When a perfume is signed by 3 master perfumers, smells like a famous Dior under a sparkling fruity cocktail, and is produced by l'Oréal under the name of a great fashion designer, you feel that something is wrong in this picture. The things went worse after 3 hours when I suddenly asked myself - "why does it smell so J'adore absolue around me, there was no Dior promotion podium today?"
The new perfume from Giorgio Armani could be the start of a legal battle between 2 giants - LVMH and L'Oréal and the reopening of the "fragrance protection" case in the European law system, many years after Mugler went through a similar situation.
It's hard not to be influenced by others in the contemporary fragrance market but this time L'Oréal went too far in the art of duplication. Acqua di Gioia is a replica of J'adore absolue mixed with the crispy fruits from Amor Amor. Combine a shower gel from Cacharel and the Dior absolue EDP and you get Giorgio Armani. Wear it with the Marc Jacobs gardenia brooch from the first perfume. The good news is that the perfume is actually well done in terms of volume, balance, tenacity. The Dior transplant in the sick l'Oréal body works very well because the team is brilliant. It is a 100% commercial perfume something you might accept from a secondary brand on an airport but not at all from Giorgio Armani.
But today the world of fashion and perfume is completely reversed. What seems luxury are in fact perfumes conceived to sell (and smell) like detergents. Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana and Giorgio Armani are anything except quality. Smell Flora, Anthology and now Acqua di Gioia.
I actually love the bottle of Acqua di Gioia (it feels special in the hand and has a transparency effect), the strange Avatar-like advertising and the evolution of the perfume where the cheapness of the formula avoids with elegance the shampoo effect. But I am completely disappointed by the "tonality" of the fragrance, the lack of innovation and the unethical approach. The l'Oréal girls (those pretty middle age French women who select fruity perfumes and write briefs indicating which perfumes should be duplicated this season) went too far for Armani. Even the sambac jasmine idea was taken from Dior showing that L'Oréal is now duplicating even the flankers of their competition. Inside the perfume I do not get at all the minty note. It is really a shame that L'oréal is forcing great perfumers to duplicate commercial fragrances forbidding their outstanding creativity and experience to bloom.
One of the causes of the fragrance disaster in France is a duo of women - one is working at l'Oréal being the head of "parfums de luxe", the other at IFF. One used to work in the flavor area before and this explains the awful infusion of fruits in this sector - from Flowerbomb to Parisienne via Cacharel they did everything. The problem of the industry is not the market, not the audience. But several people who in the past 10 years have destroyed what others have built in 150 years and this for a very simple reason - personal taste. They prefer shampoo and artificial fruits to perfumes. They love to steal ideas and are unable to imagine new olfactory shapes. Dishonesty at its best! Take a look at Parisienne (YSL) and the recent Lancôme perfumes. They are hideous, cheap, vulgar, without any trace of emotion. A good olfactory training doesn’t bring artistic qualities and taste is today a notion that is incompatible with l'Oréal girls.
If you will test the new perfume from Giorgio Armani and will like it (it is not a bad structure) ask you what is more honest - to buy Acqua di Gioia or to buy the original creation of Calice Becker modified by Démachy, paying a tribute to the real author of the scent.
Official fragrance notes for Acqua di Gioia (Giorgio Armani): rose, peony, pink pepper, mint, jasmine, cedar.
The video clip ends with "Acqua di Gioia - the new essence of joy" - what a sad thing because the perfume from Armani has nothing from the richness and beauty of the original Joy (Jean Patou) a monument of style with majestic rose and jasmine essences.
Official fragrance notes for Acqua di Gioia (Giorgio Armani): rose, peony, pink pepper, mint, jasmine, cedar.
The video clip ends with "Acqua di Gioia - the new essence of joy" - what a sad thing because the perfume from Armani has nothing from the richness and beauty of the original Joy (Jean Patou) a monument of style with majestic rose and jasmine essences.
Acqua di Gioia - behind the scene video
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Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art
