Acqua di Giò Absolu Instinct Giorgio Armani 2019

Take Wanted's freaky ginger-lemon and Wanted by Night's spacy cinnamon-tangerine, add an aquatic wood note to the two Azzaro synthetics and spice it up a bit. And the Wanted arbour 2.0 is already knitted (even with wave bath;)

Here the details:

First 5 minutes of great citric, not as strange as Wanted, ... different, better, but not less unusual. This is soon joined by a spicy cinnamon (?) fruit aroma that could be borrowed from the Night Edition of Wanted. And right from the start there's a bit of aquatic on board, which has nothing in common with the original. A rather unusual brew, but for me a bit too synthetic and loud. Fortunately, this calms down after about 30 minutes, and another quarter of an hour later the AdG AI has finally grooved in. Because now the soft aquatic has grown to about half of the fragrance impression. In addition, the citric appears reduced and somewhat sweeter, while the cyber-cinnamon has also shrunk to a healthy size. Why this bright spiciness is not listed in the pyramid I do not understand ...

Basically, the fragrance gets better and better throughout the whole process, albeit slowly, and especially from the second hour. Although the synthetic is still present then, it is no longer disturbing, or even shapes the scent character in a positive sense. The now clear aquatic character enters into a harmonious symbiosis with the unusual spice citric of the Wanted mixture. Very extraordinary, and therefore at least worth testing for all those who like rich aquatic as well as aromatic synthetic scents like Wanted. Because the combination of these two directions is really unusual, even if not mine.

What I only faintly perceive, however, is the wood of the fragrance, which at most after about three hours sometimes flashes up slightly acidic and dark as such from time to time. Because otherwise I can only detect it in the mixture of the aquatic plants, but not as a clearly identifiable wood note.

Nevertheless, the fragrance has a lot to offer, at least for fans of fancy synthetics: a distinctive blend of sweetish citric, soft aquatic, aromatic spice and a little wood in a fairly linear flow. Yes, it has something ... but not for me ;-) Nevertheless, there's no denying that the fragrance smells quite good after about 2.5 hours, and after another one I'd even give it a 7.5 because it becomes milder, softer and more harmonious. But while it already starts to recede from half arm length to very close, this Armani says goodbye after 5 hours at the latest even on my most durable shirt into projection-off (that's why the currently relatively high H+S values of the community of up to 7.5 are a mystery to me).

Conclusion: Although I rate this flanker only 6.5, Wanted only 5, and Wanted by Night only 4, so for fans of these two Azzaro fragrances, AdG AI might be a recommendation if you extrapolate the distance ;-) Even if I think it's only so-so, I think the reduction of the Azzaro Wanted fragrances in favour of a distinctive wood aquatic effect is the better concept. And that's why Armani's Absolu Instinct is for me a

WANTED 2.0 ... or the laughing third :)