Gucci

Kudos to Gucci for coming up with a perfume with good sillage, lasting power and personality at a time when almost everything either has no lasting power or is sold for rather expensive prices. Gucci Guilty Absolute is a rose and patchouli combination adorned with berries in addition to some slight herbal touches which give it a nice edge. This fragrance family is not necessarily new - but it quite trendy I guess- and neither is Gucci Guilty Absolute the most unforgettable or daring member of the family. However, it is a good and solid representative of the rose and patch combos and to me more impressive than some other recent department store perfumes. The opening is a neat blackberry - neither syrupy nor too tart but easily recognizable. This comes together with a herbal edge and has a cool feel to my nose. Like shadows in a forest with berries here and there. It then becomes considerably sweeter with a clear rose note. I find it interesting that it is almost jammy on my skin but not cloying. There is an interesting sheer side to it despite the volume and sweetness. I think some people may find it a tad synthetic by this point, but I think there is a Gucci attitude in this perfume - bold and direct. The jammy rose is toned down slowly until the drydown when it becomes a light rose and patchouli combo with a bit of pine and IMO lots of pepper. On my skin, I think pine (this is actually fir) and pepper are more characteristic of the scent than patchouli. At this stage, I again think of a forest, although I would not call it an enchanted one. I also think it can be easily noticed and can be a compliment getter. Very good sillage and lasting power on me. I'm not planning to buy a full bottle because I like my rose and patch combos a bit darker but I can see myself wearing this if I was gifted a bottle.

This is a unisex perfume, and according to the house of Gucci, in a new category they call 'Mineral Aromatic.' In my experience, this translates to a vegetal green perfume with a minerally edge. It has Roman chamomile in top and Gucci says this the first time this note is used in perfumery. The heart consists of Indian Coral Jasmine Nature Print -apparently this note is exclusive to Gucci. The base is made up of vanilla, sandalwood and cedar. The marketing text is overambitious IMO with a bunch of artsy conceptualizations, and the fragrance certainly has this niche character. I am glad that Gucci have come up with something different which will probably be a love or hate thing. Personally, I find it interesting, appreciate that it is different but I don't love it. The roman chamomile opens like a very very vegetal note on me. It borders on becoming bitter but becomes kind of earthy, mushy, wet and sweet. I have read that the roman chamomile note has a sweetish green apple aspect to it and maybe this is the sweetness I get. There is also an airy, minty feel which kind of distracts me. For some reason, everything feels like a deep water aquatic, the very depths of a dark green pond. The only flower feel I get is some impression of an indescript wildflower. Although I like deep, green, herbal perfumes, this opening is not a favorite for me. Too many impressions and too much confusion perhaps. One might draw some intellectual pleasure from this experience and attempt to become an abstract art critique even, but in the end of the day, I want my nose to be happy and it isn't. Some members of the Hermes Un Jardin series smell quite vegetal on me, but while that note is like watercolour in Hermes, it is quite full-blast here. Then I start noticing the mineral note clearly. This is like a clean, metallic but gray coloured aldehyde, which makes me think of something between salt and some icy cold metal or concrete. I don't notice much honeyed jasmine during the heart. The fragrance becomes a lighter green, herbal and flower thing that does not leave me very excited. I believe I have worn fragrances with riskier notes before - gunpowder being one- but they provided a kind of excitement this one failed to provide for me. And the base is surprisingly conventional when compared to the rest, so much so that it feels out of order. It is a mellow, woodsy, slightly powdery light oriental base which is quite pleasing but I don't see why it is there after so much olfactory abstraction. Did Gucci try to give us a break? Or did they think that people who are after a more conventional experience would buy Mémoire for this base? Ultimately, this is different from what I usually come across in department stores - but I don't live in the US and my options are more limited. I think if you like Mugler's extraordinary fragrances like Aura and Womanity, you may give this a chance. I personally prefer Aura to this. One extra point for originality.

Notes from Fragrantica: Top notes are bergamot, grapefruit, watery notes, raspberry and narcissus; middle notes are violet, jasmine sambac and flower petals; base notes are musk, patchouli and amber. I have only smelled Gucci Guilty pour femme in passing and do not own it, so I can't fully compare this to that one, but I can tell you that I do get lilac in that one and this has none. That one also has pink pepper and geranium which both give it an entirely different feel to me. I feel like I could own and enjoy both. Love Edition has the prettier bottle though, and was LE so this one was added first. This is warm and soft and very sexy without being too over the top. There is a creaminess to it that I really enjoy, and no sharp edges whatsoever. Don't let the 'watery notes' deter you--there is nothing aquatic here. This is romance in a bottle, and I love it.