L'Instant de Guerlain pour Homme Guerlain (2004) Eau de Toilette

L'Instant de Guerlain pour Homme (Eau de Toilette) by Guerlain

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8.4 / 10 550 Ratings

L'Instant de Guerlain pour Homme (Eau de Toilette) is a popular perfume by Guerlain for men and was released in 2004. The scent is woody-spicy. It is still in production.

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Perfumer

Béatrice Piquet

Fragrance Notes

Top Notes	Aniseed, Bergamot, Grapefruit, Jasmine, Lemon
Heart Notes	Cocoa, Lavender, Patchouli, Sandalwood, Tea, Cedar
Base Notes	Hibiscus seed, Musk

Ratings

Scent

8.4 (550 Ratings)

Longevity

7.7 (391 Ratings)

Sillage

6.9 (362 Ratings)

Bottle

7.5 (382 Ratings)

Submitted by Kankuro, last update on 04.12.2019.

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Reviews

10/27/2019

8.0 6.0 7.0 8.5/10

DrGourmand
0 Reviews

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DrGourmand

Greatly helpful Review 22

Hotschi kaka-o go go Co-Co - or "In search of the world's best office fragrance"

Ho-Chi-ka-ka-ho Co-Co
Ho-Chi-ka-ka-ho Co-Co
Ho-Chi-ka-ka-ho go go Co-Co
With this chorus in the song "Co-Co" the English glamrock band The Sweet landed their first big hit in 1971, followed by several No.1 and TopTen placements in the following ten years. For myself, my teenage years were not far away and so we bawled out catchy radio songs of the class enemy in our eagerness to play and imitate and felt cool and already very grown up. Hotschi kaka-o go go, Hotschi kaka-o and we pondered what the cocoa was all about, or sometimes Hotschi Kakka o go go, Hotschi Kakka o and hoped that this kind of brown could not be meant.

This kind of childhood memories and especially this piece of music occurred to me when I noticed the bold heart note of cocoa in the fragrances of L'Instant de Guerlain pour Homme EdT. I had bought it, tested it several times and sprayed it on to start a new fragrance journey a la "Héritage". Pat Schouli was ready and still the trip was cancelled in the end! There is simply no such thing as perfume to create an adventurous experience fragrance journey. L'Instant de Guerlain pour Homme EdT has something of the lightness of being. The opening is still strong, but very fast you are with a gentleman, an accurate official, well-kept open-plan office types and a shy Dustin Hoffmann, before he met Mrs. Robinson, on the way. A perfume without corners and edges, of noble origin, great to smell, zero obtrusive, pleasing and yet pleasantly noticeable in arm length!

Against this background, I noticed another fact. The community, a part of it at any rate, has been increasingly looking for the "best office fragrance in the world" lately, referring to the exponential increase in the number of comments on Office for Men (over 20 so far in October). I don't know the scent from my own experience and don't want to take part in whether and to what extent Office for Men is now or not, but I would like to raise the bar a whole lot.

L'Instant de Guerlain pour Homme EdT starts off with a strong citrus-fruity scent, very fresh and quickly integrated with tangy, spicy and floral aspects into a fragrant effortlessness, simple, soft and without any frills. A slightly emerging sweetness indicates the increasing transformation towards a cocoay, chocolaty and distinctive scent. With a very light lemon in the background, the tangy, delicate chocolate has a fragrant, spicy melt of finely balanced plantation quality with approx. 60-80% cocoa. The Pachouli does its utmost to ensure this sensual, balsamic sensation, supported by discreet wood. A fragile bitterness, possibly due to the tea, prevents the conversion to gourmand and the musk as well as the musky hibiscus seeds fix the graceful patchouli-cocoa complex sweetish-powdery and close to the body.

