Givenchy — L'Interdit Eau de Parfum
Essence
The 2018 L’Interdit EDP is Givenchy’s complete reinvention of its 1957 Audrey Hepburn classic - and it shares essentially nothing with the original aldehydic floral beyond the name. Composed by the heavyweight trio Dominique Ropion, Anne Flipo and Fanny Bal, it is a modern fruity-tuberose: a big, creamy white-floral bouquet of tuberose, jasmine sambac and orange blossom over a pear-and-bergamot top and a clean woody-patchouli-vanilla base. The marketing pitch of a subversive white flower crossed by a dark woody accord is largely fantasy; the actual juice is a cheery, polished, mainstream crowd-pleaser, often read as smelling like grape or bubblegum candy.
Scent Profile
The opening is bright and juicy - a dewy, honeyed pear with bergamot that many liken to bubblegum or grape soda, a candied facet thrown off by the tuberose and orange-blossom pairing.
The heart is the star: a thick, creamy tuberose pushed forward and rounded by jasmine sambac and orange blossom. Victoria of Bois de Jasmin described it as a very nicely done, cheery tuberose in the spirit of Juicy Couture, with the white creaminess of the flower played up by jasmine and orange blossom.
The base is where the marketing and the reality diverge. Givenchy promises dark notes, but the patchouli and vetiver read clean rather than dark - one critic found a sharp but clean patchouli with a subtle mossy effect, while another did not smell the promised dark undertones at all. Ambroxan and vanilla add a smooth, slightly sweet warmth. The whole composition is fairly linear and sweet, projecting as a creamy bubblegum-tuberose bubble.
Performance
Strong, designer-level performance is the consensus. Sillage and longevity are widely called satisfactory to above-average, with many describing a big projector that fills a room - one wearer’s partner could smell it from the doorway forty minutes after she sprayed - and longevity often spanning an eight-hour day with strangers commenting. The main caution is that it is easy to overspray, so one to two sprays suffice indoors. A minority get shorter wear or an off, carpet-cleaner note, so there is some chemistry dependence; the practical approach is to apply sparingly and let it bloom.
Wearing Context
Despite Givenchy’s daytime-everywoman positioning, it reads as versatile leaning evening and going-out, described as a nighttime or even formal scent, though plenty wear it day-to-night, from a fun night out to working from home. It is best across spring through fall, with the bright pear keeping it three-season friendly. The social skew is youthful, feminine, sweet and compliment-getting - a crowd-pleasing signature rather than a challenging or mature scent - and its sweetness and projection make it better suited to social settings than to conservative professional ones.
Comparisons & DNA
- Giorgio Armani My Way is the most-cited modern comparison, with an eerily similar structure; L’Interdit came first and is the sweeter, candied one, while My Way is fresher and cleaner.
- Prada La Femme and Ralph Lauren Woman sit in the same white-floral lane but read slightly less sweet.
- Thierry Mugler Alien is a heavier alternative for a bold white floral, though more jasmine-and-amber focused and otherworldly. Its spiritual ancestor is the brand’s own 1957 original, a powdery aldehydic floral that smells nothing like the 2018 version - the closer homage to the vintage is the 2007 Les Mythiques edition. The deeper DNA is really Dominique Ropion’s signature big creamy tuberose, also heard in his Givenchy work on Amarige and Ysatis.
Reception
Critically it is a textbook well-made-but-safe designer release: praised as charming and widely wearable but faulted as nothing distinctive, a walk on the safe side, with much of the disappointment aimed at recycling the storied name. One critic was more positive, embracing the bubblegum tuberose as thoroughly modern. Wearers are more enthusiastic than critics, many calling it a sexy, compliment-pulling signature, while detractors find it too sweet, headache-inducing, or a grape-soda and bubblegum bomb. Opinion divides on sweetness tolerance, the grape-candy facet, and disappointment among lovers of the vintage. It is a relatively safe pick if you like sweet white florals and projection, but worth sampling if you are sensitive to sweetness or expecting the dark, forbidden scent the marketing promises.
Versions & Reformulation
L’Interdit is a heavily flankered franchise. The 2018 EDP is the pillar, joined by L’Interdit Eau de Parfum Intense (deeper, amplifying vanilla and sesame), Eau de Parfum Rouge (2021, spicy with blood orange and pimento), Rouge Ultime (2023, cacao-laced) and L’Interdit Absolu, plus EDTs and a hair mist. Entirely separate is the lineage of the name itself: the 1957 original by Francis Fabron, a 2005 reformulation by Aurelien Guichard, and a 2007 Les Parfums Mythiques version closer to the vintage. The 2018 EDP itself has no widely reported reformulation, and wearers strongly distinguish the modern family from the vintage, which smell nothing alike.
Acquisition Notes
This is a mainstream designer release at mid pricing that is widely discounted, available in 35, 50 and 80 ml EDP. As an LVMH and Givenchy pillar it sells at department stores, major beauty retailers, the Givenchy site and discounters, with decants and samples abundant. Counterfeiting is a real concern for a high-volume designer fragrance, so buying from authorized retailers matters; Givenchy’s own guidance stresses the official site or approved sellers, and the brand uses a four-character batch code that online checkers can decode for a production date.
Notable Facts & Lore
- The name comes from a famous, possibly apocryphal anecdote: when Hubert de Givenchy proposed selling the bespoke 1957 scent he made for Audrey Hepburn, she protested “Mais je vous l’interdis” - “But I forbid you” - hence L’Interdit, the Forbidden.
- Hepburn fronted the original’s advertising in one of the first celebrity fragrance campaigns.
- The 2018 relaunch is fronted by actress Rooney Mara in a campaign set in tiled Paris Metro passages, themed on the thrill of the forbidden.
- The 2018 version is reportedly the last fragrance Hubert de Givenchy signed off on before his death in March 2018.
- The recurring controversy is attaching the storied L’Interdit name to a completely unrelated modern juice.