Insolence Eau de Parfum

(Comparison of the EdP and the EdT) I might be alone in this opinion but Maurice Roucel and Guerlain strike me as the proverbial odd couple. His preferred compositional style and Guerlain’s pre-2000s aesthetic are a bit like oil and water: they’re not going to mix well or easily. But perhaps that was the intention. Roucel would lend his talents to three Guerlain releases, most notably during Guerlain’s upheaval period, when Jean-Paul was getting the boot and the house was being sold to LVMH, and Guerlain was going to get a new aesthetic either by choice or by force. Personally, I believe they made a grave mistake in not bringing-on Mathilde Laurent, who worked with Roucel (or rather after him) on Attrape Coeur. Something tells me that Roucel caught someone’s attention at Guerlain when he composed Musc Ravageur for Frederic Malle, a blatant update to Shalimar. So, though I say Roucel and Guerlain are like oil and water, Roucel does have a chameleonic ability when he wants to. Was Roucel ever in contention for the in-house perfumer position, or was he just pinch-hitting until someone else could be found? I don’t know. A lot is unknown about this period in Guerlain’s history, and there was quite a lot of drama and musical chairs being played. What I do know is that when I smell Insolence, I smell Roucel and not Guerlain. This isn’t a bad thing. The second thing worth noting is that the EdP was composed by Sylvaine Delacourte two years after Roucel did the EdT. I’ll still hold to my statement that Insolence - including the EdP - smells more like Roucel than Guerlain. Delacourte did a fine job of tweaking Roucel’s original composition for a slightly different creative brief; Roucel’s EdT DNA is still the majority of the EdP’s DNA. So let’s start there.... The EdP opens like the fresh pour of a Belgian framboise. It is quite boozy fruity, with plenty of raspberry being given a waxy and fermented-like quality. The EdT’s opening smells like some sort of berry soda I had as a kid - with florals! The rose and violet immediately make their presence known in the EdT’s fruity effervescent opening, whereas in the EdP after the top mostly dispenses it is violet and orange blossom forward. The violet is steered in a deeper and darker direction, and the orange blossom adds a creamy, citrusy sweetness, which has the effect of giving the EdP a much more serious and “adult” quality compared to the EdT. The EdT’s floral heart is playful; fizzy and fuzzy, fruity from the rose and puerile from a brighter violet note. The iris/orris in the EdP is quite unusual; it is not dry, starchy, powdery, or makeup-y, it is quite white floral and oily slick. The darker violet plus this slick orris note allow the EdP to live up to the name: it is insolent, and defiant in an adult way, a scowl on its face. The EdT, if it is insolent at all, is so by being immature and unserious when it probably shouldn’t be. The dry down of both is virtually the same, with the EdP being slightly richer and deeper with the muskiness of the orris and sandalwood base. I love both of these. They are like twins: they look identical, very obvious shared DNA, but the personalities are quite different. Men are probably going to have a tough time wearing either one because, curiously, Guerlain decided with Insolence that it was not going to bend in the slightest to the unisex bandwagon of the mid-to-late 2000s. It’s overtly fruity, overtly floral, and very obviously overtly geared towards women - but perhaps that's why a man should wear it. Insolence wants to be a contrarian, full stop. Perhaps its wearer should be too.

