Habit Rouge L'Instinct

My first impression is it's nice. The opening is pretty good. The top and heart last a good hour or two then I get an underwhelming base that is nice but is coming off a bit like shower gel blue generic. The rose sneaks in somewhere, it kind of plays hide and seek with the cannabis note that isn't realistic but there is some nice vegetal intrigue. The vegetal accord and whispers of red roses is very nice. I'm gonna have to give this some more wears. Woke up and reapplied a couple sprays. The Habit Rouge dna is coming through more. It's like a nude Habit Rouge with the vegetal green kicked up and an animalistic marine accord that does have some shower gel blue character. It has that type of animalistic smell which is pretty good. This score will likely creep up some. I'm happy this is under appreciated so I could get it from the bargain bin. I scored on this one. Guerlain standard quality. There are a few Guerlain summer frags I like more, this one does it's own thing. It's classic enough for us older heads. Modern and contemporary enough for the newer users. The vegetal animalistic leather marine and hint of rose can sometimes smell like a hint of bug or insect on the dry down. Somebody said I made it smell like tomato soup after I walked in and someone else agreed. But they are known to be sensitive, and sometimes more than others if you know what I mean. It's has rounded out and developed It's character. Maybe it's my nose just developing to the scent or the bottle blooming after some use. I think it's a bit of both. It has a distinguished smell. The marine like musk blends with the leather accord so well. It comes off as the best smelling horse skin after galloping through the morning fields. The dew, greens, flowers... building up on the horse. Because of this unique art effect I'm giving it a much more respectable score of 8.4/10. Pretty good. I'm wearing it often. Keeps getting better. I'm really feeling the horse vibe on this. It will be in the top of my rotation until empty.

There is NO WAY this is a 3.37 compared to fragrances like afnan supremacy collection edition being 4.50, are you kidding me? Now granted I was never a huge fan of the original Habit Rouge (any concentration other than spirit), so I get that people would be upset considering this fragrance should have had it's own name (there's a TINY bit of the OG in it). Same thing happened with Dior homme 2020, which on itself a fantastic fragrance but because it had the homme name which was iris focused (and fabulous) it was a 180 from that profile. Not sure why companies do that, sure you will get buys from name recognition, but eventually the backlash will come and people will not be happy. Not sure if the rep hit is worth the profit. Aside from that, this is a good fragrance, I don't get the BDC comparisons as they do not smell alike, but it is a blue like fragrance, just refined and mature. More than BDC, it reminds me of versace pour homme but more complex and not as screechy. If you like Versace pour homme you will like this. It has that guerlain quality and subtleness that the brand is known for; versatile, unique in it's own way, and masculine. The rose is slight but present and mixes well with the base leather and patchouli. Very versatile and office safe. The opening has citruses that's mixed with green accords, and doesn't smell sharp or too fresh. There is rose but it's more of a compliment and doesn't overwhelm the fragrance like that note has a tendency to do with other fragrances. This isn't your typical freshie, it has depth and character. I'm actually mad because I got 50 ml instead of 100 ml because I saw the 3.37 rating and without decanting I didn't want to take a chance blind buying. But being that Guerlain is easily one of my favorite houses, I should have had more confidence. This is an easy love for me and I will be putting wears. Let it stay underrated, it means no one else will use this but me :-).

In their hurry to review a fragrance, many people spray on paper, read the notes and write their “expert” conclusions. Armchair perfumers run to dismiss this flanker as not being Habit Rouge, never giving it a chance. They often do not spray on skin or even wear it for any length of time. Perfumes have a life cycle that is meant for skin and its temperature. This Habit Rouge flanker opens up very different from the classic. It smells very modern and agreeable. As it dries down has herbal and aquatic nuances. Further drying down you will begin to smell the Habit Rouge DNA, very much toned down, but definitely there... very much modernized. In the deep dry down, it doesn’t smell like L’Homme Ideal or Vetiver... it is Habit Rouge.... Including the famous Guerlain vanilla, leather and citrus. Do yourself a favor, give it a full wear.... Spray it.... Try it.... Let it develop..... you’ll like it, I’m sure.

