Versace Man Eau Fraiche Extreme

I feel like I’m taking crazy pills reading these reviews. It smells like an enhanced, modern version of the OG. Can definitely sense the ambroxan and some other additional nuances that aren’t in the OG, but it actually remains pretty faithful to the original, imo. They removed whatever makes the original smell synthetic and outdated. From what I understand, the culprit was lower quality musks that were around in 2006. I’m a bit bummed about the starfruit supposedly being gone, but then again I’m not sure I actually know exactly what starfruit smells like. This still has a sweet, citrusy accord that for all I know could be starfruit, and maybe even smells better than the original starfruit. Just received this today, so will update when I have some more time with this, but I am relieved and pleased with how it smells. Good job Versace! You stayed faithful to the original but modernized it. The OG was my signature scent for over a decade before I really started to get into perfume. After I became a frag addict I strayed away from the original Eau Fraiche because it had some bizarrely weird, bad smell compared to newer fragrances. I went to a discounter about 4 years ago and I remember when I smelled their decant of Eau Fraiche I thought it was mislabeled because it smelled terrible - not even sure how to describe it. Like pencil shavings and play doh or something, but not in a good way. I later realized that they did have the actual fragrance in that decant, after repeating this experience at home, smelling eau fraiche after smelling the rest of my collection. But it might just be something about how the top notes go “bad” on the nozzle - spraying it, that bad smell almost completely went away, although a hint was still there. (Happened with my acqua di gio also). Anyway, all this is to say that I believe Versace, specifically Mr. Cresp, knocked this out of the park. They kept what worked and tossed what didn’t. Eau Fraiche has been modernized. Hallelujah! I can enjoy my old signature scent again.

Fluffy marshmallow orange blossom and lavender laundry sheets, a bit of lemon cake and a massive dose of a high quality, almost effervescent and salty clary sage. This fragrance is more clary sage heavy than ambroxan to be honest. People always find fragrances with high doses of natural juniper or clary sage to be "synthetic" which I always found rather ironic. Dries down to a sage-y, ever-so slightly dirty cedar note with traces of the orange blossom still present. Impossible to offend; the pinnacle of safe. Whether that's a good thing or bad thing is up to you. Editing to add: reminds me of Lagerfeld Bois de Cedre, only partially in smell but totally in feel in how it captures the essence of a blue sky, carefree day. There is a hint of saltiness in the dry down from the cedar and musks and the way it melds with the fluffy orange blossom and almost clean cotton clary sage accord is therapeutic in its comforting simplicity. I'll have to give this a test on skin before I could say anything definitive but there may be a certain magic here; sometimes less really is more (even if Yngwie disagrees).

Versace Man Eau Fraiche Extreme isn't bad, it shouldn't have been a flanker however but more on that later. It's a lovely scent, but as others have said it's eerily similar to YSL Myslf EDP, with a hint more musk and a smidgen less sweetness. Their dry down is nearly identical yet Man Eau Fraiche Extreme last longer. It's not nearly as bad as others claim, it's generic and redundant, yes! YET, not as generic as say Dylan Blue. . .Extreme is a decent 8/10, but it really shouldn't have been used as a flanker. This bears ZERO resemblance to Eau Fraiche 2006. If Versace wanted jump on the orange blossom bandwagon of 2024/2025, they should have kept the starfruit... that would have given this the right as a flanker & given it a unique spin...I do prefer this over YSL Myslf EDP, It's a year round fragrance leaning warm, yet the musk really broadens its use.... be warned, MANY of the bottles are experiencing issues; where the base metal that connects the bottle to cap isn't sealed resulting in leaks.

I am honestly shocked at the low rating of this perfume. This is the best cologne I have ever smelt in my life. I know a lot of people find it generic but I think it is quite honestly very unique and the best blue fragrance I have ever smelt. In my opinion, this scent is very versatile. It is incredibly fresh and I could see it working well for the office or even for running errands, but elegant and sophisticated enough to be worn to a fancy event. I prefer this to the original, which I think has merit but reminds me of lemon drops or cleaner (sorry, I know everyone loves that one). I think this is a great option if you want a perfume that isn't overly trendy, it does not seem very popular for some reason. I could see this becoming popular or trending soon, this is totally underrated. I'm genuinely shocked at the rating. 11/10 in my opinion.

Just got a sample of this and I like it. Granted I haven't tried Myself or any of the flankers, so I can't compare but to me this unique smelling (but definitely blue). I don't really get much of the original in this, to me this smells like fresh laundry in the best way possible. There's a neroli like note (I guess the orange blossom) that really pops. There's something about it that brings me back to JOOP nightflight, but maybe that's my memory playing tricks on me (it's been 30 years). I can see a use case for this in my collection so likely I will be picking up a bottle depending on how it dries down and it's performance (just sprayed it).