but does not bother whether it suits his soul or not.
Faundadia – :
Pretty iris and jasmine scent, but after few hours it is barely recognizable. Cologne like longevity, I guess.
leba-86 – :
I bought this scent at a Zegna boutique. It is a unisex scent.
Projection: 9/10 (4 hours)
Longevity: 10/10 Very long (16 hours on my chest. I sprayed 2 times on my chest at 8PM, and I could smell it at 12PM on the next day.)
Sillage: 9/10 (6 hours later and my coworker could still smell the scent)
I will definitely buy other Zegna essences such as Indonesian Oud, and Haitian Vetiver.
sash-zyko – :
In the beginning I get a fruity, almost lychee like sweetness. I perceive more violets than iris. Maybe because I’m programmed from all the reviews to think of iris as some lipstick like sweet waxy note. Fully agree that this is a unisex fragrance, but leaning a tad towards the feminine side. The drydown is a absolutely wonderful. Though I got olfactory fatigue very quickly, the next day my shirt smelled amazing and from where I presumed what the drydown would smell like. It’s soft, airy, slightly sweet and musky. Very pleasant. Although I am enjoying my decant, I will not buy a bottle or more decants. The start is too feminine and I don’t smell this after a couple of hours.
7/10
neneilliasoup – :
It is good by itself, very clean smell & leaves a trail on my suite for days
it is better than most of iris fragrances out there
And if you want to compare it, compare it with amouage opus V
Opus has interesting opening (which doesn’t last for long)
But this one beats it in the cleanliness & projection.
aleksiak – :
So Iris is something which at times can be hard to wear for a guy because it is consider as little feminine and lip sticky however Zegna Florentine Iris is exception to that case as this is fresh take on Iris which may not be appealing to hard core Iris fans however i love this take .
This starts of with iris with good dose of bergamot and its beautiful from the beginning and its quite “Fresh” and uplifting like you want to smell before you start your summer day . Bergamot fades away in abot 30 minutes and you smell floral notes (Jasmine is dominant ) peeping through along with Iris . You may be thinking that floral’s and Iris will make it very feminine however its not as i feel its more on masculine side then feminine . Musk is playing a very big role is holding this perfume together in its dry down however now Iris is more powdery then fresh . This may be because they have used different kind of iris in this perfume and like in opening its smelling awesome in dry down.
I do not have a like to like perfume to compare this however if you like perfume’s like MFK AUF then its in same genre minus the Iris note and this perfume like most Zegna are office approved as they are mostly inoffensive and easy to wear with around 6-8 Hours Longevity and mild projection however i would like to stress on value for money part as Zegna Retails are bit crazy with 205 $ for 125 ML with EDT concentration . Good part is that they are available at discounters so you can pay well below retail and then this becomes must buy and one of the best summer fragrance you can own IMO.8.5/10
CedDarieCaupe – :
I am a fan of this scent. It’s a unique take on iris. It smells powdery, fizzy and fresh. Like a (very expensive) fabric softener.
In my opinion, aside from the bright citrus quickly appearing then disappearing (in 10 or so minutes), this fragrance is rather linear. I don’t find that an issue at all.
Unfortunately, it’s a little too feminine for my liking. It smells gorgeous on my partner though, so women shouldn’t be shy to try this!
Longevity (10 hours) and projection (4 hours) are great, as I’ve found in general with the Essenze line.
Alex_ful – :
Smells like I’m cleaning my windows with windex. I can’t believe Zegna, a men’s clothing company, produced something so feminine smelling. It’s really sharp and doesn’t smell like iris at all. Le Labo Iris 39 smells like bread and flowers, which is much preferred to windex. Guys, just buy L’Homme Prada or Dior Homme Eau if you want a fresh iris scent. This stuff is not for a man, much less a Zegna man.
lepeskin1972 – :
This one is definitely a fresh kind of iris, which is actually pretty good. It develops beautifully on my skin, evoking a sense of fresh florals and a slight background make-up bag scent with some soda-like fizziness.
I own Dior Homme and Van Cleef & Arpels Bois D’iris, and I can say that Florentine Iris is very different from those two.
I feel very comfortable wearing it since I’m not bothered by feminine-smelling scents (plus hey, this isn’t as feminine-smelling as Dior Homme).
I’ve received some positive feedback so people seem to generally like it on me.
Longevity is 12+ hours on me.
Sillage/ Projection is moderate, which is appropriate for this kind of scent.
It is versatile and can be worn to almost any occasion.
Overall, this is a winner in my book. I’m yet to find any flaws.
Rating: 10/10
alexs13031994 – :
Don’t get to excited about this one!
I was disappointed, the iris here is fresh and not sweet, which is a great thing, but it can’t be present in the same place where the violet is. It’s struggling with the violet and the musk leaving you with a very leafy vegetables vibe. Yes, this is what I get.
I think the violet hates to be combined with any floral notes.
