Acqua di Giò Essenza Giorgio Armani 2012

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7.8 / 10 363 Ratings

A popular perfume by Giorgio Armani for men, released in 2012. The scent is fresh-aquatic. It was last marketed by L'Oréal.
Pronunciation

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Main accords

Fresh

Aquatic

Citrus

Woody

Spicy

Fragrance Pyramid

Top Notes

Cascalone®

Bergamot

Grapefruit

Heart Notes

Basil

Sage

Jasmine

Paradisone®

Base Notes

Ambrox

Atlas cedar

Patchouli

Vetiver

Perfumer

Alberto Morillas

Videos

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Ratings

Scent

7.8363 Ratings

Longevity

7.8295 Ratings

Sillage

7.2294 Ratings

Bottle

7.9321 Ratings

Value for money

7.581 Ratings

Submitted by Kankuro, last update on 30.01.2024.

Reviews

10 in-depth fragrance descriptions

06/02/2018

10
Bottle 6
Sillage 8
Longevity 5.5
Scent

CD1810
17 Reviews

Translated Show original

CD1810

Somehow arbitrary

Originally I had rated Acqua di Gio Essenza quite high. My beloved classic from the nineties finally with decent durability, great! When I bought it in 2013, I was even willing to pay the very steep prices for a mainstream fragrance. Meanwhile, Essenza has gone down in price, but so has my opinion of Essenza.

I still like Essenza. It gives me a nice, very fruity freshness, which indeed lasts a very long time. It is really possible to hardly change the original significantly, but only to significantly improve its durability and sillage. That's something. In addition, Essenza attracts many compliments, which is also gratifying.

I find it disturbing that I can hardly identify individual fragrances: Acqua di Gio Essenza is somehow fresh, fruity, but above all synthetic. And I don't think it's aquatic. If you want to smell a pure aquatic culture, you should try Acqua di Sale by Profumum Roma.

I already wonder whether the original was so synthetic back then or whether my perception today is mainly related to the increased age, but especially to increased demands.

Be that as it may, I wear Acqua di Gio Essenza when I don't really know what I find olfactory. It then seems to me like a slowly fading memory of the past. It accompanies me fruity - fresh through the day: Unfortunately increasingly artificial and somehow arbitrary. It will definitely not be re-bought.

04/05/2020

10
Bottle 8
Sillage 8
Longevity 8
Scent

MajorTom
97 Reviews

Translated Show original

MajorTom

Classic reloaded

Giorgio Armani. Acqua di Gio. As it sounds. Giorgio Armani. It's music to my ears. Basically italophilically tinged, Giorgio Armani is for me the grandmaster when it comes to Italian nonchalance, but never negligence. No one else breathes so much style into a simple sweater, no one else manages to make suits look so formal and yet so casual at the same time. Often I am hung on the shop windows of the boutiques, but unfortunately, at least for me, the prices are out of reach.

So it is best to come to terms with it quickly and be content with what is financially presentable. In the case of Giorgio Armani, that's my fragrance creations.

In the last century and millennium, at the end of the 80s, beginning of the 90s, I always had a bottle of Eau pour homme above the sink. What a fantastic scent. And what a great bottle, with the corrugated black base. Some of you here may still remember it. For me, it was one of the best fragrances of all time, perfectly suited to Giorgio Armani, casual yet equally elegant, never intrusive yet always present. It's a shame that it no longer exists. The good old days.....
Then, at the end of the 90's, my legitimate successor, Acqua di Gio, moved in, a less citric but more aquatic fragrance, which felt at least as successful as its predecessor. Although there are so many manufacturers in the aquatic league, it simply had a unique selling point, you could always smell it among others. Unfortunately, from my point of view it became a real mass product and for me it became less and less interesting.

Then one day I was given Acqua di Gio Essenza as a gift. And so Giorgio Armani found me a sequel. The question, when such a Flaker comes on the market, is of course always what makes it different from the original. I would like to make a comparison with a car that some of you here may still remember, and this too is from the last millennium. We are talking about the Opel Kadett GSi. One of the most successful series of the manufacturer. In 1989 the Opel men decided to add a GSi 16V to this model, hoping to attract a little more attention - and sales, logically - with a pimped version. Here, too, the question first arose as to where the differences to the basic model lay.

