Don't laugh...an Acqua di Gio thread

It's an allright fragrance. Now if it didn't generate hundreds of spinoffs I doubt everyone would bash it like they do in this forum. It does what it is portrayed to do, create an aura of freshness around the user.

Yea, yea... it's fresh, it's clean, it's unmistakble. It's Acqua di Gio and I don't hate it but it is hard to ignore that Acqua di Geo is the scent-equivalent of the ubiquitos background radiation left over from the Big Bang and that permeates the universe. When something is everywhere and practically inescapable, it becomes, well, not only commonplace and unremarkable but even for some, annoying.

So much for objectivity.

Griff

Hey ... why did so many bands try to copy Led Zepplin? ... why is every company imaginable trying to copy the ipod? ... why did "Jaws" inspire so many similar "man eating" "pop up in your face" movies"?

Bottom line ... if it works, it works. Can't explain it and can't predict it. You may not like Zepplin, ipods, or Jaws. I hear them get bashed all the time. But the vast majority puts them at the top .. along with Acqua di Gio ... and I'm one of them. I still love AdG and I still say it's one of the top 5 things I've ever smelled in my life. No fragrance ever WOW'ed me the same way AdG did the first time. Sadly though, a few things keep me from wearing it much anymore. I HATE wearing something that SO SO many others wear and is so recognizable. Also, I'm 45 now and ... while I hate to think of fragrances as "age specific" ... I feel this works much better for younger men.

I just spritz it on once in a while at home to remember the good times I went through when I was wearing it regularly.

I like the scent, but its longevity leaves much to be desired for me. It's one of the few scents that I have to constantly reapply. It must be my body chemistry because it lasts long for all my friends who wear it.

Double post. Sorry.

I like to smell this one on other people. When i wear it i smell the sour note that lingers throughout the day, it really bugs the demons outta me. my 50ml bottle's been lying around for about 6 years now and it's not going down anytime soon, i just dont wanna smell like other people out there. In my opinion, Halston Unbound is a better scent. >

I like it but I'm often discouraged from wearing it because I've smelt it on too many guys that just over-apply it. I'd be walking at school and out from around the corner a guy will pass me basically bathed in it. Most of the time I can smell the scent before the guy walks around the corner. Overall a good scent, something safe you can wear.

Forget what social status ADG has in 2005. Popularity and common place aside.

In 1985, with all the 80s scents at full power, I would have given a weeks pay to have a scent this remarkable and unique.

Like it or not, ADG really was a bench mark scent for its time.

Acqua di Gio is the maturation and culmination of an idea, and the pinnacle of it's genre. i liked it and still like it.

Perfect! And for that reason alone it has its place in that universe. When my baby brother, who isn't much of a fragrance guy but wanted to step up a bit to get a girl, asked me to help him get a fragrance he would be comfortable with I gave him my bottle and he has never been happier. He gets all sorts of compliments and so its easy for him to wear. Granted...by now I think he gets compliments in much the same manner we go oooh and aahhh when we smell an apple pie cooking. Its familiar and therefore unchallenging and therefore comfortable.

Before I found out about Basenotes (but had a lot of frags already) I remember saying to myself:

"Why do you buy all those scents when you know this is the best one?"

;D ;D ;D

Well, I am not afraid to say that it is without a doubt the best one in that category of scents. I do not wear it often but when I do I am always surprised how good it actually is!

Mic.

AdG I use to love this, it was actually my first Fragrance, I was nuts about it, at that time it was not Popular here in England well as i got older and started coming here to Basenotes, I realised I found better stuff.

I really prefer Creeds Millesime Imperial, as it makes AdG seem like a cheap Aftershave, didn't MI come out before AdG?

Here's my story

AdG was the scent that first piqued my interest in fragrances back in junior high school (haha yeah, I was a youngin'.. still am at 20). It wasn't the first scent I wore but that was only because I couldn't find it anywhere at the time. One year, I was in the Armani store with my parents when I saw it and I just had to buy it. I fell in love once again and coudln't be happier - at the time.

