Guess Seductive Noir Women

Another successful cheapie blind buy. I still don't know what Mon Guerlain smells like (odd because I'm a huge fan of that house), but I can't imagine it being any better than this. I was expecting more of the heavy herbal top note (Lovely by SJP and MG both have lavender; this has sage instead), but I mostly smell delicious tart bergamot in the beginning, along with some sweet piquant peony, which creates a kind of lavenderish-vibe with the sage. But on my skin it doesn't come off masculine or even pleasantly medicinal like Lovely by SJP--a fragrance I like, regardless of how much it smells like MG. From the SN I get extremely well-blended vanilla and jasmine, with a little grapey iris and some green lily-of-the-valley. Even though I haven't had it on very long, I can smell the vetiver coming through--and surprisingly the bright citrus note of the bergamot is still perceptible to me. This smells expensive and not too gourmand--you smell like the person who gets to eat the fancy pastry, not the fancy pastry itself. It also smells very clean to me--possibly because of the bergamot and lily-of-the-valley, with a perfumey aldehyde note that helps with projection. I do get a faint hint of tobacco, which isn't listed, but I think it's sage or possibly just coumarin confusing my synapses again--there is definitely a nutty almond quality to the base, which might just be a characteristic of the vanilla. I don't really understand the "velvet" note, insofar as velvet is odorless, but maybe that's just branding talk for cashmeran or another musk. Update: I read some more reviews and learned that the Guess website lists the notes differently than Fragrantica (no velvet!). As this dries down on me, I'm really enjoying the way the vanilla and vetiver interact with the jasmine. I don't think I'm smelling tobacco--certainly not the pronounced note that I get from the coumarin in Joop! Le Bain--but the vetiver is so deep and rich that it smells a little smoky without smelling like incense or oud. It smells to me more like peatmoss and wild grass. So pretty that I'm tempted to buy a backup bottle but will resist the urge, since I already have more perfume than anyone needs. According to Texas Orange Blossom below, the real notes (as listed on Guess website) are as follows: Straight from the Guess website.... Top notes: bergamot, sage, peony Middle notes: iris pallida, jasmine sambac, muguet Dry notes: vetiver haiti, white suede, vanilla Update: I have the Mon Guerlain now, and I wear it fairly often (the EDP), but I won't stop wearing the SN, too. I'm glad to have both in my collection. I treat the SN as a flanker version of MG--except in this case it's a much less expensive one, nowhere near as pricey as any of the sanctioned ones. Yes, the Guerlain is better blended, and it seems to have better ingredients--the longevity is also better, although it's unfair to compare them, since the Guess is an inexpensive EDT. I do find them both to be in the general fougère category, with SN leaning more masculine (with its sage and stronger tobacco note) than the SN, and maybe equal to the SJP, although I see Lovely as more of a barbershop fougère, and MG and SN as borderline gourmand fougère, if such a beast is possible.

Finally got my hands on this after years of it being on my wanted list. It does remind me of "Mon Guerlain" but without the icky nasty licorice note. And that, makes this PERFECT! This goes on very creamy and yet spicy but the vanilla takes over completely and the iris gives a powdery feel as the sage provides a spicy kick. I didn't get that long of a wear from this, it lasted about 4 hours on me where i could pick up on it, But stayed a skin scent for at least 3 more hours. I just reapply from my pocket decant that I always carry daily. This is a very moderate, well behaved and yummy vanilla. A mature vanilla that has all the softness of deep-drydown "Mon Guerlain" but without the heavy Lavender and that hint of Licorice. Great pricing as well!! Honestly, i like this waaaaaaaay better than my "Burberry - Goddess" and "Lattafa - Angham" and i wish so badly that i would have bought this way back when i first considered it.....BEFORE i ended up 3 bottles deep in B.Goddess. 😤😤😤 I could have bought 5 full size bottles of SNPF for the price of just the FIRST bottle of BG. Stupid me...this is what i get for procrastinating. 😭😭😭 I'll keep the remainder of my current bottle of BG, but I'll send my backup bottle to my Aunt that loves the sample i sent to her earlier this year. Once i get more bottles of SNPF, i won't be wearing BG anymore. Backstory: I used to see this in Burlington every day 3-4 years ago and i never picked it up. As soon as i finally decided to get a full size bottle of this....every store in my area no longer has any for sale. Ross, Burlington, TJ Maxx, Walmart....none have it in stock within a 50 mile radius of me. I had to pick up a bottle while out of state...and the one i got is only a 30ml. So i guess I'll be ordering a few full-size bottles online. 14FEB25 UPDATE: I've been wearing this layered with another fragrance and I've gotten soooo many compliments on the combo!! A lady at the post office even stopped me on the way out to say that my fragrance smelled sooooo good and what was it because she wanted to buy a bottle. I told her it was a combination of two fragrances and gave her the little decant I always carry around of what I'm wearing for the day. She thanked me, gushing that she wasn't expecting to be able to have some of it. I really think that made her day, and i'm happy to have been a part of someone elses happiness. :) I also went ahead and bought a full-size bottle of SNPF and sent the remains of my little bottle to a fragrance friend. I hope it gets her as many compliments and positive receipt as it has for me. I am definitely ordering two backup bottles as soon as I can. I'm still kicking myself for waiting so long to get this beautiful vanilla...It used to be in every discount store that I went to in my town, now it cannot be found AT ALL....ANYWHERE! I never thought I'd have to order this online...but such is life.

