The Visionary
Gap (2007)

The Gap has made in-store exclusive fragrance for quite some time, and like many mall chain boutiques that do, they can be here today and gone tomorrow. However, unlike Victoria's Secret, The Express, or Zara, The Gap at least seems to try putting more artistic effort into what they stuff near the checkout lines, even if the materials quality is still mostly paper thin. The Gap introduced a 5-piece series of unisex fragrances called Gap Individuals, each named after an defining a type of individual, even if that seems silly coming from a brand that used to have uniformly-dressed dancers in its TV ads. This particular scent is The Visionary (2007), and tends to get the most talk of the five. The spray head of each one was a different color, although with the metallic cap on, you'd not know that immediately into going to use them, meaning this is one time a capless tester may look better in a displayed collection. More on that little tidbit later, but in addition to the themes of each bottle, there is a three-note focus that feels artistic in its simplicity, almost like many niche brands employ with their rose and this, sandalwood and that, like Jo Malone.

The focus of The Visionary is geranium, fennel, and caraway, but there is more going on here than them. The opening has that 2000's ozonic rush like Chanel Coco Mademoiselle (2002) or Abercrombie & Fitch Fierce (2006). Unlike them, this ozonic sharpness is not paired with fruit in The Visionary, but rather geranium. The geranium on display here is rather floral like the later Diptyque Geranium Oderata (2014), and not at all metallic like one may be used to in something such as Creed Himalaya (2002) or Paco Rabanne XS pour Homme (1994). This may be because that geranium is really just pure geraniol at the end of the day, since materials here are super cheap. Fennel and caraway come in before long, offering a green "spice rack" feel which comes to define The Visionary outside that florid ozonic geranium note, resting on an unmentioned bed of Iso E Super and vetiver that gets inexplicably powdery late in the wear. Performance leaves something to be desired, coming across like an eau de cologne with 30 minutes of push then six hours of quiet sillage, plus that late stage powdery feel comes across incongruent with the rest. The Visionary is unisex, casual, plus easy to wear otherwise. Best use would be in summer or spring, outdoors or after a hot shower, perhaps as a shared scent between romance partners even?

Something like this repackaged with better materials, performance, and presentation could sell for about five times what this sold for in stores originally, and since it is discontinued, sells for more than it is worth unless you're okay with the uncapped testers I mentioned earlier, since they seem to have flooded discounters at some point and cost less than a value meal at McDonald's. Since having no cap shows off the cool colored spray heads of each bottle, perhaps this is for the best, and at these prices you could very well just load up on backups then spray to your heart's content to mitigate the performance woes. I'm usually on board with geranium presented in a floral way, but The Visionary just sort of smells like the filler used to pad out the formula of cheap rose perfumes, spliced with the top notes of Fierce, then watered down to an eau de cologne. The concept is cool and very "niche-like" in it's thematic and note subject focus, but the dime store execution of the juice itself makes The Visionary feel more like The Daydreamer, with the same relative forgettable nature as most fragrance efforts put forth by The Gap both prior to and after this went away from that front checkout shelf. Neutral.

Caraway, Fennel, Geranium.

One of the Gap Individuals series, The Visionary has been in my wardrobe for years now. I wear it in rotation with all the rest and even now, after all this time, it still smells more like a linear niche offering than it does an economical designer. I have the series and each one is a viable scent that either gender can pull off. While not my favorite of the Individuals series, the Visionary is still something I reach for when I want to smell just a bit different.

The scent is fully developed from the initial application and is the epitome of a linear fragrance. That aside, the Visionary has this persistent quality inherent in the composition that permits it too smell full bodied for an impressive length of time.

What blankets my skin is some heady, herbaceous spice and Geranium. I won't say that this is a conventional rendition of Geranium, but the floral component is there nonetheless and the result is positive. The Visionary somehow conveys a lightness, yet wears much heavier ( at least on me ). It never wavers or transitions. It simply diminishes its volume and presence from the passage of time. I can detect this scent the next day, but the realistic longevity is perhaps 8 hours as a noticeable fragrance. Perhaps something about my skin embellishes The Visionary or it simply possesses impressive hang time. You will have to be your own judge concerning this.

The Individuals by Gap were released in 2007 and as far as I know, consisted of the 5 fragrances I'm familiar with. I could be wrong about the year and if so, my apologies. The Visionary, The Natural, The Original, The Lover and The Artist all seem to have that full bodied texture that could pass for a more upscale item.

Sillage for The Visionary is good and the throw is perfect, for all intents and purposes. Longevity is approximately 8 hours on me, with a few of those being relegated as a personal space scent. It doesn't have the WOW factor for me to love it, but a thumbs up is definitely warranted. As always, a sample wear is highly recommended.

Do you want green?, I mean GREEN!!!!!, then this is your fragrance.
The geranium is very intense supported by caraway. So spicy green that it reminds me coming back from the farmer's market with a a bag full of celery, lettuce and cilantro. Tha's it!!!, it smells like celery, lettuce and cilantro!!!!
A ver subtle woody drydown, maybe due to a pinch of vetiver thrown into the mixture as a last thought that is not even mentioned in the pyramid, and it is very faint indeed.
Well done perfume that you will like it if you are into greens, but geranium is a note "non grata" for my nose so it only gets a neutral from me.

The Visionary opens with a strong, aromatic combination of geranium and caraway, which feels sharp, warm, and subtly spicy. The top fades drastically in volume within five minutes, and a wisp of fennel emerges. The fennel is very light, which is a shame because I love it in fragrances and honestly this scent could have benefited from a little extra strength. After an hour the Visionary dries down to a soft, amber/wood skin scent. Overall, this offering has poor longevity unless sprayed on clothes, and little projection, but it's certainly unique in a pleasant way, and so far my favorite of the Gap line. I would love a stronger, higher budget take on this.