L'Instant de Guerlain Eau de Noel Iris Millesime

Talk about good timing...I just stumbled across this on eBay and grabbed it, based on these reviews. This was quite a daring move for me, as I have heard of L'Instant but have never tried any of its versions and the potion in this bottle has an amber color, as opposed to the clear juice in the bottle shown in the picture above. I was nervous about my purchase and had no idea what to expect. Would it be rancid? A big powder bomb? I am wearing it now and I have to tell you that this is magnificent!!! I didn't have a magnolia fragrance until now. This limited edition beauty needs to be brought back, surely there shouldn't be any trouble to do that? What I smell foremost is a big, proud magnolia (like the beautiful magnolia trees in people's front yards in the more affluent Nashville neighborhoods) that is not sharp but sings with a buttery soft voice. It is tempered with a very smooth, mild honey and now and then it shape-shifts a bit, where the lemon will present itself, then the iris. Occasionally my nose fools me and I detect something that makes me think "white chocolate"...NOT vanilla, but white chocolate! Just a wee bit! I almost want to eat this! It neither whispers nor screams, but it floats like wings. What an amazing creation this is! I wasn't intentionally looking for this and it just happened to be available. I am so glad that I didn't let it get away or I would have lost out on a masterpiece. I agree with everyone's advice: if you see this one, grab it and try to stock up on it. Thank you for your splendid reviews! (happy dance)

WOW! This is such a delicious fragrance. Its instantly recognisable as a member of the L'instant group. The iris and honey are quite dominant on me but the ylang ylang is not far behind and provides the perfect accent to the iris and honey. The overall effect is creamy, a bit powdery but never cloying. I could quite happily bathe in the juice! lol This is what you want to wear when you want remind the oh that you are all woman. There is sort of has an innocent feel to it as well so you dont smell like a man eater! lol Its a man magnet! You just smell so delicious that they cant wait to hold you close. The sillage is good and the longevity very impressive.

I absolutely struggle with iris. It's always so cold that it ends up smelling like plastic on my skin. This one is so breathtakingly beautiful. If you made snowflakes out of the iris in Iris Ganache, and let those float over the thick vanilla, honey & ylang-ylang in the original L'Instant, you'd get this fragrance. It's the perfect blend of cold & warm, light & heavy. It opens cold with the iris, then dries down into everything I love about the original - that gorgeous warm cozy honeyed vanilla - except in this one, it's wears lighter, but still deep - kind of like a vanilla soufflé. Wow.

Gorgeous flanker of gorgeous original scent L'Instant. It was a must for me because I adore Iris- the cool, the buttery, or the rooty dry. It's all good.Very hard to find but worth it if you can get it for around 150. Unfortunately it seems to go much higher. I'm not sure why it was designated a Christmas Iris -these names can be baffling. If you love flower scents in nature, this has a lot of strong references.

Beautiful flanker! Less of waxy, lemony gardenia of the Edp here it's more honeyed and rounded. I also sense a powdered, bittersweet chocolate in the base and I have no idea what's creating that. Magic. I’ve always felt this line was the precursor for Angelique Noire, there's a lot of similarities. Happy to own both. Now I need to find l’instant d’un ete! That's a stunner too