Guerlain Cuir Beluga EDP Review

Off and on I have thought about getting a decant of Cuir Beluga for years. But never quite did until recently because it always seemed that other things were catching my fancy. I got my little decant a few days ago and decided to test drive it yesterday.

At first, I got this strange powdery smell that I couldn't place. Well, I just couldn't place the whole damn perfume, I knew I smelled it before from Guerlain but couldn't figure it out. Eventually, I did figure some of it out. To me, this was basically Tonka Imperiale. I did enjoy Tonka Imperiale but do not like Cuir Beluga. From start to finish, I did get a Play-Doh/chemical/plastic smell with a sweetness overload. I did smell a whole lot of tonka and a hint of vanilla but not enough to even begin to redeem itself. Lasting power is around 7 or 8 hours on my skin but that was 7 or 8 hours too long. I view this as money saved.

Guerlain Tonka Imperiale EDP Review

The whole going through Amazon to get  full bottle of Theorema didn't pan out and I am getting a refund. But I did make sure that I was unhappy with the whole situation because it was described as being sold as Theorema but instead Amazon was shipping out Fan di Fendi. I had said that if Amazon is going to sell Theorema and describe a product being sold as Theorema, I should expect to get exactly what I had ordered, not something else.

I had been testing some vanilla perfumes or vanilla like perfumes and had always debated on trying Guerlain's Tonka Imperiale. I'm always a little wary of trying perfumes with a hefty price tag. What if I fall in love with it and finally save up enough to get a full bottle and it's been discontinued and have to wait it out on Ebay?

Tonka Imperiale reminds me of Spiriteueuse Double Vanille in many ways. Just maybe a little more nutty, little less smoky and vanilla like. Tonka Imperiale could possibly be a kissing cousin to Havana Vanille or it probably resembles Havana Vanille more than it does SDV. Could it resemble Shalimar? Maybe in Shalimar's dry down if one can ignore Shalimar's citrus note. While I do like them both and lasting power is good. I'm not sure if I want to shell out $260 for 2.5 ounces. Yes, I still do have a hard time with vanillas due to the fact that there are two routes that vanilla likes to go. It's either cupcake territory or burnt or smoky and sometimes they turn sour or bitter in the end of the wearing.