Azzaro pour Homme (1978)
by Azzaro

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.

Azzaro pour Homme

Success has many fathers and failure is an orphan. One of the ways you can tell that 1978's Azzaro pour Homme is a success is that there are many who claim to be this scent's father. Richard Wirtz, Loris Azzaro, Martin Heiddenreich and the credited nose Gerard Anthony all have claimed paternity and I would be hard pressed to say based on the scent itself who is responsible. According to "The Scented Salamander" there are over 320 ingredients in Azzaro pour Homme. What makes this so surprising is that something which had so much creative discord and then seemingly constructed by throwing in everything on the shelf has come out to be so classic. Azzaro pour Homme is perhaps the best example of an aromatic fougere out there and it has easily withstood the test of time. At the top I get a mix of lavender and anise which is fairly quickly joined by a tart citrus accord. The heart of this is a green herbal mix of what seems like the majority of the 320 ingredients. At times I get hints of sage, basil, rosemary or cardamom. There are also floral components, as well; mostly a soft rose peeks in and out. There is a stronger component of vetiver and sandalwood underneath the herbal goings on but even those notes never overwhelm and as this progresses there is an amazing complexity on display. The base is much simpler as all of the business from before settles down into a musk and amber base which comes as a soothing contrast to the complicated heart of this. It wasn't until the late 90's that I picked up Azzaro pour Homme for the first time and like so many other times in my life I wondered what took me so long.

Another dominant player in the aromatic fougere category, and it holds its own against its peers. Worth, Paco Rabanne, Cerutti 1881 and Quorum all share this slightly powdery existence that is simple in construction, yet masculine and clean simultaneously. In line with a previous reviewer, I find Rive Gauche a more sophisticated alternative and more likely to stimulate my interest in the long term. I keep coming back to aromatic fougeres, potent yet restrained, they remind me of simpler times and give me precisely what I want from a masculine fragrance.