All the splendid and cocoa-like scent facets possess a reserved naturalness and relaxed serenity. The fragrance is neither dominant nor intrusive, but friendly and inviting. After four to six hours, he withdraws discreetly without wanting to conquer rooms beforehand. He greets the wearer and table neighbour in the morning with a fresh, hospitable hello, accompanies us benevolently as well as pleasantly through the day and says goodbye until the next time, with a cosy tender touch at the goodbye. As already indicated, an eventful fragrance journey is hardly possible with L'Instant de Guerlain pour Homme EdT, but he takes an office by storm, discreetly, sensitively, politely and sympathetically. And before that he jumps with his own carefree lightness over the higher bar of what can be reached for an "office fragrance"! Can anyone follow him?

15 Replies

06/29/2019

Joker145
0 Reviews

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Joker145

Less helpful Review 1

L'instant de Guerlain

L'Instant is a solid oriental fragrance that starts well. The best thing is to like the base note, which unfortunately appears very quickly. It seems to lose all its notes quite quickly, with the exception of that very base, and what distinguishes it from other oriental scents is the cocoa pod. It gives it an almost sensual quality, since the cocoa pod has a scent similar to baker's chocolate. The sweetness of L'Instant comes from the sandalwood, while the cocoa pod has a very dry, chocolaty feel. When I first became aware of cocoa, it was very similar to iris for me, and although they do not have the same note profiles, there are some slight similarities between this and Dior Homme (2005). It's a very nice fragrance, but it runs out too fast which is my main problem at the same time.

2 Replies

04/11/2019

6.0 7.0 8.0 7.5/10

Skills0401
0 Reviews

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Skills0401

Greatly helpful Review 8

The bearable lightness of being

It is just a cold, occasionally humid spring morning in Vienna - the 6 degrees correspond for me to the perfect temperature for the l'Instant EDT and the mood is also just crying for a comment.

With this perfume, Guerlain has succeeded in creating a fragrance for colder seasons that is strong enough to stand up well at low temperatures, but also retains a certain lightness throughout the entire process - unlike the EDP, which is a bit too opulent (and old) for me.

This lightness comes to me, however, only after the top notes have been overcome, which I find a little too old-fashioned - the mixture of clear anise, lemon and jasmine reminds me of the apartment of a great aunt unfortunately, hence the not quite so high rating. It takes about 30-45 minutes until the heart note and thus the highlight of the fragrance comes to the fore. This wonderful blend of cocoa notes and patchouli, lightly supported by lavender, which is so uniquely natural and airy and which I have to sniff over and over again throughout the day, exudes a certain grandeur which is difficult to describe - you know that the scent is special and emerges from the mass without being a ramp sow. Noble understatement. This highlight then remains clearly perceptible for 4-5 hours before l'Instant says goodbye slowly and just as reservedly, whereby I can hardly smell the base notes given here.

The Sillage is well done for me - perceptible, but with the right dosage at no time obtrusive. I think it's a shame about the old bottle, which was much more independent - the new ones are simple and nice, but not more than that.

Six degrees in Vienna - hopefully there won't be too many such days this spring. But when I do, I enjoy the Instants de Guerlain, which make this fragrance so special.

5 Replies

02/09/2019

10.0 8.0 8.0 9.0/10

Chevalier
0 Reviews

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Chevalier

Greatly helpful Review 14

We rarely think of what we have, but always of what we lack. Arthur Schopenhauer

This moment from before was long gone and I always saw this Guerlain over and over again. I thought he was really good, but somehow that was all. Afterwards surely tried over a hundred other fragrances and at some point got over the stronger moment of the perfume and thought, this is now the end of the flagpole. Then after thirteen years about once again this work of Mme Piquet stumbled and noticed how ingenious this fragrance really is.
Such a firework in the opening can only this Guerlain, of course with the obligatory Guerlinade, i.e. the vanilla background with the fruit taste. Unfortunately the perfumer died already in 2010 and could not deliver any more such works of art. Why work of art? I know little to no fragrances that deliver this performance for such a long time. The scent is still clearly recognizable even after six or seven hours. The Sillage has come a bit closer to the own body, but this basic essence which is still working is as already mentioned an art. The sad thing with many products which are not from Guerlain is the performance which disappeared after a few hours. Guerlain is not a niche player, yet it always offers a remarkable performance in its price-performance world.
There are still Clarins and Versace products that also belong to the better performers in the Sillage. Otherwise, unfortunately, there is relative drought with the numerous fragrances in the similar segment.
The sandalwood in this Linstant is very pleasant after a while and the change from an initially chypre-like impression to a real woody moment. The strength of the wood is extremely pleasant. The grapefruit and lemon disappear completely and the wood determines the finish. I can hardly recognize cocoa, rather patchouli pushes itself into the foreground with the woody one. It stays that way after six to seven hours, after which it's slowly over.
That's why you can buy your brother as a perfume, but he can't be compared because his cocoa-like dominance makes you forget everything about this perfume.
Absolute recommendation for the upcoming spring and summer.
We rarely think of what we have, but always of what we lack.