Plus the below average performance, that makes it hard for you to judge it’s stages.
A definite 6/10 for me.
listerman – :
It seems that the multiple comparisons is always needed.
After I tried Prada Infusion d’Iris and Dior Homme Intense, the Zegna’s Iris wins out in all aspects.
Extremely exquisite and graceful. With no doubt, Florentine Iris is a more crafted and refined modification of these two, especially of the Dior’s.
Occasion: suit and tie only.
Longevity: 12+ hrs on skin, 2+ days on clothes. Rating: 8.5/10
elopaymablyXT – :
Umm…….I loved it, got it, wife loved it and took it!! Has since become her signiture scent, and she gets huge compliments. I did too!! This is certainly a unisex scent in my opinion, but it’s very strange!
For men and women, it can be worn as a brillient office scent.
A hidden gem in the fragrance world. I blind tested this against Channel Blue with three employees at Dubai Duty Free. FI won on all three attempts, go figure!!
ngk418Bessinepome – :
First off, this is a very feminine scent. The fact it is marketed as a ‘mens’ fragrance seems a little strange to me, and I think unisex would be a much better approach.. even then, it leans a fair bit more on the feminine side in my opinion.
That being said, it sure does smell nice – feels very dressed up, and despite being quite a feminine fragrance it simultaneously felt like it worked quite well with what I was wearing (tailored shirt, slim jeans, leather shoes etc). I think unless you’re dressed quite well, this one won’t really work – definitely not a casual scent. The scent itself is a delicious fresh, yet musky Iris, and I think i’d really enjoy smelling this on a woman too. The sales assistant begged me to try it on, as she never got the opportunity to smell it on guys apparently, and after a huge smile and ‘wow, that’s fantastic!’ she walked off and left me to my sampling.
Performance was solid – I could smell traces of this on my skin close to 10 hours later, projection was pretty much spot on for this sort of fragrance, as any louder and it would have just been too much.
Definitely worth checking out, simply because it’s such a different Iris from the others I have experienced (Dior Homme, for example). Not for the sort of guys that pride themselves on applying half a litre of Drakkar Noir by any means, but if you’re comfortable with trying out something a little more on the feminine side it’s definitely worth getting your nose on!
Vladimirg – :
It’s really a feminine mature, powdery iris-dominated scent, and veeeeery veeery pure in quality, but no more interesting thing happens as what I’ve expected. Not my cup of tea and has no chemistry on my skin.
Nice choice for 30 and above y.o. confident ladies who achieved a sucessful business.Rating: 6.0/10
ByShekineC – :
Florentine Iris ended my year long search for a fresh floral fragrance a man could easily wear. Overall the fragrance unfolds on skin as a fizzy fruity floral anchored extraordinarily well by carroty iris and clean musk. What smells like it should be subtle and fleeting lasts all day long.
perforator – :
SO and I were at the airport to fly to Rome (we live in Malta) earlier this year and he’d been meaning to find a new perfume, plus I owed him a christmas present, so I steered him towards the Essenze display, hoping he’d choose Peruvian Ambrette 😉 (not carried in the airport anymore sadly). He sniffed all of them and tried a few, but when he got to this one, he decided it’s the one within a second.
We both LOVE this perfume. It’s fresh in non-citrusy way, powdery, yet fizzy, a little sweet and overall very elegant. He only needs 2 spritz and this baby lasts the whole day on him and a few days more on his worn shirt.
I love to wear this as well and on me it’s more powdery and sweet. It actually turns a bit feminine on my skin.
My SO doesn’t like Dior Homme as he thinks it’s too feminine. But this is the first perfume he pledged loyalty to. He actually said “I want to smell like this for the rest of my life”. And that’s grand coming from the guy whose olfactory vocabularies are limited to “pancake”, “good”, and “hmmm you smell good” (his highest form of praise). Have to say I’m proud of his taste. 😉
Ah this line costs only €140-something in Malta airport while I’ve read that it reaches around 200 elsewhere.
amellashyTems – :
Powdery,elegant and sophisticated…obviously more on the masculine side,but I could also be unisex. Interesting perfume,coupled with the Iris-Violet,makes this unique scent and powerful wake and hypnotic in my opinion. The sillage is heavy, it takes 2-3 sprays and lasts long. This perfume is the first E.Zegna I try .. and I was satisfied..smells good,elegant and floral, which should not be missed for all lovers of the Iris …beautiful fragrance.
