Dylan Purple Eau de Parfum

Five materials is all that Versace Dylan Purple Eau de Parfum is built from, and the honest thing is to say so rather than pretend to an evolution that is not there.

Bitter orange leads, and it is the bitter part that matters: not orange juice but the peel and the pith, tart and slightly green. Pear sits beside it as a cool, watery sweetness, the crisp kind rather than the syrupy kind, and bergamot sharpens the pair without adding anything of its own that you would notice separately. That opening is the most interesting stretch of the fragrance and it holds for a surprisingly long twenty minutes.

Underneath there is freesia, a light and faintly peppery floral that does more to add air than weight, and then cedarwood, dry and pencil shaving clean, which is the only thing holding the base together. Christophe Raynaud composed it, and what he has made is a bright, simple scent that does not try to be complicated. What you smell after ten minutes is broadly what you will smell two hours later.

That makes it easy to wear and easy to misjudge. Anyone expecting the long unfolding of a richer perfume will find it thin, while anyone who wants something clean to put on in the morning without thinking about it will find it close to ideal. It leans feminine, works best in daylight and warm weather, and the eau de parfum strength gives it rather more staying power than its brightness would suggest. From 2022.

The house was founded in Milan in 1978 by Gianni Versace and has been in Donatella Versace's creative hands since he died. It is Italian, and it designs across fashion, interiors and hospitality as well as fragrance.