Insolence

Victoria Frolova, Bois de Jasmin

In May 2011, Victoria Frolova devoted a separate review to the eau de parfum, which she found more dramatic and more memorable than the eau de toilette. She reports that Maurice Roucel saw Insolence as a modern reading of Après l’Ondée, but likens the eau de parfum to L’Heure Bleue for its floral profusion.

She finds in it a character at once abstract gourmand, seductive oriental and heady floral, carried by the iris and violet accord that orange blossom darkens. Not fond of fruity notes, she praises the balance Roucel keeps among all the elements, and refuses to see it as a puerile fragrance.

The eau de toilette, by contrast

As early as February 2007, the same critic described the eau de toilette as a study in contrasts: a garish pink strawberry opening that gives way to an elegant violet heart resting on creamy musks and woods. She recognized in it Roucel’s sensual vein, that of Musc Ravageur and Tocade.

Elena Vosnaki, Perfume Shrine

In October 2008, Elena Vosnaki compared the two concentrations. She describes the eau de parfum as a big, sweet, loud floral, close to Météorites, with a licorice flavor woven into its body, and sums it up in a phrase: a “sci-fi rococo.”