Gucci, Eau de Parfum & Eau de Parfum II

Winter holidays have been such a fever time for perfumes. New discoveries and rediscoveries of old loves of mine, sometimes overwhelming. And I wanted to talk about so many things (not last about this wonderful place which is Schnitzler Parfumerie in Dusseldorf, a perfume heaven, almost all I wanted to try for long and didn't find, including all Guerlain exclusives, oh, yes!).

But time to time I go back to the mainstream and check there, trying most of all to figure out what's wrong with me that I can hardly bear most of them. Taking that the past month I followed the new Guide of Luca Turin and Tania Sanchez, yesterday I tried Gucci, more exactly Gucci Eau de Parfum and Gucci Eau de Parfum II. Taking that TS gives high rates to both of them, 3 starts for the first and even 4 for the last.
I didn't try them for long so I was open for the surprise of the day.
So with Gucci Eau de Parfum on the left wrist and Gucci Eau de Parfum II on the right I went for it.
Gucci Eau de Parfum II opened somehow floral tea, warm and girlish, creamy but fresh. It was nice, though not my cup, and I was happy for the opening. Didn't smell hard or surprising, reminding me of many other contemporary floral perfumes, but I believed in it's charm.
Gucci Eau de Parfum was even a nicer experience, an oriental with some nutty touch which, poor me, I always find wonderful. Nothing special or new but felt good. I felt at home with it.
Afterwards I did some hard core shopping and, finally, driving through the car crowd downtown, it was the awaited moment of checking again, while waiting in a long line at the red light. First, my right wrist, Gucci Eau de Parfum II. What the hell is this? One of the specialists in all these different molecules used so much in new perfumery please tell me what is that? This cheap fruit floral, something dry and sweet and feeling like an old Asprin, that smell which you get after the opening and may be the middle is over. It smells like they buy that for 10 Euro 100 litres to give the final touch to thousands of perfumes around, the last and definitive discovery in perfumery. If they buy it for more money is bad bad luck. It is bad.
I moved to the other wrist. There was still pleasant. The oriental, creamy, vanilic was there, not sophisticated, not very complex but pleasant. Gucci Eau de Parfum is a perfume which could be worn as a perfume and feel well with it if it's your kind. Close to a Boucheron but even more quiet and calm. It could be a day smell for a person who wants to smell buttery and spicy and not disturb anyone with it.
By the end of the day I was once again touched by how common place is the information that all these big houses, with their big names, big marketing and publicity machines make cheap, and just rarely proper perfumes. For same money you could buy a real perfume from a niche house. And yes, I am annoyed that's the case, all what the bloggers around preach. I would have liked to be different and have something to argue. But not today.
As about the stars of Tania Sanchez, well, that's another story.

From Basenotes
Gucci Eau de Parfum
Top notes: orange blossom and heliotrope. Middle notes: caraway, iris, caraway and thyme. Base notes: incense, leather, sandalwood, musk, vanilla and cedar essence.
Gucci Eau de Parfum II
Top Notes: Mandarin, Bitter Orange, Black Currant. Middle Notes: Violet, Blackberry. Base Notes: Jasmine, Heliotrope, Cedarwood, Musks.