Guilty Elixir de Parfum pour Homme Gucci 2023

In the fragrance section of Macy’s I sprayed this on a test strip. WOW! Loved it. Before leaving I sprayed it on my arm. From opening to the dry down I loved it. Had nothing like it in my collection. Two weeks later I put down $130 to purchase it. A little much but the quality matched the price. My wife was not as excited about it but said it was nice. (She’s rarely excited about me purchasing another bottle of cologne though.)

My first wearing I put too much on. Had to wash it off 1hr later. Wore it a second time the following week. Did not overspray but it was cloying about 90 mins. Knew I had a problem at this point! Did not wear it for 7 months. Did I purchased a cologne different from the one I tested in the store? Put it on today to see if my nose would welcome it again. Nope! Hate from the first spray.

I did it again. Purchased without buying a decant to give it a few wears. This is especially important with strong scents of this sort. A potential love or hate scent. One you can quickly grow tired of.

Unless you KNOW this is a scent DNA you like, sample patiently. Give it a 4, 5, 7 wears. It is a hard reach even if I still liked it. I am feeling guilt and shame and regret over this purchase.

Guilt is not something that us, perfume afficionados, should deal with in this hobby. We shouldn't feel any form of guilt for liking or not liking a certain fragrance that maybe is highly acclaimed in the community, by friends, family, etc. Tastes differ, and so do preferences. And in regard of Guilty Elixir de Parfum pour Homme, one of my father's favorite fragrances, I hardly feel as impressed by the scent. But I do see why it garnered so much attention.

The opening is properly intoxicating, with an immediate blast of orange blossom floral prowess, with a clear bitter facet and a potent white floral/jasmine sweetness. Warm, spicy, even slightly cinnamon-like nutmeg and pimento aid in keeping that white floral potency in check. But to no avail; the orange blossom eventually wins the round.

At the heart, things turn interesting, but not exactly in a good way. Under the load of orange blossom, a prominent powdery orris appears with a creamy/buttery accent as well. Hints of violet are also detectable. The osmanthus does seem to add some sweet fruitiness to the blend, but it's still unable to dethrone the main protagonist. However, it's at this point that I get a pretty strong hair fixative spray vibe which mildly burns the back of my neck as I breathe in. It's got that sharpness and chemical attributes which instantly reminded me of hair fixative. And while it's not enough to ruin or overpower the whole scent altogether, it's not trying to hide either.

As we reach the base, that hair fixative vibe does diminish, but the orange blossom is still very much present. Some patchouli brings a generous dosage of muskiness, but also sort of a medicinal nudge and a sweet undertone attributed to patchouli. The vanilla and benzoin do not seem as strong, bringing just a mild ambery warmth and powderiness. All things considered, I'm not the biggest fan of the scent structure, but it does gain a few extra points for being more unique on the designer scene than most other modern day entries. The overall blending and quality are nothing extraordinary, derived primarily from that hair fixative vibe that I get, which to my nose, doesn't hint at excellent quality, but rather at intoxicating attention-garnering composition. But then again, maybe my nose is betraying me by being too sensible (skill issue).

Speaking of attention-garnering, you'll be getting plenty of that with Guilty Elixir de Parfum pour Homme, just there's a 50/50 chance that you'll get positive reactions. On my skin, this fume lasted for well over 24 hours. On my second wear, it even surpassed 34 hours. And I see that great longevity is largely the case for most people with Guilty Elixir de Parfum pour Homme. So no worries there - this has plenty of fixatives to offer that performance, which might also be responsible for that chemical hair fixative vibe that I get. In terms of projection, I got a very solid 3+ feet for the first hour, with a very noticeable sillage. It would slowly mellow down to 2 feet across 2-3 hours, and eventually it would settle on less than one foot of projection by hour 6-7, still noticeable if you got close enough, e.g. sitting next to me.

While Guilty Elixir de Parfum pour Homme is definitely guilty of having a load of fixatives for increased performance and intruding people's noses, it's not guilty of being Swiss Army Knife-level versatile. And that's primarily because of that performance. The scent itself is also, as mentioned, a bit more polarizing/intoxicating than your average designer (mostly due to that sharp fixative facet), so it limits the number of sprays. As a leisure wear, for clubbing or for more formal events, this would fit just fine. For office or school, or any context where you don't want (need) to stick out, keep the sprays on the lower side.

Verdict, your honor? Guilty of intoxication through the usage of fixatives. That's largely the only thing I find Guilty Elixir de Parfum pour Homme guilty of. Do I find it guilty of being an irresistible scent? No. Do I find it guilty of being a high-quality creation? No. Do I find it guilty of huge success? Well... yes, it appears so. Amongst designers, Guilty Elixir de Parfum pour Homme does manage to stand out, and I believe its slightly more polarizing (but not challenging) nature, paired with the performance are what drive the sales of this juice (and, well, the brand name too, as always). Do I believe it is a good value fragrance? Not really, but it could've been worse. Do I recommend it? Not really. So, therefore, I sentence Guilty Elixir de Parfum pour Homme to a lifetime in my "decent at best" category. But what say you, people of the jury?

