Buying guide for Best Versace perfumes
A signature scent is an extension of your personal style. If you’re not sure where to begin when shopping for perfume, look no further than Versace. This Italian brand, started by the late designer Gianni Versace, is best known for bold, luxurious prints. Like most high-end fashion brands, Versace sells perfumes, too, ranging from light and floral to deep and musky.
Before you decide which perfume to buy, you’ll want to consider some key factors. Are you searching for a parfum or an eau de toilette? Do you need a scent that will linger for hours? Do you tend to prefer floral notes, clean notes, or something more heady?
Our buying guide will help you answer all these questions and more. We also offer a few tips for long-lasting scent and break down how much you can expect to pay for a perfume from Versace.
Key considerations
Notes
Historically, perfumes have been made from a mixture of flowers, grass, wood, roots, and animal products. This is still true for much of today’s perfumes, but modern perfumes also use synthetic materials and are less concentrated than in years past. A perfume can be very complex, mixing hundreds of different scents. Luxury perfumes are often aged like fine wine, with individual scents aged several months or years before being blended.
All fragrances consist of three components: top notes, middle notes, and base notes. The top notes of a fragrance are what you notice first. If you smell a perfume sample and instantly like it, it’s probably because you like the top notes. The top notes may include lighter or fruitier elements and will fade after 15 minutes or so.
The middle notes peek through once the top notes fade. This is the core of the perfume’s scent, and it lasts about 60 minutes. These heart notes tend to be full and robust, with scents like cinnamon, ylang ylang, and lemongrass.
The base notes last longest, up to six hours depending on the perfume’s concentration. Base notes become noticeable after 30 minutes, mingling with the middle notes until they fade. Rich, earthy scents like cedarwood are common for base notes.
Concentration
Perfumes come in several different fragrance concentrations.
Parfum is the most concentrated fragrance option. It consists of up to 30% pure fragrance oil. Depending on the concentration, a parfum can last up to 12 hours. Because they’re less diluted with alcohol, parfums dry out skin less than other fragrance concentrations. Their potency also means that parfums cost more than other concentrations.
When the average person says “perfume,” they actually mean eau de parfum. Eau de parfum is the next highest fragrance concentration. As the French translation (“perfume water”) indicates, eau de parfum has a lower concentration of 10% to 15% pure perfume oil. It usually lasts five to eight hours. It’s less expensive than parfum and perfectly appropriate for daily wear. Note that the term “eau de parfum” is unisex and may refer to women’s or men’s scents.
Eau de toilette is a light spray with 5% to 15% pure perfume essence. This fragrance concentration normally lasts up to three hours. Some consider eau de parfum a nighttime scent, while eau de toilette’s lightness is ideal for the daylight hours.
Eau de cologne is 2% to 4% perfume essence, so it lasts a mere two hours at best. Eau de cologne usually comes in a bigger bottle, since you need to apply more product for the scent to last. As the name indicates, the original formula was created in Cologne, Germany.
Eau fraiche, or “fresh water,” has even less perfume essence than eau de cologne, typically 1% to 3%. The rest of the formula is water and alcohol. You shouldn’t expect eau fraiche to last more than an hour.
Features
Scent types
Versace fragrances often blend multiple different types of scents. Here are some of the common scents found in Versace perfumes:
- Citrus: Citrus perfumes are wonderful daytime scents. These are loaded with tangy citrus essence from fruits like grapefruit, lemon, bergamot, and orange.
- Floral: Floral scents are romantic and sweet. These fragrances combine the scents of multiple flowers for a botanic aura. Often floral scents are combined with fruity scents. Versace Bright Crystal is one of several of the brand’s floral fragrances.
- Fruity: Fruity Versace perfumes have a fresh and sometimes spicy scent. These scents are infused with apple, pear, berry, peach, mango, and other fruit essences for a pleasing aroma. Some scents are sweet, but high-quality perfumes like those by Versace are rarely cloying.
- Spicy: Like the name suggests, spicy perfumes are infused with essences that you’ll find in your spice rack. Cinnamon, ginger, cloves, cardamom, and pepper are just a few of the spices that create warm, sultry fragrances.
- Aquatic: Reminiscent of the ocean, aquatic perfumes include notes that give a fresh, clean aroma that evokes the sea and salt air.
- Woodsy: Woodsy fragrances are warm and sultry like spicy scents. But they have an earthier, more subdued sensuousness. Those who love the smell of campfires, forests, rain, and other natural smells may gravitate toward these scents. While any scent can be unisex, woodsy scents are considered more gender-neutral than fruity or spicy scents.
Packaging
Luxury perfumes are usually beautifully packaged, and Versace is no exception. Many of Versace’s perfume bottles incorporate the brand’s Medusa head logo. The body of the bottle may be oval, square, or round, and the bottle tops can be elaborate, with some resembling crystals. A bottle of Versace perfume is meant to be displayed and will add a touch of class to any vanity setup.
"Eau de toilette, or “grooming water,” was originally a fragrance meant to be applied after bathing or shaving."
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Versace perfume prices
Versace is a luxury brand, so be prepared to pay for it. A Versace perfume will run you anywhere from $25 to $200. The biggest factors that influence pricing are the perfume’s concentration and the quantity of product.
Versace perfumes under $50 are usually travel-size bottles. An eau de toilette will have three ounces or less of product, while an eau fraiche may contain up to four ounces.
The $50 to $100 range gives you more options. You’ll find a lot of eaux de toilette in this price range, but they’ll likely contain two ounces of perfume. An eau de parfum in this price range will cost closer to $100.
If you have the means to splurge, opt for a bigger bottle of an eau de toilette for $100 to $150. These bottles usually have between six to eight ounces of perfume. This is also where you’ll encounter most eaux de parfum. Remember that an eau de parfum will last all day and therefore require less product. Most bottles contain three to four ounces of eau de parfum.
Tips
- Damp and humid conditions can weaken a perfume’s fragrance. Store perfume in a cool and dry place (that is, not in your bathroom).
- Contrary to popular belief, you shouldn’t rub your wrists together after spritzing them with perfume. The friction will make the top notes fade quickly, shortening the longevity of the scent.
- Versace perfumes aren’t cheap. To get the most out of every drop, try mixing your last drops of perfume into an unscented lotion.
FAQ
Q. How long does the scent of a Versace perfume last?
A. This largely depends on the concentration. An eau de parfum will certainly last longer than an eau de toilette. An eau de parfum will last all day, while an eau de toilette will last three to five hours.
Q. Are Versace perfumes vegan?
A. No. Versace perfumes use animal products like musk.
Q. How can I tell if my Versace perfume is authentic?
A. You can start by being vigilant about the sellers you purchase from. You can also pay attention to the quality of the bottle, which should be smooth without any bubbles or bumps. The perfume itself should be transparent without any sediment or particles.
