When it comes to this column there are a couple of brands which consistently land in my discount bins. One of them is Versace. What puzzles me a bit is what ends there is among the better offerings from the department store shelves where they once resided. While I am happy to get good perfume at a great price, I always wonder why it doesn’t sell. Versace doesn’t seem to be bothered by it as they keep producing new releases. On my last visit to the local discounter before quarantine happened, I picked up a bottle of Versace Man Eau Fraiche.
The name tells you everything “fresh water”. It is a typical fresh fragrance. What I have admired about many of the Versace releases is they take something which is overexposed and give it a different texture. For Eau Fraiche perfumer Olivier Cresp chose to rough up things, just a bit. This “freshie” gets knocked around a bit.
Olivier Cresp
It opens with a very delineated lemon which if left by itself would be reminiscent of furniture polish. M. Cresp rescues this by adding the light effect of rosewood to it. It is further taken into a cleaner woodiness through cedar. Instead of allowing the cedar to impart its fresh profile clary sage and tarragon convert the cedar to a rawer type of wood. This is like a split piece of green cedar given a jagged edge through the herbs. The wood used in the base is oak which has its own rough edges. It is still fresh wood but one with some olfactory splinters. Some amber and musks come along to smooth those rough edges over the final hours.
Man Eau Fraiche has 10-12 hour longevity and average sillage.
Man Eau Fraiche is that easy wearing summer tote bag kind of perfume. What gives it a tiny bit of difference is some of those recalcitrant pieces M. Cresp adds in. It makes it a rougher freshie.
Disclosure: This review is based on a bottle I purchased.
–Mark Behnke
