fragrance

Givenchy Insense EDT Fragrance Review

Givenchy Insense

Mainstream Monday: Sniffing a Popular Perfume (Vintage)

I imagine that Givenchy Insensé was a difficult one to “get” during its launch in 1993. I still find this masculine-floral a bit difficult to comprehend (I mean the name roughly means “wild and crazy”), but in a good way.

Insensé opens as very vegetal with lots of basil and aldehydes. It’s green, dewy, alive. So much galbanum! I’m always confused by Insensé because it is clean and soapy but their is a skankiness that isn’t actually dirty but it is. It’s difficult for me to explain. I can only guess that it is the blackcurrant adding a fresh vegetal feel while adding some skank. Whatever it is, I like it and I like what it does to the soapy, squeaky clean florals. The florals really do remind me of a “grab bag” of Crabtree & Evelyn soaps: Iris, Lily, Wisteria. It’s all clean and fresh. But, underneath I can smell the “man”. There’s a mastic spiciness with lemony evergreens. The “man” underneath all of this is shower fresh too.

So, Insensé reminds me of a man that took a shower, maybe using his wife’s/girlfriend’s/partner’s spring-fresh floral soaps. He gets out of the shower applies a masculine evergreen-spice deodorant. You smell him, mixed with the shower humidity. It’s simple but he smells damn good. And I could go on with Harlequin romance novel-ish text, but I’ll spare myself and you. Just imagine a good looking man straight out the shower, wrapped in a white towel and combing his lush head of hair. Everyday sexiness and you hope that towel is going to hit the floor soon.

Sal Mineo

Notes listed include blackcurrant, mandarin, basil, magnolia, lily of the valley, iris, lentiscus and fir balsam. Launched 1993. PERFUMER – Daniel Moliere

Due to its unpalatable awesomeness, Insensé was discontinued. You can still find bottles on auction sites. It was re-launched in 2007 in Les Mythiques. I’ve reviewed the vintage and have never tried the re-launch which I heard had been reformulated.

Victoria’s Final EauPINION – A sexy man fresh out of the showera masculine floral. I hate that this has been discontinued.

Want more reviews? Try…

Memory of Scent

I Smell Therefore I Am

The Non-Blonde

The Perfume Critic

What Men Should Smell Like

Fragrantica – Member reviews

*From my personal collection. Product pic from Fragrantica. Sal Mineo pic from The Village Voice.

4 thoughts on “Givenchy Insense EDT Fragrance Review

  1. sounds interesting! i am actually quite fond of givenchy gentleman (forgive me if i didn’t quite get that name right) and this sounds like it’s opposite … now i want to compare!

    1. They’re different. But, I get how they’re both Givenchy (if that makes sense).

      Insense is “clean” which should make perfume people shudder, but it doesn’t. It’s “clean” but not dull. That’s not an easy thing to accomplish.

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