Sillage: 8.5/10
Longevity: 8./10
Scent: 9./10
Overall: 9./10
Korm_777 – :
This smells great on my girlfriend
oleg666666 – :
very nice and beautiful light sweet iris, bergamot, jasmine, violet and musk. bit closer to Prada d’Homme Iris but this one is absolutely gorgeous, not over power, well composed and perfectly balanced , it is not similar to Dior Homme, Dior Homme is more lipsticky vibe but this one is sweet fresh clean iris note. easy to love and inoffensive at all. Florentine Iris Ermenegildo Zegna is pricey but it is the best among Essenze line, I say.
terry – :
This is the freshest iris in my collection and possibly my favourite iris dominant scent. In comparison to Dior Homme, this is much lighter and crisp. I normally dislike anything’fresh’ but Florentine Iris, I absolutely love. This has a clean, cooling feel to it that I love in summer. It’s very elegant and sophisticated but definitely can be a daily wear. Not sure about the longevity, but I just find that when you love a scent, you generally perceive it to be shorter lived or ‘not strong enough.’
Baratov – :
I’m wearing this as I type and I can describe this as fresh, elegant and classy. This is a well-constructed scent. It’s a beautiful scent and one I will be wearing for the remainder of the winter and into the Spring. The notes are simple – the iris is very dominant and blends beautifully with the violet and musk. The bergamot is far more subdued here in comparison to the other Essenze scents where bergamot is the key player in the scent.
The Zegna Essenze collection makes some very nice scents. This is definitely one of them.
sergeyhopper – :
MASTERFULLY ELEGANT _______________________________________________________
Somebody recommended me yesterday ‘FLORENTINE IRIS’ and told me it was quite something – thus, I decided to try it out today.
I feel very fortunate to have been given the hint, because this fragrance is incredibly elegant.
Like the name of the scent tells us, it’s main note is iris – and there is a lot of iris and iris root in it. The first impression I got was: sheer elegance. The iris takes over your body and engulves it into a suit of stylish grace. And although you feel surreal because of the gracefullness of this fragrance, the iris roots keep you grounded. They won’t allow the elegance to get to your head and somehow keep you firmly grounded – as if to give you a far off perspective of how elegant you are and that you shouldn’t rub it in anyone’s nose.
Longetivity: – 8/10
Sillage: – 9/10
All in all: 10 out of 10 points – this is trully a masterful creation of an experienced craftsman.
freddy012 – :
Masterpiece.
This stuff is incredible, the quality is top notch. To me this is spring in a bottle, it makes me feel really happy. This is in my starting line up.
Top 5 Signature for 2015/2016
lit992JeomiWogkig – :
I have tested this one and i really love it so much.
alex220386 – :
This smells like plain yoghurt and washing powder. I have real orris butter and I can testify it smells nothing like this. I know, not every iris perfume has to use/try to replicate the scent of orris butter, but with this name and at this price point I kinda hoped it would. Very unisex… but man or woman, do yourself a favour and buy Infusion d’Homme instead. Or Iris Silver Mist if you’re looking for an orris butter type of smell.
BanderosForeva – :
A classy, clean, and well-balanced unisex fragrance! Easily among my favorite scents even though I tend not to like iris.
Клинская – :
What an amazing scent with a novel accord brought about by Iris, Violet and Bergamot. This scent is classy and surprisingly clean and fresh without being soapy or citrusy… Guess it can be called ethereal.
Agree with earlier post that this and Indonesian Oud are the better ones in this high quality collection by Zegna!
bloddymarry – :
This was beautiful !!!
Really fresh and truly unisex. Far more beautiful than Prada d’iris flankers…though loving some of them too !
A brand I’ve never seen before now spotted at Barcelona airport.
If I had the money I would by it on an instant basis !
Gorgeous !
qlq687speagoessenda – :
Love this one. I can see where the feminine vibe comes from but I definitely feel this is masculine. The best in the line along with Indonesian Oud.
kabanets – :
A nice earthy fragrance with floral overtone,it projects quite well after it dries down on the skin,this one remind me of the DSQUARED HE WOOD line of scents,very elegant and fresh,this one is for the trendsetters and fashionistas .
plyushka – :
The best in the Essenze collection. Balance and well-crafted. Matured but still youthful, perfect for late 20 early 30. Truly unisex. Better for cold weather, maybe best for spring since this is floral scent.
nze523JeomiWogkig – :
Last January I went into the Zegna store in Venice to test it, I applied 4 sprays, 2 on the neck and 2 on my wrists, then decided to keep strolling around Venice to see how the fragrance would evolve and behave on my skin, since my bloody skin devours every single fragrance I apply. All I can say is that the smell is so beautiful that I went back to the store by the end of the day and end up spending 200 euros for a bottle!!
For all those Dior Homme lovers (I include myself) I strongly recommend you this fragrance, the iris in this one is much more subtle and less lipsticky than Dior’s creation, It is kind of a fresh Iris, and not so powdery, making it also an all season one, I actually prefer this one over Dior’s, since this one is more versatile regarding seasonal wearing. Definitely try it if you have the chance, it is only sold in Zegna Boutiques, at least in Italy. Projection and longevity are average, 5 to 6 hours on my hostile and dry skin, which is already good, considering that only the amouage’s creations persist that long on my skin, and they are beasts in the longevity department.
metbd – :
Ooh, I am excited. I do love me some iris!