4 Replies

09/08/2018

8.0 7.0 8.0 8.5/10

Konsalik
0 Reviews

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Konsalik

Greatly helpful Review 17

The clever service provider

L'Instant de Guerlain pour homme is in a way the simplest of all the Guerlain fragrances I have tested so far. Not in terms of the abundance of components used, but simply in terms of its expression, its goal. He left me no question marks, opened no locked doors to the past, and did not take me on a journey. The citric prelude with lemon and grapefruit very soon merges gently into the much discussed cocoa-patchouli-musky base, whereby the grapefruit can hold its own for a long time and prevents stuffy powderiness or gourmand overloading for many hours until the end with its remaining freshness. So it is to some extent the "delicious", "cuddly" nose warmer you read so often about.

However, his outer garment, thus described in a halfway exhaustively, nestles so finely and seamlessly against the noble "guerlinade" which forms the core here as well, that one can forgive his somewhat prosaic behaviour as well as easily differentiate between his more refined form of chimney coziness and the striking effect fixation of many of his colleagues. In short, it is the guerlinade that gives this "crowdpleaser" its backbone and posture. An example: L'Instant works for the gentleman who cares about himself in many situations after sunset. In a good restaurant as well as in a club. Always present, but never loud, L'Instant makes promises he can't keep. Men's chocolate instead of cotton candy, courteous instead of chumming up, help in the coat without reaching for the butt - you get my point. This fragrance is a clever, fine service provider. A Reginald Jeeves that makes a Bertie Wooster look good even in potentially delicate situations and at the same time prevents mistakes.

It's good that you don't have to say too many words about this scent. There are moments (nomen es omen!) when you need such scents on the shelf.

6 Replies

08/23/2018

7.0 7.0 7.0 9.0/10

Jazzy76
320 Reviews

Jazzy76

Carpe diem (seize the day)

This fragrance is a unique experience: I tested it today and I fell in love with this officially masculin scent which smelled so good on me.
I thought of its name: l'instant(franch word for "the moment") and my mind ran to my school memories and to the classical Horace's poem where he says: "Carpe diem".
This fragrance is a moment to live with intensity, it's a little trip in the dreams land or a forbidden kiss to steal before the time goes by.
The citrusy opening is very light and immediately a warm and sensual cocoa note mixed to a not earthy but round patchouli hits your nose: It's like a temptation. Then, the musky base note closes this acchord like the words "the end " after a love or fantasy movie.
The longevity and the sillage of this eau de toilette aren't so strong and it's just for this reason that you must enjoy it immediately or after a few hours.Then, it slowly disappears.
It's a wonderful fragrance to share, not only for men. Carpe diem!

08/05/2018

7.0 7.0 8.0 8.5/10

Schoork
0 Reviews

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Schoork

Greatly helpful Review 27

A very fine one

450 users have it!
77 users want him!
115 users have noted it!
5 users use it as signature scent!

What kind of reference,or?

The last comment to this quite exquisite smell lies however already more than 1 1/2 years back.
Do I have to come and end this lull?

That's a fine one!

All right.
I'm not going to tell you anything new, but I have a story to tell.

