Versace Eros - cologne review
Separated at birth... since which time, Brian's been looking after his teeth. And his complexion. And the facial hair situation...
By referring to their Versace Eros as ‘reassuringly virile’ and citing its ‘masculinity’, Versace get their mythology slightly wrong.
Eros is classically depicted either as a cheeky child – the precursor to the chubby cherub of Renaissance art – or a slender youth, not the testosterone-powered male specimen embodied in Brian Shimanksy who appears in the Versace Eros advert below.
Why, he’s so manly, he even looks like Koba from Planet of the Apes in certain lights.
Brian doesn’t even have wings in the advert video we’ve included here – which looks like a low-budget effort with a plywood ruined temple you could probably push over by leaning on it (and why would it already be ruined like that in classical times? An anachronism if ever there was one…). Notice how the camera keeps focusing on his feet: poor Brian is shod in those awful silver-tone gladiator boots - they're making him showcase the Roman sandals from the Versace spring/summer 2013 men's collection. And are those tiger-print boxer-shorts he’s got on? Heavens above.
Speaking of which: Eros would cause people to fall in love by shooting them with his arrow... but in this clip, Eros - unusually - shoots his bow to part the clouds and bring light to a benighted, empty, not to mention storm-drenched world… then shatters a bottle of the very fragrance we’re meant to be hankering for with a second bolt...
...which is a pity because it is a damn fine eau de toilette, in our opinion:
The overriding smell is of spearmint toothpaste – very fresh indeed, but overlaid with a sugary, warm vanilla.
Just to provide a point of comparison, Versace describes this scent as a: ‘combination of mint leaves, Italian lemon zest and green apple; an addictive sensuality delivered by oriental, intriguing and enveloping notes like tonka beans, ambroxan (amber), geranium flower and vanilla; a racy virility symbolized by woods such as cedarwood from Atlas and Virginia, vetyver and oak moss, providing intensity and power’.
We didn’t get all of those flavours by any means, but for once some of the hype is valid. We can detect an undertone of geranium for sure, and maybe even some herbs – possibly a very mild basil odour.
In any case, it is certainly intense and lasts for a very long time. Possibly a bit strong for the office, but it doesn’t smell ‘unprofessional’ exactly. We found it lingered in our noses when we really inhaled it, in a way other EDTs don’t.
Then there is the bottle: the characteristic Versace emblem, the clean blue tint, and playing on the Greek myth theme, the Greek fret or meander pattern around the Medusa head (and seen on Brian’s shorts, too). It looks solid and chimes properly with the theme. To get style and scent right? Well, Eros did his work: we're in love with this one.
Overall rating: a sweet 8.5 out of 10.
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