Versace Man Eau Fraîche Versace 2005 Eau de Toilette

He wasn't exactly topping my wish list, the Versace Man Eau Fraiche. But with so many, sometimes almost euphoric reviews here and on YT I wanted to be surprised and ordered blind.
From the colour of the bottle and the advertisement I conclude that it is an aquatic, very fresh, light fragrance. A summer breeze, water, spray, slightly salty. A cool refreshment after a too hot sun.

Nix da!

Immediately after spraying it on, I find the fragrance most pleasant, a little fresh, slightly citric and floral. But what emerges after about a minute and remains the same for the next hours is a dull-smelling broth of artificial fruit aromas, probably starfruit (I never had the pleasure of smelling a real one). Sweet, a bit bitter, a bit sour, and not really fresh, rather on the threshold of overripe fruit that has been lying in the hot sun for too long. There is no trace of aquatic. Sea spray also smells different. At least there is a hint of spice and later on something darker can be perceived. After about four hours it gets fresher and more conciliatory
So the light blue, transparent flacon led me on a wrong track. In terms of colour, I would have found a matt, darker yellow, not strong, more in the direction of beige. But I might have to rethink my colour associations, because apparently other "blue" flacons also tend to be artificial-fruity, like the Myrurgia Yacht Man Blue, which has nothing to do with aquatic, too And "summery" is probably less associated by many with cool mountain lakes or a stiff sea breeze than with holidays on the Mediterranean and on busy roads emptied and sun-dried, sticky lemonade.

For a summer scent, durability is quite good and Sillage is quite ok (means: noticeable in the personal zone).

My puff test reveals something striking: otherwise I almost always sniff a concentrated dose of the base, the core of a fragrance. With this Versace, I get almost nothing, as if it only consists of head and heart notes, without a perceptible base.

The other Versaces appeal to me more, like the pleasing (unfortunately weak) Oud Noir, the minty tasty Eros, the cherry-tobacco Dreamer and one of my favourite scents: L'homme.

What can he compare to? It is similar to one from my collection: Salvador Dali Silver Sun, although it lacks the citrus note. But this strong, matte fruitiness is characteristic of both I only own one of the fragrance twins listed here: Banderas' Blue Seduction for Men. And yes, there is no denying the similarity. But it's not my favorite Banderas either
So does this mean I won't be wearing Versace Man Eau Fraiche anymore? No. I'll wear it once in a while when it hits 30 degrees, dry heat, Sahara dust. Then I can certainly imagine that turgid fruitiness.
Besides, he is highly appreciated by almost everyone. So I'm going to really get into it, look for crowds of people and hope that I finally get one of those "unasked for compliments" that so many men seem to receive all the time ;)