I'm wearing Seductive Noir EDT the day after I wore Mon Guerlain EDP, and indeed they are very similar, although it would do a disservice to the wonderful nose Laurent Le Guernec to call Seductive Noir a dupe of the Wasser/Jelk composition. Sometimes very similar ideas arrive to people independently, and all the best perfumes in history (that we know of anyway) are responses to or revisions of other fragrances. Just as all literature is intertextual, perfumes cannot exist in a vacuum, untrammeled by cultural associations and the influence of other minds. So I suppose if you want to get all fancy about it, SN and MG are in conversation with each other and with our personal or cultural associations--many people are going to describe both perfumes as masculine or reminiscent of shaving cream because of the fougère-like qualities of this perfume, more specifically the lavender-tonka or sage-tonka accord that defines these perfumes and makes them recognizable (and in this way most like each other). Sarah Jessica Parker's Lovely, also created by Le Guernec, shares this barbershop vibe and is, not coincidentally, also often described as masculine. But my associations with lavender and sage are wider than those attached to conventional gender norms. When I smell SN on myself, I think of expensive soaps and spices from Provence, and, yeah, sure, OK, hugging my grandpa, maybe a little, but that's a loving scent memory, not a way of saying that SN exudes butchness. A friend once described SN as smelling like birthday cake with blown-out candles and never mentioned the sage (or the subversion of gender norms) at all. I hope Guess never stops making it. I find the longevity to be quite impressive, especially for an EDT, and the price simply can't be beat. I have a good stock of Mon Guerlain, but I don't really consider Seductive Noir to be redundant, even though it's a lot like MG and might easily be mistaken for that one if smelled on skin in the wild. To me MG's base and its snazzy little flourish of licorice or anise with the herbaceous lavender give it an overall more aromatic aspect. Also, the Guerlain vanillas are among the best in the world, so it's a little unfair to compare them to the humbler iteration available to Guess (which is to say whatever major international corporation is servicing Guess, or vice versa). I think it's possible to acknowledge these differences without diminishing the value of Seductive Noir, whch smells far more expensive than it actually is. The MG smells expensive because it is expensive: big whoop!

I ordered two new Montale gourmands, and three Guerlains and threw this in the cart for $20 because I heard good things. Then I was trying the Montales and this one all at once with my husband and he asked me which was my favorite and I said Cafe Intense for me, (I love a dark, brooding, rose - its the same one in Cafe Rose and Atomic Rose and Infini Rose), Guess SN for going out, and Chocolate Greedy for going to bed (with him)." Chocolate Greedy is kinda like if Choco Musk was an expensive dark chocolate with mandarin oranges and a hit of coffee instead of a linear powdery Tootsie Roll that lasted and projected like a Montale (until you wash it off) instead of ghosting after 3 hours (tops) like a $8 perfume like Choco Musk does - which I love for the 3 hours I can smell it on me...but I gave the rest of my bottle to my 4 year old after I got Chocolate Greedy and it smells perfect on her clothes. Really like a baby girl should smell not a 30 year old married mother. Choc Greedy of course smells and performs amazing like all Montales do. BUT I asked my husband which one was his favorite and he said, "Oh definitely the one you said you'd wear for going out (GSN)." Lol my husband is 35. GSN does smell BEAUTIFULLY crafted. But be warned kids, it does smell like a perfume - not like you spilled a couple of the ingredients for your cake. I haven't got my Guerlains in the mail yet so I can't compare it to them yet side by side and don't trust my memory of how it smelled when I first smelled MG a while ago to give an amazing comparison breakdown but Ill come back when I do get them and compare it to all 3 MGs. I ordered Mon Guerlain EDP, the Intense flanker, and the Sparkling Bouquet flanker so if this smells anything like any of those then my husband is going to be one happy man. I DID hear the Mon Guerlains were "wifey" scents. Rumors confirmed. This was my husbands favorite, so IF this smells like the MG EDP, and considering the votes, it must smell like it at least a little bit, "wifey" scents indeed...which I consider the highest compliment from a man for a women's perfume. I'd wear this in all weather's and seasons. It's not "too" anything. It's lovely. And who and how is someone smelling Barbisol shaving cream? That isn't the perfume that's your upper lip.

Doing a side-by-side comparison of Guerlain Mon Guerlain EDP on my left wrist, and Guess Seductive Noir EDT on my right wrist. Opening: MG is much sharper, probably due to the lavender that sits on top of the skin. SN opens with a slight blast of alcohol, which disappears quickly to reveal a similar opening to MG, but much softer and rounder and slightly less strong. Middle: MG remains more herbal, as the lavender is still noticeably present. SN reduces in its herbalness and instead goes more floral. The rose in MG starts making a presence, whereas the floral notes in SN lean more towards white florals. Still very similar. Dry-down: MG remains a little bit more sharp, with more of the lavender still present, whereas SN brings out more of the soft and round vanilla. The sharpness in MG does remind me a little bit of the sharpness that is present in YSL Libre and some fruitchouli scents, even though MG is not a fruitchouli. SN stays a soft vanilla, soft and round like Sol de Janeiro SOL Cheirosa 62 EDP, although without the sweet caramel notes. Its softness does bring it closer to "simple" vanilla body sprays, whereas MG keeps balancing the vanilla with lavender. Verdict: I owned MG before SN, but I prefer SN. The lavender note in MG does not blend in to my skin, and seems to stay awkwardly on top. This is something I also had with YSL Libre, so maybe it's something lavender does on me. SN turns into a soft cloud of vanilla -- sweet, but not caramel or sickly and keeping just the tiniest bit of an herbal edge from the sage. Because of scent associations to similarly soft and pleasant vanilla body sprays, SN does smell a little bit cheaper than the sharper MG. But this is not a judgement of its quality at all, and is purely based on the lack of herbal MG/Libre-like vanilla scents as body sprays. They are very similar, with SN being the slightly softer and rounder one out of the two. As Seductive Noir retails for about a quarter the price of Mon Guerlain, I would say it's a clear winner. Edit: 3 hours later, both have turned into skin scents, but Seductive Noir smells slightly stronger.