L'Instant De Guerlain by Guerlain, 2003

I'm a little undecided as to how I feel regarding this particular fragrance. L'Instant de Guerlain fascinates me, yet also leaves me dissatisfied. First off, it strikes me as being very modern and elegant. To my nose, I tend to get a lot of powdery and musky iris and amber, (this is a review for the EDP by the way). I read somewhere that this is a rather popular choice for brides on their wedding day, and I can see why. L'Instant de Guerlain is polite, pretty and classy, evidently formal in its approach, but nothing too bold. It's clean, musky powderiness is what bothers me slightly. I often refrain from using the term 'old lady', yet for once I'll say that I feel this fragrance is too old for a young twenty year old, such as myself. It's a scent for tea parties and reading a book in bed, not something to match my somewhat wild, energetic and partying lifestyle. In all honesty, L'Instant de Guerlain strikes me as a more modern and a less heavier version of the classic Shalimar and L'Heure Bleue. I noted this similarity when I first smelt it, however it wasn't until now that it occured to me that they are all from the same house. When it comes down to it, I much prefer L'Instant de Guerlain over and above Insolence EDT and Idylle which leave much to be desired, however my appreciation for Guerlain still lies with their classics, especially those produced before the year 2000.

Whenever I think of FLOWER, I think also of Guerlain L'INSTANT. It's surely the vanilla baby powder connection, which lasts so much longer than the stages which mark the two perfumes as distinct that I cannot help but conjoin them in my mind. As this is a twenty-first-century creation of a once-glorious house (pre-Y2K), I never really expected much from L'INSTANT, and what I found was certainly nothing like classic Guerlain, although this perfume is not without its own cuddly appeal. L'INSTANT edp is creamy and powdery and dreamy like a down comforter sprinkled with fairy dust. (Oh, isn't that the name of a perfume by Paris Hilton?) Anyway, this almond-honey-nougat-down-comforter confection reminds me of the suave and debonaire Morris Townsend [played by Montgomery Cliff] in The Heiress when he tries to woo Catherine Sloper [played by Olivia de Havilland] with this line: You're everything I ever wanted in a woman. And, no, he did not lie. You're everything I ever wanted in a [comfort scent], L'INSTANT. Sweet, smooth, creamy, with a safe, dependable, vanilla baby powder drydown, the longevity of which is strictly determined by the wearer's own bathing schedule. Yes, since the dawning of the Century of Snark, the synthetic organic chemists have been working overtime chez Guerlain. But where have all the perfumers gone? Perhaps they, too, have become trapped in Twitter, frittering their lives away with the useless production of flankers and perfectly willing to settle for 140 characters of fame. [Note on versions: My first bottle of L'INSTANT edp, from the original launch, contains a much darker liquid than the refill bottle which I recently purchased (before I became disenchanted with this house after their disastrous reformulation of MITSOUKO...). It could be a result of evaporation, but the first is definitely richer and more woody than the second, and it also appears to contain discernible flowers. (Not sure whether this is an issue of reformulation or not...) In a side-by-side comparison they definitely smell different enough to make me suspect that different reviewers may be encountering slightly different perfumes...]

l get a fleeting sharpness from the mandarin in the opening, then this quickly smooths out into a floral that l can't quite identify, but must be the lily or magnolia. There is a sweet, honeyed quality to these florals which is almost cloying, & l suspect there is some mimosa somewhere in here. Suddenly after only 20 minutes there's a sweet amber which somehow comes as a surprise to me. This is one of the fastest drydowns l've experienced, & the sillage is quite soft on my skin. l love florals, & l love amber. So far l "like" L'Instant. l suspect this will really bloom in warm weather, & l may just fall in love with it. lt's classy, versatile, & apparently men love it on a woman. Edit; l tried this again today; a hot, humid, cloudy day; & the sillage was indeed much stronger. l also noticed a strange note in the opening phase; salty, black Kalamata olives! Once l'd noticed it, it was unmistakable, & actually very pleasant indeed, as it transported me immediately to a place l love. The honeyed florals didn't really appear this time, but the amber was still as sweet. l've now used up my sample, & think l need to spend more time with this one, so a decant is in order. l have to see if those olives appear again!