Guess by Marciano for Men (2009)
by Guess

A mall grade spice and dice fragrance that begins with a very dense and sour mandarin accord. In time it does improve significantly, with the roughly hewn notes becoming deeper and smoother. It is certainly lacking complexity and creativity, but it sticks to its task manfully. No earth moving composition here, but its probably worth the modest sum that its purchase demands. A decent autumnal skin charmer.

31st October, 2011.

Very masculine, superbly blended, somewhat different. Although very synthetic smelling, like most of the Guess', Hugo's, CK's, etc. It opens up with a synthetic fruit and spice, that quickly sweetens up a little, at which point, you can already tell that the amber note is going to be the star player here. In the mid, I get lavender, nutmeg, a little ginger, and and some amber in the background. In the end, I am left with a nice amber, leather, musk, woods with a little patchouli, and spices. The base is very balanced and well blended. Strange though, because all of the notes come off as rather synthetic smelling. Regardless, I enjoy it. The best from this house for sure, which isn't saying much. This one is bottle worthy regardless though.

Projection and sillage are both good. It projects mostly in the first hour though, then sits a few inches off the skin.

2nd October, 2011.

I am new to the fragrance game. I just got this and really enjoy it. I have colognes that I love and ones that women love (the only reason I wear those ones). But there's something about this cologne that makes me want to constantly smell myself. I see it as a cologne that anyone could appreciate being around. I bought this as a blind buy based on reviews from numerous sites. This works best as an evening or fall/winter scent but what do I know, I'm a rookie. Slightly reminds me of Obsession but softer and not "old man-ish" like Obsession smells to me. Paid $16 (shipped) for a 3.4oz tester, what a steal.

28th December, 2010.

Thumbs up ONLY because I paid 25 dollars for a 100ml unused/unboxed tester bottle. It's not worth ANY more than that. As with the other past Guess offerings, longevity is poor. It reminds me of Lacoste Elegance and Baldessarini Ambré. Easily a forgettable fragrance.

7th October, 2010.

Frozen Ginger, Mandarin, Black Pepper

Lavender, Sage, Violet, Neroli, Star Fruit, Rosemary

Ebony Wood, Patchouli, Amber, Leather, Musk

Sounds modern and light, but on me Guess by Marciano for Men is POTENT.
The mandarin in the top is strong in its presence and keeps the top from smelling like CK Euphoria for men. It's tough to discern the middle from the top really, but I know I dig the lavender and can't detect the starfruit for squat. The drydown for me is all in the amber, which I can smell right off anyway. The whole construct is strange in that it all seems to be there from the get-go and it manages to feel warm and cold simultaneously. (Fever in a bottle? Could be good marketing, haha.)
CK Man used to be my 'orange scent' but Guess completely immasculates it. Take care with the trigger - Any more than three sprays is a guaranteed headache for me. And avoid human contact for the first 10-15 minutes cause this stuff comes out of the bottle in attack mode. After that it's an all-night orange-amber compliment machine.

25th March, 2010.

A surprisingly competent blend of synthetics (Limonene, Linalool, Citral, Eugenol, Citronellol, Geraniol, Coumarin, etc) with these interweaving descriptives: tangy, musky, woody, ambery, spicy, etc. For a guy who's new to perfume-wearing, this could be a decent option. Rather reminiscent of Nina Ricci's Memoire d'Homme, only better.

5th February, 2010. (Last Edited: 6th February, 2010.)