Azzaro pour Homme (1978)
by Azzaro

Pay no attention to critics of Azzaro pour Homme, especially the voices that proclaim it dated.

A famous designer once stated that "fashion passes, style remains". This holds true for this timeless honeyed blend of lavender and anise over a base of leather and amber.

If this designer classic was a niche release people would gladly pay 4 times its current retail price. Hell I might start wearing this gem more frequently just to piss the Tommy crowd off :)

This is the quintessential masculine barbershop scent along with bay rum and Old Spice (the Shulton, not the current garbage). The lavender is bracing and the anise gives it character and smoothness. The musky amber base does soul well,

One of the early aromatic fougères, along with Paco Rabanne pour Homme (which is at once greener and sweeter than Azzaro, and which was introduced five years earlier). This one is a bit sharper and more aromatic in that direction, with juniper berries, cumin, and the mysteriously haunting note of clary sage. This is of moderate longevity and sillage, with a very pleasant drydown, with musk, leather and amber complementing the fougère base of oakmoss and tonka bean. It speaks elegance in a slightly edgy key, but resolves into warmth and comfort. Very nice for cool weather, and equally suited to work and social occasions, in my view.

All good things that can be said about Azzaro pH have already been said by my betters.

Azzaro pH is a CLASSIC which will not be dated by the passage of time or the contrary opininons of mankind. Since 1979, i must be on my 5th or 6th 100ml bottle. I never knew what it was in particular about Azzaro that always got to me other than its great scent. Now i know its the ambergris in the drydown.

A true classic.

A spritz of this and I find myself back in the early 80's, at the barbers. Just what is it about barbershop scents that appeal to us men more than the sweet fruity offerings we get these days? Perhaps it has to do with all the positive associations we attach to the art of personal grooming. The immaculately blended scent smells fresh yet masculine; the drydown is as smooth and deeply satisfying as a good clean shave. And that's what AZZARO POUR HOMME is - a no-nonsense approach to personal grooming.

Released in 1978, Azzaro Pour Homme is the beast that set the stage for the "powerhouse era" of fragrance that was right around the corner in the 1980s. Today, APH may not smell particularly original anymore (if you've worn Tuscany you'll know what this smells like), probably because countless imposters since then have tried to emulate its brilliance. No matter - what APS has that lesser mortals don't have is BALANCE, and that is its greatest quality. Azzaro is clean, rich, warm, woody and spicy all at once, and it blends these qualities together perfectly - this is one smooth scent. Though it's nowhere near as crude or raw as Quorum, Azzaro Pour Homme is a very manly fragrance, while simultaneously exuding an aura of level-headed, James Bond-like self-assuredness. One thing I cannot stress enough, however, is that this is a hard fragrance to sample because it is one that must be WORN in order to be judged fairly - do not judge this by simply spraying it on your wrist and cramming your nose into it all day. Like other powerscents such as Giorgio For Men and Kouros, Azzaro's magic comes from its radiance - you need to allow its scent to envelop you. Another word of caution: this is also a scent that is very easy to overapply; because of its deep, warm richness, you might not notice how strong this fragrance is on yourself, but I can assure you that if this is overapplied people around you will definitely be calling you "Cologne Guy" behind your back.

It is one of greatest masculine fragrances of all time, and is the epitome of what constitutes a classic scent.