Check Please

I was sent samples for this and Playmate and I gotta say.. I’m absolutely mesmerized. I LOVE Double Attack but other than that I haven’t found anything from Mind Games that blew me away so thoroughly that I felt I needed a bottle right away but this sample from the first spray and sniff had me in love. I first experienced a love for how plum and green apple play together from Jest from Andrea Maack.. now they aren’t even close to each other because Jest is dark with chocolate and it’s heavily boozy while Check Please is far more feminine leaning and lighter. But the way green apple and plum play together here is reminiscent of Jest and I love it. The opening already had me with those two notes swirling together being so tart and juicy but then you get hints of cinnamon and hazelnut and a bunch of sweet nougat. It’s so good! This is the first Mind Games fragrance where I’m absolutely blown away in love and I know I have to get a full bottle there’s no other way around it but since I already got Lucid Dreams from Reinvented last week and Muse from YSL I knew a full bottle is gonna wait a bit but I did order a 9ml from scent split because I needed to have a bit of this to play around with and enjoy and wear just to make sure I’m as obsessed as the sample has me believing but I’m positive that I’m going to end up getting Check Please. I am a gourmand girlie and plum is one of my absolute favorite notes I mean.. Lucid Dream is also plum heavy and I am obsessed with that as well as Jest. Plum is a decadent note and fragrances that use it have been killing these compositions lately. I don’t think it’s blind buy safe but I do think it’s feminine leaning and if you know you love the notes in check please then there’s a good chance you’ll love how special and how damn good this is! But be sure to sample sample sample! I don’t know if I’ll review the other but just a disclaimer Playmate is too floral. I just don’t like florals very much but I will say I don’t think either offering leans masculine I think both lean feminine in my opinion buuuuuutttt I’d be more than okay with my man smelling like check please because it’s that yummy.

Mind Games consistently excels in gourmands. Check Please by Mind Games is a perfect example for me. This fragrance delivers a beautifully blended composition that feels luxurious, indulgent, and effortlessly refined from start to finish. The opening introduces a burst of crisp green apple layered with creamy hazelnut and sweet nougat. It's nutty and creamy. It creates an immediately addictive gourmand. The sweetness is smooth and polished rather than overly sugary, allowing nutty elements to feel balanced and sophisticated. The apple doesn't stick around long. As the fragrance develops, black plum and cinnamon emerge at the heart, adding a subtle spiced richness that gives it an alluring, almost mysterious quality. The plum note enhances the fragrance’s dark fruity character while the cinnamon creates a cozy warmth that transitions seamlessly into the base. The dry down is where Check Please truly shines. Notes of oak barrel, bourbon, vanilla, and amber create a beautiful boozy warmth with a creamy, elegant finish that lingers on the skin. The combination feels decadent yet wearable, offering both comfort and sophistication with impressive longevity and projection. Overall, Check Please is a standout gourmand that successfully combines fruity sweetness, nutty warmth, and boozy depth into a fragrance that feels sweet, smooth, and undeniably addictive. It’s an excellent choice for anyone who enjoys elevated gourmand fragrances with a luxurious niche feel.

This is a very interesting fragrance - just like the entire Mind Games scents you really have to let it dry out before rating it. It does slightly lean more feminine with the green apple - yet very very low you'll be able to pick up a nice scent of amber, but it's so slight that only a nose for fragrances would be able to pick it up. Personally I would rate the quality of ingredients and smell at a 8.5/10. With that being said, the smell itself, for me, is closer to a 7 or 7.5. Very beautiful but not really the best for men to wear. The type of men that would wear this would be someone who is wanting a lighter scent, wanting to smell good but not trying to turn any heads. Maybe a unique office smell or a driver for a summer. Could be a really nice base fragrance if you like to layer different ones together, but I'm not sure it's worth the price for me otherwise.

Of all the Mind Games frags I’ve purchased or sampled, this is my favorite. And I’m not one for obvious fruity frags! My visceral response is that it makes me feel happy. Why? The fruits are so delicately jammy, and the nutty, woody base notes anchor it to the skin. Cinnamon adds the unexpected twist. So, happiness is the unexpected combo that elevates Check Please beyond gourmand and blends the notes into a jewel that is much more than the sum of its parts.

Best pick up so far of the fall hands down. This is just amazing from start to finish. Not a fruity gourmand lover but this with the Apple/nougat accord just great. Well blended and super high quality ingredients. Can be worn anytime in my opinion except Summer unless it’s a really cool Summer night. One of the better fragrances out right now.

My FB arrived today. The green apple note along with the nougat just does it for me! I LOVED eating nougat as a child and I find Check Please so satisfying to the senses. The dry down on my skin becomes a deep vanillic scent with a hint of hazelnut. This is the type of wearable gourmand that I've come to enjoy.

This is the first Mind Games ive fallen for, and one of the best gourmand fragrances I've smelled. I mainly pick up the apple, nougat, oak and cinnamon. Normally I'm not a fan of apple, but everything blends together beautifully. Performance is very good, and I've received compliments while wearing it.