First of all I had to learn the difference between the EdT and the EdP.
I had tested the EdP first a few months ago and all the time the fragrance seemed familiar to me. I liked him, but he also reminded me of something or something.

At some point I realized that my family doctor smells like this, and I've always thought so. I'm not often there, but he wears it and the good one is surely already at the beginning of 60.
No, I don't want to smell that way, and that's the EdP out for me. In general he was a bit too heavy for me with too much of everything.

I told my Holden about this and for this purpose I sprayed him again to show her this, but I accidentally took the EdT.

What the hell was that? Much fresher it started and altogether also easier, whereby the reason DNA which I like remained to be recognized clearly. But this only happened on paper strips so I told myself that I had to test it again on me in any case.

Tested some time ago on a too warm day he never got out of my head again.
It was as I said very warm and I sprayed it on me in a perfumery.
I still liked it, but the weather caused it to sink a little.

I had to go shopping and went to a supermarket and then it happened...at the freezer he came back. BÄM.
I'll say. I noticed him very well when I was there and as soon as I went back into the warm he became paler. He needs cold. At least me.

But he has been quite wonderful in these "cold" moments, so from now on he became a clear candidate for the autumn.

It starts fresh with lemon and grapefruit, surrounded by aniseed. Not too strong, just fine tuned. In general, the word "fine" is very well used in the fragrance.
That's a fine one!

It continues quite quickly with a hint of jasmine and then cocoa and lavender set in. Wonderfully composed and very nobly it arrives in my nose. The cocoa does not appear too dominant, so that one should not speak here necessarily of Gourmandisch.

I see myself dressed with a nice shirt on jeans with this scent perfectly.

The whole thing stays together wonderfully, a little tea and cedar is easily added to the back and the noble impression remains. A very fine one!

He can also hold out for a long time, he can easily manage an office day.
He is never pushy, his Sillage is only a bit stronger at the beginning, he rather strokes his surroundings than patting her on the shoulders.

450 users have it!
77 users want him!
115 users have noted it!
5 users use it as signature scent!

You did everything right, because that's a fine one!

S.

7 Replies

05/11/2015

ColinM
516 Reviews

ColinM

Very helpful Review 9

Masterpiece

Pointless for me to review this in detail, that's basically why I never did it before (not that anyone should care). Just go to the nearest perfume shop and experience what is, hands down, one of the greatest masterpieces of contemporary masculine perfumery. What makes this a masterpiece instead of just a really good scent? Everything. It's like listening to Rachmaninov played by your local high school orchestra, then by the Berlin Philarmonic, everything contributes to create a unique, memorable experience - the quality of the instruments, the acoustic of the hall, and obviously the players and the director. L'Instant has them all: it's luminous, classy, versatile, distinctive, delightful to smell on yourself. One of those scents you don't need to be "in the mood for" wearing, 'cause it will smell amazing and work great every time. Total quality from any point of view. This, vintage M7, Dior Homme and Rush for Men basically compose the highest almighty Olympus of post-2000 scents. A perfect blind buy and blind gift to anyone.

10/10

12/22/2014

9.0/10

Lucian
11 Reviews

Lucian

Helpful Review 3

I love it!

LIDG is one of the best fragrances you can buy from your local fragrance shop. It's not hard to get like LIDGE is, but it's just as good if you ask me. And it's not a very common fragrance, like 1 Million, La Nuit or so.

I love this blend of citrus, dark chocolate and woods, it's really smells classy , mature, and manly. Versatility it's great, you can wear it almost all year without offending peoples. It's best suited for 25+ years well dressed mens.

The fragrance is always remind me, for some reason, of some good quality, Christmas tree chocolate candy from my childhood , and I absolutely adore it. The performances are very good on my skin.

07/02/2014

MasterLi
367 Reviews

MasterLi

Coca-Cola, anyone?

The very first time I smelled this... I didn't like it so much, and I didn't really warm up to it. Even though I'm a huge Guerlain fan and I love them very much. But I will say that L'Instant pour Homme is definitely an interesting one. There is a lot going on and it does smell extremely nice.