I don't get why people don't like it. It's such a great scent, although I prefer the other HR perfumes, this one is nice too. It's also a lot cheaper, and you can wear it all year round. The scent is 8.5/10; the longevity and sillage are average. I think those who are downvoting this fragrance are looking at it the wrong way. Give it a try and wear it for a full day, not just spray it on a paper strip. Also, approach it as a different type of fragrance rather than another flanker in the HR line. They probably should have given it a different name, because right now everyone has different expectations than what it actually is.

I don't understand why people dislike it so much. I've seen reviews on yt trashing it and the same thing here but personally, I love the scent. The smell of the green and citrusy notes combined with the leathery base is amazing. That being said, I'm disappointed by the longevity. I'm not sure if I got a bad batch or it has something to do with the cold weather but after 3-4 hours I'm not getting anything. Might leave it to sit for a few months and see if it improves.

I think this is underrated. I believe if it wasn’t initially called “HabitRouge” then it would have been received much better. The attack that it is generic is somewhat unfair, as the canabis nature gives it a character that is not found elsewhere. It is less generic than many(I’d say 50%) other designer fragrances. It is very masculine, not for most, but I think it’s interesting and makes a statement. It’s skanky, heavy, and has a lot of personality.

Really pleasant fresh fragrance with a nice, subtle rose. To me, this is what L'Homme Ultime should have been. As has been said before, it has no similarity to Habit Rouge at all. It's more in the vein of Acqua Di Gio EDP, and any cannabis accord that it has is less than that fragrance. It's light and airy, but it sticks around for a while, maybe 4-5 hours. Sits pretty close to the skin for all of that time. The more I wear this, the more I like it!

Forget about HR, this is not for HR lovers. Get your hands on it because it is already hard to get! I bought one and I am buying 2 more, all 50ml. I found it for 40$. Very underrated and unjustified hate. Many Guerlain creations of the same category are sold for 4x the price. It is unique and rare so you won't find anyone else wearing it. If you like Hermes H24 and Mugler Fly Away, you will like this one.

I can say confidently that this fragrance is underrated. It takes time to experience. I was fortunate enough to enjoy it right away. But it's really transformed with maturation. The red rose, leather, and patchouli stand out more. The aquatic blue shower gel smell mellows. Very good vegetal red rose, leathery patchouli scent. It becomes less similar to lhomme ideal and more similar to Habit Rouge.

Very agreed with the last comment. At least the first sentence because nobody is willing a novel on this section. This flanker it's true to the dna. If it wasn't the bad reviews on YouTube I think this fragrance would have been more successful. It is basically more modern take of HR dna and it reminds of BDC the way it develops later. It has lots of depth and it smells high quality.

Underrated Gem and hated useless , i really love it , perfect for warm weather , easy to wear on any occasion , not an "Beast" when comes to Sillage and Longevity but even for a blind buy is worth it if you purchase it from an official store (i got lucky and bought it from Sephora with 80€/100ml). I own and the EDT and EDP and love all 3 of them.

Can't believe how good this is. Not a huge fan of the original Habit Rouge which smells too much like green boiled sweets (hard candy), this, thankfully, bears no resemblance whatsoever to it. Warm and smooth and very sophisticated, it is well blended enough that it is hard to pick out any of the individual notes. At least on my skin.

It bothers me that It's called Habit Rouge because it's my favorite line but it doesn't ressembles at all. I would have named it Guerlain Homme l'Instinct. It's good if you're looking for a light fragrance. It's a slightly green, soft citrus, cannabis fragrance. It’s kind of « eco-green » type of scent that reflects our time.

Personally, I do not understand the hate. I love this fragrance a lot. I picked it up in Paris this past summer and fell in love with it. Something about the nice citrus opening and the hints of leather just make it so unique to me. I love it.

