The recent credit crunch has had a considerable impact on my perfume addiction and so I've found myself turning to half finished bottles of scent as my newfound frugalness prohibits me from spending copious amounts of money on new designer fragrances each month. Gucci's eau de parfum II has been languishing on my bathroom shelf for a few months now. Despite the uninspired name and uninspired bottle, the Gucci brand name means you can expect to pay £30 for a 30ml bottle unless you scour Ebay listings and internet perfume sellers for a discounted offer.

One would think that the manufacturer's description of a fragrance would be a good place to start in getting an overall impression of the perfume. Alas, Gucci appear to have fallen into the trap of getting some sort of tree hugging, fairy chasing, cookie tripping English teacher and poet laureate wannabe to compose their product description which is as follows: Gucci Eau de Parfum II is a floral fruity scent with a distinctive musk base. Fresh, luminous and filled with a soft and discreet Asian breath, it is a radiant and sexy expression of timeless feminine chic.

And so it would seem it is up to me to disambiguate the description as I draw upon my Northern heritage to conjure up a more realistic and comprehensible interpretation of the scent. Fortunately, the mad men at Gucci hadn't completely crossed over to Lala Land when they wrote the first sentence and floral and fruity are certainly words I'd use to describe this fragrance. The fragrance notes include mandarin, blackcurrant, violet, blackberry and jasmine which would certainly explain the floral and fruity aroma. This is the predominant scent of Gucci II and is a light and feminine aroma which is flirty and subtle. The distinctive musk base brings an added depth to the perfume and gives the fragrance a more mature scent, contrasting with the fruity floral top notes sufficiently to prevent this from smelling like I imagine eau de Barbie might.

But from hereon, the marketing team at Gucci seem to enter waffle territory as they talk about 'a soft and discreet Asian breath.' I have no idea what this strange image alludes to but I suspect it is a subtle admission by Gucci regarding the perfume's staying power. As an eau de parfum, I would expect the fragrance to last on my skin all day but unfortunately this is one area where Gucci II fails as within a couple of hours, only the slightest and most delicate of scents remains on my skin. Perhaps this explains why the bottle has stood so unobtrusively on my bathroom shelf for so long. The girly floral fragrance makes this an ideal scent for daytime use but the lack of staying power makes it an inappropriate choice if, like me, you prefer to spritz and go in the morning without worrying about topping up your scent periodically throughout the day. As an evening fragrance, it lacks the sensuality and allure that I would choose for a night time scent.

Unfortunately for me, Gucci II just misses the mark. It would seem Gucci are basing their prices for this perfume on the Gucci brand name and not on the quality or longevity of the scent. Whilst it's a pretty and feminine scent, the fact the fragrance only last on my skin for a couple of hours at most makes this a rather extortionate purchase and at £30 for a 30ml bottle, Gucci have somehow managed to avoid giving their buyers either quality or quantity for that price. So unless you have money to burn, this isn't a fragrance I could recommend.