Versace

Piguet Fracas vs Versace Blonde: Perfume Smackdown

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 15 Comments

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Post by Willa Zheng

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Hello APJers,

This series is as much as for myself, to navigate, curate and ultimately cull my collection to a more sane level. Let’s begin.

Fracas vs Blonde: Battle of the Tuberoses – Perfume Smackdown

Fracas 3.0 and Donatella’s MK II

Few fragrances inspire the near obsessive devotion as the fans for Robert Piguet’s Fracas. Maybe that’s because it’s so different to other offerings on the market or because of the type of women who wear it (Madonna, Courtney Love, Isabella Blow, Marlene Dietrich). Ever since Fracas went downhill in the late 70s (and later discontinued), several such women took it upon themselves to recreate this iconic take-no-prisoner carnal fragrance.

The legend on the internet goes that Fracas was one of Donatella’s favourite fragrances. When Versace wanted to launch a fragrance in 1995 in honour of Donatella, they knew that they needed to create something just like Fracas, which was at the time traded by Adrien Arpel and smelt unlike Germaine Cellier’s creation. The perks of being a Versace!

But then the Robert Piguet brand got sold to Joe Garces of Fashion Fragrances & Cosmetics, who hired Pierre Negrin to resurrect Fracas faithfully in an IFAS-compliant form in 1999. With Fracas back on the counters, Donatella retired her Fracas Mk II.

Portia has reviewed the Blonde EDT here in the past. I own the Parfum and will be battling this against my Fracas EDP bottle, circa 2012.

Fracas vs Blonde Opening experience

Fracas Robert Piguet FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

BaseNotes gives these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot, Mandarin, Hyacinth, Green notes
Heart: Tuberose, Jasmine, Orange Flower, Lily of the valley, White iris, Violet, Jonquil, Carnation, Coriander, Peach, Osmanthus, Pink geranium
Base: Musk, Cedar, Moss, Sandalwood, Orris, Vetiver, Tolu balsam

The opening of Fracas is like being smacked in the face with a pot of makeup. It’s a swirling jumble of carnation, jasmine, geranium and lilac, tied altogether by mandarin. It’s loud, brash, and jaggedy.

Blonde Versace fragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Gardenia, Pitosporum, violet, orange blossom, bergamot
Heart: Tuberose, daffodil, ylang-ylang, carnation, pepper
Base: Benzoin, sensual musk, civet, sandalwood

Versace Blonde opens as a cashmere-soft (violet) buttery gardenia-orange blossom with ripples of a sheer green hyacinth juice running through its vein. Blonde is noticeably greener than Fracas. It’s very harmonious, sensual and confident. The Versace Blonde woman (or man) is sexy, she knows it and she doesn’t feel the need to flash that fact in your face.

Ash_Blonde WikiCommonsPhoto Stolen WikiCommons

Fracas vs Blonde: The main event

Fracas becomes less muddled after 30minutes. There’s creamy orange blossom and dewy honeysuckle weaving through a jasmine and iris-violet cosmetic powder base. It sinks, attempts to get up and then falls into a creamy orange blossomy puddle again. That watery thin creaminess, mixed with cosmetic powder scent, reminds me of another classic white floral, White Shoulders.

Blonde, by contrast, becomes more radiant, a wedding bouquet of every white floral you can imagine – a la Giorgio Beverly Hills. It’s heavy on the jasmine, made dry and green by the addition of lily of the valley, hyacinth and daffodils. There is also tuberose and ylang ylang. However, it is all very smooth and even, like a creamy white bar of triple milled Jasmine-Lily pebble soap.

VelvetStretchwbite WikipediaPhoto Stolen Wikipedia

Fracas vs Blonde: Drydown

The biggest difference between Fracas and Blonde exists towards the end. Fracas develops a distinctive dry soothing sandalwood with a little bit of oakmoss and vetiver. It’s rubbery, woody and my mind is tripping. Without a doubt, FM’s Carnal Flower was based on the drydown of Fracas. Very carnal indeed.

