Versace Blue Jeans Eau De Toilette Spray

...favourite juice at the moment, Versace Blue Jeans.

I was first introduced to this classic scent a few years ago, when I had a miniature bottle of the stuff for Christmas. Now although I'd heard of Versace, I wasn't aware of the wide range of scents that he had produced. To this date, I think you can get red, yellow, blue, black, white and purple jeans, although there may be more. Some are targeted towards men, some towards women, some ...
...Versace…

Giani Versace is one in a long line of top designers who have decided to branch out from producing clothes into a much wider market of gadgets and accessories, one of which being his aftershave range. The Italian guru of fashion who was sadly assassinated in the US about 5 years ago now was already renowned for his high quality craftsmanship and his sometimes minimalist clothes design. Although his gear was quite expensive ... more

Aharrr! I am the evil Baron Ludwig Von Steinhoft, king of Lichtenstein (no offence intended to Lichtensteinians) and aspiring ruler of the world. I have invented and thus have at my disposal, a magical balm, that once applied to the faces of fragile minded earthlings will subverse them into the reigns of my power! <Insert maniacal laughter here…>

Now wouldn't that be good? And here's another wouldn't that be good moment. Wouldn't it be nice if in the future say, (and I got this idea from reading about selective plant killers in Day of The Triffids), if you could invent an aftershave or perfume that was specifically designed to attract the attentions and desire of one particular person. When you wore it, that person would immediately see you as their number one target on the "I've got to hav them front!", even if you looked like Ronaldo or Ashley Peacock of Coronation Street, this lass would still be falling at your feet and be begging you to bestow all your demands upon her … It could work by some sort of pheromonal extract from a person, thus giving a unique fingerprint of their body and emotional chemistry? Or perhaps via some sort of subliminal communication between scent and brain? I'm no biologist I admit! But I'm sure that in the future we'd be moving on from oysters and powdered rhino horn as aphrodisiacs.

But as I take my normality pill, I realise that I may be getting only a tad bit ahead of myself here. Aftershaves are aftershaves, everyone where's them (well perfumes as well but I won't keep mentioning the two), and they perform mere rudimentary hygiene and social duties … or do they? Gents (and ladies…) when we go into the bathroom for an hour on a Saturday night, having say just returned from the match or shopping or something, what would our normal routine be? Well listen out for the sports results obviously, and then phone any relevant mates if there is any gloating to be done, then it's quick tea and into the shower. Or more specifically, off for what I term as the 3 S's of going out (Sh*t, Shave and shower). By this time, we're beginning to smell nice and any trace of bum fluff or the day's BO should have been eradicated from the body - or so they should have, for although some girlies claim to like the smell of rugged untamed man (you know, that 6 ft 4 rugby player type whose torso is about as big as you from knees to top of head), they do not like a man who smells like he's been down't pit all day. So next comes the grooming.

Hair and nails prepared, any ear or nasal hair removed and then, the final touch, the aftershave. I personally think that a woman's perfume says a lot about her and her personality and even if this sounds like one of those poncey people who claim to deduce a great deal about a person's mindset from the way they write their name, it is to a certain extent true. There's the brash in your face scents, there's the understated and recessive ones, there's the spicy and oriental smelling stuff and there's the woody and more earthy aroma, such can be said of people too, although more the personality and outlook rather than their aroma! And then, there's my favourite juice at the moment, Versace Blue Jeans.

I was first introduced to this classic scent a few years ago, when I had a miniature bottle of the stuff for Christmas. Now although I'd heard of Versace, I wasn't aware of the wide range of scents that he had produced. To this date, I think you can get red, yellow, blue, black, white and purple jeans, although there may be more. Some are targeted towards men, some towards women, some towards the younger market and others towards the older market. I've tried them all, well the ones within reason and although they all share the same sophisticated and complex aromas, Blue Jeans is still my favourite.

On a trip to Cyprus last year, I decided to take advantage of the cheap perfumes and so went in search of a refill. Now the product that I'm reviewing is the actual splash on aftershave, not the eau de toilette. I made an interesting discovery in Cyprus - I found the Blue Jeans eau de toilette spray without trouble, but, funny? I thought to myself, "This smells nothing like Blue Jeans, kind of diluted and not as rich". You'd think that the splash on and the eau de toilette would smell the same wouldn't you? Well I did anyway, but they don't at all, the splash on stuff is much more concentrated and so not being able to find any of this stuff, I bought some Hugo Boss instead, but that's another story . Back to Versace…

