The Trained Nose

Mon Guerlain against Guess Seductive Noir Women

One number per era rather than one number overall — two fragrances can be near-identical at the opening and different things by the evening, and an average hides exactly that.
Guerlain

Mon Guerlain

· lasts about 9.7 h

How close, and when

Across a whole wearing, Guerlain Mon Guerlain and Guess Guess Seductive Noir Women are close. They are nearest during the opening and furthest apart in the drydown, which is the part a single figure would average away.

80% opening · 0–1 h
68% heart · 1–3 h
64% drydown · 3–8 h
Measured across all twenty-four facets, from the notes below — not from the families on the boxes. They share 3 of 17 materials, which is worth holding beside the figures: a pair can share almost nothing and still converge, because different materials can smell of the same things.

What AKIN predicts

AKIN predicts these two are alike, and the evidence behind that is substantial.

Two signals sit on this page and are never averaged: what the note pyramids measure these two to share, and what AKIN’s resemblance graph predicts. Where they part, that is the finding rather than a fault.

The pyramids, side by side

Compared by material rather than by spelling, so a note recorded two ways is not counted as a difference.
top
both — Bergamot
Mon Guerlain only — Lavender
Guess Seductive Noir Women only — Peony, Sage
heart
both — Iris, Jasmine Sambac
Mon Guerlain only — Rose
Guess Seductive Noir Women only — Lily of the Valley
base
Mon Guerlain only — Australian Sandalwood, Benzoin, Coumarin, Licorice, Patchouli, Tahitian Vanilla
Guess Seductive Noir Women only — Haitian Vetiver, Suede, Vanilla