Ramón Monegal
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
Raspberry and bergamot arrive with surprising brightness, almost tart, cutting through what you'd anticipate as a heavy floral. Peach rounds the edges, sweet and fuzzy, whilst the citrus provides necessary luminosity—this isn't a solemn iris entrance, but something almost playful.
The iris emerges gradually, its characteristic cool, slightly soapy character softened considerably by creamy ylang ylang and a whisper of rose. The composition settles into its powdery sweetness here, becoming almost skin-like, with the cedarwood beginning its subtle ascent in the background. This is where the fragrance becomes genuinely wearable rather than challenging.
Tonka bean sweetness becomes more pronounced as fruity top notes fade, whilst cedarwood and musk create a soft, woody embrace against skin. The powdery iris lingers with surprising tenacity, now almost translucent, leaving behind something closer to scent-memory than present projection—intimate rather than demanding.
Impossible Iris is a fragrance that genuinely lives up to its paradoxical name: it attempts the genuinely difficult task of making iris—that notoriously powdery, sometimes austere floral—feel approachable and genuinely sensual. Rather than leaning into iris's typical pencil-shaving austerity, Ramón Monegal Maso bathes the iris heart in ylang ylang's creamy indulgence and rose's romantic warmth, creating something almost creamy where iris typically dries. The powdery accord dominates the composition (88%), but it's a soft, talcum-kissed powderiness rather than something harsh—think face powder applied with a velvet puff rather than cosmetic department sterility.
What's genuinely clever here is how the fruit notes anchor this floral softness. The opening raspberry and peach prevent the heart from becoming too rose-garden clichéd, instead lending a subtle stone-fruit warmth that keeps the iris from floating into abstraction. The cedarwood base (76% woody accord) arrives with restraint rather than timber-yard heaviness, whilst tonka bean threads sweetness through the drydown without tipping into gourmand territory. The musk provides skin-like intimacy rather than projection.
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3.6/5 (121)