It’s a beautiful creation of its own. Nothing related to HR but there is mastery here and sense of contemporary perfumery. I take it for what it is and enjoy it a lot! I don’t find off putting weed scent as other have commented

I love it, Beautiful vanilla, bergamot, rose and pachuli, I felt all of them, while I smelled it twice at Douglas, also love the cannabis, so just made a purchase 100ml for 80€, a tester.

After coming back to this, I definitely think its underrated. It's actually really good once you look at it without attachments. It's good. Give it another chance

Why do people think it’s reasonable to review a fragrance that they’ve never smelled? Looking at you @Flirtboy.

Apparently this isnt available in the UK because of a banned substance, source: Guerlain employees in london.

This frag is so good but because YouTubers hated on it, all of you start hating it too.

Great stuff. I can see people are giving it bad rating. Okay. More for me ☺️

I wish Guerlain's fragrances were longer lasting and better projecting.

THIS IS LOVELY! Every time I try it I love it more.

Blue de Chanel meets Amouage Lyrics... I love it...

A good daily driver in warm weather. 9/10.

Criminally underrated feagrance 😟

Disclaimer: Have not smelled Habit Rouge EDT. With that being said, L'Instinct is still far better than what some make it out to be. It's not even close to Bleu de Chanel, I just sampled all three BDC's, all the while thinking "These are nothing like L'Instinct." Habit Rouge L'Instinct starts with fizzy grapefruit and bergamot, keeping that fizz until it dries down to add some earthy notes (the mate?), and a hint of something floral and green. After about two or three hours it comes down to creamy vanilla, smoky leather, and that lingering whisper of rose. The citrus is pretty much omnipresent at every stage. It goes from sweet and fizzy to sweet and smooth. Regarding the controversial cannabis note... I don't get it at all. Granted I've never smelt cannabis leaves, but I can tell you there's no skunky weed smell here at all. In terms of performance, it's pretty decent. On a scale of Bath and Body Works to Sauvage, L'Instinct falls somewhere better than average. It's not a beast, but it's also not a body spray. I get about 5-6 hours of noticable projection, and I'll catch whiffs for another few hours. This is with two sprays mind you, mentioning spray count is important when talking performance. I could easily see this working all year long, depending on how intense your winters are. Dead of winter and it falls pretty flat of course, but past that, 60 percent of the time, it works everytime. Is it groundbreaking? No. Is it different from Bleu de Chanel and Sauvage? Oh yes. The closest thing I can think of is Chanel Allure Homme, but L'Instinct is superior in every way. More effervescence, more power, more character. More value at discounters too. Shoot, at least you can find it at discounters (Hi Chanel). Habit Rouge L'Instinct is some good stuff, for when you want to be different but acceptable. It has a place with my other Guerlains for sure (Vetiver EDT & L'Homme Ideal EDT), and if this pales in comparison to the original, it must be some seriously good stuff. Update (4/9/25): Habit Rouge EDT obtained. Now that I've tried this and the original EDT... I still don't see what's so upsetting about L'Instinct. In my opinion, it serves as a "sport" flanker (Yes I know there was already a HR Sport). L'Instinct takes a minimalist approach to modernize the EDT, paring down the woodiness, the spiciness, and sweetens the citrus. Seems like the bitter lime in the EDT was pulled for this purpose. L'Instinct is a super modernised HR, making it far more appealing to younger people like myself. That said, L'Instinct will go to my brother who liked it a whole lot more. I've decided to commit to the EDT since I find it unique in my collection.

I think the people that have said this has zero association with Habit Rouge have been a bit misleading tbh. I was turned away from this fragrance because of such statements but I got hold of a bottle deeply discounted recently and that is not true. There is Habit Rouge DNA in here, it's not immediately obvious because this is a hyper modernized version of it but it's there and imho unmistakable after you let it sit for a little on skin. The citrus, patchouli, rose and ambery powdery vanilla that define the OG are all there. So what did they do differently here? Well the powder vanilla is muted down quite a lot and it's freshened up to semi aquatic levels, so the accusation of it being an old mans fragrance that the OG often gets is not going to happen here, or certainly not as much. It doesn't smell of cannabis smoke, but it does have a fresh green leafy quality to it and is quite watery and fresh which is where the aquatic like feel comes from. I think this is pretty good. Think of it as a hot summer flanker of Habit Rouge.

