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Acqua di Giò Essenza Giorgio Armani 2012

7.8 / 10 386 Ratings

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

Fresh

Aquatic

Citrus

Woody

Spicy

Fragrance Pyramid

Top Notes

Cascalone®

Bergamot

Grapefruit

Heart Notes

Sage

Basil

Jasmine

Paradisone®

Base Notes

Ambrox

Atlas cedar

Patchouli

Vetiver

Perfumer

Alberto Morillas

Ratings

Scent

7.8386 Ratings

Longevity

7.7316 Ratings

Sillage

7.2310 Ratings

Bottle

7.9339 Ratings

Value for money

7.4100 Ratings

Submitted by Kankuro, last update on 03/03/2025.

Smells similar

What the fragrance is similar to

Acqua di Giò pour Homme Eau de Toilette

Acqua di Giò Profumo Parfum

Verdigris

Oxygène Homme Eau de Toilette

360° Red for Men

Acqua di Giò pour Homme Eau de Parfum

Reviews

12 in-depth fragrance descriptions

05/16/2023

7
Pricing 8
Bottle 9
Sillage 8
Longevity 8
Scent

Razvanyke
214 Reviews

Razvanyke

4

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.

06/24/2013

5
Bottle 7.5
Longevity 7.5
Scent

JManDave
10 Reviews

JManDave

2

Fine but uninspiring

AdG Essenza is a good example of a cologne that has been done many times over: aquatic woods, with adornments added for a small twist. Nothing particularly wrong with it, but its been done somewhat better, and at a more economical price point in many cases. It also suffers collateral damage from being the sibling of the original, over-exposed, AdG, despite the fact that it stands on its own as a separate fragrance.

The fact that it ships in an EDP concentration is one of the few things that make it stand apart from the crowded field of aquatic/woody fragrances. The strength is as expected for an EDP, and it lasts accordingly. This at least gives it real viability as an all-day work fragrance. I get full day wears out of it, with no touch-ups.

As for the fragrance itself, it opens with aquatic, slight citrus and woody notes. This transitions to a stage where the woody notes come to the fore and it remains pretty linear from that point to conclusion. Thankfully, it maintains a nice dryness throughout, nothing sweet or gourmandish sneaks in late on the game.

It is work-safe, flexible enough (read that: mainstream) to function "ok" in a number of scenarios.

I'll continue to rotate it with my other fragrances, mostly for work-wear, but won't buy again. Alternatives at a much more favorable price point, with similar scents include Polo Blue, various Issey Miyakes and Nautica Voyage. Between them all, I'll only re-buy the Nautica again.

06/21/2013

10
Bottle 7
Sillage 9
Longevity 8
Scent

Laurentparis
7 Reviews

Laurentparis

2

A good aquatic fragrance but overpriced

It's a good aquatic fragrance with the water-citrus opening, floral notes at its heart and a woody background with a little pepper.

It is less fresh and more floral than the EDT. The EDT is clearly a summer fragrance. This one is more all-seasons and office friendly. As an EDP, it has an excellent longevity and is quite linear.

But, even taking into account these qualities and a beautiful bottle with a magnetic cap, I think it's overpriced. (Maybe too much advertising)

If you want an aquatic fragrance, try it because it's a true reference but I think there are other aquatic fragrances which give the same for less.

03/03/2025

4
Pricing 8
Bottle 6
Sillage 7
Longevity 8
Scent

RogerJr17
24 Reviews

RogerJr17

2

In my opinion, the best ADG flanker we've seen thus far...

ADG is a name that most of the world has heard of at this point. It's one of the fragrances that put Armani on the map. There's a high likelihood that you've smelled ADG on someone at some point in your life. When they released Essenza, it wasn't even on my radar at first. I wasn't actively searching for it and I stumbled on it by chance. Little did I know that I would go on to own a true gem and, in my humble opinion, (take that for what it's worth) one of the best ADG flankers if not THE best we've seen at this point. Sadly, I used my last few sprays in 2021 and it was bittersweet. I would go on to find out it was discontinued. I smelled Profumo during that period and at that time, I thought it was close to the same level back in 2021 and I said that Absolu (which I also owned) was an okay release. Now I get to revisit it, this time, with no bottle in hand or sample to work with but I still have notes. Time to take another trip down memory lane.