Describing this one is interesting... It is supposedly inspired by the food of North Africa and the Middle East, with the honeyed, caramel chocolate and the strong anise liqueur vibe, hibiscus flower, and strong tea aroma. It is definitely interesting. As always I do love the 'Guerlainade' (Guerlain's signature) dry-down of Rose, Jasmine, Orris Root, Tonka Bean and Resins. It's still very appealing and I certainly give Guerlain the credit for it.

However, again I must say that the first time I smelt it I thought it was a little generic, and the notes didn't really sit well with me, kind of like a clash between cocoa and citrus. Strange as this may sound, I was also instantly reminded of Coca-Cola (I'm not sure if I'm the only one who has this impression). Even now I still don't love it as much as others may do.

But, I will admit that I completely respect the quality here and I love what the late Béatrice Piquet has done here (it won an international award after all!). I read that she tried to evoke an impression of 'cold light' or 'luminescence', and I totally get that from the combination of bright citrus and the creamy sandalwood/cocoa. I do both appreciate and understand the concept, and respect her for doing that. I also really think this could almost be like a modern, updated 'Habit Rouge' for the 21st Century, as I definitely think it pays homage to that creation. I must also say that I really enjoy the bottle, with it's Art Deco style. Very nice touch.

Overall, although I highly commend Guerlain for this interesting creation... I actually like the Eau de Parfum version just a little better. This one is still a solid fragrance though, and it's no disappointment either... and I still believe that everything Guerlain does is very enjoyable and certainly exquisite!

09/12/2013

8.0/10

Hgonzalez
7 Reviews

Hgonzalez

Strange surprise

I just make a blind buy of this fragance based in the positive reviews. I kinda like but my wife and my 10 years son get a smell of urine or piss. I can't get that urinal vibe, to me smell citrus in the opening and then a cacao / woody.

It's weird cause nobody comment any similar before in the reviews. Which note can possible give that strange smell?

Anyone have this problem with this fragrance (pissy note)? NOTE: I purchased it online from a reliable seller, i don't think that by bottle be a fake (old stock, maybe).

EDIT: I test the fragrance again with other people and nobody smell anything wrong. After that i ask to my wife and son to smell 4 different fragrances (one of the are L'Instant) and they did not get any weird smell. The fragrance are very good and just the first impression was a little weird.
Regards.

2 Replies

03/02/2013

5.0 5.0 7.5 7.0/10

Miaw2
339 Reviews

Miaw2

Great fragrance

Cacao and anise does the trick here. This is a very well blended scent that smells unique and classy. Good for all year around.

Projection, sillage and lasting power are medium-high. Definetely worth it.

As others of this brand, the drydown has the "guerlinade" note.

Updated January 2014

12/18/2012

7.5 10.0 10.0 5.0/10

Drseid
677 Reviews

Drseid

Not Impressed...

L'Instant de Guerlain pour Homme opens with a decent dose of a combination of lemon, bergamot and grapefruit, quickly combining with a large blast of anise. The anise soon takes over and dominates the citrus to the point that the citrus is barely detectable. Joining the still prominent anise, a extremely powdery lavender and cocoa combo emerges in the heart notes, sweetened by a supporting patchouli and sandalwood. The powdery cocoa and sandalwood remain in the dry-down, only joined by a light musk. Projection and longevity are both very good.

I have really tried to like this scent, but as many times as I wear it, it just has not happened. I can certainly appreciate the quality, but I am not a big anise fan and L'Instant has a lot of it. Even worse is the extremely powdery nature of the cocoa and lavender that I just find distracting and uncomfortable to wear. For the same reason why I dislike Dior Homme Intense, the semi-sweet powdery nature here ruins things for me. If you enjoy sweet powdery scents, then this may be exactly what you are looking for and the pricing on L'Instant pour Homme is quite reasonable, but in my case I find it not something I choose to wear. This one was a blind buy gone wrong for me but due to the good quality I'll give it a neutral rating and 2.5 stars out of 5.

