Anti-Blues

I tried this scent last Thursday in Bloom and it’s just so unique, unforgettable and intoxicating. In the opening you get that dark chocolate with a hint of leather but it’s airy and bright not thick nor cloying nor sweet and sticky which makes it wearable even in summer. It’s a gourmand but it doesn’t smell like food, it’s perfectly balanced, there’s something keeping it from smelling edible and in the dry down that’s where the magic happens 😍 it becomes so intriguing and sensual. You get the tobacco, cocoa, vetiver Amyris and vanilla it’s blended smoothly together and it’s clean and airy like there’s a fresh clean musk. It lasted on the blotter from Thursday until today, Monday but it’s faint today. 8/10 it’s unique, intoxicating, unforgettable and alluring. I had to go back for a full bottle 😍

Wow! Big PG fan. Blind bought a FB. Bright Windex Cleaner/ Medicinal opening settles quick giving a strong dusty dark chocolate(assisted in this respect by the saffron as a compliment not a note in itself) feel with the ‘cooling blue’ medicinal feel (similar to Xerjoff COMMANDANTE) fading and evolving a tobacco over the chocolate. An hour or so later the leather peeps through as well. Lovely scent - worthy the marketing hype. As usual PG scents whilst all unique performance in Sillage and longevity is hit and miss. I find it so far to be just above average but not exceptional. That may change if generously applied but I’ll have to come back to you. In all a nice tobacco/chocolate/leather in equal parts - satisfying people whom would like either type of scent.

I smell the chocolate and hazelnut immediately but to me this is more a leather scent than a gourmand. I find PG kind of intriguing. I ADORE a une madone which is a play on vanilla with some skanky animalistics. I need to try it again in the morning to check how it settles. This might be FB worthy to me but his stuff is expensive and he often plays with the notes. Not a safe blind buy. Unisex but perhaps reads stereotypically 'masculine ' to me with the leather and tobacco. Not very sweet. Dry but warm. Very very nice. Definitely 9/10. Except the price. Don't love that.

Powdery soft chocolate and a touch of tobacco. Maybe even a smidge of espresso coffee? Took a long time to grow on me. A quality scent, not necessarily very strong (as some PG tend to be) but the fact I often reach for it has made me realise I like it. I think, today, I realise it’s because it flits borderline between gourmand and tobacco. It’s sweet but balanced by the soft spiciness so not cloying but mature. It’s slightly left field with out being offensive and it kinda perks me up and makes me feel warm and fuzzyish at the same time. This is a firm love now.

Looking at the list of notes, I had my concerns: Tobacco and leather can be problematic on my skin. But after the first minute or two my concerns were put to rest. Anti-Blues is a beautiful, deep oriental vanilla and leaning gourmand and in the amber direction. Leather and tobacco are blended well with the chocolate notes, and I pick up the citrus note of grapefruit in the opening. Drydown goes in the Amber direction for me, less gourmand. There are no rough edges, just an overall beautiful unisex scent. Easy to wear with average performance.

When i put it on my skin, it sweeps me off with strong chocolate scent, later it turns more green-ish and softer, little more later it has this beautiful warm sweet scent. When i wear this, i sniff my wrist all the time, its too intoxicating. One of my favorites.

My anti-depressant. So sexy and delicious. The opening almost has a human body kind of touch in the background which I am guessing is due to the grapefruit. Drydown is a beautiful chocolate gourmand leaning masculine. Great for evenings and special occasions.

I don't know what I was expecting from the name but it wasn't incense, leather and suede. This is a lovely soft, earthy suitcase leather, with nutty tobacco, smoky incense and dry hay tonka accents. Even though the perfume is named for cacao's depression-beating properties I don't get much chocolate itself on skin. The opening is a gourmand milk chocolate and hazelnut bar, yes, but this disappears in under an hour and what remains is saffron and tonka bringing out tobacco's more chocolatey side. Cacao does appear again, along with a lick of benzoin and wood, but only at the end of the dry down. I really enjoyed this one, especially in the opening 2 or 3 hours. It will definitely be getting more outings over the coming winter.

I sampled it for the similarity to Ummagumma. The unsweetened cocoa and saffron accord is familiar but its missing the cinnamon-like labdanum and sandalwood notes that made it so tantalizing. (Ummagumma's on my other wrist and by comparison it practically smells like cider.) The woody notes are light and popcorn like, the vanilla/leather never does more than peek out from under a base of soft musk and vetiver, nothing upsets my sensitivities but it doesn't work any magic either. Anyone who wants a gourmand-leaning but not really sweet scent should sample and see how it works with their chemistry, but I like my perfumes richer and more perfume-y. This is on the cusp of Like and Ok.