The Smell: Essenza takes the typical ADG DNA and turns it greener. This is the main thing I remembered about my time with it. Sadly I don't have a bottle, decant, or sample near me to remind me of that beautiful intro. I still have my notes from my initial review so thank goodness for that. Essenza seemed to amp the citrus up a little more on the intro but not in a "kitchen cleaner" type of way. You could definitely tell you had an ADG on your skin but it wasn't the same as the OG. The woods, basil (I barely got it but it's there), and sage come through and quickly turn the ADG formula with the citruses dialed up a notch even greener. The cedar, vetiver, and patchouli on the dry down were also a nice touch. The vetiver wasn't the dirty, dark vetiver that I typically enjoy but more of a cleaner, greener vetiver like you would get from Mugler cologne. People can say I'm lying but I actually preferred the smell of Essenza to the original. I've made it known on Fragrantica as well as when the girls that I've dated have smelled me wearing each version gave their opinions. Each girl I've dated that has smelled either on me has always preferred the original. I'm the opposite. I think I can look at this point in time and narrow it down to this being the point that my taste in freshies changing to woody, green scents.
Rating: 8/10

Projection: ADG Essenza has moderate to "high moderate" projection. I won't say it's solid projection because it's a freshie through and through and I don't know of many freshies, unless you throw a ton of ambroxan in there, that will jump off the skin. The green aspect definitely helps in that department and there is Ambrox listed in the note breakdown but I don't think there's a ton of it like you'd find in a BDC, Sauvage, or the other fragrances that followed the "blue" trend. Essenza essentially took the original ADG formula and improved the performance by a point or two in this department. The best wearing I ever had was wearing it during summer at work and every time I would walk by an area I was previously standing, I could still smell it despite it having been on my skin for a few hours. It does settle closer to the skin after roughly 5-7 hours but that's not terrible at all for a fragrance in this genre.
Rating: 7/10

Longevity: Depending on the situation, my best wearing was 10 hours. It has become practically a skin scent by hour 7 or 8 but it still clings on for a bit longer. 10 hours for a designer is definitely nothing to scoff at objectively speaking. It does suffer in the cooler weather especially if you're going to be outdoors often. Unfortunately, the green factor doesn't help ADG Essenza in that department.
Rating: 7/10

Pricing: This section is where the overall rating is about to take a nose dive. Being as it's discontinued, getting a bottle under $200-$300 USD is going to be a challenge. I didn't say it was impossible but you will have your work cut out for you. If you're going to spend that much on a designer fragrance, you might as well be spending it on niche at that point unless Essenza has sentimental value (e.g. signature scent, gift, etc.). At one point, in early 2021, you could get a bottle for about $150 USD which I would pay honestly to get another bottle but as you can see, prices have steadily increased over the years.
Rating: 4/10

Versatility: Essenza definitely scored well in this department. It was heavily in rotation for my work scent during 2019-2021. I used it an absurd amount and as a result, I went through that bottle quickly. Had I been aware or paid attention to the rumors of discontinuing it, I would have snagged another bottle quick. Such is life. Essenza is highly versatile and can be worn basically anytime you choose. It does perform much better when it's warmer so Spring & Summer are basically locks for it, with your warmer fall days being in the discussion as well.
Rating: 10/10

Final Verdict: 7.2/10 by the numbers. Subjectively, I'd give this a solid 8. I would definitely buy it again if the opportunity presented itself and I could find it cheaper than what people are asking for it currently. It took an already fresh DNA for ADG and gave it another fresh aspect in another way by going the green route. In my opinion, in this saturated fragrance market, this one should have been the one to stick around instead of some of these newer releases. I recommend if you can get your nose on it, please try it at least if you get the opportunity.

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