Eau de Gucci

By Marina Green, elegant and a little bit ill-natured, Eau de Gucci is representative of that period in fragrance, in the 1970s and early 1980s, which produced such standoffish, verdurous scents like Amazone, Eau de Givenchy, Silences and Murasaki. At least that is how this floral-green family of scents always seems to be like to me, exceptionally well put together, well-bred, bitchy and never out-dated. When a fragrance projects evil elegance, I always suspect hyacinth is at play. Three out of four scents mentioned above have it. In Eau de Gucci, the venomous butteriness of the flower meets you right in the top notes, aided by dry, chilly citruses. The fairly warm, even creamy heart of orris, ylang and tuberose, to which jasmine and rose add their sweetness, tries to convince the wearer that this uppity vixen HAS a heart, but doesn't quite succeed, the verdant toxin still comes through all that velvety floralcy and through the lush ambery-mossy base...Eau de Gucci is, to quote Madonna,  “tough, ambitious, and knows exactly what it wants. " I love it. (Thank you, Carol, for reminding me of just how much) Obviously, it has been discontinued. Look for it on ebay, where not only the regular EDT but Eau de Gucci "Concentrated" (more luscious and more evil) can be found for somewhat OK prices. Image source, Numero.