Parfum D'Empire Equistrius Eau de Parfum

EQUISTRIUS | An intimate, sensuous iris.

Iris is the most precious material in perfumery. In EQUISTRIUS, no less than three different extracts of Florentine iris were used to express all of its facets: violet, powder, suede… and even a surprising dark chocolate aroma. Delicate ambrette butter adds a natural vegetal musk that melts on skin. Ambergris and sandalwood wrap EQUISTRIUS in their powdery halo.

It is as a tribute to the “gleaming horse” who gave him his greatest victories that Marc-Antoine Corticchiato, a competition rider, gave the name EQUISTRIUS to the noblest perfume in his collection, built around the noblest of raw materials and inspired by humankind’s noblest conquest.

The fragrance of iris is as opulent as Renaissance Florence which made the flower its emblem, and as variegated as the rainbow that was said to carry Iris, the messenger of the Greek gods. Its stately and serene odor is extracted not from the flower but from the root, and must be aged several years before it develops.

Ever since Ancient Rome, iris has enriched the palette of perfumers but also of apothecaries, who used it for its calming virtues; in the 18th century, aristocrats powdered their wigs with it – hence its perception as a “powdery” note.

EQUISTRIUS plays on the contrast between the powdery and the sterner facets of iris. Fruity, musky ambrette butter, milky sandalwood and warm amber make it melt into the skin. The surprising chocolate note of an exceptional iris extract reveals the secret sensuousness of this elegantly austere fragrance.

• Eau de Parfum