I'll acknowledge my bias: Guerlain is my favorite house. Let's face it, it was a blunder to associate the name Habit Rouge with this fragrance. It should've maybe just been called L'Instinct. It is not Habit Rouge and doesn't even really seem like it's trying to be Habit Rouge. Here's what it is: The citrus top notes are fairly unremarkable. There's the nice aromatic mate/patchouli/cannabis thing going on. That definitely gives it a little something unique. It should be mentioned, it is not that patchouli that you love from Habit Rouge. There's a not too sweet or cloying rose that is blending well with both the herby aromatics and the vanilla base. At the bottom the vanilla is also blending fairly well a smooth leather. Not as smooth as the Habit Rouge as it does not blend with that magic effect carnation, but it is well done. This is a pretty good thing, it's own thing. It seems to be targeted towards the Bleu de Chanel/Acqua di Gio type of crowd. I like it, and it's worthy of it's own thing. It'll never be Habit Rouge.

Firstly, I hate Habit Rouge. Secondly, this doesn't resemble it at all. Thirdly, I don't really like this. It smells like a crass cannabis version of Bleu de Chanel, with none of the Chanel restraint. I don't generally attribute scents to ages and genders, but the only person I could see pulling this off is a drugged-up, idiotic tweenboy at a techno festival. In fact in that setting I think It would smell good. It definitely needs an open space as it's very oppressive and heavy-handed. The mind boggles as to why this hasn't been discontinued while Guerlain masterpieces are regularly axed with no mercy.

I bought this on my return from Rome as a momento seeing as it was named after the red habits cardinals would wear and I had always appreciated it. unfortunately the cashier was meant to hand me the regular habit rouge rather than this newer one. Nonetheless a very pleasant fragrance with decent longevity. Very green and fresh with a lovely tea note, but certainly not a tea fragrance

This is a great modern soft green sweet aromatic. At least as good as the YSL Ys and Sauvages. With different branding and a name separate from Habit Rouge, this thing is a hit. I love HR edt and edp. Have them both, love them both. This should not have been a HR flanker. With that said, it's very good on its own. Sample it and forget the name. 7.75 rating.

An odd child in a Habit Rouge family, but I don't see any reason to not like it. It's just different and maybe not the most popular one. I like the freshness and green vibe mixed with some cannabis notes. To me definitely nice relaxed alternative to the original Habit Rouge which is too strong for hot summer days.

It really is a nice scent. It's not extremely new or novel by any means but is a really well-rounded summer type scent. I think because it's not similar to the original Habit Rouge is why everyone is up in arms. New perfumer so certainly will be a different scent all together.

I'm not sure if my batch is defective, but it is too weak, even compared to L'Homme Ideal EDT. I can't smell anything after using it. Edit: So probably causes nose blind on me, because I wore it today and had some compliments lol

Fresh, citrusy, green, slightly sweet and woody/leathery. Kinda reminds me of D&G The One edt, not that they smell the same, but fit in that clean all around niche. The drydown smells sweet like dates. Very good for the price.

From my sample today, it reminds me of the original Z Zegna. Fresh spicy, aromatic. It's pleasant, but not something I was expecting from Guerlain.

I have a full bottle available if anyone is interested. Only selling to locals in the Toronto area.

Very green and fresh scent. That is what you get with this scent. Fresh and green.

Drydown is nice, but the scent smells like old times, kinda nostalgic and old.

