Gabriela Sabatini

Beautiful opening - honey, linden, tuberose, light sandalwood. This is warm, cozy, feminine - but not sugary sweet. This fragrance goes on well blended, there are no screeching notes that pull your focus away from the beauty of the full chord. This fragrance is good from the start. (This goes on attractive from the very first second it is sprayed, there is no downtime allowing your chemistry to absorb an overly chemical, aldehyde, or ozonic type composition). I am trying this based on the comparison's to Joop Femme because this is the perfume that a lot of people have said is similar. I would agree. However, I feel that it is actually much closer to the softer notes within the chord of Jil Sanders No. 4. This dry down is more sweet and ends on a slightly different note than Joop Femme. (GS, JF, and JS No. 4 are all in the same family with a warm, cozy, autumnal type vibe). Great so far, still testing this. ---------- Update: This wears lighter than Joop Femme and has less silage after the initial spray and 30 minutes of wear. Joop caramelizes more with my chemistry towards the last hours of wear. Both are good fragrances with nice notes. Both have a more solid presence than some of the lighter more cotton candy varieties that have been popular this past 15 or so years. Neither are dated, they both would have their place in a fragrance wardrobe as easily now- as the day they were created. I love that - and that is one of the qualities I look for -- a perfume that is ageless and timeless! For the person who asked "how much is GS like Joop Femme? Both register within the exact same chords -- and are falling into the alto range. Joop Femme's sweet sandalwood rises up slightly into a few notes range above GS. Joop Femme is earthier, there is a woodsy rawness in the notes of Joop Femme that are absent in GS. GS is more floral rather than the heavier woodsy notes of JF. If you have a small fragrance wardrobe and only choose to have fragrances that represent one particular "vibe" - you will want to try both and decide which of the two you prefer because they are similar. If this is your dominant everyday type perfume - and you use this as your signature, you may want to purchase both for different occasions. I would say that my nose picks up about a 35 - 40% difference in the tone of how these wear. They are NOT dupes, by any means. The same person could wear both - and others may detect their general likeness enough to substitute for each other as a signature. Choose GS if you are more into florals; this could even be more of your spring/summer fragrance - and JF if you prefer a slightly more woodsy-outdoorsy type grounded fragrance with more of a nod towards autumn. If you like GS - I would also try Jil Sanders No. 4 - and David Yurman Exotic Essence. These all have a familiar type smell, but will wear differently on the skin for different moods and different purposes. All are classically elegant and have an alluring sandalwood note to them. Knowing by Estee Lauder is perhaps a cousin of this group, it has less sandalwood - but is just as alluring and autumnal. First is also something to try if you really like GS, they are cousins. Update: I purchased this around the same time that I purchased Joop Femme. I found initially that I was wearing Joop Femme more than Sebastini. Sebastian was set aside with the intention to put this back up for a trade or resale -- THEN, I decided to wear this one again, sampling it in the inner part of my arm near the elbow. Wow... a few hours into this this perfume moves into this soft irresistible sandalwood that is very smooth and ultra feminine and sexy. I was testing three perfumes at the same time, so when I caught a waft of this - I assumed that it was one of the other two perfumes... But NO. This is THE ONE! I knew when I asked the girl that was first wearing this - that this is a really great smelling perfume -- ON. The sandalwood mixed with the honey, linden flowers, and tuberose -- make an awesome perfume. This becomes totally enchanting and mesmerizing! I wish that this were a bit stronger -- (that is probably why I wear Joop Femme a bit more)... but the dry down and this after glow - is really incredible! It really caught me completely off guard! This may be a great bedtime fragrance to wear - because it is incredibly sexy to wake up to! This one definitely has "a secret power" to it! I agree with that comment - the dry down and after glow are definitely a "Love, Love, Love"! I also like that this fragrance doesn't go through the typical chemical adjustment that some fragrances go through when they are first sprayed. This starts off much better, sooner... there is no "wait a bit before you wear this out" - time delay. This is good from the start! ------------- After wearing this awhile -- The first hour or so, this fragrance has a perfume note which smells like hair oil and sandalwood. Don't let this throw you from trying it. This smell only lasts the first hour or so, then begins to shift and morph into a gorgeous sandalwood perfume which finishes much better than it starts. The last traces of this caramelize incredibly well with my chemistry. This is hauntingly beautiful the longer it wears. It is a perfume that has made me look into the creator of this to see his other creations. It is really fabulous with my chemistry. --------------- Continuing to Sample - The last phases of wear of this are like magic. I love how this blooms on the skin, the dry down is just incredibly scrumptious! I wish more perfumes did this. I decided to try several fragrances at one time, trying to trick myself by not paying attention to exactly where I had sprayed each scent -- this is one that came out the clear winner with a chemistry which really transforms in the bend of my arm. Amazing - there are only a few fragrances that do this amazing caramelization through the dry down. This is one of the things that I look for now, in a signature scent. Rare Gold by Avon is one that has this same chemical reaction with my skin in the dry down. Noir Tease by Victoria's Secret does this same type of thing also. This now has me on the hunt for other perfumes that blend this well with my own chemistry. Something is definitely happening in the final phases of wear, this is truly spectacular!

