The New GUIZIO Heaven Knows Perfume Smells Like Cool-Girl Energy
Apparently, my taste in clothes and perfume has the same designer.
There are a few fashion brands I’ll always make room in my budget for, and GUIZIO is right there at the top. Fashion designer Danielle Guizio’s namesake brand is responsible for my all-time favorite skirt, and her New York store is the aesthetic dreams are made of. So when I heard she was launching her first perfume, Heaven Knows, I had high expectations. I already want everything in Guizio’s wardrobe; smelling like her vision of a Cool Girl felt like a natural next step. “I wanted something effortlessly romantic, yet undeniably sensual,” Guizio tells me.
And honestly? I adore it. Heaven Knows has the intimacy I love in a skin scent, but with more depth and a sweetness that feels a little sexy. Then there’s the bottle: blush-pink juice, sculpted glass, and a frosted rose cap with little angel wings. It gives signature GUIZIO, and she clearly thought about how this would look on a vanity, too.
The eau de parfum launches today, November 12, on GUIZIO.com and arrives November 16 in the brand’s New York, Miami, and Los Angeles stores, retailing for $104 for 1.7 oz. I’ve been wearing it ahead of the launch and chit-chatted with Guizio about what went into it. Let’s get into what this very cute bottle is working with.
What Does GUIZIO Heaven Knows Smell Like?
With pear, black currant, and praline in the mix, I would’ve expected Heaven Knows to smell much sweeter than it does. There’s jasmine and orange blossom, too, but I’d put it semi-adjacent to the skin scent category—just with more depth. And as much as I love reading and dissecting fragrance notes (occupational hazard), this is a good example of why I need to actually get a perfume on my skin before judging it.
“The tonka bean, praline, and patchouli give it that rich, warm depth I absolutely love,” Guizio tells me. “I wanted the sweetness to feel balanced and sophisticated, never overpowering.”
That’s how it comes across to me, too. There’s a vanilla-like undertone, and even the patchouli works for me here—a surprise, considering I’m usually not a fan. It seems to balance out the sweetness without taking over. If you love the idea of a gourmand but don’t necessarily want to smell like the middle school locker room, this is where I’d steer you. I love a skin scent, but sometimes I do want a little more perfume with my perfume.
How Does GUIZIO Heaven Knows Wear on Skin?
I applied Heaven Knows at lunchtime, and when I got into bed that night, my boyfriend told me, “Woah, you smell so good.” For context, I own about 100 perfumes—no exaggeration—and the only other one he’s ever truly loved is Matière Première Crystal Saffron. His approval isn’t part of my perfume selection process, but with that many bottles in rotation, I do take note when one gets a reaction.
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It also answered my question about longevity. Hours after I’d sprayed it, he could still smell it enough to comment. I’m not expecting a noon spritz to get noticed when I’m climbing into bed, so that was a very welcome surprise.
“I wanted to capture that quiet anticipation of attraction, that unspoken chemistry,” Guizio tells me. “Something intimate, effortlessly sensual and impossible to forget.” I can’t speak for everyone who smells it, but I’d say she got the reaction she was going for in my house.
Is GUIZIO Heaven Knows Worth It?
I came into this launch with high expectations from one of my favorite fashion brands, and I can confidently say that Heaven Knows lived up to them. Between the designer’s clothes and now her venture into beauty, apparently, Guizio has my taste figured out. The sweetness is right up my alley, but it’s the warmth underneath that makes it smell expensive to me. It has the depth I’d expect from a luxury perfume, so at $104, I’d say it’s a pretty good deal.
“Heaven Knows is everything I’ve always loved in a fragrance,” Guizio tells me. “It’s feminine, soft and ethereal, but has this darker, magnetic warmth that I find so beautiful.” It turns out we have quite a bit in common on that front. If you’re curious, I’d order it ASAP before it sells out, and then make a trip to smell it in person—and see the gorgeous shop IRL—once it hits stores on November 16. My vanity is admittedly running out of room, but I’ll find a spot for this one.
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Siena Gagliano is the Beauty Editor at Marie Claire, where she writes and edits reported features, trend stories, and expert-backed shopping roundups. Before joining the team full-time, she was an editor at Cosmopolitan, where she specialized in SEO-first beauty content and commerce strategy. Her bylines have also appeared in Allure, ELLE, Bustle, Well+Good, Popsugar, and Women's Health, covering everything from the best products for brighter, glowier skin to the science behind face mapping. Curious about the behind-the-scenes magazine life and her go-to beauty picks? Follow her on Instagram at @sienagagliano.