I have the pleasure to try this scent as we speak and I can say that with another name, maybe it would have been better received. It starts citrussy, followed by a bit of sweetness from the mathe tea and the rose and then it becomes an unidentified mix of smells, like many designers. Habit Rouge is one of the most famous line from GUERLAIN, having the EDT and EDP but so far no flankers, to the original. When Guerlain announced this I was curious to see how would they understand the HR DNA in 2022 and add some modernity to it. Well, I would say that this release has not one single thing for what smell regards to the original ones, apart from the name, I see 0 similarity to the EDT/EDP. Given that it tries to gain attention using the Habit Rouge name, it has big shoes to fill in and unfortunately I think it fails to do that. This one is a nice, pleasant and summery type of smell .. with lots of potential but not power, unfortunately. I had to spray 5-6 times to get a glimpse of what this smells like and in about one hour, was already a very close to the skin scent. For somebody who likes understated scents and has a professional environment where bold/loud perfumes are not appreciated, this would be a nice versatile purchase. After around 10 minutes, it reminds me a bit of ROJA Oligarch, but not as in they smell similar .. but something about it, reminds me remotely of ROJA. It has literally 0 projection and even the newest batches of Aventus/Reflection Man are stronger, as a comparison. I think it ́s a good addition to their line, but it ́s nothing more than a summer hit like many other .. most likely until Dec. 2022 nobody will even know it existed, but time will tell. Thanks for reading the review, enjoy my video on YouTube.

This is a pretty nice refined citrus & smoky leather scent. Definitely useable as a daily wear as well but it’s not a fragrance you won’t find elsewhere if searching. I blind bought it for the cannabis note and i’m not overly disappointed in the blind buy, however the cannabis note calls some creativity out of your senses to be picked up on. Imagine your friend was making a body wash and was like “this one is supposed to smell like lemon weed”. It’s more of a “oh I could see that”. Regardless, very decent fragrance overall & no bias from me as I wasn’t around when the OG dropped. Many people seem to be mad this exists. 6.9/10

As a fan of Guerlain and it being my favorite house this is a disappointment. It doesn’t smell unpleasant and I don’t mind it has the Habit Rouge name but goes in a different direction but this is so weak on my skin. For the price even at a discount I feel it’s not worth it. It’s masculine in profile but it becomes a skin scent fast. Nice spring grab and go or office scent if you really can’t wear frags to work because at least on me the performance is awful. I’ve seen many say the same. But I don’t hate it but won’t buy again. 3/5.

I just tested it at the Guerlain boutique in Brussels (it's available since today) ... My first impression : I just don't understand why Guerlain called this one "Habit Rouge". There is zero connexion with the original masterpiece ! Honestly, it reminds me of Dior Homme 2020. Maybe a little more aromatic. The former flankers (Dress Code, L'Eau ...) shared HR's DNA, this one just doesn't. That being said, it's not bad ... It's just another basic spring/summer scent. Not original. Not unique. Not the Guerlain I love.

So different from all L'Homme Ideal ... almost arabic twist. Sweet, Leather, Patchouli and Vanilla ... almost like Mugler A Man or Maison Margiela series. Nice, main stream profile but reduldant in my opinion. Herod, Naxos or Baraonda are better gems, less linear and more interesting.

A COMEDY OF ERRORS Are you looking for a bold new interpretation of Habit Rouge? 404 Not Found Do you want to hear the sounds of panting and hooves? 417 Expectation Failed Were you hoping for a chance to join the Wild Hunt? 502 Bad Gateway 🎵 Benny Benassi - Satisfaction

Not here, not there, I don’t know. Notes say cannabis, but I can’t smell it. The performance is very, very weak, and the scent is nothing I haven’t seen a bunch of times already. Feels cheap and unoriginal.

Just smells like a generic masculine green fresh scent to me. Nothing bad about it, but nothing interesting either. Kinda boring and basic overall. 5/10

A fresh green with a bit of smoke....very dry.....

I tested it and can say this: I think HR fans will probably be disappointed. This flanker doesn’t have much to do with HR at all, and to my nose this is not a pleasant or well balanced composition, sorry Ms. Jelk. So test before you buy. One could even use another word to adequately describe the disfiguration, namely: botched. But I won’t do that since I’m a Guerlain fan and, besides, I don’t want to spoil it for those who will possibly find it attractive. I just really hope it doesn’t get too popular so it would reek at every street’s corner...