VERSACE
THE DREAMER

1996

PERFUMER
Jean-Pierre Bethouart

Juniper
Tarragon
Artemisia

Iris
Lily
Flax

Tobacco blossom
Amber

The Dreamer is the eccentric gentleman. The one that suits up, but has some wacky shoes or socks on. I absolutely loathe the opening for this, so I’ve rarely worn it. It smells like nail polish remover to me and it pretty much burns my nose. After a while, it transitions in a pleasant lavender-tobacco blend. Easily one of the most unique designer fragrances on the market, especially considering that you can pick it up for the price of a delivery pizza.

This is a tough one: Loved by many, hated by many. Especially the opening can be notoriously harsh and I can attest to that. Versace’s The Dreamer arguably has one of the worst openings I’ve smelled. To me, it smells like a powdery variant of nail polish remover. There’s an overload of lavender and sage at first and sweetness from the vanilla joins the party, but it’s caught in a strong, alcoholic, glue-like cloud.

It takes almost and hour for the harshness and the cleaning product vibe to fade away. After that, a pretty interesting tobacco note takes charge. Combined with the left-over vanilla, it becomes a nice scent that I enjoy wearing. If you can get over the opening, this is actually a really unique fragrance, especially for the price point (I picked up my 100ml bottle for under 20€).

The Dreamer is one of the most accurately named fragrances in my opinion. This is a fragrance that you wear for yourself, for artists, for creative people. I don’t feel like this is a crowd-pleaser and definitely not an office scent either. I will never wear it again, but think it’s worth trying, especially if you’re looking to add a unique fragrance to a small collection, without spending a lot of money.