If you get to try Masque Milano perfumes, please do share your thoughts on L’Atessa if you happen to find it.
I got to test it. I'd only warn you that I'm an amateur at this and am not sure my opinion counts for anything at all.
I tested iris-centred fragrances on 2 days, including L'atessa. Figure I should put down my notes on all of them.
The lighter ones:
Glossier You- there's something super harsh here. Scrubbed it almost immediately.
Orris Tattoo- a likeable, simple iris. Stuck around all day. Got boring quickly, but I can imagine it as a safe office scent.
Sonic Flower- leans closer to Tattoo than You but, as it develops, it smells like day-old perfume (a nice one, mind you, but stale-ish). Not sure if that's my skin or the fragrance.
The complex ones:
Iris de Nuit- It's a contradictory fragrance. It's dark. It's rooty. It's still airy, though. Not sure how they managed that but it's somehow substantial and light at the same time. It's also sharp and soft at the same time. The contrasts are interesting and sniffing it as it developed was fun. My personal favourite of the ones I tried.
Iris Malikhan- Iris and incense. I remember trying this before and thinking it's more incense than iris at that time, too. It's thick and suffocating. I scrubbed it both times I tried. My SA said it's the best example of iris, but to me, it's too, too much.
Lost Alice- It's soft, it's mostly iris, but it's very nondescript to my nose. The SA kept telling me it's complex and there's tea in there, but I may have been overwhelmed by Iris Malikhan to the extent that I couldn't smell this properly.
L'Attesa- This was like Iris Malikhan to me in that it was instantly too much. It was an iris bomb. The SA said it should be fizzy at first, then creamy, but all I got was thick, linear, overpowering powdery iris. It's somehow also waxy in texture. The longer it sat, the more waxy it felt.
I'm sure many would find it heady and lovely, but I dislike anything too strong. I love everything I've tried from Heeley because it's all transparent, but I can't do anything from Matiere Premiere because they're like being punched in the face with scent. Though Masque Milano's L'Attesa is not as strong as anything from Matiere Premiere, it is very present, very dense and I'd imagine it would leave a strong trail everywhere you went.
I also got to play around with some Musks the other day.
Musk K- wow, this smells like a Bounce dryer sheet. It immediately brought a crisp, starched white shirt to mind. However, there's something in the dry down that didn't work for me. Nice but, the price point is...ambitious, for what you're getting.
Soft Tension- This is something I need to try again because I couldn't figure it out. It's musky and light, but also very salty?
Mono Cachemire- The winner by a mile. Easy, clean, crisp, bright. I actually loved it on me. Very soft but could clearly smell it for 10 hours.
The price on all 3 of these seemed a bit much for what you're getting (soft, clean, laundry), but I can't deny they're all good enough to warrant that if you have the budget. I'd jump on the chance to own Mono Cachemire because it had me feeling really crisp during an extremely hot day.
It was really fun sniffing by note/category, rather than by brand. I found it easier to figure out what I liked that way.
Disappointments for sure.
together with their rose-y scent (rose radical?)