Versense

There are a lot of fragrances that smell similar to Versense. O de L'Orangerie by Lancôme, Chance Eau Fraiche by Chanel, Untold Eau Fraiche by Elizabeth Arden, Bright Neroli by Ferrari, Miss Dior Cherie L'Eau, 4711 Original Eau de Cologne... The list can go on and on. Versace managed to do something really good and a little bit different with Versense. It’s a typical citrus, green scent with something special. As much of a fragrance lover I am, I don’t think this scent got the credit it was due until recently because I had never heard of it until a few years ago. Why this has been around since 2009 and never got much love is beyond me. I agree with the post below me. An older bottle is the way to go. My 2013 bottle performs really well in comparison with a newer bottle I purchased. It’s definitely been diluted over the years. I can spray this in the morning, get ready for bed, and still smell it lingering in the shower the next day. It has really good sillage but I wouldn’t deem it a room filler. Maybe it’s the fig and olive tree notes that distinguishes this from the run-of-the-mill citruses. Whatever it is, it’s one of those dumb reach fragrances that I turn to on days when I want to smell naturally clean and casual. It’s definitely a fragrance that embodies a woman just emerging from a steamy shower to slip into a maxi dress or a t-shirt and jeans. No fuss, no muss, no coconuts type of scent. Versense performs the best with heat during late spring and summer but it doesn’t budge in the colder seasons. It layers well with other fragrances too. I think Versense is exemplary of a perfectly unisex fragrance. It’s sweet/powdery enough for a woman to appreciate and citrusy/woody enough to work for a guy too. Can you tell that I LOVE this? I have a tendency to get obsessed with a particular perfume for a period of time and then get bored. Versense is irreplaceable in my collection. I always return to it and am never disappointed.

I had this a while back, so way back I couldn't even recall how it smelled and I generally can recall perfumes in my memory. I think I wouldn't even recognize it if someone passed by wearing this perfume. And while shopping in the drugstore, remembering how I had just a few ml of Chanel eau fraîche and how this was recommended as similar, I sprayed it on my wrist, thinking how I never got that similarity. The only thing I remember, not being able to connect those two perfumes other than by green, invigorating, refreshing colours. And they don't smell similar. Well, they do make you think they do, but while eau fraîche is fresh with notes I personally cannot separate from one another, with a hint of sweetness, just a hint, Versense is fresh with very prominent lily. Lily is the same as in Gucci Bamboo. Creamy, luscious lily. And the drydown is warm and soft wood, a little dry, olive bark left in the warm Mediterranean sun. Not particularly sea/coastal perfume, but neither are our summers. We do not think of coconut or tiare flowers when swimming in the Adriatic sea. It's the pines, salt, laurel, cypress.Very prominent, our entire coast smells very fragrantly of those dry, aromatic herbs and trees. And the sound of crickets. This perfume is more our summers than the fake coconut suntan lotion. Like an elegant woman, sitting on the coast, her lily perfume intertwining with the scents of the sea and trees. Easily my favourite. Bought it the next day, wearing it right now and enjoying every minute of it. I still get whiffs of it in the morning.

This is my all time favorite spring/summer fragrance and I highly doubt I will ever find anything that comes close to the love I have for this stuff. I’m in Michigan in the US and it has been cold for months. I’ve been wearing my much adored fall/winter amber/tobacco/vanilla/rum type fragrances that I love so much (Boucheron Ambre D’Alexandrie is my all time favorite fall/winter) but I MISS Versense terribly, so I decided to put it on before bed tonight. This fragrance, I tell you... It makes me instantly happy when I spray it. It makes me see life more optimistically. The mix of citrus and what smells, to me, like the pages of a fashion magazine from when I was a teenager, is just so gorgeous. And it’s a beast for being a freshie. This lasts ages on my clothes. In the summer I will be loading my laundry into the washer and get whiffs of this from clothes that I haven’t worn in days. I can spray it before work and still smell it on myself when I get home. I have tons of perfume and it’s been ages since I finished a bottle, because I tend to wear something different everyday, but once I found this and spring hit last year, there is only the tiniest bit left in the bottle. Of course I have a backup bottle, in its box, just waiting to be called to duty. I NEVER want to exist on this Earth during warm weather without this fragrance. That may be dramatic for such an easy reach, uncomplicated scent, but it’s the truth.

Better than any summer fragrance in my collection! This is from my wife's collection, and I thoroughly believe what I typed in that previous sentence. I love this scent on my wife. She's had it for quite a while, and has worn it several times. And I have loved it every single time. Well while I was trying to figure out what sent I should wear to work today, and kind of regretting volunteering for Saturday, I thought I would try something different. So I asked my wife if I could wear one of her fragrances, just for something different. A change. See I work outdoors in the Arizona heat and I have a lot of fresh summer fragrances. But I thought it would be fun to mix it up a bit. And seeing as I love Versense on her so much, and there's nothing overly feminine about this fragrance, I figured... why not. Well I have a new found appreciation for this scent. Not only does it smell phenomenal. It's also a performance monster, especially for how fresh it is. It starts with a beautiful sweet citrus, then later on you get a nice soft fig, then a fresh white floral. I mean what's not to love? Ladies, buy this. Men, stop worrying about what gender they choose to market this to, and give it a try. If my wife someday realizes that she can do a lot better than me, and leaves and takes all of her fragrances. I would order myself a bottle of this.

As a long-time Un Jardin en Mediterranée lover who needed something new, just a little less subtle, the notes and reviews here felt like a sure thing at least for a blind buy decant. Part of me wanted to hate it. The first time: sprayed it, loved it, it disappeared. The next few sprays were in 100+ degree all-day outings and what fresh fragrance wouldn’t hide from that? Yet all summer it stayed in my travel bag, and I continued to wear it — regularly. First my sister complimented me, then my mother-in-law. I don’t take lightly the praise of either. Summer is ending, along with my decant. A freshly unpackaged full bottle twinkles on my shelf. LOVE. Two sprays = decent longevity for me, especially freshly bathed/moisturized and in moderately cooler weather (like today is sunny and in the 70s it’s just giving sunset swims in the Mediterranean). Interestingly, I’m not sure I’ll wear it in an urban environment...it feels more barefoot to me so far.