Overall Rating: 6.9/10

This fragrance, is simply put, in another league when it comes to the basic designer fragrances. Gucci guilty elixir is to put it lightly the best thing you’ll find in a normal beauty store right now, this does what sauvage elixir should do but doesn’t.

To start, Guilty Elixir is like walking into a dinner party this beautiful orange blossom that you can almost feel the petals of greets you at the door and as you make your way to the dining room, as you sit down you notice the nutmeg and pimento take their seats on either side of you. However they don’t overstay their welcome they simply introduce themselves to you and fade into the background. As their friend calls them to sit farther down the table.

At the heart of this fragrance, they finally have the the majority of guests together and sat down at the table. Just before the food comes out as you’re talking to the osmanthus that had taken the place of nutmeg you feel something tapping on your shoulder, you turn to see who it is and time screeches to a standstill as you come face to face with an orris butter note that almost suffocates you with its presence, however, you don’t mind. This note is far and away the star of the show and the reason the party is so lively. The orris butter stays rest of the time this fragrance is on you, and as the evening progresses you choose to bring your dessert of vanilla and benzoin garnished with a bit of patchouli outside behind the house to deck where you notice a small creature laying on a bed next to a doggy door. It’s a small sort of cat from what you can tell and as you take a seat in one of the chairs it crawls into your lap.

Scent 10/10 - This score is relative to not only what this fragrance has parallels to but also to designer fragrances in general, this is at least “private blend” status and if not better as it not only deviates from the entire line its a flanker of, but its also the best thing outside of any private lines in the world of designer fragrance. Though it isn’t the best fragrance of all time, it is, in my opinion, completely unchallenged when it comes to current designer fragrance.

Versatility 8/10 - comfortably a cold weather fragrance but can easily be pulled off if the wearer is dressed maturely or at least if it’s later in the night.

Sillage 9/10 - No complaints, stronger than is required for a “night out” fragrance.

Performance 10/10 - set and forget. No need to worry about reapplying period, its a night out/date night fragrance and by proxy you don’t need it to last more than 5-7 hours yet it’ll still be comfortably projecting a couple feet around you by the end of those 7 hours.

Value 10/10 - This really should be a designer price but its at an entry level niche price and completely fine being there, not hard to find for around 100-140 but if you can’t find it then its to me worth every penny of retail.

You know, I almost feel like this fragrance found me not me it. Me and my girlfriend decided, we’ll get each other fragrances as gifts this holiday season. I decided on Elysium, which ive been wanting to get for a very long time, but never did get and she decided on Instant Crush. Than one day we went to the store and I saw this fragrance. I remembered George (YouTuber) talking about it and he said its reminiscent of Reflection man, but smoothened out with vanilla. So i was like ok im gonna spray it on, I did while we where leaving and didn’t smell it right away, because I definitively remember eating a pretzel (lol), when I finally did smell it, I was so surprised this smell I was smelling was coming from a designer house. Spicy, slightly fresh, smooth woods smashed with some of the best smelling vanilla I’ve smelt. I think Gentle Fluidity Gold is also a great vanilla, but this to me in the drydown smells like youre eating an amazing vanilla ice cream on a beach. You’re smelling the trees around you and the summer breeze…Absolutely Outstanding… I was back to the store 4 times to wear this and in the end chose it over Elysium. Now lets compare it to Reflection man. I have tried Reflection before, really wanted to make it my signature, because the iris and overall floral nature of the fragrance really spoke to me. Only problem was, that it went so sharp on my skin it started giving me headaches. This has that same powdery iris, along with the fresh like spices, but it doesn’t go sharp, the vanilla rounds up the whole story, making it so much more enjoyable for me. You might think that the vanilla will take away some of the versatility, … I would disagree. I think this is still perfectly wearable in all seasons. This fragrance man… all im gonna say is that ever since I’ve gotten it my other fragrances, have been getting a lot less wear because I wear it so much. That spicy, yet fresh opening that fades into the vanilla, but still retains the iris… ahh outstanding this to me is a bonafide 10 and my signature scent I’ve been searching for.

10/10

Update: I got my first bottle for Christmas 2023, its now 20th of June 2024 and I just got my 2nd bottle, because i finished the 1st. Lovely scent and extremely versatile, by far my girlfriends favorite scent on me also.
Still a 10/10

Update: the 3rd bottle just came in a few days ago. Still absolutely love it.

This is a nice fragrance with a great performance: eternal longevity and very good sillage: room filler in the next two hours or so

It smells really like a Quentin Bisch creation with a DNA similar to Le male Elixir but more polished and, refined and mature

The dry down is very pleasant: vanilla dominated: I sprayed it in the morning and I still can smell it 12 hours later: it stays on cloths even longer:

My main issues are:
1- bottle design could have been better, but who cares
2- The price point is a bit high for a designer brand