Audace Le Parfum

Iris is what separates Rochas Audace Le Parfum from the rest of the line, and it changes the character of the whole thing.

There is only one material at the top and it is raspberry, tart and red and unmistakable, which makes for an opening that is short, clear and a little blunt. There is no citrus to soften the entry and no spice to complicate it.

The heart is where the work happens. Tuberose brings its creamy, almost waxy weight, orange blossom lightens it with something cleaner and whiter, and then iris arrives, cool and powdery and faintly rooty, with the slightly starchy quality of a freshly ironed shirt. That coolness against the warmth of the tuberose is the whole idea, and it gives the fragrance a seriousness that the fruit opening does not prepare you for.

The base is only two materials. Tonka bean is sweet and soft with a faint bitterness at the edges, and musk warms it and holds it against the skin. Six materials in total, so this is a short composition, and it behaves like one: what it is at twenty minutes is broadly what it is at four hours. As a parfum it carries more oil than an eau de parfum would, and here that shows as longevity at a moderate volume rather than as loudness. It stays close after the first hour and keeps going well into the night. Louise Turner and Quentin Bisch are the two perfumers credited with it.

Rochas began as a Paris couture house in 1925 under Marcel Rochas, took up perfumery in 1936, and passed to his wife Helene after he died in 1955. She built the fragrance business substantially. Interparfums has owned the brand since buying it from Procter and Gamble in 2015.