I have tested it in a perfume store, This fragrance is very similar to "Ameerat Al Arab Prive Rose Asdaaf", but this perfume is more balanced also less sharpness and the damask roses were replaced with violets with iris, both of these perfumes are very suitable for a true femenine lady. This perfume is powdery with violet and iris fragrance mixed with red berries in the background, this version of "Insolence Eau de Parfum Guerlain" is more clear powdery in comparision with "Insolence Eau de Parfum Guerlain 2021" the bee's bottle. If you didn't smell this perfume before, I advise that you can blind buy if you interest balanced powdery perfumes. This fragrance suitable to wear it at night in Autumn and winter seasons, It lasts more than 8 hours on the leather and more than one day on the clothes. لقد جربته في متجر للعطور، هذا العطر يشبه إلى حد كبير "أميرة العرب بريف روز من أصداف"، لكن هذا العطر أكثر توازناً وأقل حدة وهنا تم استبدال الورد الدمشقي بالبنفسج مع السوسن، كلا العطرين مناسبان جدًا لسيدة تجسد الأنثوية الحقيقية كما يجب أن تكون. هذا العطر بودري مع رائحة البنفسج والسوسن الممزوجة بالتوت الأحمر في الخلفية، هذه النسخة من "إيسولانس إي دي بارفوم من جيرلان" فيها البودرية أو المساحيق أكثر وضوحًا مقارنة بـ إصدار 2021 "إيسولانس إي دي بارفوم من جيرلان" زجاجة النحلة. إذا لم تشمِ هذا العطر من قبل، أنصحك بإمكانك شرائه شراءً أعمى إذا كنتِ مهتمة بالعطور البودرية المتوازنة. هذا العطر مناسب لارتدائه ليلاً في فصلي الخريف والشتاء، يدوم أكثر من 8 ساعات على الجلد وأكثر من يوم على الملابس.

Insolence and I did not get off to a very auspicious start. I was stuck in an airport waiting for a delayed flight so I could go to a funeral. Being stuck in an airport sucks. Going to a funeral sucks worse. Giving a eulogy at a funeral is extremely difficult. Worrying you’re going to be late to a funeral you’re giving a eulogy at because United’s stupid plane broke down and they had to wait for another one is a whole other kind of craptastic. It was only 9:30 AM so the airport bar wasn’t open yet, but the duty free shop had just opened up. They had many different perfumes on offer, including tons of different Guerlain perfumes. I was stuck between this one and Terracotta, and ended up purchasing this one. I ended up wearing it to the funeral, and many of my relatives commented on how good it smelled. So I took it home... and then didn’t wear it for about a year because every time I smelled it, it just kind of made me sad because of the circumstances in which I acquired it. Now, however, I am able to enjoy it. This is a beautiful sugared violet scent that evolves into a sweet berried floral over about 12 hours. Be careful not to overspray because this is a BEAST of a perfume, and becomes chokingly powerful in humidity. We’ve been having an unusually chilly winter in what is normally a hot and humid climate, so I’ve been wearing this a lot lately and really enjoying it. I just wish Insolence and I had met under better circumstances.

This perfume is beautiful and I miss having it in my collection of perfumes! It's a must-have violet scent for violet lovers and it is one that's not to be missed. Text-book perfect and classic for its genre. I can smell all of the notes listed in this perfume, but the violet dominates the most, followed by the powdery notes. I then get a touch of those red berries, which gives this scent a slightly more candied and sweet violet smell than what you would find in nature. The iris is what I smell the least of. This reminds me most of Guerlain's Météorite pearls that I love to buy so much and I can imagine being a very glamorous actress from the 1930's putting on this perfume at her vanity table. It's incredibly feminine and beautiful in the classical sense of the word. I honestly don't know who wouldn't love that?! This has moderate sillage on me and it lasted a fair amount of time. About 5 hours or so on my skin. It's a reasonably cheap perfume (especially for a high end perfume) and you get a lot in the bottle for the price. I'm just sad that Guerlain got rid of the beautiful bee bottle they used to house this perfume in 😥 A perfect 10/10 from me.

I really shouldnt be reading reviews while trying out a new fragrance because I only get confused and start doubting my sanity. I’ve had a 1 ml sample of the EdT and though it has too much raspberry I find it very pleasant. Heard that the EdP is a bit softer and warmer than the EdT, so now I am a proud owner of a 30 ml EdP and it’s amazing! I have been searching for a powdery violet that actually is both powdery and has a lot of violet, and this one is the closest I’ve got. Now regarding the cognitive dissonance from reading reviews and smelling my wrist simultaneously: I don’t find it that loud and overwhelming. It is very noticeable, I agree, and I would say as strong as one might expect from a perfume of that quality, but it is in no way cloying or nauseating or gives me headache. To be honest I find it quite fresh. The powder is of the soapy quality that seems so rare in modern perfumery. Then again, I guess you shouldn’t overspray it. I never wear more than three sprays and with this just one, and it’s definitely enough. It will be my pretty fresh spring/summer scent. Hope I won’t scare people off with it 😳.