Now, you've got to understand that back then, everyone my age was still into either Cool Water or Polo Sport so when I began wearing this, it turned heads so hard that necks were close to breaking (haha not really..). EVERYONE would compliment me on my smell and I kid you not, I was considered the 'best smelling guy' in my grade. Girls would literally come up and snuggle up against my neck and, honestly, the attention was great!

But soon after people found out what the 'secret magical scent' was, they began buying it. And then more people bought it. And then even more. And more and more and more. Now, I can't even go to class without smelling it on 2 or 3 guys on the way there. Guys who spray it on like water so that EVERYONE would smell it. Guys who wear it so offensively that it just becomes disgusting because of how strong it is on their body - YES!! WE CAN SMELL YOU!! (from the other end of the football stadium) It's hard for me not to hate it. I like things that are exclusive. I like things that only I have and not many others. Â*And this - there are way too many guys wearing it.. and only because it's the only fragrance they know of and only because it's a tried-and-true fragrance that is popular amongst the ladies. Â*It's kind of like the ipod users who buy an ipod because of it's popularity and marketing. They buy it without trying anything else out but mostly, they buy it because people tells them it's good - they don't even know themselves whether it is good or not. By the way, I hate iPods. Always have, always will. They are the epitome of what a consumer-whore-product is.

Anyways, enough of my rant.

Sigh. Popularity has once again destroyed a beautiful thing for me.

This is a good scent, was a good scent. I love the marine notes and the freshness of it but it can be a little sharp and acrid at times. Â*

Did I mention that too many people wear it?

I will always credit Gio for being the scent that got me into fragrances. Â*Before Mania, which exposed the Armani signature notes that seem present in all of their men's colognes, the essence of Gio always escaped me. Â*I was really captivated with it for a while because of its cool transparency that I couldn't put my finger on. Â*Now years later, I still have about a quarter bottle that I kick around every now and then. Â*In order to get the "captivated" effect I had when I first came in contact with it, I have to not smell any fragrances for a while. Compared to other colognes I now own, I can hardly detect it anymore when I wear it on myself. Â*It still warrants good complements, but I don't get as excited about it as I used to. Â*

I went through the Macy's in Santa Monica the other day, and they had the full Gio display in all its glory. Â*When I sprayed a card for nostalgia's sake, I was disappointed to find that I could hardly detect it. Â*I could only pluck out that watermelon smell that people refer to, but the fresh qualities I remember it for alluded me. Â*I still appreciate it, but I hope that one day my nose will come back around and remind me why I appreciated it in the first place.

I just don't like ADG. Yes, it is refined but when worn and dried down the smell is simply 'nothing' on me. Can't detect anything except this weird clean thing. I prefer something like YSL Live Jazz for my clean scent.

OK, I know that I sometimes seem to be slamming this scent in my posts.....but don't get me wrong. I'm not saying it's a bad scent or that it puts me off or sickens me or anything of that sort. I would agree that, yes, it is a nice scent and very easy to wear. But.....I think Griff said it best!! In short, AdG's copycats and it's very own popularity create an onmipresence that is just about inescapable in my parts (Chicago IL). Perhaps someday.....some bright sunny summer day....this scent will be added to my arsenal. You never know. But for now, I'm too busy digging on and loving other scents.....some are clean, some are sweet, some are rich, some are bold, etc., etc., and so on.

Besides, I have lived thru an era to bear witness that a popular scent dies hard and will not go away quitely if at all!! Example: In my high school days (15 plus years ago), Drakkar Noir was everywhere as was Polo (original), although Polo was slightly less popular. And guess what? Both of those scents are found very easily!! I rest assured that, should I get a hankering for AdG in about 10-15 years, I should have little difficulties finding it.

And don't I wish that such was the case with Spazio Krizia, DK Men and DK Unleaded!!!

