Versense is the latest fragrance for women from Versace, and as I posted last month, it promises to highlight notes from the Mediterranean and to "perfectly interpret the contrast between freshness and sexiness". Donatella Versace elaborated on the theme:
Versense perfectly represents the Versace woman. I created a fragrance to make her feel incredibly lighter. There’s something very optimistic and confident about being free, and it was that feeling that I tried to capture for Versense. (via Women's Wear Daily, 3/20/2009)
If lighter and fresher is what you're after, Versense might just fit the bill. Like yesterday's Essence by Narciso Rodriguez, Versense was developed by perfumer Alberto Morillas, and like Essence, Versense opens whistling-clean. The early stages are crisp, green, lemon-lime-y and fresh, with the emphasis on the fresh — it's distinctly Glade-ish in the opening (the notes: bergamot, green mandarin, citrus, prickly pear, fig, sea daffodil, cardamom, jasmine, cedar, sandalwood, olive wood and musk). The big fresh note fades somewhat on the dry down, but Versense stays light, fresh and crisp for the duration. The heart is a blended floral over woody musk, with vaguely fruity undertones lending some roundness. The cardamom, while subtle, adds some liveliness; otherwise, it doesn't smell like anything in particular to me other than perfume, and it did not call to mind anything about the Mediterranean (actually, what it called to mind was Bvlgari Omnia Green Jade, another recently released light & fresh & green fragrance by Alberto Morillas).
Versense is likable and wearable, even very likable and wearable — it's easily my favorite Versace scent for women. It's not what I'd call interesting (although it beats out the Omnia Green Jade on that score), and I don't find it particularly sexy (there is a wee touch of earthiness in the far dry down; still, in "interpreting the contrast between freshness and sexiness", freshness mostly won). It would make a great casual, no-thought-required summer cologne for someone who likes fresh notes (i.e., not me).
Versace Versense is available in 50 and 100 ml Eau de Toilette and in matching body lotion. The lasting power is pretty good.
This actually sounds fairly appealing to me as a welcome-back warm weather sniff. I’m not sure if I’ll like it, although I liked Green Jade okay and wouldn’t have minded a bit more citrus.
Also- sea daffodil? I grew up by the beach and never heard of those…
Here you go, sea daffodil:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pancratium_maritimum
I was not a big fan of that Omnia Green Jade — liked this one much better.
I was wondering about the sea daffodil as well – thanks for the link.
Am I just at that Stage of Perfume Journey at which the idea of “light and fresh” becomes extremely boring? Is this really sort of a wallpaper scent? Or (my guess) do I just already own plenty of “light and fresh” perfumes?
Well, yes, a wallpaper scent maybe…but everybody needs 1 or 2 of those, right? I just already have plenty of them myself, and my feeling after wearing this one was the same as after wearing the Omnia Green Jade…why not wear TM Cologne, also by Morillas, and way sexier 🙂
Is it just me, or does the name Versense remind anyone of the scene in Showgirls where the stripper from the wrong side of the tracks didn’t know how to pronounce Versace so she said “Ver-sayse.” Anyway, I’m more a fan of Donatella’s cheesier scents (I’m looking at you Crystal Noir) so I don’t think this one would be for me.
I know lots of people loved Crystal Noir & Bright Crystal — they really didn’t suit me at all. In fact, when I say this is my favorite Versace scent for women, it isn’t really like there was any competition for the spot, sadly.
I know, right? The only Versace I truly adore is the Dreamer. The women’s scents in my opinion are rubbish. Crystal Noir is a guilty pleasure that I feel I need to turn in my perfumista card for liking, its so different from my usual tastes (not to mention totally trashy!) Ah well, I guess that’s what makes perfume so much fun, you never know what will strike your fancy.
The Dreamer is a great scent, really unique….nothing like it in the women’s line at all.
Sounds like The Dreamer is worth seeking out and sniffing. Versense, not so much.
Definitely try The Dreamer!
I’m looking forward to sniff this one, but my guess is they are trying to be the new Light Blue, but anyway a good summer scent is always welcome.
Yes, the new LB is a pretty good way of putting it. Since LB has been around forever and is (overly) widely worn, a new version is fine by me.
I may be the only one who thought LB smelt bad on them. It reminded me of “Grandpa’s car”: one part hanging air freshener, one part stale wafts of aftershave. I must do something to it lol.
LOL…you must!
or the tester had turned lol
but I have purchased some clothing items from the bay of e and they came reeking of the car scent I just described. *shivers*
I have a burning question, do I need to wash the decant bottles I bought before I stick stuff in them?
Gosh, I don’t wash new decant containers. *worries*
I asked my dad and he said I should wash them.
they’re these ones for reference(top ones): http://www.pilotvials.com/glass_vial_with_applicator.html
If it was just the tiny glass tube sample vials I probably wouldn’t bother.
