Uomo Casual Life
Ferragamo (2017)

Salvatore Ferragamo Uomo Casual Life (2017) seems about as interesting as a simmering kettle, especially with a name like "Casual Life", yet is oddly the most interesting of several flankers made for the Salvatore Ferragamo Uomo (2016) line. The original and its initial successive flankers (all launched within a year) were all gourmand oriental hybrids with an obvious ambroxan tonka riff, borrowing heavily from the base of Gucci Guilty pour Homme (2011) and Paco Rabanne Invictus (2013) with bubblegum sweetness boosted by the ambrox which gives a less-than-ideal plasticene ubiquity. Uomo Casual Life seems to go in a different direction, borrowing trace elements from the original and stapling them onto what is effectively an unrelated scent, creating a fresh mass-appeal masculine with small callbacks to the gourmand aspects of the pillar release. I'm not sure how I feel about that last part, but I like the rest of what's going on here, with a few exceptions I'll detail further down. Casual Life is nothing special, but it oddly seems to shoot for that, so mission accomplished Salvatore Ferragamo!

First thing's first, and that is the violet leaf. Uomo Casual Life gives me slight Creed Green Irish Tweed (1985) and Kiton Men (1996) vibes with the way violet leaf is merged with the aquatic-booster dihydromyrcenol in the opening. A bright lemon and a bit of "green" cardamom (translation: nondesript green spiciness) pad out this sharp opening into something softer, then the ambroxan wooshes in. The base is not made with ambroxan like in many scents of this ilk, but rather ambroxan makes an appearance early, saddled with a weird "coffee" note that isn't coffee, just some dirty scratchy thing that juxtaposed against shimmering geranium/geraniol for freshness. The base is cashmeran woody fuzziness with a clean laundry musk floating in, wrapped in the usual tonka, linalool, limonene, and what else to give this the typical detergent musk base found in aquatics of the past. The cashmeran and weird scratchy middle comes in and out to make Casual Life a tad uneasy in the latest stages of wear, but it isn't a deal breaker. Wear time and projection are above average, so performance in high-heat or sunny day time scenarios where this would be expected to find use is adequate. Best use for me in work or "casual" weekend scenarios during warmer months.

Alberto Morillas and Aurélian Guichard (son of Jean) team up to make a perfectly serviceable, fairly conservative, and mass-appealing "every day Joe" sort of fragrance that can share duty with the more context-specific pillar releases in the Uomo line. I guess upper managment regretted their decision to think like the old days and make a pillar release that wasn't a guaranteed-moneybags mass-appeal scent, choosing instead to go with something more-distinct (even if only marginally until the ambrox bomb base is reached), so they walked back by making a flanker that feels more like a boring modern pillar release from another house. The tacking on of gourmand notes to say "hey I'm still part of the line" is a half-baked idea that actually hurts this more than if it was just a straight-ahead freshie, but the lovely violet leaf and geranium saves this from being meh-tastic, if only just. If you absolutely must have a freshie from this house that isn't outside the Uomo range, Casual Life will serve its purpose with honor, but there are better freshies from Ferragamo and better soft violet leaf scents like Eau de Cartier Concentrée (2002) out there too. Thumbs up.

Mix a watery violet note with some of the sweetness from the original Uomo and you have the opening. Later the drydown is like a cheap version of Invictus Aqua, similar to some of the "blue" frags at Zara. Very casual and young. Will be cloying if over-sprayed.

Decent projection and longevity, hung around for 8+ hours on clothing.

This one has the dna of the wonderfully bold Uomo, but it's tastefully toned down and given a nice lemony tang to it. Casual Life is warm weather friendly and has an expected "lightness" to it, whereas its predecessor the original is quite loud (but pleasant nonetheless).

Along the lines of lower-key versions of other houses' scents like Paco Rabanne's Invictus Aqua, Prada L'Homme Eau, Prada Luna Rossa Sport Eau, etc.; and it reminds me remotely of Versace pour Homme with its citrus emphasis.

While it shares the sweet and tasteful gourmand spirit of its older brother, this one comes as an inoffensive "Eau" version because of its lighter consistency, according to the summer season that's supposed to be worn at. In that line, if SF Uomo its meant to be used on a cold day and its scent may last till you get back home, Uomo Casual Life only joins you for 3-4 hours on a warm day and that is why I prefer using it at afternoon where its longevity could last a bit longer.

Still, where SFU comes in the form of tiramisu-like juice, SFUCL appears to be the dried down nectar of a 90's bubblegum which you remember tried once on a summer trip to the harbor. Not a bad thing, but let's be clear: one stands as the classy and elegant brother, while the other is the relaxed and youthful one.

Overall, it's a nice "sweeter rather than fresh" fragrance, quite ethereal but sticky which seems perfect for a warm weather evening date.

Interesting spin on the original, tho I am not sure what Casual Life description is all about.
Morillas and Guichard have been brought in to brighten and liven this up...they have good experience doing this, several flankers under their belt.

Have they accomplished the purpose? Yes. It is nice, yes, unique, no. Wearable for year-round use, so familiar, so casual.