Versace Man Eau Fraîche
Versace (2006)

If you want a bottle of something that’s the scent version of the boyfriend your whole family loves, this is it. But it’s a little too boyfriendy sometimes, and maybe a little too popular. Props to the perfumer though for adding some woody notes below all that bright fresh goodness. I layer this with Happy for men by Clinique, and boy does it smell like the nicest guy at work.

VMEF is the default summer king fragrance and former youtube hypebeast but not for the reason you'd expect.

I hate (jk I don't) to compare summer frags to Issey Miyake summer 2009, but I must. That fragrance uses a sharp yuzu note to grab your attention rounded out by soft florals and citrusy musk. This fragrance grabs your attention with a sharp...starfruit and rounds it out with aquatic musks (not salty! not stinky! not sour!). Starfruit, like yuzu, is exotic enough to not be "placed". In other words, when you wear D&G Light Blue Forever, the sharp note is a sour grapefruit peel which makes people wonder why you smell like a...grapefruit. Or Eau Intense makes you smell like armpits and salty sea water.

This is fruity without being sweet or weird because it's so well-blended. This is like the cologne Chad pulls off the shelf because it smells good to everyone, and the fragcomm user hides in their luggage when traveling because they know their niche stuff smells weird and bad.

With all that said, this has been reformulated many times. I remember back around the time it was released it was almost like spraying on water because you couldn't smell anything. There's also some unfortunate chemistry here that this fragrance barely works on paper when sprayed indoors, but on skin and in outside air it almost magically opens up to reveal the starfruit note and begins projecting like crazy. I only get about 30 minutes with this, so I start with 4 sprays and just reapply a spray or two every hour or so from the 50ml bottle I carry. So longevity and projection are terrible, and for that reason I strictly wear this at home after a shower before bed.

This is the fragrance you smell at the start of your fragrance journey and aren't amazed because it's your first experience, and then you buy it at the end when you realize everything else was overall worse than this. Yes, even VPH because that dries down to a detergent smell.

Two thumbs up for smell... longevity is a failure. If they made an EDP or Parfum of this and didn't tweak the notes, this would take over the market.

This was one of the first fragrances that I ever purchased. I bought the 30ml from retailers before realizing the world of grey markets. However, I loved the scent at first sniff. It's non-offensive and mass-pleasing, balancing right in the middle between citrusy, aquatic, and fruity scents. It combines the best of all elements. While it smells very similar to D&G's Light Blue for women, it's more aromatic and has more depth. The star-fruit note blends really well with the light woody-ambery base, but it feels more musky than woody. The wood only exists to give some roots to the musk so it doesn't fade away. I get wateriness from the overall effect, making this scent quite unique. Other scents like Azzaro Chrome Sport try to mimic only one facet of the fragrance and end up smelling a bit harsh.

Some people say it smells weaker now, and I'm not sure if it has been reformulated, but I think the performance has become weaker. However, it's fine. Just give this 5-6 sprays. It's perfect for the summer, and you can afford to overspray this scent.

Some people might say this is generic and uninteresting, but I would argue that it's well blended and one of Versace's best fragrances. It's definitely linear and simple, but it's non-offensive and perfect for daily wear.

What a lovely, refreshing and refined fragrance. A summer sensation. Simply smashing.

The glorious burst of citrus out of the bottle hangs on for a decent amount of time, drying down to a heavenly lemon custard.

Some say Azzaro Chrome Sport is an acceptable substitute. It's not really. The Azzaro is perfectly fine in and of itself, and I own it. It's refreshing and it's bright citrus opening isn't too far off from Versace's, but it still falls short. Versace's fruit is fresher, juicier and less metallic. And the dry downs between the two aren't comparable. Chrome Sport is pretty linear and nothing special. Versace evolves beautifully.

Man Eau Fraiche is signature scent worthy in summer. Would work in spring and fall too, but it's a summer masterpiece.

I wish I could detect the star fruit note listed, like I could in the old CK Crave, but it just isn't here.

Although I find this fragrance quite enjoyable, it's also very short lasting, and very linear. It's mostly a tangy lemon and tangerine, or mandarin orange. Not a typical classic citrus combination, more of a youthful style. The citrus does smell natural at times, and I even think of Jean Claude Ellena's work at some points. Where JCE always takes the route of Iso E Super as a supporting backbone to his fragrances, Cresp kept it more linear, to where I don't even really detect any woods, or other supporting base notes. Fast forward 20 minutes, I start to pick up on tarragon, giving it a the distinctive peppery/anise like smell that tarragon does so well. The sage is also hard to detect behind the melange of citrus fruits.

Sadly, it's just too light, too soft, too linear, and too boring for me. It's also overpriced for what you get, even at discounted prices. For much less, you can get the much unknown (but an absolute star to those who do know it) Banderas Blue Seduction, and get the added bonus of a fantastic mint note, and a dash of creamy coffee in the mid, that piques the interest of many who have smelled it. The retail price of Blue Seduction is still just a mere fraction of the discounted price of Eau Fraiche. The first 20 minutes of the 2 side by side, it's hard for most people to even detect a difference. Plus, personally, I have gotten A LOT of compliments wearing Blue Seduction, and none (to my recollection) wearing Eau Fraiche. If you're a young guy and wanna show off that you own a Versace bottle, then by all means, this is for you, this is the one I'd recommend, that's the most mass appealing, and also light.. which is something a lot of people actually want (though not many of us BN'ers). For me, as someone who doesn't much care about what brand makes a fragrance as much as the skills of the perfumer who makes it, I will take Blue Seduction any day of the week over Eau Fraiche. I won't be buying Eau Fraiche again, if I ever do run out.

To clarify though, it's a great fragrance. There's nothing off putting about it. I love the bottle style, and how unique it is. It's like a total 70s style woman's fragrance bottle, just as the original Versace Man was, but the fragrance inside is unexpecting, if you had no idea what it was. The aqua blue, gives you some clue that it's gonna be really fresh, as does the name.

Now since revisiting this, I will remember to recommend it more often to those who want something light and inoffensive, because I know every time I recommend a celebrity fragrance, people immediately write it off.

A summer staple. The opening to me is a little bit too sharp and citrusy,but the drydown is where its at. Magic. It turns a little bit woody, a little bit sweet, but still masculine.. And since this has not great performance, I layer it with Molecule 01 to give it an extra ISO E SUPER kick. Oh and ladies love this stuff, compliments galore.