I’ve had the original Armani Code EDT from Giorgio Armani in my collection before. The moment I first put my nose to it in Macys over a year ago (yeah, WAY late to the party on this one, right?) I knew I had to have it. That tonka bean mixed with the citrus and the anise was very appealing to me and was 100% ready to make that my new fall nighttime fragrance. But then I started noticing that after around 4 or 5 hours after I sprayed it on, I couldn’t smell it anymore. Wasn’t sure if I was becoming anosmic to it so I asked my wife if she could smell it after a certain period of time and her response was all I needed to hear:
“Barely”
Barely was enough of a word for me to part ways with the fragrance, never to purchase it again or smell it again. I had looked around and done the research before I sold it and I wasn’t alone. Countless people said they loved the fragrance but that the performance was subpar at best. Flankers upon flankers have come and gone with the Code line since its inception in 2004; some that people say were amazing in their own right (EDP, Colonia, Profumo, Absolu, etc), other flankers that were discontinued too soon. Way too many for me to keep track of especially after the poor performance of the original EDT so I’ve pretty much steered clear up until now. Side note: I do have to say, now that I’ve tried the new Parfum…I may need to backtrack and test out these older flankers that the community loves.
Is there redemption in this story?
So, fast forward a year, and I see a YouTube video from a fragrance reviewer about new fragrances coming soon and one of them was this new sleek, black bottle and the words “Armani Code Parfum” on it. I watched the video and the reviewer was excited about it, but for me, with all of these concentration flankers running amok lately I wasn’t too excited about this one…boy was I wrong!
The opening of Armani Code Parfum is an insane blast of iris and bergamot. Not far behind is that original Armani Code DNA, undeniably front and center. You can definitely tell that all this fragrance needed was to be more potent and wow, Armani did just that. This fragrance just comes in, sits at your table and doesn’t leave until the day is done. And it’s not that kind of guest where you’re like “Hey, it’s been a fun day but I have to go weed the garden” or “I’d love to stay and chat but I need to work tomorrow”, it hangs around and you’re like “Wow, is it midnight already! Where has the time gone?!”
When it dries down it’s all woodsy, powdery notes and that tonka bean from the original and it literally lasts all day. Projection is also miles better than the EDT. It’s just an amazing scent that, once again, I can highly recommend over the original but in this case, it’s ok. We all didn’t like the EDT anyways.
As always, try it out for yourself. I ordered mine directly from Decant House and I got it in my hands a few days later. Have you tried it yet? Do you think it’s better than the original? Let us know in the comments down below! See you in the next one!