1 Replies

07/15/2012

jtd
484 Reviews

jtd

a bit of everything

l'Instant pour Homme feels pulled in a few too many directions for me. It's a fresh, oriental, woody, gourmand, green citrus. It seems built to try to please everyone just a bit. It's warm and it's cool. It's dry and it's sweet. It seems like it's intended to be discrete, but with its finger in so many pies just seems non-committal to me.

l'Instant's mix of mild gourmand elements on top of woods, citrus and the rest of the kitchen sink is the equivalent to my nose of 'a bad taste in my mouth.' I tried to like this one for quite a while, but it never took.

02/20/2012

5.0 6.0/10

Missk
1165 Reviews

Missk

Subtle woods and vanilla

This fragrance seems to get a multitude of rave reviews. Even Luca Turin, says that it is hard to find fault in this particular scent.

When I first smelt L'Instant de Guerlain I was very impressed, I couldn't stop smelling it. My only gripe is that I cannot remember this fragrance at all. My mind practically records the way something smells like a text-book. I fear that this fragrance wasn't memorable enough for me.

From what I jotted down on a piece of paper shortly after testing, I remarked at how woodsy and formal this fragrance seemed to be. It had a nice, almost refined approach that is always refreshing to find on a man.

There's a touch of earthy vanilla in there somewhere, which is wafting up to my nose from the scented card, in which the scent has almost all but vanished. I didn't get any of the cocoa that some have mentioned finding.

This fragrance didn't last too well unfortunately. However others have found the complete opposite, so I may be re-visiting this fragrance again and quite possibly editing this review in the near future.

01/03/2012

5.0 7.5 7.5 8.0/10

Asphaltblume
45 Reviews

Asphaltblume

Woody. Spicy. Wonderful.

I played with my ancient perfume samples again and found "L'Instant de Guerlain pour Homme", and as I learned on this site to regard the allocation "for men" resp. "for women" as a mere recommendation, I allowed a drop of this on my wrist.
My first impression is wood, lots of it. A newly carpentered sundeck made from pine wood, cedarwood most likely. That would make sense because cedarwood is a resistant building wood that may be exposed to moisture. But now it's steaming in the hot sun.

In addition, there's a certain fruitiness, some herbs with mediterranean flair and a few blossoms that add depth to the fragrance. Plus pointy bits that prickle my nose unpleasantly.

I can't really smell cocoa, but I guess that that is the note that makes the wood smell less like trees and more like finely polished furniture, a refined woodiness.

Up to now I don't think this fragrance suits me. But I think that on the right skin - and I am thinking male skin actually - it will be stunning.
Ho, now the aniseed decides to show up and I like it! It is no domineering aniseed but a teamplayer using his pliant and slightly sweet spiciness to mediate between the other notes. I like to use aniseed that way in the kitchen myself!

I get the impression that aniseed is tugging along some shy friends from the kitchen spice shelf. I can't say which though, as they only shine through as a warm and spice presence in the background.

By now the woodiness has slipped into the background a bit, but it is still present and the spices seem to have blended with the woods. I can smell flowers now as well, jasmine with a hint of lavender, and there's a rose here as well, listed or not. A light but spicy Japanese rose. The blossoms are floating lightly and unobtrusively over the sweetish woody-spicy notes. they are not domineering, they only weave another plane into the fragrant picture. Beautiful!

Two hours later there is only a tender breath of wood and spice sitting on my wrist. That may be due to my splashing around with water in the garden getting my sleeve wet and releasing wafts of laundry detergent rivaling L'Instant de Guerlain pour Homme.

I can't decide finally on the durablity. Sometimes I'm amazed at how tenacious such a tiny breath of redolency can hover over the skin. What I can say though: I like L'Instant de Guerlain pour Homme, especially after the first hour. After that I like to smell it on myself, too, but I still think that it is more suited to male skin. There it may well be a fragrance I'd be willing to throw myself at...

Another hour later I can still detect little wafts of the fragrance reaching my nose every now and then. Very lovely, light, warm, cosy and inviting. And those little wafts are persistent.