Giani Versace is one in a long line of top designers who have decided to branch out from producing clothes into a much wider market of gadgets and accessories, one of which being his aftershave range. The Italian guru of fashion who was sadly assassinated in the US about 5 years ago now was already renowned for his high quality craftsmanship and his sometimes minimalist clothes design. Although his gear was quite expensive (a pair of Versace slacks will set you back at least somewhere within the region of £85), his aftershave was a little more fairly priced and hence a bit more popular as far as Joe Public go. Alongside favourites such as Davidoff and Boss, not forgetting the well loved but more expensive fragrances such as Issey Miyake and CK, Versace has apparently become one of the most popular fragrance ranges amongst young people, but why then, do you never smell it when walking around? Lol. There's always been a bit of concern over famous designers producing aftershaves, I mean you can even get a Man Utd eau de toilette for Christ's sake! Who would wanna walk around smelling like the moody red nosed Scottish plonker Ferguson anyway?! But luckily, Versace Blue Jeans does not disappoint - let's take a look.

Packaging
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The packaging of this product is one of its selling points. Unlike many scents that come in rather posh but flimsy cardboard boxes that have little use apart from to make it a bit harder for people to guess what you've bought them when opening their Christmas presents, Versace fragrances come in a slick tin. As far as my somewhat unreliable eyes tell me lol, the Blue Jeans variety comes in a shiny, yes you guessed it, blue tin, with gold writing adorning the sides and what I'm told is a picture of a lion (the Versace logo) printed upon the lid. The lid is well fitting which means it is unlikely to come off and the aftershave fits snugly inside, protected by the corrugated cardboard lining of the tin to stop it getting damaged or rattling around. A bit of European intuition and mild quirkiness goes a long way and when the aftershave is gone, you can even use the tin to store change or other random bits and pieces in.

The bottle itself when removed is also quite impressive. A classy design and well textured, it is dark but transparent (or should that be translucent) blue colour, with a detached ribbing effect in the glass near the bottom. Halfway up the bottle placed evenly around it's sides are four embossed Versace symbols as the bottle tapers into the neck and then up to the plastic cap. Pop off the cap (as it isn't a screw jobby) and you're nose is exposed to the joys within…

Scent
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I have to say that I just love this fragrance. I don't know what the ladies out there think of it and if it sends you into a trance of arousal or whatever, but as far as the wearer's point of view goes, this is a fine bit of lad juice. Once you've applied to the mush, for let's face it you can't really tell what a scent smells like by sniffing the opening in the bottle - all you get is alcohol, You get quite a rich yet understated whiff. Without going all "oh lovey! Jist take a sniff of that dear, isn't it divine!" like those 50 year old short skirted over made up lasses on the perfume counter in Boots, I'll try and describe the fragrance. Blue Jeans seems to hit you on two levels really, depending on how long you've been wearing it for. To begin with, it has quite a citrus tang to it, smelling fresh and a little sharpish, but if you leave it for 5 minutes or so, the full blend is released. There's all sorts in this, from orange and bergamot (?) to rose, geranium and jasmine, so you'd expect quite a flowery scent? Well no actually, I wouldn't go as far as saying it's spicey, it has a very warm smell, not too overpowering and although it's not too sweet, there is a definite woody undertone going on so get that lass to have a good snuffle of you next time you're out and she'll discover it for herself.

Staying power
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So, you've been out in that Smokey club all night and through the grime of the city streets, mingling with all the other gorgeous smelling people out there (apart from that vanilla deodorant that some ladies wear, not keen on that one), how does Versace hold up? Well not too badly is the answer, to me it seems as though it's more of a close contact aftershave. It's not the kind of thing that you're going to smell from miles off, but then I suppose that if you can, you've put way too much on anyway. It's the kind of thing that you can smell on your pillow the next morning having had a good kip, but I wouldn't recommend it as an all day thing to wear, it's more of a going out scent.

Value for money
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I'm afraid that I haven’t really done my research too well on this one. Versace comes in the miniature 25 ml bottles as well as a larger 50 ml one, although it could be 75. Around here, you can expect to pick up a large bottle of Blue Jeans for something in the regions of £25 but prices obviously vary, probably even more so as you go down south lol. I'd class it as a midrange fragrance in the price stakes then, there are many more expensive but few are able to justify their cost with the smell that they deliver. You don't need to use much of this juice, for although it hasn't got a brash scent it does speak for itself and so you'll probably find that a bottle lasts a good while - depending on how often you go out and use it obviously. I'd say then that it is pretty decent value for money.

Conclusion
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Well Giani, you've got me sold on this one old chap. In the same way you'd trust an Italian restaurant to deliver scrumptious food, you can trust the late Italian Versace in selecting and producing a stylish blend of floral and woody extracts. If you're into the more musky and deeper smelling aftershaves, like say Opium by Armani or something like that, this may not be your cup of tea, but with an open mind and nostrils, virtually everyone should be able to appreciate this fine splash.

Cheers for reading.

Craig - March 2002

 

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