Let's start with the exterior. Whereas on the Kadett GSi a thin exhaust pipe underneath the rear end bent down almost bashfully, on the 16V two arm-thick mufflers protruded horizontally to the rear, almost screaming the power of this vehicle. 16V insignia at the front and at the rear made clear to other road users that there is something special on four wheels. Similar to the appearance at Acqua di Gio. If the base is an unagitated flacon, the Essenza lies full in the hand, the makers gave it a heavy bottle, equipped with a cap that clicks into place with the help of a magnet, full and cheering.

Well, the optical appearance is convincing in both cases, but, as they say, now comes the fiver for the phrase pig, it's all about the inner values :-) Let's start with the cadet here as well. The GSi 16V was not only visually a power, also the driving performance was exorbitant for those times. For the regulars' table it was important that the Thunderbolt had 11 hp more on paper than its eternal adversary Golf GTI 16V (irrelevant in practice), but the thing went like the proverbial hell and at 225 on the motorway, 7-series BMWs were in your way, whose drivers couldn't believe what they saw and experienced when looking in the rear-view mirror.
The Essenza also makes a powerful impression, starts a little less citric but no less fresh, but then takes a slightly different course than the "basic model". While the classic one is somewhere between fruity and aquatic-woody, the Essenza first becomes mountainous, then a bit softer from my point of view, I can hear my tea notes, only to end after hours in a mix of wood and patchouli. All in all, a fuller, more perfumed appearance of the Essenza.
In both cases, car and fragrance, you may like the upgrade versions or not. In either case, both are characterized by a certain independence, which is (or was) within reasonable limits in terms of price and which leaves everyone the choice between two good products.

If I take stock of the Essenza, we have the reinforcement of Acqua die Gio, which goes along with a clearly higher sillage and durability. An independent bottle underscores the independent character, but one that never leaves the base or even denies it. While Acqua di Gio is perhaps one of the most suitable everyday fragrances, Acqua di Gio Essenza is the refined version for the evening, more perfect for a summer dinner under the open sky, for a lounge on the beach or lake when the sun sinks glowing red on the horizon. A beautiful fragrance, 100% worthy of the name Armani.

Even though I will continue to reminisce about the Eau pour homme and the Opel Kadett GSi 16V...as Ben Zucker sang: What a great time...

09/16/2021

7
Pricing 10
Bottle 9
Sillage 10
Longevity 10
Scent

Micha1984
29 Reviews

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Micha1984

A fragrance that I feel...

Acqua di Gio... What we have already heard and written about this fragrance. Along with Fahrenheit by Dior, it is one of the fragrances with which I cherish more moments and memories than with any other fragrance so far. They are not only the fragrances of our fathers, but also bearers of thoughts of situations, experiences and special people in our lives. At this point I would also like to mention my dear Parfumo friend Salva in this review, who just like me, belongs to the 80's - 90's generation and also shares a lot of thoughts and memories with this fragrance. Acqua di Gio can be said to have brought us a bit closer together. Love greetings my dear. :)
Anyway, this is exactly the reason why I can feel these fragrances so. Because they bring me back after applying exactly to these said moments of the various facets and situations in my life. As an example: with Acqua di Gio I met my first great love back then. If I smell him, I am immediately back then in the situation when I sat with palpitations at the bus station and waited bouncing and totally nervous for the bus with which she came from her village. I can still see her getting off the bus with her adorable smile and her improbable stunning aura that surrounded her. But what really gives me goosebumps is the thought of the first time I kissed her. I don't think I need to explain to anyone how it feels to kiss someone you've fallen head over heels in love with for the first time. It's a great and very emotional feeling that words can't describe. This is exactly such an experience that I associate with Acqua di Gio
Essenza is thereby a fragrance that when it came out, fully passed me by. About it I'm still annoyed, because unfortunately he was discontinued and only available at horrendous prices. Nevertheless, I was lucky to get hold of a bottle at an acceptable price here in the souk, about which I am more than happy.
But now to the fragrance... Acqua die Gio Essenza is for me the offshoot, which probably comes closest to the original. The prelude is very strongly characterized by the grapefruit and metallic aquatic notes. This is joined by slightly spicy nuances, which round it off very nicely alongside the dominant acidic metallic aquatic. The base, which is reached after hours, is then this typical brackish water smell which I have also heard the original so and very much appreciated.
The shelf life is brutal with 6 sprays, at least in my batch.... The fragrance lasts from morning to morning the next day.... For an Aquaten probably an absolute exception and definitely not of this world... Will probably be due to the synthetic Paradisone/Cascalone!? Whereby I must also say that my skin can do well with such fragrances and these stick to it for a long time. The sillage is, at least with me also incredibly good and I take the fragrance even the next morning still discreet.
Subsequently, it remains to say ... write that Acqua di Gio Essenza is a masterpiece for me and I can not understand why one sets such a grandiose fragrance? Anyone who loves and appreciates Acqua di Gio, will certainly like this one very much. Should you have the chance to get him "relatively" cheap or to test him, then do it, you will not regret it.
Thanks for reading... Your Micha :)