(Long review. Skip if not interested in the serious perfume review.) One of the rare celebrity or sport people parfumé that is good. Not just good. It deserves name fragnance. It's historical. It's pompous. It's very sexy. It's erotic. Radiant. Alluring. Warm. Repulsive. Strong. Feminine. Eartly mélange of black stocking, leather skirt and dark earthly deepens. Divine. Femme fatale fragnance. Before I start to crack it down, I am of course not happy that this masterpiece is refolmulated, tho still very good. And the bottle, otherwise simple, élégant, useful in now cheap trash. I am so sad about this. Name? It doesn't fit. Do I care? No. I feel blessed that this great composition came out. Better out with not fitting name than no composition out at all. When I was early tenagee my cousin from Germany would visit with her parents. She was beautiful. Sexy. Full blood young woman. Very fast she notice I am interested into parfumés. Also into make up. I mentioned here in my reviews, she gifted me with many perfumes. And with first lipstick. I remember her pulling out of her luggage cosmetic bags and many perfumes. One of them was this. Gabriela Sabatini. There were few others. Joop. Hugo Boss. Cerruti and so on. I was mesmerised. Since then I own few perfumes that she introduced me into. Passionately trough my life. Even if I have year or days of not wearing them, I have them. Own them. Love them. This perfume is one of them. I needed many years to grow into wearing it. It's not scent for everyone. Not for simple young girls. It's Dame! It's mature. And very very sexual. As a young female you gotta learn being sexual. Sexy. Féminine. Seductive. This scent helps you with that. Males, not boys, love it. They memorise it. I suggest again, spray it on your hair, armpits, under breasts. Where you sweat. Where it can mix with your body smell. On your clothes. Into your gloves. Bags, shoes! Shatter people with it. Because it is the last breath of certain era, where femme was female. Wearing sexy but fitting underwear. Wearing sexy high heels but comfortable. Wearing hats! Wearing fur. Leather. Suitable make up. When eternal ancient "Greek" beauty was ideal. When we had beautiful supermodels. Beautiful cars. Clothes... And we had our world. All that is gone... So I love this scent even more. It brings me unbearable melancholy. Unbearable eroticism. This scent is like making love intensively with that great vaginal orgasm. Resting on your lover, smeared with his sweat... This scent contains male sweat. Not in reality, but the chemistry of the composition gives me that base note of skin and sweat. Male skin. Male sweat. In traces. Smell it. It also gives wet tobacco... My oh my... It gives "I am female now, " spirit. Top notes: aldehydes, bergamot, neroli, tangerine, lemon, fruity notes... These aldehydes are utterly vintage vibes. I adore it for that. Similar to Chanel 5 aldehydes opening. Vintage bottles present that better than new ones. If you can get them, buy. But! These aldehydes are layered more. They actually contain fruity notes, coming in right after the vintage splash. And the fruity notes are ripe Peelings of peach, plum, grapes I dare to say that I smell almond. It's fatty aldehydes opening but very very sexual. It screams "I am ripe, eat me." irresistible. Even before whole opening bursts out into surrounding. It's mostly citrus but that tangerine makes it absolutely unique. Middle notes: rose, tuberose, honeysuckle, heliotrope, jasmine, lily of the valley, exotic blossoms. Now go ahead look at this stubborn, powerful flowers working together to give unique, deep and earthly wet middle. Beautiful. Intense. A bit sweet. Because of honeysuckle. All the flowers are grown up scent flowers. Seductive ones. Poisonous ones. Determinated to twist your mind hard. To follow. To animalisticaly attack. To penetrate. To bite. Very sexual and erotic mélange in the composition and executed perfectly in the chemical sense. It's agressive. With the désire and yet laying nude with red lipstick on the bed of the Basic notes. Base notes: amber, musk, patchouli, sandalwood, vanilla, Oakmoss, tonka bean. When this great perfume fully burst out and sinks into base notes, remained till the end... Strong intoxication of jasmine, musk and that perfect mixture of middle notes. Unbelievable. Beautiful. It is not just vanilla. It's not linear in style at all. It's complex and it decides itself when and how to radiate. It's what I wrote at the beginning. A bit dirty. Pleasure dirty. Like woman should be while entering into skin of the séductrice.