Versace Blonde parfum by this stage is very faint, and smells like you’ve had a shower with the aforementioned soap. It’s linear, clean and frankly unremarkable.

Surrender To Chance has samples of both for your own Smack Down

Have you tried them? What is your verdict?
Willa X

 

Versace Blonde by Versace: LIVE Video Sniff

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 20 Comments

Hello gang,

Blonde by Versace: LIVE Video Sniff

Blonde Versace fragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Gardenia, Pitosporum flowers,y violet, orange blossom, bergamot
Heart: Tuberose, daffodil, ylang-ylang, carnation
Base: Benzoin, sensual musk, civet, sandalwood

This 1995 Nathalie Feisthauer fragrance for Versace is one of my all time favourites,as you’ll hear it was designed by Gianni Versace for his sister, what a FABULOUS gift and the bottle is gorgeous too.

I have a couple of EdT bottles and some Parfum too. As fun and bright today on me as the first time I spritzed. I hope you enjoy a rather contemplative LIVE Video Sniff compared to the others. As usual I am taken by the moment and much of what I say is rubbish, but my love for Blonde is absolutely genuine. Great fragrance that has so many wonderful memories for me, every time.

Thanks to my BFF Kath for shooting and editing, thanks to TSO Jin for getting it blog ready. I am blessed in my great friends and lover.

Please enjoy the silliness,
Portia xx

Blonde by Nathalie Feisthauer for Versace 1995

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 19 Comments

Hey Hey All You Lovely Blondes (natural, imaginary or enhanced),
This fragrance was created by Versace to celebrate his sister, now head of the empire, Donatella. That’s her in the ad, which is a fabulous testament to the mid 90’s don’t you think? Funiily, we had a Queen in Sydney from Italy for a while called Donatella Anyone! I know, hilarious.

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

This came out the year before Dreamer, who was in charge of fragrance at Versace at the time? They seriously need a medal. Two of my all time favourite spritzes from the same house in 2 years, unheard of. Sadly Blonde was either way ahead of its time or too late, and I am gunning for too late. It is big enough, dense enough, note heavy enough to have been an 80’s blockbuster but by 1995 the people still wearing big fragrance had chosen their faves and stuck like glue. Brand loyalty had not yet lost its flavour.
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Fragrantica gives these notes/accords
Top: Gardenia, pitosporum (jasmine-ish), violet, orange blossom, bergamot
Heart: Tuberose, daffodil, ylang-ylang, carnation, pepper
Base: Benzoin, musk, civet, sandalwood
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Photo Stolen Fragrantica

What do I get from this vixen of a perfume? Sparkling, powdery, effusion of white flowers cascading like a voluptuous traditional bridal bouquet, it’s almost aldehydic in its bombasity. It has power and sillage, oh yes, you will certainly attract attention in Blonde. It’s almost a parody they’ve taken it so far. More than one spritz and you’ll skunk a suburb, let alone a work environment. And it doesn’t let up either, once the initial power conflagration burns off we run head first into another set of big fat screamingly heady florals, buttery, spicy and sweet.

The sandalwood, animalics and benzoin have all been working under the radar to uphold the extravaganza that has been going on for the last 2-3 hours but they really start to shine through soon after. It’s not that the flowers have departed but they have started to give some room to move, it gets pretty sexy around 4-6 hours as we dry down towards my being unable to smell anything not me at around 6-7 hours, depending on the day and activity levels. If I wear Blonde to bed there will still be a waft left after 9 hours but it smells very, very naughty indeed.
WARNING!!! Do not wear this to dinner, a movie or work. People will complain and ruin your buzz.

Photo of January Jones 2010 Versace Blonde stolen istyleyou

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Amazon starts at around $60 for 50ml EdT
FragranceNet has 15ml Parfum under $40
ThePerfumedCourt has EdT $3/ml or Parfum $9/ml
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I just put the January Jones shots in because it’s so fabulously outlandish, like this fragrance. Have you tried it? Is there a Versace frag that you wear? Tell me? I’m agog.
Till tomorrow,
Portia xx