Azzaro Couture (2008)
by Azzaro

This is an interesting floral/fruity chypre. It is largely linear, not a common trait for a chypre, and while it is sweet, the sweetness lies in the floral notes and not the fruity notes. The rose is candied, but the fruit note, somewhere between melon and pear, is tart and sharp. There are many notes listed (rose, bergamot, mimosa, ambrette seed, galbanum, patchouli.) Somehow they create a nose-gestalt that reads as a light chypre, a floral/fruity and a spicy musk (likely from ambrette seed.) The spiciness reads as a nicely placed pepper note reminiscent of the one in Caron’s Parfum Sacré. It lines up beautifully with the rose and the fruit. It cuts the rose’s sweetness, gives the fruit its green edge and lasts from start to finish.

The linearity tells me that Azzaro Couture might not so much be an ‘actual’ chypre as an implied or suggested chypre. For instance, I don’t’ know if there is actual oakmoss in AC. Maybe treemoss, maybe none of the above. Bergamot and the pepperiness give a hint of that rough bitterness that I associate with chypre. The great thing about linearity here is that it stops the clock at an accord that reminds me of the heartnotes of Diorella---almost turned fruit balanced with a dark raspiness.

AC doesn’t have great projection and it lasts better on the strip than on my skin. Although linear for the most part, AC’s constituent elements (flower, fruit, musky spice) remain distinct, and even into the drydown there is no blurring of the lines.

22nd January, 2011.

The opening is hard to describe it's
fruity with metallic nuances. I'm not crazy
about the bottle design it's homely in it's appearance i think what's making that
metallic smell is probably the Amberette
seedlings and the Mimosa notes is making it metallic those two just dominate the other notes you barely smell the rose
and iris in it these are one of those
perfumes that are hard the review.

14th October, 2010.

The original Azzaro was the very first item I included into my flacon-collection when I was a teenager - thus I was very curious to smell the re-edition.
It's a nice scent. While the stuff from 1974 was much more complex, fascinating and more feminine, the current version is basically a flowery creation with an overall "flower-bed-theme", quite harmonious and well balanced. It does not have the intensity of the old version, but I would call it pleasant and sparkling. Don't expect too much of it, it is - unfortunately - a bit banal...- also in view of the high price.

7th March, 2010.

It's a very ladylike fragrance. The start is fresh and citrusy, then the florals boom and in the end the animalic and chypre notes give it sillage and personality. Will defintely become my "dress up for a formal date" perfume!

27th January, 2010.

Azzaro Couture’s mossy green and tart citrus top notes are followed by an interesting dusty-sweet, dark, fruity accord, which while oddly familiar, is not something I’ve encountered in a perfume before. The structure is clearly green-fruity chypre, but the details are marvelously novel.

When recognition strikes, it’s a delightful surprise: Azzaro Couture channels the scent of my favorite imported lychee black tea! The scent is credited to Aurélien Guichard, and I have no trouble believing that it comes from the same nose that gave us Bond No. 9’s Chinatown. Not that the two smell all that similar. Both rely heavily on fruity lactones, but the Azzaro is at once darker and more translucent than the Bond, with very little of the latter’s sweet powder and its own distinctively smoky, bitter-green edge.

As Azzaro Couture develops it manifests a tangy animalic undertone that I find especially compelling. Indolic white florals appear in the heart as well, adding another layer of complexity, yet somehow managing not to compromise Couture’s overall transparency. In its fruity chypre structure Azzaro Couture is a not-too-distant relative of Diorella, but it’s a more shadowy and ambiguous scent. Given that Diorella cross-dresses pretty comfortably as a fragrance for men, I’d consider Azzaro Couture unisex as well. Projection and sillage are only moderate, but Couture’s lasting power is excellent, and I can still smell it on my skin after several hours’ wear. I like it.

14th December, 2009.