Ack. I buy those same ones, & have never washed them before use.
well, I just washed them ( Glass part: dish soap, rinse, vinegar, rinse, distilled water rinse. Cap: dish soap, rinse, distilled water rinse) Hopefully the distilled water will keep the water spots at bay. One hand is all vinegar scented and there’s water everywhere! I’m a mess 😀 Glad I only had 12 to do lol
That’s funny, I don’t like LB, it does nothing for me but friends like it, they say it smells “androgynous”, and I’m like you could do better with Envy by Gucci, that’s a masterpiece, my guess people don’t want to wear a masterpiece everyday
Wildheaven – I do not like LB at all, and I adore Gucci’s Envy – it is one of my favorite summer scents – and whenever I wear it, when I’m outside near others, I often hear “What smells so good?” as they search for the flowering bushes they think they’re smelling. . .it’s my own private joke.
Maybe it was due to the Sephora too loaded air, but I couldn’t smell anything. Robin, you have said it brilliantly: it doesn’t smell anything in particular, but perfume. No personality. It’s a good match I guess for office and persons for whom perfume is just a generic name.
Wow, it isn’t as bland as all that…maybe try it again? It doesn’t remind me of any particular flowers or plants, but it didn’t smell like nothing at all…
Oh, hey – the Kenzo Eau de Fleur de Magnolia from the giveaway arrived yesterday – again, thanks very very much!
I’m wearing it today, and I would put it squarely into the “light and fresh” category: very pleasant, nearly unnoticeable from five yards away. I found the light citrus on the top to be my favorite part of the whole deal. The magnolia is there doing its creamy-lemony floral thing (with a whisper of mushroom), and I get freesia and lily of the valley too. This fades to a drydown of… nothing. Air. Can there really be no basenotes here (there aren’t any listed, FWIW), or can I just not smell them?
So glad it arrived in one piece!
I’m sure there are base notes but they obviously aren’t heavy…pale musky woods sort thing, and not terribly long lasting. If you hate it, give it away again — eventually it will find a happy home, LOL…
It’s now about three hours after I posted my “it disappeared!” comment, and I notice that following a period of NOTHING, there are now some soft woody/musky notes. Weird. Maybe it’s me.
Aha…so maybe something about it induces olfactory fatigue.
maybe the base musk is one you are unable to smell. Did you have your test committee give your wrist a sniff? See if they can still smell it after an hour or so.
Will have to check on that. Unfortunately during the “no smell” period of time this afternoon there was no one around to ask… I didn’t think it would be real appropriate to stick my wrist across the counter at the Farm Bureau office and ask Faith to smell it.
I tried this several times lately and agree with Robin that it beats Omnia Green Jade – indeed I made just this comment in an email to Lovethescents this morning – how weird!! Vera Wang Bouquet and Miss Dior Cherie L’Eau are also muscling in on this emerging “pale green juice sector”! : – ) The fresh green crispness I found ever so slightly austere, and not remotely sexy, but I wouldn’t mind receiving this as a gift, or stumbling across it in T K Maxx…
Yes — thought last year that “deep woods” was the new thing, but they’re already gone in place of fresh & pale green.
I purchased the True Religion fragrance for my daughter a few weeks ago and received some samples at the time, including Versense. Since I’ve been on the hunt for a lighter Summery scent, I thought this might work – but to no avail. It just isn’t me. So far – the only thing I want for the Summer is the L’Artisan Figuier – but I can wear that dang thing all year – love it. I have hopes for the Writing Lyrical Poetry that I won here, being a mix of white flowers and all. I look forward to trying it.
You’re trying to make me feel guilty for not sending it yet, aren’t you??
j/k, I know I’m slow. I’ll get to it this weekend.
Good golly no – no guilt trip intended!! Just thinking out loud [sort of] is all. 😉
I really was just kidding. I can *make myself* feel guilty…I’m always behind on mailing!
Talk about coinkidink ~ I just tried this today 🙂 and … what you said. I really liked it, except I didn’t mind the fresh bit at all, probably because to me it didn’t translate as cheap/chemical-smelling. Nice for the summer.
I’ve seen several people describe it as feminine — what did you think? Because it struck me as perfectly unisex.
Oh sure, it could easily pass as unisex. I for one can see myself wearing this 😉 I mean, Versence has more chest hair than, say, Kenzo Power.
True, meaning KenzoPower is great but it smells delicate, I admire it but I’m not buying itm I’d stuck with Eau de Rochas pour Homme with its mineral/dirty/ iris combo, it’s an example you can smell like flowers and masculine…
I have to call it Kenzo Lasting Power. Put some on, then pulled on a sweatshirt…two washes later, I could STILL smell it on the sweatshirt. Either that is some heavy duty stuff, or I need to call the Maytag Man, stat!