For me, Mind Games have the most beautiful blends, and this is no exception. Sweet without being cloying, this is a delicious, realistic apple nougat that performs very well. It smells as luxurious as its price tag, it is very well balanced for a gourmand.

So intoxicating I don’t know what it is but I love it. It remind me of something I just can’t put my finger on it right now but it will come to me. You know what it remind me of operamate and rolling in love combined or something along those lines.

Check Please opens with a bright, confident freshness that grabs your attention, then settles into a smooth, refined blend that feels polished, clean, and quietly in control. It doesn’t scream for attention—it commands respect without saying much.

After discovering roy lopez and vieri as being best in the past, i came back for a week of testing and check please wins. One of my favorite fragrances, I suppose I will put it in my top shelf for now. The oak barrel is smooth as can be.

Nice tart green apple, really love it, smells expensive. I’m so confused by literally EVERY perfume in the “reminds me of” section above. To me this smells nothing like Angels’ Share nor any of the others. Anyway, it’s a total keeper

Smells like the listed notes - nougat, apple, plum, vanilla, amber, rich woods (I'm usually not into woody scents, but Ckeck Please is great). It is something that you can call a complex, luxurious gourmand. Rich, but not cloying, and still playful and sweet. Cozy, but suitable not just for cold weather. It has a very very good longevity, and only the sillage shrinks throughout the wear and I am thankful, as after initial sprays it might be a bit much to wear it indoors.

More feminine. Young. Wearable. Not niche. More like luxury shampoo scent to me with the loud green apple on top. And comparable to Mentor??? Absolutely not... Totally different from start to finish... Which on this one around 4-6 hours before it's barely noticeable. I can see the comparison to Opera Mate though with the sweetness. Dry down is pleasant, warm, and inviting until it says Check, Please and dismisses itself far before it should considering the price.

So fresh and zesty from green apple. I can definitely smell hazelnut, it is delicious. My husband ( he is no measure of any taste in perfume at all, just an man who never even wears cologne) said it smells like vinegar. His usual best compliment is “ it smells good” ! 😂 so, just an fiy , there is an opinion of a man who is not into perfumes. I personally like and find it very unique, delicious and not syrupy sweet, rather tangy and fresh.

To my nose, Check Please starts off with a pleasant sweetness that can smell cozy and inviting. However, the sweetness stays very forward and doesn’t soften or balance out much as it dries down. That heavy, sugary quality dominates the whole experience, making it feel more like a sweet candy or dessert scent than a refined perfume.

I have worn this for the last couple days. I only got about 4 hours and skin scent after that. It does remind me of mentor, a bit but, not quite. It is a nice fragrance I believe will be great for the colder months. The opening is great. I Like this fragrance. Not to gourmand.

This one is a cold weather, night out scent. It is fruity, spicy and bold. It does remind me a bit of other perfumes out there (Angel’s Share, Kayali Chocolate Oud, etc), however this one is better and easier to wear.

Something about this perfume evokes a place, not a person. Many Mind Games fragrances operate on exactly this principle, so no surprises there. Where Check Please distinguishes itself as something only this house would do is in confirming what has become increasingly clear about their creative stronghold: gourmands. They specialize in that territory, and more specifically in thick, ambery, boozy accords that lean decadent without tipping into cheap. This perfume reveals itself on skin in a quietly unconventional way. You are immediately greeted by green apple, bright and slightly tart, with nougat and hazelnut arriving as a sweet, nutty escort. But behind that opening, something else is moving. The maestro is hiding in plain sight. Is it the amber? The black plum building in the heart? The oak barrel anchoring the base? There is also a Bulgarian rose threaded through the middle that the composition never announces loudly; it simply deepens the fruit and lends the plum a fleshy, almost wine-dark quality. Whatever the orchestration, the theatrics of this composition reminded me most of an earlier release from the same house: Gardez, an iris-centered fragrance bent and welded into a rich, dark, cinematic accord that includes popcorn, executed in a high-fashion manner that never once smells cheap. That fragrance was strange and brilliant in equal measure. Check Please is a different kind of ambition, more accessible in its appeal, but it carries the same sense of intentionality. The house message is clear. They are for gourmand lovers, but perhaps ambery gourmands most of all. Their other Soulmate Collection release is a different beast entirely: hyper-feminine and narcotic in its profile. That one deserves a separate conversation. Back to Check Please. You enter a chateau. White décor everywhere, a medium-sized fountain nearby. Macaws in cages greet you. A tiger skin hangs on the wall. The sound of small children running past. Dessert is ready.

I received samples of this and Playmate today. On my skin, Check Mate is masculine leaning from the notable plum and cinnamon, but the gourmand nougat definitely comes through strong. I don't really get the apple or the hazelnuts but its certainly a gourmand for those who prefer a masculine presentation, in my opinion. I can see the comparison to Angels Share but its lacking the booziness of AS. Not nearly as apple dominant or boozy as Apple Brandy on the Rocks (my fav of all the Kilian scents). I do like it but its not a wow, nor something I would run out and buy.