guerlain - insolence

insolence my beloved! this is the classic, older version which is as far as i know presently discontinued, but which i still somehow managed to buy a year ago, and is still available in some corners of the internet. later versions are very similar, but usually have some of the complexity or the intensity taken away from, or are toned down in parameters to be more "wearable". it's a phenomenon of everything being chewed and spat out as easy pulp for mass consumption. insolence is one of my most beloved fragrances, and my signature next to lost cherry by tom ford. i'm in love with insolence. first of all: it's ethereal, but yet intense and provocative. powdery, but not childish, majority of the fragrance is composed of very sweet and musky violet, sweetened by the orange blossom as well as the rose and grounded by the base; on top of it, however, there's a very notable, sour, fresh and somewhat summery presence of raspberries, red berries and citrus fruit, and then there's the iris, another sweet-and-sour note, which - buried in the base - resonates until the very end. sillage and longetivity of this fragrance are immense. my roommate at a point has grown to hate it because she couldn't wash it off her hair and it plagued her for several days. on fabric it resonates even weeks later. insolence has everything. it's a controversial fragrance, for many too coying, intense and contrived, which is about usual by my preference. wonderful, complex sweetness, one of the ones i will hunt for and spend small fortunes on online for next several years because i can't get over their discontinuation. the only "flaw" - arguably - in my case is that insolence is read as highly "feminine", so it flows worse with my style when i present in more masculine/androgynous ways; therefore i mostly wear it when i dress fem. i doubt any proper butch would go anywhere near it, unless to smell it on her lovers. plus the intensity and insane parameters of insolence are likely to overwhelm some on the sensory level. keep that in mind as a warning, otherwise by all means try insolence, it's wonderful and one of very few fragrances that i rate 5/5.

longetivity: 5/5 - i would give a 6 if possible.
sillage: 5/5 - it creates an "aura" of sorts.
quality: 5/5 - excellent.
price: 3/5 - recently overpriced because of discontinuation.

overall: 5/5