LOL —I’m not sure that’ll help…the maytag man that came to my house needed a couple of washes to get the smell out of him! I almost threw a bucket of soapy water on him….had to open windows after he left….ack!
oh sorry, you were talking about Kenzo Power and it threw me into a horrible scent flashback…
LOL Daisy, just seeing this now….what I meant was maybe my washing machine isn’t working so well.
what’s with all the “mediterranean” themed perfumes lately?
No idea!
I loved this on the card but on me, it was very sour green on me. Then it got watery and still more sour. Kinda disappointing, actually. Oh well; the same trip brought true love.
I think that model (is that Lara Stone AGAIN? Dx ) looks like an alien. That bottle is nice, though.
Well, what was the true love??
Mitsouko and I finally clicked. I’m trying to smell it in all concentrations now, to see what I like best.
Goodness, I was thinking the same thing…she looks like an alien….and that light breaking through the clouds? yup , that there’s the mother ship!
100% agree on the Unisex part, i also feel that way about green jade. But i wouldn´t be able to choose between them
I’d pick this one…neither of them is exactly brimming with personality, but this one has more.
I tried it in passing — it was pretty ‘meh’ to me: generically fresh. Or maybe freshly generic?
Either one works!
I agree with generically fresh.
“a fragrance to make her feel incredibly lighter”? How light does she have to feel? The model looks about 90 pounds as it is. I agree with Robin, I thought Omnia Crystalline Green Jade was pleasant but not compelling, so I guess this might be worth a try on that score. I think I might still prefer “fresh and green” to “light, fresh and green”, though.
LOL — good point!
Not sure this is exactly compelling either, just more so (to me, anyway) than BOGJ.
Begere, the Versace Woman needs to feel lighter because she’s so weighted down with all her expensive tasteless jewellery and too much makeup ;-D
LOL!
Versene is an interesting name. Especially when Dow Chemical has a trademark on Versene for their EDTA products. I know because I loaded the chemical when I worked at Dow Texas Operations. Does Dow know about this?
But this is Versense, not Versene.
I thought it was a typo at first. I hate to say it, but I love, and/or have become addicted to Versace Versace-the signature Versace for women. I love the fruit smell opening that I thought was black current but is really guava. Of which I have never smelled, but smells delicious. It’s is weird because I don’t really like fruity scents.
To change gears, I finally got my exchange completed from Sephora, the Envy instead of the Envy Me they originally sent.
Quick review of Envy: It smells exactly like a big armful of just cut daffodils and irises. Natural green, not any strong florals. I don’t understand the *metallic* floral reviews it has been given, so what does metallic mean anyway? anyone?
-Joy,
Becca
Metallic is really hard to explain. Has a cold, metal smell? That probably doesn’t help, sorry.
A great example of a true metallic scent is Paco Rabanne’s Metal (duh). I think it’s iris, aldehydes, something, something. Anyway, it smells exactly like cold metal. You’d be amazed how wearable the smell of metal is!
I always thought Paprika Brasil smelled something like hot metal and I love it. =P
Wow, if Envy is metallic, I got a bad bottle-but such is the nose, unique to the owner.
YESSSS!!! Finally to be able to sample a fragrance while the topic is still fresh and not three months afterwards … 🙂
The initial notes reminded me of Light Blue + Lanvin + I Love Love + all the similar citrusy fragrances that emerged after Light Blue’s success.
Middle notes were, as you say, perfume-y in a very nondescript way.
The end reminded me a lttle of Lalique White, some kind of “white woods for women” note actually I can still smell it now 16 hours and 2 showers later. It may be the bracelet though as I was wearing it yesterday too. It is more lively than Omnia Jade and if a bottle were to rain from heaven and land on my lap I’d wear it happily. However I’d much rather spend on the amazingly fresh Citrus Verbena – or is it Verbena Citrus? – from L’Occitane.
Perfect description!
Very true about the wrist. I don’t know what it is. The bit that I spritzed on my wrist lasted through a shower and a day. After my first shower, the scent was enlivened as well. I was had gotten so excited. I mean seriously. I thought I was in heaven. But it won’t stick to my neck…. Frustrated I am!
I got a sample of this at Bloomingdale’s on 59th a few weeks ago the day they peaked it. I absolutely love it! The first time I put it on, there was a moment where it seemed to vanish with out a trace, like evaporated water. But after that, I started wearing it on my scarf as it seems to be more detectable on fabric than on my neck. I can smell it on my wrist but it becomes faint soon.
