I bought My Insolence after sniffing it just once at Sephora. At the time, it struck me as a gloriously girly floral, the olfactory equivalent of the shy pink color of well-worn ballet slippers.
Those who are familiar with My Insolence may not be surprised to learn that I had a massive cold that day.
When I resniffed My Insolence with clear nostrils, I discovered that it was rather more garish than I had initially detected. Think Shiaparelli pink instead of ballet slippers.
My Insolence is a perilously sweet raspberry scent, but I certainly wouldn’t call it fruity. This is an entirely synthetic smell, as far removed from anything in nature as Coco Chanel wanted No. 5 to be. In that sense it might be an extraordinary technical achievement, but you’ll never catch me wearing it. It’s way too loud, and the ratio of fun:tacky is skewed in the wrong direction. I suspect that this is Guerlain’s attempt to woo a younger crowd, although you have to wonder why they would choose Hilary Swank to front such an effort. Tila Tequila might have been a better match.
SCENTS OF SELF 
When I read the line, “I bought My Insolence…” it took me a minute to recover. This particular Guerlain has always left me wondering, and I *really* want to like it, just because I love Guerlain. No such luck.
Too bad you ended up with a bottle—hopefully you were able to swap it away, or sell it on eBay! 🙂
Yes, I thought that admission might shed a little doubt on my credibility, but I hope that I redeemed myself by the end of the post 🙂 I was fortunately able to return it to Sephora thanks to their generous (naive?) return policy. In my humble opinion, Guerlain needs to cut a LOT of its current lineup, and this should be one of the first to go.
That’s so great that Sephora has a buyers-remorse policy! I’ve had my nose on Kenzo Amour, and next time I’m near a Sephora, I might just take the leap knowing that if I change my mind by the time I get home, all is not lost! 🙂
I’m sure you’ll love Amour (who doesn’t??), but just in case you don’t, their return policy is indeed exceptional: cash if you have the receipt, store credit if you don’t. Don’t get too crazy now… And please let me know how you like Amour!