Top Notes 
Ambrocenide®
Argentinian lime
Balkans laurel
Indian pink pepper CO2
Indonesian nutmeg
Italian bergamot
Italian cannabis
Moroccan red thyme
Heart Notes 
Balkans clary sage
Bulgarian ginger
French carrot seed
Guatemala cardamom
Base Notes 
French sesame CO2
Haitian vetiver
Indonesian patchouli
Nagarmotha
Paraguayan gaiac wood
Siam benzoin
Thai cade juniper
Thai oud05/08/2025
Intersport
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Intersport
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24
Roast chicken (vegan) with joint & beer
I quickly liked the young Parisian company Versatile (officially: Versȧtıle), which tried to go its own way right from the start: Releases as a roll on extrait de parfum to 15ml doses, %-accurate information on concentration, low-threshold pricing, vegan, etc. In addition, apparent transparency about the fragrances used, which makes the endless pyramids of tinctures used by some artisanal labels seem like short texts - La Foncedalle is a good example of the scope of these. Even apart from these formalities, the releases, all from the pool of Flair's perfumers, have often convinced me. A common thread that runs through almost all the extraits so far is an expanded staging of gourmand notes, moving away from sweet/dessert to a range of 'everyday' flavors.
Apart from the odd cocoa or chocolate note, which can be quite wonderful, almost everything traditionally sweet and gourmand is anathema to me. Of course: even if gourmand is often equated with sweet/dessert/etc. (doughy notes, which have been on the rise for some time now, with two interesting precursors, aside), the first fragrances that could also be described as gourmand are perhaps those with a focus on spices. Even a bouquet garni is basically, (aromatically) gourmand: see for example some early Diptyque's from the 70's.
My Versatile highlights (with this food focus) so far are Rital Date (2022), a lemon/basil pesto that references Goutal's Eau de Sud (1997) just as well, or newer citron/pastry gourmands like Un Jardin à Cythère (2023), but smells wonderfully unique and different. And, God Bless Cola (2023) - supposedly the first perfume with a 'Popcorn Absolue' produced for it, which captures the pop-cultural mood of Popcorn & Cola, but always remains perfumey enough, more precisely, reminds me of the fantastic and unfortunately long discontinued Series 6: Synthetic - Skai (2004).
In general: butter, fat, olive oil, i.e. everything that creates or intensifies flavor, is always present in Versatile and is also easily identifiable as a scent. Butter also plays a decisive role in La Foncedalle, whose main character I perceive as sage leaves tossed in butter, rosemary with a few crumbs of weed. The latter are just subtle enough not to end up in the gimmick corner. A slightly tart beer note also comes through, only the roast chicken, well... many of the fragrances used have a roasted aroma label, but that doesn't make a good roast poularde, but it's not an explicit roast chicken fragrance either...
What starts out as an abstract/realistic kitchen scene with butter as a flavor and effect enhancer increasingly transforms - after a brief roasted sesame phase - into a rather disappointingly abstract/popular Mediterranean (dry) herbal landscape, which reminds me very much of Sperone (2023), in which Amélie Bourgeois was also involved, and thus also - albeit less clearly - of the base of Bourgeois' Kythnos (2019). From this point on, La Foncedalle becomes too indistinct for me, and does not match the sophistication of Rital Date. God Bless Cola or Sea, Sud & Sun (2023). I hope the brand can continue to deepen its own concept. However, the three latest releases - now in eau de parfum concentration - already use classic illustrative note pyramids. On va voir..
Apart from the odd cocoa or chocolate note, which can be quite wonderful, almost everything traditionally sweet and gourmand is anathema to me. Of course: even if gourmand is often equated with sweet/dessert/etc. (doughy notes, which have been on the rise for some time now, with two interesting precursors, aside), the first fragrances that could also be described as gourmand are perhaps those with a focus on spices. Even a bouquet garni is basically, (aromatically) gourmand: see for example some early Diptyque's from the 70's.
My Versatile highlights (with this food focus) so far are Rital Date (2022), a lemon/basil pesto that references Goutal's Eau de Sud (1997) just as well, or newer citron/pastry gourmands like Un Jardin à Cythère (2023), but smells wonderfully unique and different. And, God Bless Cola (2023) - supposedly the first perfume with a 'Popcorn Absolue' produced for it, which captures the pop-cultural mood of Popcorn & Cola, but always remains perfumey enough, more precisely, reminds me of the fantastic and unfortunately long discontinued Series 6: Synthetic - Skai (2004).
In general: butter, fat, olive oil, i.e. everything that creates or intensifies flavor, is always present in Versatile and is also easily identifiable as a scent. Butter also plays a decisive role in La Foncedalle, whose main character I perceive as sage leaves tossed in butter, rosemary with a few crumbs of weed. The latter are just subtle enough not to end up in the gimmick corner. A slightly tart beer note also comes through, only the roast chicken, well... many of the fragrances used have a roasted aroma label, but that doesn't make a good roast poularde, but it's not an explicit roast chicken fragrance either...
What starts out as an abstract/realistic kitchen scene with butter as a flavor and effect enhancer increasingly transforms - after a brief roasted sesame phase - into a rather disappointingly abstract/popular Mediterranean (dry) herbal landscape, which reminds me very much of Sperone (2023), in which Amélie Bourgeois was also involved, and thus also - albeit less clearly - of the base of Bourgeois' Kythnos (2019). From this point on, La Foncedalle becomes too indistinct for me, and does not match the sophistication of Rital Date. God Bless Cola or Sea, Sud & Sun (2023). I hope the brand can continue to deepen its own concept. However, the three latest releases - now in eau de parfum concentration - already use classic illustrative note pyramids. On va voir..
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MagicMeiko
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