Oh well, as they say in Japan.......C'est La Vie!! :

;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

I must admit that I've never smelled it before, so I probably don't recognize it when other guys wear it. I guess ignorance truly is bliss in my case... ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

I say let the common guys have their Acqua Di Gio. That leaves more of the uncommon stuff for me to stand out with and enjoy. ;D

I always considered Aramis New West to be the first marine scent.

ADG's popularity is well deserved! It is a masterpiece. Despite being worn to death, I still think its a beautiful fragrance. I remembered when it was launched in the 90s, I smelled it on someone and I didn't know what it was... so there I was frantically testing out every bottles at the perfume counters, and when I finally found out its ADG, everyone was wearing it. >

For years I have been trying to figure out the appeal of ADG, I think its that fresh clean citrus - almost resemble the smell of the hospital. A very clean clinical scent, just like 7up/Sprite - refreshing on a hot summer day! I do believe the Jasmine is an important note in ADG, its a floral note that adds sweetness to the scent as well as balancing the masculinity of the overall drydown - making it more of a gentleman's fragrance than a macho one! ;D

I rather like it but I don't have it; I wear Unbound instead. The fact that it is ubiquitous is of no import to me, but I understand it is definitely an issue for others.

Nothing against aquatics, but I find myself wearing orientals rather than aquatics nowadays, or citrics during the summer.

Odd though it may seem, I somehow managed to remain completely isolated from the fragrance world for my first 27 years of life, up until 6 months ago. I would occasionally spray a little Axe on myself, and that was it. The Cool Water craze, the Polo craze, the ADG craze...completely bypassed me. So, when my first real scent, Allure Sport, started to seem a little tiring to me, well, I took another trip to the mall and tried out scents. And, what did I end up walking away with? Yup, ADG. The thing is, for better or for worse, I soon grew tired of it as well...discovered Basenotes, and well, the rest is history. I still like ADG, more or less. I don't find it offensive or anything, and when I first purchased it I thought it was pretty awesome. I will always have fond memories of it for the role it helped fulfill on my path to...well...wherever this obsession is leading...haha. My 50 ml bottle is still 2/3 full though, and I fear I may never use it up. Oh well, perhaps another fragrance gift to my brother...

It's all a matter of desire + quality + supply. If ADG was suddenly "retired" and the supply became scarce, I would bet that in a few years it would become extremely hot and expensive. We would all be decrying the scarcity while secretly bidding each other up on eBay for the occasional bottle (and paying a pretty penny too).

Think Giorgio of BH Red for Men

and ADG is far and above a better creation than Red. I could live with ADG (one whiff of Red gives me a honkin pissah of a migraine) but because it is out of production and hard to find, Red is ridiculously expensive and hotly sought after.


Griff

Let's be honest about it. It's an ok fragrance but not outstanding. The reason for it's unmatched popularity, is simple. It is a chick magnet. I have not known too many women who don't like this one,and many claim it to be their favorite.

And that is the reason 95% of the guys wear it. And of that 95%, 95% of them couldn't name a single note in the juice.

The simple fact is this...This is a Fantastic scent...Many of the fragrance companies have tried to copy this scent because they want their share of those Gio $'s.
Remember I wanna be like Mike? Everyone wanted their son to be a basketall player like Mike....Mr. Jordan.
When people try to (copy) who and what you are...That is the greatest compliment.
Well....is it not a compliment to AdG that many have tried to clone this scent? I think it is a compliment!!!!!! Look at it this way....Many fragrance companies are spending Millions of $'s to produce a product that is already on the market. Millions. Are they trying to emulate failure?....No......What are they after?.....Success!!!!!
If I were a Baseball owner I would try my best to copy the success of the Yankees. In the NFL it is the Patriots...or the Colts, Packers or Denver....Success!!!!!
It is no different in the fragrance world.
Gary

That is true what you said - where everyone wants a share of AdG's $$$!

Kind of sad if you think about it - for many designers, perfumery is now purely a business, not an art.

That's why I love niche fragrance houses : )