Giorgio Armani Acqua di Gioia: Modern-day Acqua di Gio?

How can you not forget the mid-90s?

It was a flagship year for most fragrances. It was the era when marketing campaigns define a perfume’s success. It was also the year when fragrances were flankerized – the most flankered fragrance is Calvin Klein’s CK One and other fragrances in their portfolio. However, not all brands jumped in the flanker bandwagon. Or maybe they’ve deferred the launch to a much later year.

One interesting fragrance is Giorgio Armani Acqua di Gio. To cut the story short, this floral-fruity pseudo-aquatic scent hit the perfumery by storm. It’s described as a fragrance reminiscent of the lazy afternoons spent in the Mediterranean. The combination of fruits, flowers and woods was well-executed.

Acqua di Gio comes in a his and her fragrance but it was never reinvented since its release. It was only this year that Giorgio Armani resurrected the scent and it’s not even called a summer or spring version. It’s a different take on the original altogether. Acqua di Gioia, a new fragrance for women, will grace the perfumery this June.

The composition mimics the original with the inclusion of mint leaves and brown sugar accords. According to wwd.com, “it’s an addictive aquatic wood, touched by the caress of sunny flower petals.” Other notes in this fragrance are: limone primo fiore, aquatic green accord, pink pepper, jasmine sambac, peony, cedar and labdanum.

Giorgio Armani Acqua di Gioia will be available in 30ml, 50ml and 100ml eau de toilette.

Bvlgari Notte Pour Femme

When a perfume you love starts to grow on you, instinct will tell you to look for another fragrance. But it’s not that easy. Not all fragrances are created alike despite the similarity in notes. Also, just because one fragrance sits nicely on your friend’s skin doesn’t mean you’ll get the same olfactory experience.

Thierry Mugler Angel was a long time favorite and so does Clinique Happy. But I want to try something out of my range. I began to explore Versace Versense. It was nice on the overall but the opening is too generic. The sillage wasn’t that great on me either. Yves Saint Laurent Parisienne and Bvlgari Omnia captivated me but I felt something is lacking. I was craving for something gourmand sans the patchouli.

Being a fan of gourmand scents and anything oriental, I decided to road test Bvlgari Notte. This fragrance was a creation of perfumer Alberto Morillas in 2004. He combined iris, galanga, vodka, dark chocolate and a host of other accords.

Hmmm, chocolates and booze, anyone?

Bvlgari Notte is dark and sensual. The chocolates, iris and vodka blended well and created a dreamy and absolutely beautiful fragrance. It’s a delicious scent without the cloying sweetness and the overtly gourmand-oriental potency of Angel. I’d say its a tamer version of Angel though not quite so. Here, I did not miss the patchouli.

The fragrance is long lasting. Hours after application, I can still smell a whiff of Notte on my skin. The chocolate notes add a bit of decadence on the overall appeal of the fragrance. Just the right amount – nothing that would assault your nose, so to speak.

Bvlgari Notte is a sheer gourmand fragrance. I don’t really regard this as an evening perfume nor a winter scent. As a matter of fact, I’d made this one of my daytime staples. To some, it may come off as too strong but on me, it’s just right – close to perfection.

Calvin Klein CK One: The Purveyor Of Genderless Scents

Whether it’s unisex or shared,  it all pertains to one and the same concoction – genderless.

In the 90s, the flamboyance and eccentricity of the 80s started to wane.  Gender roles were re-defined, people began to embrace the eco-friendly lifestyle and fragrances took off to a new direction.

Calvin Klein‘s controversial ad campaigns have become the impetus to a kind of marketing strategy that centers on sensuality, escapism and sex. The faces, the bodies and the fashion statement created a trend that broke the rules – the lack of inhibition and an open admiration of the human’s naked form.

The perfume line also began to explore homogeneity. It broke off from the traditional his and her scents and androgynous fragrances became the “IT” fragrance of the era. Although, unisex fragrances have been around in the perfumery (4711 by Muelhens) for quite some time now, it was Calvin Klein that made it sexy.

CK One was the fragrance of ubiquity in the mid-90s. Almost everyone has worn this fragrance at some point in their lives. Minimalistic, clean and refreshing, CK One fuses citrus accords with aromatic woods to produce a fragrance that’s zesty, tangy and trendy.

The fragrance notes are:

Top notes: bergamot, cardamom, pineapple, papaya, green tea accord

Middle notes: hedione high cis, violet, rose, nutmeg, gree tea accord

Base notes: musk, amber. green tea accord

A whiff of the lemony-aquatic mix garners differing views. Some like its lingering freshness and some find it too soapy and synthetic. But one thing is for sure, it created a huge following since it was first launched in 1994. And due to its success, Calvin Klein comes up with a limited edition CK One every year.

Intrigued on  how this year’s CK One smell like? Check out discount perfume online store for more news and updates on Calvin Klein fragrances.

Burberry Going Sporty: The Burberry Sport Duo

Burberry is known for its sophisticated taste in designing clothes and its  fragrance portfolio is as remarkable as the fashion line. As Burberry explores the sport range, so does the perfume collection.

Burberry Sport for Women and Burberry Sport for Men exude energy and life. The contrast of colors of the flacon and the package – black, red and white – conveys a very attractive impression of what’s inside. Is it as beautiful as it seems?

The women’s fragrance is described as floral with hints of citrus and woods. Perfumers Olivier Polge and Beatrice Piquet combined the notes of mandarin, sea salt, magnolia, honeysuckle, petit grain, solar accords, musk and cedar.The men’s fragrance, on the other hand, features ginger, grapefruit, wheat, sea accords, juniper berries, dry amber, cedar and musk. Sonia Constant, Nathalie Gracia-Cetto and Antoin Maisondieu created Burberry Sport for Men.

The sport-themed fragrances appear Calvin Klein-ish in some ways. The first thing that comes to mind whenever we speak about designer sporty fragrances is CK and its entire gamut of flankers. But in this case, Burberry Sport has clearly made a distinction between a his and her fragrance as opposed to Calvin Klein’s collection of unisex perfumes.

Burberry Sport is available in 30ml, 50ml and 75ml eau de toilette. It also includes a range of body products for men and women.

Check out scentiments.com for more Burberry perfumes.