I've seen the paths that your eyes wander down; I want to come to.

Very Irresistible Givenchy For Men

As you may have noticed, I tend to do reviews of independent perfumers (CB I Hate Perfumes, INeKE, Bond no. 9) or high end classic lines (L'Artisan, Guerlain). I don't tend to do a lot of mainstream department store or drug store lines simply because I tend to lack access to them. I'm trying to amend that a bit.

Designed for the man who possesses natural charisma, a strong personality, and a seductive aura, Very Irresistible For Men is an elegant, woody, green, sensual fragrance spiked with notes of grapefruit, mint, sesame seed, and mocha, melded with soothing hazelnut wood and Virginia Cedar.

Notes: Grapefruit Peel, Mint Leaf, Sesame Seed, Mocha, Hazelnut Wood, Virginia Cedar

My initial thoughts were: Yay! Citrus-y coffee! Who knew grapefruit juice and coffee poured into a single cup could smell so good together!?! And mint leaves? Did someone muddle fresh mint in my grapefruit coffee juice? The heart is more mint hazelnut mocha coffee than the opening, which is mostly citrus and mint. On me the mint is really quite strong, though, tipping it more toward toothpaste and away from the mint coffee drinks I enjoy, but ultimately the mint and sweetness aren't overpowering, which saves the scent from being cloying. On the whole a nice experience, though it faded pretty fast on me (say after an hour).

This is similar to what's going on in Thierry Mugler's Angel A*Men. It's less strong than Angel A*Men, but in my opinion, that makes it better. I also find it much more appealing than il Profumo Cafe Vert because Cafe Vert tries to give you caramel coffee, citrus, and mint all at the same time, right up front. Very Irresistible Givenchy For Men manages to avoid the missteps those take, in my opinion, by doing the citrus mint at the top and then slowly backing into a less sugary, black coffee scent over time as the citrus and mint back off. For someone looking for this particular combination, I'd definitely recommend it, particularly if they found A*Men or Cafe Vert too sweet.

The fact that I really enjoyed this is proof positive that you can never say, "What it is? Oh, I've tried that and hate it," based purely on notes/description. Given my feelings toward Cafe Vert and A*Men, which range from indifferent to "NO, just, no," I'd have thought I'd hate this if you told me what was in it before I tried it. But nope, it's actually really nice. After making some notes for this review and looking them over I thought, "Wasn't I just railing against this exact combination not too long ago?" In earnest I actually dug out my samples of the other two for side by side comparison and I have to say, my feelings on the other two haven't changed. It just goes to show that one woman's citrus-mint-chocolate-coffee heaven is another's hell. And vice verse. So one should always keep an open mind and a willing nose.

You can get 100ml for $71 from Sephora, where you can also sample this one on site, but I also saw the same bottle on Amazon for half that price, so look around if you want to buy it. I got my sample from Rei Rien for a whopping 25 cents.

I think that possibly, maybe I'm falling for you.
Yes, there's a chance that
I've fallen quite hard over you.
I've seen the waters that make your eyes shine;
Now I'm shining, too.
I never knew just what it was
about this old coffee shop
I loved so much.
All of the while, I never knew
it was you.
- "CoffeeShop," Landon Pigg

Want more? Try...
~ A review from Bois de Jasmin
~ A review from Marlen at Now Smell This!

Images from Givenchy and Bee Creative.