Givenchy Very Irresistable Fresh Attitude Eau de Toilette Spray for Men

...de Toilette For Men by Givenchy (2005), I got my hands on a sample to see how the 'upgraded' 'Fresh Attitude' version fared. Is it a favourable change or - as its name suggests - some fresh notes slapped on top of the old ones to make the fragrance more appealing than its predecessor?

''' The perfume house '''

From the opening of the first Parisian boutique In 1952, Hubert de Givenchy's enterprise has produced nearly ...
...it together with the well-known Givenchy logo, the four mirrored rectangular 'G' emblem.

'''The fragrance'''

'''Top notes:''' lemon, bergamot, grapefruit

Fresh, fruity and generous grapefruity and slightly bitter lemon notes appear when I apply the fragrance. A few moments afterwards, it gets mixed with some more bittery sweet greenness so the fragrance never gets too purely fruity or sweet. Despite its ... more

Launched: 2007
Group: Woody aromatic

Introduction

Having recently found and tested a sample of Very Irresistible Eau de Toilette For Men by Givenchy (2005), I got my hands on a sample to see how the 'upgraded' 'Fresh Attitude' version fared. Is it a favourable change or - as its name suggests - some fresh notes slapped on top of the old ones to make the fragrance more appealing than its predecessor?

The perfume house

From the opening of the first Parisian boutique In 1952, Hubert de Givenchy's enterprise has produced nearly sixty fragrances and an astonishing half of these are men's fragrances many of them achieving phenomenal successes most notably Eau de Vetyver. Deemed the best vetiver fragrance ever made the fragrance was originally launched as the first men's fragrance in 1961 and was relaunched in 2007. These are high expectations and almost impossible to reproduce with each scent that leaves the house though when an 'haute couture' brand throws mediocre fragrances at the consumer year after year - which is the case in my opinion in the Very Irresistable series - that can be slightly irritating.

The packaging

The tall, monolithic triangular bottle comes in blue, turqoise and teal shades that darken towards the top. The impressions of the packaging and choice of colours are modern, young and masculine though nothing particularly new, as it boasts the exact same design as Very Irresistible.

Being the bottle chunky and heavy and the nozzle quite hidden, fortunately the fragrance can be applied by pressing down the triangular shaped top rather than a fussy atomiser. The lid of the bottle is silver and follows the shape of the bottle. The box also has blue and turquoise shades on it together with the well-known Givenchy logo, the four mirrored rectangular 'G' emblem.

The fragrance

Top notes: lemon, bergamot, grapefruit

Fresh, fruity and generous grapefruity and slightly bitter lemon notes appear when I apply the fragrance. A few moments afterwards, it gets mixed with some more bittery sweet greenness so the fragrance never gets too purely fruity or sweet. Despite its fruitiness, it manages to stay fresh, masculine but mainly fruity and only slightly green. The hint of greeness is just that, nothing overpowering like in Very Irresistable, which is a definitely more mature, even more masculine scent. These top notes are modern, young and are perfectly in line with nowadays men's eau de toilette trends.

Middle notes: lavender, basil, coriander, mint

A good ten minutes later I began to feel more of the greenness emerging to an extent where the fragrance resembles quite distinctly the green tone including the unmistakeable nutty background flavour of its predecessor, Very Irresistable. The nuttiness isn't dry, but somewhat oily, like the nutty taste of sesame seeds.

After half an hour to an hour later, the fresh, fruity notes have died down and the nutty taste swept away, the fragrance becomes a blend of fresh, grassy greens which strongly remind me of the top notes of Very Irresistable. These greens are quite sharp and defined though the notes are indistinguishable and to me they just smell like 'Very Irresistable'.

Base notes: mocha, cedarwood

An hour or so later, the greenness turned into a nice marine-themed cologne sensation. The notes were round, fairly aromatic and at the same time had a breezy, aquatic character. The dry down notes were a balanced, harmonious blend of woods, minerals and green tones. Nothing extraordinary though, and very far from as refined as Bvlgari Aqua. I would say, Fresh Attitude's final accords were more like a mid-market eau de toilette. These notes stayed until the fragrance evaporated completely, in about four hours.

The staying power is average for an eau de toilette, though I must say, I know lots of high-end men's eau de toilettes that last throughout the day e.g. Guerlain Herba Fresca, Cartier Eau de Cartier or even Javari from The Body Shop. In this respect, Givenchy's Very Irresistable Eau de Toilette has a staying power of an average or at most mid-market eau de toilette brand.

Conclusion

While looking up the fragrance notes on the internet and inserting it above my description of the flavours I detected, it's clearly noticeable that some of the notes showed up rather untimely. The offputting nuttiness of coffee in the top notes or the cedarwood that's actually drowned out before it even appeared suggest that the fragrance isn't well blended enough to keep its notes in check. It's considerably better than Very Irrisistible and it would be OK if Fresh Attitude was a standalone fragrance but to me it feels like Givenchy going 'let's just slap on some fresh, fruity notes so we can sell our old Very Irresistable' as something new. Come on, Givenchy, maker of the best vetiver fragrance, show us something really new next time!

Price / where to buy

Department stores (Debenhams, John Lewis)

£31.50 / 50ml Eau de Toilette
£45.00 100ml Eau de Toilette

Online from http://www.fragrancedirect.co.uk
£21.50 / 50ml Eau de Toilette

Additional rating

Originality: 2 / 5
Composition: 3 / 5
Staying power: 3 / 5
Value for money: 3 / 5

Thanks for reading.

©powered by lillybee also posted on dooyoo 

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