Acqua di Giò pour Homme (1996)
by Giorgio Armani

Yes.... here it is, the fruity-aquatic that spawned countless smell-alikes. Its massively popular and thats for a good reason: I don't know of a single person that would be offended by this. Thats the case with most aquatics so houses pump these out every few years. Commonly blamed for spawning a new bland genre along with Cool Water and it is true to a good extent. Regardless, if this weren't so popular and if there wern't so many "copies" of it, or better yet, had a French name to it, it would be no doubt be very highly regarded here. The benchmark for all aquatics to be compared to. Not very masculine at all and is VERY recognizable.

What the world needs: Another review of Acqua di Gio.

Glad to oblige. It's still overpriced and overrated. It's still inoffensive/timid.
A fragrance for men who want to wear fragrance but don't want to smell as if they are wearing a fragrance. (Are you taking notes?)

To my nose, it smells like a watered down version of Geir. I think that if Geir Ness had wanted to make a light, fraiche, pseudo acquatic, green colored version of Geir for the summer--and screwed it up by being cheap, it would smell somewhat like this.

Mild stuff. Remember to pronounce it correctly. Gio should sound like Joe. Not Gee-oh.

It's just too bland to give it a thumbs down. Neutered and Neutral.

My daughter's 20 year old (ex)boyfriend used to wear this. He used to strut around all cocky and whatnot...leaving me with an obviously bad impression! I've since put that image to rest and returned to this fragrance once again. It is wonderfully wearable. Acqua di Gio is uplifting & fresh. The notes in this frag are intriguing for a male marketed designer scent, and it's success in sales is proof that it pays to produce pleasing quality fragrance. Despite the neigh-sayers, I give it an enthusiastic thumbs up!

Sure this is overly common, but it is not as bad as many perceive. Compared to Bulgari Aqua (often so), this is very "thin", but it has very nice citrus notes that the former lacks. I find this very wearable and versatile. Suited best for casual/leisure use. I believe many scents are similar after ADG.

Well, there wouldn’t be so many negative comments if it weren’t so popular. Personally, I think it’s a nice fragrance with plenty enough good qualities: It’s well made, competently structured… has the right amount of sillage and has good longevity. Its aquatics are fresh, light, clean and they don’t demand a lot of care in application. Acqua di Gio is easy to wear, and it’s non-irritating to others except to those who can’t understand how this “mediocrity” achieved so much success. Oh, it has flaws, too: It’s not very dramatic, it’s ubiquitous, and as with many things Armani, it’s too expensive for what it delivers. Its popularity has made it a classic and thirty years from now people will probably be saying, “Now THERE was a fragrance! They just don’t make them like Acqua di Gio anymore.” (Edit of 12 January 2006 review.)

I don't know how they pulled this one off without citrus notes. My only problem with it is that it has become so common that it does not feel special any more. I bet it would drive me crazy if I were a perfumer to try to come up with something so good, yet retain its uniqueness. Nevertheless, it's a great frag. Worth owning.