L'Interdit (new) (2002)
by Givenchy

Very, very light fragrance to my nose. Got this one as a tester bottle at a Fragrance outlet so maybe it has turned? But within minutes of spraying it on, can not smell it at all unless i bury my nose in my arm where i sprayed it. Its ok.

edit: I will reclaim what i said above. It is very light, I believe, because my nose gets 'accustomed' to it to quickly. My bottle, as I said above, was a tester and is only half full, therefore might have lost some top notes. But I believe that i can detect just the faintest wihiff of a spice used in Indian or Middle Eastern cooking that is similar to celery seed! I think they might call the seed or spice Ajmal....I will re edit this review when i figure out what that note is. This may be what other people consider to be the "Bug Spray" note they smell at first. Or, i could actually be smelling a middle note there because my bottle may have lost the top notes already being half full. Anyway, I rather enjoy it, as the note blends almost immediately with the rest of the composition. My nose is not very good at picking out or distinguishing between different flowery notes as of yet, guess its a rose note? Anyway, i love the celery seed or ajmal seed note and keep sprayinng and spraying the frag to be able to smell that one note in there! LOL

Genre: Floral

I’ve had a hard time figuring this one out. Set beside the re-released Insensé, Vetyver, Le De, and Givenchy III, L’Interdit seems shy, tame, and conventional. The top notes are extremely soft, sweet, “perfumey” aldehydic florals that make L’Interdit smell more like a period piece than any of the other Givenchy Les Parfums Mythiques reissues I’ve tried.

The powdery aldehydes, the prim white flowers, and a musky, mossy foundation make for a frankly dowdy heart accord. A previous review describes the scent as “dusty,” and I concur. There’s something flat and stale at the core of L’Interdit that my nose just can’t get past. Mind you, it’s possible that I’m anosmic to a large portion of this composition: it becomes extremely hard for me to detect L’Interdit after only ten or fifteen minutes’ wear.

L’Interdit – at least what I can smell of it – becomes more palatable to me with age, as the aldehydes and powder retreat and some woods, spices and vanilla emerge from underneath them. After an hour or two with L’Interdit what I experience is a very pale floral-oriental with an old-fashioned face powder accord of talcum and moss. In short, nothing special. I have not had the opportunity to try either the original 1957 scent or the 2002 reformulation, so I have no idea how the current version stands up to its predecessors. Perhaps they were more impressive.

I fear for the mental integrity of anyone who wears this thing regularly. It's so very dull that even as the adjectives crop up in my mind with each sniff, the part of my brain that commands and sends the synapses related to speech ceases to function. Even Prada is out-performing this.

This is old-style perfume-y in a soft and feminine way; powdery, aldehydic, musky, dry, slightly spicy and modestly floral. Scents with a similar feel to them are Mitsouko, L'Aimant and Farouche. It has echoes of Chanel No5, but it's much less of a bouquet and more of a powdery musk. It's not a knock-your-socks-off scent like hard-hitting florals, sparkly citrus or stonking orientals, but it's definitely got its place in the perfume wardrobe just like that cosy, feminine jumper has in yours. Surprisingly seductive.

Just gave this one to the Goodwill. Loved the old one, but not this one. How can two things with the same name be so different? I concur with flat and stale. Smells a little like old celery and tired tobacco leaves. Ugh!