There are so few designer/department store fragrance brands offering solids these days. You can probably imagine my excitement at seeing Givenchy offer not one but TWO of their most popular fragrances in this format. I considered doing “Swipe” reviews of these, but neither is a new fragrance–L’Interdit is from 2018 and Irresistible from 2020. They’re very well-known scents with lots of reviews already available across the internet. I’ll make just a few quick comments and then I’ll get to the details I think most people will find helpful for these two solids: the packaging and how the solid perfumes stack up against the eau de parfum versions.
In general, I like most Givenchy fragrances, but some have taken a while to grow on me. I wasn’t nuts about L’Interdit when I first tried it in liquid format. In fact, I waited a full 18 months after the launch of the solid to consider it again and bought a sample of the EDP to try a few more times before purchasing the solid. Having tried both the solid and liquid several times now, I have come around on the fragrance and enjoy it very much, especially in the solid format. (In this one, I smell traces of Ange ou Démon–probably my favorite Givenchy and another one that needed a little time to grow from a like to a love.) On the other hand, Irresistible was a blind buy but was an instant love. Virginia cedar is often a troublemaker for me, and I was afraid the rose note would be overpowering, but both the liquid and solid present as champagne fruity-florals on my skin, with the rose and cedar tucked seamlessly into the bouquet.
My L’Interdit was $34 (the price has since gone up to $37) and was purchased at Nordstrom. (The solid is also available at Sephora and it’s still $34 there.) I ordered my Irresistible solid–also $37–directly from the official U.S. Givenchy website. Eau de parfum samples were purchased on Mercari (and also included with my Irresistible order, hooray!)
Packaging
The packaging on both of these solids is phenomenal. The clear acrylic case houses a twist-up tube that contains the fragrance. The tube slides out of the case via a ribbon loop on the end. The packaging resembles glamorous, high-end lipstick tubes–so much so that Givenchy put a warning on the boxes that these are not for use on lips.
The cases are durable enough to be tossed into a handbag, and the twist-up tube holding the fragrance snaps tightly into place. I’m not worried that the case will break or accidentally slide open in my purse. These solids will be great for travel.
Performance
For each fragrance, I swiped the solid on my left arm and sprayed the EDP on my right arm, at the same time, and compared the two while making notes throughout the day. Here are the fragrance timelines and my thoughts for each.
L’Interdit
9:00 AM: liquid goes on very LOUD. A bit screechy, even. The floral notes present as sicky sweet grape soda. (I remember now why I didn’t rush to buy the solid.) Fortunately, the solid goes on as a creamier, better-balanced scent.
10:50 AM: the two scents have settled and smell identical, with intimate sillage.
2:00 PM: the two scents still smell identical. The fragrance has actually not evolved much since my last notes at 10:50 AM. The sillage is still intimate.
4:00 PM: the two scents have not evolved further and both still have intimate sillage, though the liquid is slightly stronger at this point.
6:00 PM: both are now skin scents. The solid has faded to the last base notes of vanilla and patchouli. The liquid has faded as well but has traces of floral notes are still present. For either format, this would be a good time to re-apply.
Irresistible
9:00 AM: liquid goes on with sharp pear and green notes. The solid is softer and creamier upon application.
9:30 AM: the liquid and solid smell the same and have intimate-to-arm’s-length sillage.
11:15 AM: the sillage has faded a bit to fully intimate. The solid’s creamier notes (orris butter, perhaps?) dominate. Pear is still prominent in the liquid.
1:15 PM: both are now skin scents and smell identical.
3:00 PM: both have dried down to the base notes, with a bit of rose still noticeable in the liquid.
10:00 PM: I stopped testing and making notes several hours ago, but as I prepared for bed, I noticed I could still smell the last musky base notes of both liquid and solid on my wrists, which is pretty remarkable. (If I had evening plans, I would have re-applied the scent several hours prior…)
Summary
As you can see from my notes above, for both L’Interdit and Irresistible, the solid’s performance is nearly equal to that of the liquid. This is not always the case with a solid, but clearly Givenchy have spent the time and resources to develop a quality product here. I’m hopeful they’ll expand the solid offering to include the other scents in their collection.
For L’Interdit, I actually prefer the fragrance in the solid format. To my nose, the opening notes in the EDP are very harsh. If you like L’Interdit best about 20-30 minutes after you spray it, the solid takes you there right away. That’s exactly where I want this fragrance to begin.
For Irresistible, I didn’t prefer one format over the other, but if the price point and portability of the solid make it a more attractive option for you, know that you can expect excellence all around. When my package arrived from Givenchy, it seemed very large and heavy for just a single solid perfume. When I opened it, I discovered a deluxe branded reusable magnetic box and free perfume samples, even though I had purchased one of the least expensive products on the brand’s website. That’s the kind of service we don’t often see these days and those extra touches really made my day. Thank you, Givenchy!
All images by me. All links ’cause I love.
Solidly Scented 
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