It’s sort of a dark, quiet beauty that’s compelling in a confident way, the one with something deep and interesting to say but in no hurry to share it; the introverted guest walking along cement form promenades in the moonlight, while everyone else is dancing the night away in the ballroom. Right from the start, this perfume smells RED. It doesn't smell like bright cherry red either, it smells like a dark and syrupy blood red. On me, this is a boozy, woody praline perfume. Not too sweet, rather strong and assertive. Definitely giving Mugler vibes, but in an easier-to-handle way (this is no Angel), BUT -having said that- this perfume is definitely not for the faint-hearted! Thus is for people who enjoy loud perfumes, who want the world to know what they are wearing. You will get noticed with this one. I sprayed it on my top as well, and it seems to perform even better on clothing. It's 3 p.m. and I can still smell it. Longevity and sillage are moderate (throughout the day) to heavy (first spray). BUT even though I really liked it, I had only sprayed once from the bottle and I thought: This would suit one of my bffs so beautifully and I gifted it to her the very same day. She will wear it way more than I will and she was so excited when she sniffed it sooo it's still a successful blind buy for me even though I did not end up keeping it.

My only qualm, at that moment, was why didn't I trust my gut and get this soon enough (fun fact: I love a cherry note). Somewhere in the Mediterranean or Far East. An ageless and beautiful, veiled woman wrapped in wine red silk and cashmere walks thru the center of a spice market in the cool of dusk. Dark smoldering eyes filled with secrets and wisdom... Right after spraying, Red is way too sythetic smelling on my skin, and it tends to smell quite a long like this when smelling up close the wrists. However, thenice fragrance cloud it creates around me is beautiful with the above mentioned slightly chypre-like character and oriental spices, fruits and flowers. It comes close to being too cloyingly sweet for but finally the notes balace out nicely. But at the same time, this is very comforting and motherly for a stay at home mum who hugs and kisses her children in the morning as they leave the house for the school bus and before she spends her day caring for her proud home and preparing a heart warming meal for the family she loves more than life! And the first thing her family smell as the walk in the front door is the caring, warming and inviting scent of...RED!

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This is so interesting! I might be waaay far from this scent profile but I wanted to try something different. Even for me, a floral/fresh type, this is so cute! I have received compliment after compliment from this little beauty. She has been a firm date night and fancy event perfume since I was in my early twenties. My boyfriend tells me I smell really good whenever I wear this around him. If Red was a woman, this how I would envision her, beautiful and seductive, warm and inviting, intelligent and regal without arrogance. For me and on my skin, it's all about the spices, the amber, the Myrhh from the opening to end. Getting warmer with more of the sandalwood, fruit and florals appearing near the end, but very subtly. And lastly for me, the vanilla and the jasmine. I definitely recommend this scent only if you can handle a strongish fragrance...definitely not for the faint of heart. The dry down is still spectacular and I have to say, on me, it's soft and still the holds the same smell....I don't smell fluctuations in the quality or the notes at all - at least on me.

Always Red was the first perfume I bought with my own money, so it will always be special for me. I blind buy most of my perfumes and this wasn't any different. The perfume bottle looked very attractive to me but I wasn't sure about the notes as I was just a newbie who knew nothing about notes. I gave this a try and I immediately fell in love! A lot of interesting things were going on all at once. When I first bought it and tried it on my skin this smelled floral and powdery, the rose note was prominent. Today, when I sprayed this on myself again, it smelled fruity and jammy. Definitely got the hint of orange, rose, plum, and quite unusually pomegranate. I dunno if it's my body chemistry or I was just a noob in the perfume world.

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Like many reviewers, I'd describe Always Red as smelling fairly dense and jammy, a bit boozy, quite deep and in some ways intense but not to hugely stink bomb levels. I disagree with many though who compare it to Si which I've sniffed a few times in department stores and I don't recall it smelling at all like this! As mentioned above though, it definitely reminds me of Alien in some ways but to me is a lot more likeable and (no pun intended!!) is far less alienating! Another perfume it reminds me of is a Chopard one I blind bought over the internet a few years ago which was in a heart shaped bottle but I can't remember the name of it and it since went AWOL (and it may have since been discontinued). That perfume also had the intense fruity 'jamminess' of Always Red but was less likeable to me. This seems to be a very well blended scent. I can see myself converting to a lover, it hasn't happened yet, but perhaps tonight is the night. Let me tell you a story. It was around 11pm when I went out for a night walk. There is this one cat around my neighbourhood which I (and all the neighbours) always pet - it is super chill and friendly. Usually it comes to me but won't allow to be touched, we are on a strange relationship here. Tonight, I have sprayed Always Red Femme, the cat came up to me, smelled me, for a brief second it seemed it will run away, but it stayed. Won't let me pet it though. I thought alright, I am going home then. It followed me all the way to my house, it kept its distance and did not come to my flat, but it had followed me for the first time in history. Of course it might be wrong to say it followed me because of my perfume BUT here's a speculation: I think its previous owners have moved out and left it because sometimes it looks depressed, sad and thin. Even tonight, I gave it food for it was hungry. So what if, its previous owner has been wearing Always Red Femme or something similar? The DNA of this fragrance is super popular, think of Armani Si and all its flankers. I will never know. This is NOTHING like the first and original Giorgio! So if you have smelt that before and even HATE IT...you will still love this perfume! Think of Charlie and how strong that is and then what it was like to smell the romantic Charlie-Red and you’ll understand the big difference between Giorgio and RED! The first time I smelled Always Red I noticed the similarity to Armani Si. The note breakdown is very different between the two, but they still seem to smell very similar...especially in the drydown. Always Red is much brighter and syrupy in the opening and mid, while Si has a woody note that is present throughout that I never notice in Always Red. It is even a little more similar to the Si Intenses and le Parfum which are all fruitier, though darker and richer than the original.