I loved the first few seconds as it reminded me of a very creamy hazelnutty chocolate praline and then the dark (dry) chocolate begins taking over. It doesn't have that full-ness or creaminess that you'd often want in a chocolatey smell, In the dry-down I feel like the resins and the hay becomes too prominent. So it becomes this dry hay/incense with some resinous qualities to it. Almost like a fresh-minty vetiver. Faint chocolate from the top notes so it reminds me of those minty after-eights, which is sad because it kind of goes against the impression you get in the opening.

This is an amazing Chocolate fragrance but like my previous review, these fragrances dont seem to last. This is a chocolate drink, the ones you drink from the Nespresso machines. it has that velvety cocoa texture along with a nutty hazelnut and it instantly lifts your mood. Sadly its gone after 2 hours. 8/10

Cacao (light), woods,tobacco and some leather. I don't smell much else. Maybe some hay. I don't pick up on any grapefruit and if it is there, it's the first few seconds. Not for me. Very dry, barnyard type dry.

Tried this because I'm still mourning the original Valentino. This starts out lovely - strong, dark chocolate, smooth and woody. Develops soft, smooth, strong, sweet, complex. A nutty praline, but woody and dry rather than cloying. Then after about an hour, it all goes wrong. My partner got "fresh cut grass" from it, which I didn't. At the hour mark, it started to sweeten for me, a soft, woody chocolate, dry and vanilla-y rather than buttery. Then the Play Doh started to kick in. I get no tobacco or leather from this at all. 2 hours plus and it was pure sugar and starting to get very sickly. The one thing I will say for it is that I could actually smell it on my skin, which is a miracle in itself for me, it projected well, had epic sillage and lasted ages. I tried it on a cloth swatch and it had the same scent progression and is lasting days in the sugar stage, which is awesome news if you want to smell like birthday cake, which I don't. But to be fair, it's a beast, and a nice scent if that's what you're after. I don't get everyone saying this is masculine leaning because it's just really sweet and sugary to me.

Starting out it's really chocolate forward, a bit perfumey, then it becomes Akro Dark, Mugler etc. Not a fan of patch and it's deceptively there. Meh.

Nice idea but it smells like it's made with bad quality ingredients. There's something off in the base that remains throughout.

Incense, powdery chocolate and vanilla, not very sweet as gourmands go. Longevity and projection aren't the best. Not a big fan. 4/10

All the middle notes + tobacco. Not for me but I can see the appeal.

I am not at all a fan of sweet gourmand, so as soon as I opened the dabber sample to blind test, I was all "Eh, a useless gourmand". But this is great! Perfect balance of bitter citrus grapefruit spicy-ish saffron & sweet dark chocolate in the very strong sustained opening. And then a nice transition to the smooth powdery woody resiny heart, but with nice bitterness as a through-note (I love bitter!). Base is very well-balanced too, neither too dry nor too sweet. This could be a great gourmand for someone who "doesn't like gourmands", with nice balance throughout the progression, not cloying sweet, and very good performance (relative to the admittedly subdued Guillaume standard on the higher end).

This reminded me moreso of Corpse Reviver than Ummagumma, but I can see the connections... At the start, there is a dry, dusty chocolate / cocoa note that is persistent. It's dry and really, well, I don't have words for it. It's lacking that lactonic elements, the milky-creamy facets that we all know and love about chocolate. After a few hours, the leathery-resiney aspects are ramped up, and it remains quite close to the skin. All in all, an interesting scent, but ultimately not for me. It's not really the kind of thing I usually go for, but I'm glad I tested it out...

Opening:DARK chocolate biscuit it is really sexy and nice, i can get tabacco in the background but it is not prominent and would not call it a tabacco scent also get some leathery notes but overall it is really dark and beautiful and slightly lactonic or wheaty which gives it the biscuit feeling Drydown: scent stayed pretty linear except the vanilla became a lot stronger Overall this was a gorgeous fragrance but sadly longevity is not really there it died about 4 hours in but the projection for the first 1 hour was great

Love this! BUT it's too masculine for me. This a the PERFECT fragrance for men who enjoy gourmonds but want it to not be feminine. This is delicious deep dark chocolate with like a Bisquit or cookie but it's dark idk why but dark with leather and some tobacco this fragrance is sooo cool and so beautiful as a work of art I wish more men knew about this one! Absolutely beautiful! It's sweet but semi sweet and the leather and tobacco...man this is gourmond for men!!

Strangely, I get no chocolate at all. It’s mostly warm suede with a backing of vanilla musk. Very soft and understated, low key. Rather nice, but not as the notes would suggest.Probably a fairly safe blind buy if the notes appeal, but be prepared to miss out on the chocolate.

Rare & unique masterpiece in huge perfumery world.