What Does Byredo Eyes Closed Smell Like?
Eyes Closed is Byredo’s 2022 take on the spiced iris genre, and it plays out in three clear movements. The opening pairs cardamom with cinnamon, and the cinnamon leads. It reads as a soft, brown baking spice rather than a sharp red hot candy note, and it gives the first fifteen minutes a warm, almost edible glow.
The heart is where this composition gets interesting. Orris butter brings a cool, rooty powderiness, while carrot seed adds an earthy sweetness that many wearers compare to carrot cake or spiced chai. Ginger threads through the middle with a dry, slightly peppery lift that keeps the powder from going flat. Byredo describes the concept as the scent of closeness and intimacy, and the effect backs that up: it sits near the skin and feels personal.
The drydown moves to papyrus and patchouli, both used sparingly. The papyrus contributes a dry, papery woodiness that strips out most of the remaining sweetness, leaving a clean, slightly bitter finish. If you expected a heavy amber bomb based on the listed accords, recalibrate. This is a dry, powdery, gently sweet scent, closer to a cashmere sweater dusted with spice than a sticky dessert.
Performance
Eyes Closed is an Eau de Parfum, but it behaves more like a moderate one than a beast. Community consensus puts longevity at roughly 6 to 8 hours, with some wearers reporting all day wear in cooler weather and others finding it fades by late afternoon on skin that runs dry. Projection is modest after the first hour. The opening carries an arm’s length radius, then the scent collapses inward and becomes mostly noticeable to you and anyone leaning close.
That intimate sillage matches the brief, but buyers paying niche prices sometimes read it as weakness. Apply to fabric if you want the cinnamon cardamom phase to last longer. In practice this is an office safe, close contact fragrance, not a compliment machine.
The value question is harder. A 100ml bottle runs around $310 at discount retailers like FragranceNet, and Byredo’s own pricing is higher still. Six to eight hours of close projection at that price puts it firmly in luxury territory, which is why the value rating here sits at 4 out of 10.
Best Clone Or Alternative
Perfume Parlour’s Iris Open - 1742 is the direct budget alternative, sold from about £12 in EDP spray, extrait and oil formats from its UK site. Its published pyramid copies Eyes Closed exactly: cinnamon and cardamom up top, orris, carrot and ginger in the middle, papyrus and patchouli in the base.
Feedback is genuinely split. One customer compared it side by side with the original and reported being unable to tell them apart, praising the longevity. Another flatly called the house’s impressions not worth it. That spread is typical of made to order budget clones, so the practical advice is simple: a small format costs little enough to test blind. If Iris Open works for you, you save well over 90 percent. If it does not, the original’s smoother iris and cleaner base are what remain.
When To Wear It
Fall and winter are the natural home. The cinnamon, carrot and powdery iris thrive in cold air, and reviewers repeatedly reach for it during the holiday season. It also works on mild spring days thanks to the dry papyrus base. Occasion wise it suits daily wear, office settings and evening dinners, since nothing here projects far enough to overwhelm a room.
Who Should Buy It
Buy it if you like scents such as powdery iris fragrances but want something spiced and cozier, or if carrot, chai and carrot cake comparisons appeal to you. It also fits anyone wanting a unisex signature that stays close and never turns sugary.
Who Should Skip It
Skip it if you need loud projection or ten hour longevity, if sweet gourmands are your preference, or if $300 for moderate performance feels indefensible. Anyone sensitive to powdery orris should sample first.
Final Verdict
Eyes Closed is a well built, distinctive spicy iris with a memorable carrot twist and honest but limited performance. Test the Perfume Parlour clone first, then decide whether the original’s refinement justifies the premium.