Guess Seductive I'm Yours-Fruit, Floral, Patchouli Or Musk?

Guess Seductive I'm Yours Eau De Toilette 1.7 oz

Can anyone out there who has a perfume weakness understand why the word seductive on a scent bottle draws us in like ants to a picnic? This one certainly did.

For me, fragrance has a job to do. It has to provide either comfort, mystique, glamour, nostalgia , or make me feel more alluring when I wear it.

I can't remember the exact time or place I picked up my bottle, but it was probably after reading that it was an affordable oriental-patchouli scent worth trying. Normally, I consider Guess a brand name for the younger crowd, but I had to smell the patchouli for myself.

The Bottle Design Is Ultra Cute

 The design of the bottle is both elegant and cute at the same time. The weight is substantial and well balanced. It sits beautifully with no fear of tip over. It's a little hard to see the whimsical pink fishnet detail on the back of the bottle. The scent liquid itself is pink. The attached charm is very girly and fun. I love the bottle on this fragrance.

Guess Seductive I'm Yours Perfume Notes

According to the online scent fairies, Guess Seductive I'm Yours is classified as an Oriental fragrance with the following notes:

• Top Notes -Passion fruit, peony
• Middle Notes-Lily, Orchid, Magnolia, Tiare flower
• Base Notes-Patchouli, musk, vetiver, vanilla, woods

My Real Time Fragrance Experience

• Sniffing The Nozzle-When I take off the cap and take a sniff, the first thing that hits me is a woodsy musk; not unlike a men's cologne. It reminds me of vintage Aqua Velva, no kidding.
• On First Spray-Kapow, licorice! My poor confused nose smells nothing but licorice. After a few seconds, the passion fruit and floral notes begin to blossom forth. Gorgeous.
• After 15 Minutes-It gets very interesting here. The passion fruit is still there, but underneath I get fresh, green floral notes. I can't pinpoint any one floral note as they blend completely with the passion fruit. At this stage, it's a fruity-floral.
• After 30 Minutes-Although I can still smell the passion fruit, it is fading a little and the musk notes are beginning to appear. I get a sour note of something mixed in with the musk.
• An Hour Later-As I smell my wrist an hour later, I swear I smell tuberose although I know it isn't one of the notes in this fragrance. It is more woodsy now, but that passion fruit is tenacious and turns my scent to marshmallow. What happened patchouli? Where did you go?

What I Love About This Scent

Guess Seductive I'm Yours is just unique enough to make it very different from everything else I have in my collection. It's one of those scents that I reach for when I just want to experience a "yummy" fragrance hit. I also love that it doesn't quite fit the title of a true oriental to my nose. Surprisingly, it tends to cling tenaciously to my skin, although the aura isn't far reaching.

Things I Don't Like

My biggest disappointment is with the description of seductive. I don't feel that this is quite the alluring Mata Hari scent I had hoped for. It is more of a flirty, youthful kind of perfume with just a hint of mystery. The patchouli note here is nonexistent, sadly. Drat!

My Personal Recommendation

Guess Seductive I'm Yours is the perfect experimental perfume. Depending on your personal skin chemistry, you will find that it can blossom on you as a fruit, a musk, a gourmand, or a woodsy floral. If you have a curious nose, give this one a try. If it is an oriental, it's a light one that trails through musky, fruity woods of subtle spices and sweetness. It really does smell nice; in a yummy-foody kind of way.

So, what is Guess Seductive I'm Yours? To me, it is a fruity gourmand with a very passionate passion fruit note that hangs on for dear life.

Cafe Parfum By Cofinluxe-An Opium Dupe?

Cafe Parfum 3oz Spray

If you love those spicy powerhouse orientals like Opium and Cinnabar, you may not like the spicy price tags that they come with. Sadly, some of our favorite perfumes are the most expensive. Even more frustrating is how many manufacturers these days are tampering with our signature scents by watering them down into mere shadows of their former selves. Enter the world of dupes.

When I first discovered that Cafe was a great dupe for Opium, I made a fast beeline to Amazon and bought a bottle. It was cheap. Very cheap. The reviews mentioning the spice and sandalwood notes had me waiting in anticipation. Could this really smell as awesome as Opium?

My First Impression Of The Bottle Design

When I first opened the box,  I was neutral about the packaging and bottle design. After checking it out, I found the glass portion of the bottle quite pretty. It has a raised, bumpy design that appears to be coffee beans ( or tiny horse shoes) sprinkled around some type of flower. The top part of the bottle seems to be a complete mismatch in quality to the bottom. It's almost cheesy it's so plastic.

The bottom of the bottle says Cafe Paris France. The entire bottle is shaped like a flattened bowling pin. It feels nice to hold in your hand, has a good weight and doesn't tip over.

Cafe Parfum Is Supposed  To Contain These Notes

• Top Notes- Lime,verbena, rosemary
• Middle Notes-Spices, rose
• Base Notes-Vetiver, patchouli

I say supposed because I am hard pressed to locate many of these notes. Maybe I need a new nose.

Experiencing Cafe In Real Time

Okay, here we go. Let's take off the cap and do a sniff test.

• First sniff results- Warm. Slightly sweet. Powdery spice.
• Initial Spray-A beautiful blast of amber-dipped flowers that immediately disappears, I mean within seconds. Lime? No. Rosemary? I don't think so. If there is any Verbena, I didn't notice it.
• After 15 Minutes-This is where the Opium reminder might come in to play. The spice notes are in full bloom here. Any Opium lover will find some similarities here. Cafe does fit in to the Oriental/ Spice family of perfumes.
• One Hour Dry Down-Here comes the strange part. Cafe drys down on my skin to a pure amber-sandalwood combination, kind of like those oils you find at health food shops. The base notes are listed online as patchouli and vetiver. No and no. This is more ambery like Moonlight Path by Bath & Body Works.

What I Like About This Fragrance

One of the most positive aspects of Cafe is that it has taught me that fragrance notes are so complex that even one extra note will change a perfume's composition. Cafe is a cheap try out and wont break the bank if you want to compare it to Opium. It is still an okay Oriental scent that I spray on when I am in one of my sandalwood-amber moods.

What I Don't Care For

The biggest let down is that Cafe is supposed to be a parfum. From France. Shouldn't it last a bit longer? It becomes what I peeve about the most; a soft skin scent that nobody notices; including me. Of course, I can't expect Chanel quality from a perfume that costs less than $20.00 for 3oz.

My Recommendations 

 If you like warm, powdery spice scents, you will like Cafe Parfum. It really does become a soft, close-to-the-skin fragrance. Imagine baby powder with cloves and that about sums up the whole experience. Is it a good dupe for Opium?

Cafe is like Opium in spirit, but can never reach the richness of those gorgeous Opium notes. Like I said, Cafe is affordable enough to grab as a research scent. Go ahead and give it a try so you can understand why so many think it's a dupe for Opium.