05/16/2023

7
Pricing 8
Bottle 9
Sillage 8
Longevity 8
Scent

Razvanyke
197 Reviews

Razvanyke

Some things in life don´t last ..

So, like with all the things in life which are good, some decisions are taken .. either on the private side or in corporate meetings and things change.

Nokia decided to push on the Symbian instead of watching what Apple is doing and from number one mobile phones seller has become bankrupt, Saab decided to put quality parts in their cars and make them way over engineered than GM told them to and they lost money almost all the time, so they got bankrupt..

This takes me to the Essenza, which in our case it has not made Armani bankrupt yet .. but who knows?

Since 1988, the L´Oreal has the license for Beauty products with Giorgio Armani and it has been recently extended until 2050 - this means that Essenza, Profumo, Code Absolu and all the other discontinued (or not yet) creations have been created by them all the time.

It is not like with D&G who had licences with Euroitalia (strong perfumes), then P&G, Shiseido Beauty and now took the ownership back.

Essenza smells 99% like Profumo, but also it reminds me a lot of my old EDT which I cannot find anymore in the house, which with only two sprays was a room filler (in my memory).

The fact that in 2012 they could produce a lovely package with magentic cap, just like Amouage does - with only one way to close, see my video, makes me believe that Amouage themselves got inspired from the Armani system, because I believe that previously they had a non-magnetic cap, and since around that time, they changed the design to magnetic and reformulated the scents.

From all the ADGs tested so far, Essenza is projecting like crazy, lasts the whole day and will keep the well dressed gentleman aura around me, like non of the others.

Of course, my bottle is 11 years old and for a citrussy smell, this means some of the top notes are not so fresh aynmore, which is fine. In 10-15 minutes starts to shine and it is as good, as an Acqua di Gió gets.

I do hope that Armani will not go down in history like the next Nokia Finland or Saab, when they cheap out on their products so much for few €€ more in margins .. and the buyers will vote with their (non) purchases the company out of business.

07/10/2016

8
Bottle 7
Sillage 7
Longevity 7
Scent

Rickbr
190 Reviews

Rickbr

Helpful Review

Without surprises but delivers what is promised

It is certain that being among the first to explore an olfactory trend is a risky thing - especially because what we imagine might fall in public taste may be something very innovative at the time it was released. However, if the bet is right you gain the advantage of working in new lands and develop something that will become the model to be followed/ copied. It happened with the scent Acqua di Giò, which although was not the first aquatic fragrance was one that explored the trend early on hit very well the combination of aquatic freshness with a fruity fresh touch and a transparent musky base, a lightness that had a satisfactory performance for the genre and a lot of consistency from the beginning to the end.

After 16 years of success of what become one of the pillars of the aquatic family, the eau de parfum version comes at a time where the masculine market is not only less prejudiced with eau concentrations parfum, previously seen as feminine, but also demanding perfumes that have better duration and projection, thus able to stand out more. There is not much to reinvent or change in the aquatic trend and Essenza is not because of that a paradigm shift or a radical change from the original. Instead it is, as proposed by the brand, a refined and deeper version of the original, lowering the acquatic aspect but without doing it in order to compromise the original identity.

As a long lasting version, Acqua di Giò Essenza decreases the focus on water and fruity aspect of the output to put more emphasis in conveying the oceanic freshness in a mineral and slightly woody base of good duration. Thus, it opens with the aquatic and fruity departure from the original, less evident in the marine and metallic aroma. As it evolves one perceives another fresh aromatic chord, slightly floral, that gradually leads to the aforementioned mineral and woody base. Sometimes you can see flashes after all the evolution of the aquatic aroma of the opening in contact with the mineral aroma of the base, passing a very serene and refreshing feeling.

Essenza shown even without any surprises to be an acquatic more mature and better worked from beginning to end, with a good technical performance of sillage and longevity, which makes it an excellent candidate for daily use or even as a night perfume, with a good performance for summer nights or hot and stuffy night environments.

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