Sauvage Very Cool Spray (Dior, 2017) is the Sauvage Eau de Toilette by François Demachy rebalanced for an aerosol bottle that sprays in every position. The composition takes up the aromatic fougère of the original — bergamot, pepper, lavender, geranium, Sichuan pepper and rose, vetiver, patchouli, elemi, ambroxan and cedar — and adds a grapefruit note on top, for a more bitter and airier opening.
Sauvage Very Cool Spray, the Sauvage Eau de Toilette in a radiant version
Sauvage Very Cool Spray came out in spring 2017, two years after Sauvage. Dior does not present it as a lightened derivative but as the same Eau de Toilette, rebalanced for a new bottle: an aerosol with an aluminum bag that sprays in every position, including upside down. François Demachy, Dior's nose since 2006, explains that the power of this microdiffusion led him to rework the balance of the formula. The frame remains that of Sauvage; the freshness of the opening is pushed up a notch.
Top: grapefruit, bergamot and pepper
The difference with Sauvage lies in the grapefruit, added on top alongside Calabrian bergamot. Grapefruit essence, cold-pressed from the peel, brings a zesty bitterness that cuts more sharply than bergamot, which is rounder and more floral. Pepper, already present in Sauvage, keeps its role as a dry, piquant touch on the opening. The first quarter hour is more acidic and airier than that of the original.
Heart: the aromatic fougère of Sauvage
The heart takes up Sauvage unchanged. Lavender sets the masculine fougère accord; geranium doubles it with a rosy, slightly minty facet. Sichuan pepper and pink pepper extend the vivacity of the top, one woody and dry, the other more fruity. Patchouli and vetiver provide the earthy, woody base, elemi a fresh, lemony resin that connects the citrus of the opening to the woods. On skin, this is the moment when Very Cool Spray blends into Sauvage.
Base: ambroxan and cedar
The base holds to two materials. Ambroxan, an amber, mineral and diffusive molecule, is the signature of the whole Sauvage line; it carries the sillage and the longevity. Cedar dries and woodens it. Nothing sweet, nothing vanillic: the base stays crisp, salty, almost abstract, which goes hand in hand with a fragrance designed to be sprayed generously and often.
What changes, what does not
Composition identical but for one ingredient, bottle different: Very Cool Spray is not a flanker in the usual sense. It is distinguished by the grapefruit on top and by a use — generous, nomadic spraying — that the container imposes. Dior presented it as a new way of wearing fragrance rather than as a new perfume.