Gucci recently launched Guilty Absolute Pour Femme* — a new flanker to 2010's Gucci Guilty. Guilty Absolute Pour Femme is the female counterpart to 2017's Gucci Guilty Absolute Pour Homme (which I bought and enjoy). What attracted me to Guilty Absolute Pour Femme was its blackberry note (accentuated visually by its purple bottle). I was hoping for a sparkling, natural-smelling blackberry accord mixed with rose and touches of patchouli and Nootka cypress (GoldenWood): a happy summer perfume.
Gucci's advertisements for Guilty Absolute Pour Femme read:
Born out of a special collaboration between creative director Alessandro Michele and master perfumer Alberto Morillas, Gucci Guilty Absolute Pour Femme is created using a particular blend with a structure that remains unchanged from the first time it is applied to the skin. Goldenwood is complemented with a mysterious note of blackberry, creating a non-traditional chypre fruity fragrance for a contemporary woman. The fragrance’s composition is intensified with patchouli oils and Bulgarian rose."
Michele said he wanted a "...blackberry note that would make you dream upon smelling it. It’s magical and it’s connected to nature, as well as to emotion. There is romance in this perfume, an aura of pure, free love."
Why this sudden (Gucci) emphasis on a perfume that does not change from start to finish? Is this beginner's perfume? (No surprises here!) A perfumer's exercise: it is what it is what it is.... A nod to the new simplicity in fragrance? The linear idea (sort of) worked in the bolder, unique Guilty Absolute Pour Homme, but how does it fare in Guilty Absolute Pour Femme (other question: do we even care?)
Guilty Absolute Pour Femme begins with a juicy blackberry(ish) note mixing with a hint of cypress and rosewater; the blackberry smells a bit "tropical," like a Life Savers berry candy tastes. Given blackberry's fugitive, mysterious aroma and its flavor profile, this may be unavoidable. Gucci's blackberry possesses no sparkle; it's as warm and subdued as the faded pink/beige-y Gucci advertising image above. On my skin, Guilty Absolute Pour Femme's fruity-floral first act plays out quickly, just before the perfume commences its development again (yes, it changes character). A hazy quality evolves about 10 minutes into Guilty Absolute Pour Femme: to the muted blackberry note, a bit powdery now, comes the lightest (synthetic-smelling) woods imaginable, some mild muskiness and a drop or two of sheer patchouli. The extreme dry down adds a cool, almost minty, vanilla note to the faded berry and it makes me think of "white chocolate" fudge swirled with some "berry stuff."
The advertised Nootka cypress, so intense in Guilty Abolute Pour Homme, is wan here. Too bad the beautiful color of Guilty Absolute Pour Femme's bottle is not a harbinger of fruity realism, or originality. Guilty Absolute Pour Femme smells middle of the road/inexpensive...like an average "berry" room spray you'd buy at Target.
Though I have zero interest in wearing Guilty Absolute Pour Femme (or ever smelling it again), I think it could be great for young girls who want something "Gucci."
Lots of people "out there" in Perfume Land seem to love this; do give Guilty Absolute Pour Femme a shout-out in the comments if you like it.
Gucci Guilty Absolute Pour Femme is available in a 7.5 ml rollerball ($34), or in 50 ($94) or 90 ($115) ml Eau de Parfum spray. A 30 ml spray is available in some markets but does not seem to be in the US at the moment.
*Fragrance notes of blackberry, bergamot, Bulgarian rose, GoldenWood®, amber and patchouli.
Did not like this one at all.
It was urinous on me.. figured it had black currant hiding in there somewhere.
Can’t stand this scent. Smells awful to me, but to each their own. If it tickles your fancy, great.
The way linear is used in the article makes it sound bad. What I believe is causing this linear appeal is that people want it to smell the same from beginning to end; people these days want instant satisfaction and want it to be the same from first sniff.
I’m at ULTA right now smelling it. Your review is spot on. Especially the blackberry life saver. I really wanted to like this. I like the mens version and Bloom.
lilyjo: I enjoy those two as well.
I had high hopes for this one. The Pour Homme was too masculine for my tastes and I was hoping the femme version would be a softened version. It turned out to be a meh fruity floral.
The bottle looks more fuscia or a light magenta to me than purple.
hajusuuri: every darn bottle online looks a different color…saw it today in the store and it’s a darker color than I imagined it would be.
I like the pour homme version too. Shame to hear your thoughts on the pour femme version. Personally I’ve never smelt a convincing rendition of any sort of berry. Although there was one scent that had a photorealistic strawberry jam note (the type of jam with decent fruit content, not the adulterated type), but that was the extent of my experience ????
gunmetal: I have smelled a sensational blueberry note before…but that was in a roomspray. raspberry is always “raspy” and cheap smelling to me.
I am not usually tempted by fruit notes, especially candy variety so this would be a a pass for me. I do love blackberries in the wild, straight from the bush. Fond memories of picking them up in forest, even though that meant getting my legs scratched up horribly by these long, thorny branches.
The only realistic and well placed true blackberry note I ever encountered was in Parfums DelRae Bois de Paradis, couple of years ago. Not sure if it has been reformulated and if it is still in good shape, but what I smelled back then was really beautifully done.
akimon: and that’s one line I know nothing about…of course!
I like berries in perfume, but this one does not sound promising. I am one of the few who really love Mure et Musc Extreme, which has a great blackberry note. Trick to MeME is to not wear it in verycold weather (MIA) and not wear it in hot weather (something not good goes on with the musks, and the berry goes all high pitched— just don’t). Otherwise, it is great ☺️
I smelled this in Ulta today and it was truly awful. Then again I find a lot of fragrances that everyone loves awful, so to Gucci Guilty absolute pour femme I say, “it’s not you, it’s me.” We all know what that really means…