I have no words, this genuinely smells so insanely good. it is a beautiful andolic, aldehydic, tonka aether. it starts off with a bold aldehydic, zesty mist. the zest comes from the orange blossom and honeysuckle. it smells so creamy, so juicy. Almost like a delicious orange peel cake. the tonka and oakmoss are definitely also stars of their own, giving it a sophisticated twist. it glows like an angel for a good 5-6 hours (the longevity is wonderful for a perfume this old, then again it's a given because it contains aldehydes which are hard to oxidize and decompose over time given that they are organic compounds created in a laboratory setting and are not derived by actual flora and fauna in nature) then, in a melodic last breath, nearing the end of its odyssey, it reeks of amber and heliotrope. Imagine a woman in a black dress with draped arms in an Art Deco hotel bar in the 80s. after a long night of hunting prey with her intense green eyes, she goes home and sits on the sofa with her champagne trumpet. staring at the Patrick Nagel art adjacent to her sofa, she feels as if she is staring in a mirror. As of tonight? she can own it all. p.s. it reminds me of perfumes like gucci scannon edp if it had its iris, caraway and leather removed and replaced with jasmine and aldehydes.

Funny that many of you mention that there are at least two versions of this, and indeed, here in the Netherlands I see 60 ml testers with something totally different from what I see here on the photo. A yellow juice with a reddish tint. I've tested it.... it is a fruit compote. The name is the same. At the same time they actually sell 20 ml bottles with the juice identical to what we see on the photo. It is dirt cheap here...I bought it....extremely likable! Nothing like weak compote in reddish 60 ml testers. I was afraid of strong aldehydic note and patchouli but no, aldehydes are not strong and there is no patchouli bitterness. Very feminine pleasant scent with fruit and jasmine followed by tonka and amber....warm. Definately not cheap-smelling. Long-lasting. I've tried Joop Femme before and it is too heavy with aldehydes and patchouli. The drydown is similar but Gabriela is definately much softer, more feminine and fruity.

Introduced in 1989, the first fragrance by Argentinian tennis player Gabriela Sabatini is a very rich floral with a fantastic composition. Once its soapy sharp opening -which can be a turnoff for many- settles, it becomes one of the most beautiful bouquets I have had the pleasure to enjoy: Jasmine, Orange Blossom, Honeysuckle and Lily-of-the-Valley, to mention a few of the notes. There's an ambery undertone to it that gives it a little warmth. Very similar to Joop! Femme, and sadly underrated, this is gem not many people know of. If you're into big florals -as I am- you will definitely enjoy this. Big plus: Sooo inexpensive! Great value for the buck!