It truly is a fantastic smell in my opinion, It’s the perfect summer lushness that doesn’t remind one of squeezing the juices of a fresh fruit on ones neck but fades way too quickly. I was gearing up to use this as a replacement for my Thierry Mugler, Mugler Cologne upon first use. Hopefully they’ll introduce a “Versense Intense”. I’ll stick to the wonderful Dior Homme Sport as my main man.
Interesting…it really doesn’t get faint on me at all — I mean, it isn’t a heavy scent, but the lasting power is good.
I had the same experience with the fade-out. Oh well, I wasn’t in love with it anyway. Nice enough on paper, but meh.
This smells so overwhelmingly <> to me all I can imagine is the raw ice power of citron. I can smell almost no “classically” feminine notes in this; all I can conjure up is some man’s after-sport cologne splash.
Fresh is what was meant to appear between those brackets.
It doesn’t stay that fresh to me throughout the drydown, but agree…nothing really feminine about it, & wouldn’t be out of place on a men’s counter.
I received a huge bottle and sprayed it one. Nothing… after I have seen at the package the stamp factice I was no longer wondering! Why the heck do they send a blogger a factice? What do you do with perfume-lookalikes? I do not know how it smells like still, how can I reviewe it?
That is funny! Nobody has ever sent me a factice, but for that matter, Versace has never sent me anything at all 🙂
I bought this over the weekend from Macys and I luv it!! It seems to hold its citrusy notes through out on me and is very fresh. A nice addition to my fragrance collection. I got the large bottle in a gift set and also a bonus small sized travel set. If you like fresh and citrus with a touch of flower, then this is perfect.
So glad you love it!
totally not me, i imagine an old man wearing it and he would totally pull it off! since the only versace perfume i rmember is BLOND and since i passd the phase of sweet perfumes couple of years ago, obviously am not a versace fan… or i’ll decide after trying crystal noir.
Ah well, plenty of other fish in the sea, right?
Visited Versace in Bev Hills this weekend and stumbled upon this scent. I am a Dioressence follower and it is no longer available through Christian Dior so I have been looking for a new signature scent. I believe I have found it. This is feminine with warmth not too flowery or overwhelming. Not too old, not too young. I also found it to have good staying power and enjoyed it more the longer it was with me..
So glad you found a replacement for your Dioressence!
I absolutely love this one it is a signature scent for me as well. This is my Light Blue, LOL! Although it smells so much better than LB. This was another love at first sniff perfume purchase. The scent smells like the sweetest most delicious lemonade you can imagine. Sure, that may seem funny but it works. It really does have a great staying power for an Edt. Versense is sweet, lemony, woodsy, energizing and refreshing. It is simply beautiful and the notes are elegantly combined. I recommend it! ;’)
“My Light Blue” could be interpreted either way, LOL…but glad you’re liking Versense 🙂
I just take a sniff of this today, tho it was released some while ago. And I found the list of note provided by the beauty chain store here to include fressia, and I think the dry-down is more fressia-musky like, and smell nearly exactly the same as the New Ms. Dior (the green juice), but the lasting power is way much better than Dior, it’s now in my wish list, as I’ve already splurge quite some money for this year’s perfume lol what do u think?
Can you find it at a discount? It’s at many of the online discounters in the US, although not at huge bargain prices so far.
too bad that i get to smell the fragrances so late..in my country seems like it takes forever for them to arrive. and the testing policy is not helpful at all. if they have a tester bottle you can give it a sniff, if not, you just may have to buy it blind…
anyway, i bought versense (after testing it 🙂 ). i was impressed by its forever lasting brightness. sugar free lemonade that spices up a bit thanks to the cardamom and after an hour or so i feel like it gets..salty!
..i don’t know if it’s the right description but it blends surprisingly well with my chemistry and i really like the salty-lemony-cedary finish of it
and it lasts. i felt it on my wrist 8 hours later..and also a fun fact..i kept the paper tester and left it near my notebook..and the next morning i felt waves of ‘something good-smelling’ coming from the paper strip which was heated by my computer’s cpu source :))
So glad you like it, sounds like you’ve found a favorite!
I just pulled out an old sample vial of this today and for some reason it reminds me of CK One… but I don’t have a sample of that to compare it to… maybe it’s just the clean/crisp/freshness off it…it really could be uni-sex I think…at least the way it smells on my skin. Would be a nice addition to the list of “good in the summer heat” frags..
Oh, I think a man could wear it too.
I bought it recently on discount and I quite like the scent. It’s light and not in-the-way.
On another note I just noticed another review on this perfume that was exactly the same: word for word. I’m wondering whether it is the same person or not. You might want to have a look at it yourself. This review seems to be the earlier one. (I apologise for digging up quite an old review but I do detest plagiarism. ^-^)
http://www.fragrancex.ee/new-perfume/versense-by-versace.html
Thanks so much — I hate plagiarism too, but boy is there a lot of it. I’ve sent them a complaint.