Acqua Di Parma Eau De Cologne

Another trip to Manchester, another funeral but it wasn't all doom and gloom, a lovely evening out with my Aunt really put me in the Italian mood (Puccini's in Swinton opposite the Town Hall is amazing). A brief shopping trip on the Sunday meant shopping in Harvey Nicols and in turn, me making a beeline for the aftershave section.

Acqua Di Parma was an aftershave I had wanted to try since February of last year after someone on Reddit mentioned in passing that it was their favourite and gave me a run down on the notes.

Fast forward ten months and as soon as I saw a bottle I knew I had to give it a whirl. The fact that I spent ten minutes talking notes with the gentleman with the tester says a lot about my obsession with all things fragrant. Needless to say, one whiff and I was hooked. £53 was parted with for a 50ml bottle.

Marketed as a timeless, refined Eau De Cologne, which is still created in the same traditional method and with the same original composition since it's creation in 1916. The smooth notes of Silician citrus reveal a rich heart of blooming rose and refreshing lavender, the precious woods offer warm base notes to this harmony of more than ten natural ingredients.

A delicate, fresh and elegant Eau de Cologne that embodies the Acqua De Parma brand.

Now my personal favourites in the cologne and aftershave stakes tend to err on the citrus side, with a few exceptions where they have rich and light top notes that dry down to a warm and earthy aroma. Given the patter coming from the salesman I thought to myself that this would be a perfect fit for me and my skin type.

First impressions in Harvey Nicols were that this baby comprised simply all of the citrus zest top notes on earth and they were very strong, really strong, yes it may initially come across as it leaves the bottle that you have just paid £53 for a bottle of orange rinds blended with lemon zest but almost instantaneously it hits the heart notes and within minutes the entire blend has dried down

As it dries down for around thirty minutes you can pull out incredibly subtle hints of the citrus and lavender and it does get a little warmer on the nose as the dry down woody notes come through, but then nothing, nothing I tells ya.

An old favourite of Cary Grant and Ava Gardner (the salesman had every fact in his arsenal) this is indeed a timeless classic with a wonderful fragrance. Yes, I’m in love with the actual fragrance but this is wear it all goes a little bit pear shaped - the staying power. It has none to be blunt and that is a massive disappointment. Within thirty minutes of applying I asked for a second opinion while out and about to be greeted with “are you wearing any aftershave?”. Not good, not good at all.

Still the same some 98 years on the mantra 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' really doesn’t work here. It needs tweaking so that it simply lasts longer on the skin and is more noticeable ten minutes after applying it. At £53 for a 50ml bottle I expect it to still be wafting around hours after application.

Putting all of my cards on the table I love the fragrance for the first half an hour but then boom, a reapplication is needed and taking the price into comparison this just doesn’t represent good value for money. Six to seven sprays and still no signs of the cologne after an hour. This is not good.

If you can afford to work through a bottle quickly then you probably won’t mind this but for me I expect some form of quality to go with the amazing fragrance and this is sadly lacking and therefore it is the first aftershave where I love the smell but can’t in all honesty recommend it. 

NOT RECOMMENDED

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Bvlgari Pour Homme

If I had to single out one fashion/design house as a personal favourite it would have to be Bvlgari. I’m yet to find a fragrance in their male range that I haven’t at some stage really fallen for and none of them get on my goat -  to be honest, at the moment it isn’t that hard to really get on my tits so having a nice refreshing series of fragrances that are guaranteed to make me smile are always a bonus.

Bvlgari (pronounced B-U-L-G-A-R-I) Pour Homme and the concentrate Extreme are must haves and I get slightly antsy if there isn’t one or the other around for me to use. I was introduced to both on my 21st birthday when in a shower of gifts two large bottles of each landed in my lap.

At the time, and oh lord I feel old saying this (a whole 14 years ago) they were new fragrances produced by the Italian fashion and design house Bvlgari. Renown more for their excellent, stylish and often lavish jewellery.

The bottle has a rather novel design and is similar in looks to the female versions of the Bvlgari range, however, rather than being flat, the bottle is quite tall standing 15cm high and the glass has a “pinched” effect at the top where the atomiser and lid meet the bottle.

My bottles were gifts but when buying recently costs have varied wildly - and to be frank I would be happy paying up to £50 for a bottle. Realistically though you can expect to part with around £35.99 for 50ml.

The notes state that the Extreme version of Pour Homme has been created to last longer on skin, being the concentrated version. Freshness, simplicity and pureness are all characteristics and the ingredients should combine to create hints of Darjeeling tea mixed with spices and precious musks to give an overall invigorating fragrances that gives an overall sense of well being. Sounds interesting but hey you’d expect that from a group of marketing gurus coming up with the blurb.

After shaving in a morning I remove the lid and use three tiny sprays from the atomiser. The actual results from only three sprays is wonderful, filling the bathroom with a gorgeous aroma. My first impressions were of a light, citrus fragrance similar to CK1 although I was positive I could pick out hints of lemon and lavender. Another interesting point of note was that when applying after shaving it didn’t burn at all, and like my earlier post about Joop this is a massive bonus! There is nothing worse than a sore or red face as you leave the house in a morning.

As soon as the fragrance is applied it begins to alter immediately, becoming lighter and less noticeable to me. The smell continues to become lighter but much spicier on the nose. At no time do I ever become overwhelmed by the actual fragrance. It is so delicate after only a short while in the past I would forget I was wearing it and spray on more - cue comments from staff at work on me smelling extra sweet.

After 5-10 minute the fragrance is completely unnoticeable.  In the interests of research I have asked a few people at work what they think to this over the years - girlfriends and the wife love it, colleagues compliment me on it and I am yet to experience the dreading calls of “eurgh what the hell are you wearing”.

Even though I couldn’t smell it, those around me could and they all loved it.

Three tiny sprays of Pour Homme or one/two of Extreme cover me in a light citrus fragrance that became spicy with only the mildest of woody undertones for in excess of 10 hours. Now that is a result.

As this is a personal favourite of mine I wear it all the time, but would highly recommend it for those special occasions, big nights out and formal wear. This is a fragrance that will get you noticed for all the right reasons. Not only do these fragrances have  a lovely long lasting smell, it’s not too hard on the wallet and the actual bottle will last for well over 4/5 months making it much better value than poorer relations  in the fragrance market.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

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