I was shocked to discover that Guerlain's INSOLENCE smelled upon initial spritz nearly identical to METEORITES. Shortly thereafter, however, some darker elements began to emerge, both spicy and "je ne sais quoi" kind of stuff. Still, I feel that INSOLENCE is not a new Guerlain creation. Rather, they appear to have attached METEORITES to a solid, resinous base.
So solid, in fact, that upon awakening this morning, more than twelve hours after application, I found myself still enveloped in some sort of bizarre resin aura. I couldn't identify it, but the violets and irises had all long ago disappeared, leaving only this very insistent resin on my skin.
I was dying to find out the identity of the strange fat-soluble substance that had infused itself into my cells, and for a brief moment I thought that it might be the styrax or benzoin from TANGLEWOOD BOUQUET, which I had been wearing yesterday during the day. But then I remembered that I took a long, hot bath last night, after which I applied INSOLENCE. All I knew at this point was that there was a serious film of resin attached to my skin.
Unfortunately, no help was forthcoming from the Fragrantica description, which lists only the incredibly general "resin" as the note that was commanding the attention of my nose. "Resin," if synthetic, means: some sort of polycarbonate substance, often produced at the culmination of an organic chemistry experiment. Thick, oily, viscous, usually black. Basically a plastic byproduct. That's how this smells, for sure!
My edt is, suffice it to say, quite strong enough! I won't be buying the edp or the parfum of INSOLENCE, because the thought of waking up to an even higher concentration of black gooey pot liquor odor wafting through the air is simply unbearable.
A word about the bottle: this 3.4oz thick-glass, asymmetrical spaceship-type shape is really beautiful. In fact, I love just to hold the bottle: c'est un vrai objet d'art! The pink color of the edt is also new to Guerlain, a ma connaissance, and pleasing to the eye. Visually, it cannot be denied that the presentation is gorgeous and unique. But the contents are not: METEORITES + a lot (a glob!) of resins and a bit of fruit is what I found here!
36 hour update: resins still clinging tenaciously to my pajamas. This stuff could survive a nuclear holocaust!!!
66 hour update: time to do laundry ASAP!
108 hour update: detected INSOLENCE still infused through my sheets last night before retiring in clean pajamas! Help!!!!! AIDEZ-MOI, SVP!!!!
By way of conclusion: The capacity to form a permanent polymer with my pajamas is not a property that I am looking for in a perfume. Now I think that I understand the spaceship metaphor: this substance is truly sci-fi! I may have to add the designers of INSOLENCE to my "just say no" list, along with the creator of the perversely po-mo RUMEUR... Désolée, vraiment!
Jan
14
2010