Perfume Review: Armani Code (For Men) - Giorgio Armani

Target Gender: Male; Price Bracket (Aus): Medium-High ($130+).  Category: Spicy/Leathery. 

Giorgio Armani (beauty/fragrances) is a brand of L'Oreal.

Review based on wrist and card samples, and use on person from both sampling vials and retail bottles

Few perfumes for men would be so ubiquitous as Armani Code (formerly known as Black Code). Since launch in 2004, it remains one of the best-known perfumes for males, and looks well set to join the ranks of scents known well past their conception. With parent company L'Oreal's sharp marketing, its popularity is hardly a surprise.

The scent is formulated by Antoine Maisondieu (who also went on to design Armani Code Ultimate), Antoine Lie (Z Zegna, Versace Crystal Noir being his recent ones) and Clement Gavarry (behind the new Untold from Elizabeth Arden, Ambre and Tendre from Prada).

The opening of this scent is quite dark and somewhat mysterious. It opens with a medley of different notes, a good balance of sweetness, sourness and hints of leather. Leather is the holding note for this scent, and most other notes build on it. The top is predominantly citrus when it settles down, and is distinctly a mixture of sharpness and the tell-tale mild sourness of bergamot. The leather with a hint of spice keeps things warm though, and the scent doesn't go the way of cold citrus like its Code Sport sibling does.

The middle is spicy leather. The leather from the top stays put, and becomes more prominent. This is not unrefined, animalic leather but a finely tanned variety, peppered with star anise. The olive blossom is also very discernible, and the three stay in good balance. The tobacco is also quite easy to pick at this stage, although it's not a sharp, powdery tobacco but a creamy one.

The base solves the mystery of the creamy tobacco: tonka bean. The vanilla-like smoothness of tonka bean lends the tobacco and leather a hand of transition from the top. Leather and tobacco both remain key notes, but the tonka bean removes the pungency of the tobacco, making it smooth and mild. This one doesn't have the raw tobacco feel of Tobacco Vanille (Tom Ford) or as much tobacco as Burberry London for Men.

The perfume is an EdT, and longevity averages around 4-5 hours on my hand/wrist, which is by no means exceptional. Projection is moderate, initially sitting at around one and half arms' lengths and settling to about 6-12 inches in about an hour, then gradually trailing off.

I would rate this scent highly, but the price is a real sticking point. With a high price, and the competition running away with the longevity flag, I consider this reason enough to dock a fair chunk of scoring. Another couple of hours of lasting power is not an unreasonable expectation; a number of offerings from other houses offer much better longevity at similar, even lower prices. I think Armani have missed what would have been a master-stroke in this otherwise very good scent.

The bottle is nothing stand-out; it's the exact same design used in Armani Mania and all its iterations. There's nothing wrong with the design of the bottle per se, but it does show some sloppiness in not taking the effort to ensure some individuality between the Code and Mania lineups. 30ml, 50ml and 75ml sizes are sold in Australia; the 125ml flacon remains off the market here.

Recommended? With reservations. Good, balanced notes, but mediocre lasting power. As a blind buy? safe enough. Overall, a very well-balanced, safe scent. It has a moderately intimate vibe, and will do well as an evening/night scent. Not very loud, and not very stand-out, but quite sensual going by feedback from some females.

Alternatives:

Armani Code Ultimate(Armani) (AU$145/75ml) was a limited edition exclusive to David Jones, and even though it solved the longevity issue, its presence in the Australian market was (ironically) short-lived. Dior Homme Intense (AU$138/100ml) and Fahrenheit (Dior) (AU$115/100ml) are both distinct, long-lasting scents, especially the former. Chanel has a number of good male scents, priced generally at AU$132/100ml.

Ratings:

3.3/5...Good but not exceptional; safe, sensual and balanced. Barely acceptable longevity. Priced poorly in Australia at RRP levels. 

Prices:

RRP: AU$84/ AU$115 / AU$140 for 30ml / 50ml / 75ml

UVP: 30ml $2.8/ml, 50ml $2.3/ml, 80ml $1.87/ml

Click for more information on UVP

UVP is decent for the 75ml bottle, but the overall pricing in Australia remains high at RRP levels. I have observed the 75ml EDT in a set with a shower gel and after-shave balm for as low as AU$84 when on clearance, but I only use full RRP for calculating the UVP, since street price is not accurately predictable.

Stockists: Myer, David Jones, some pharmacies. Occasionally packs are sold, and discounted post-Christmas and after Fathers' Day. Discounts of up to 30-40% are not uncommon, and the "Code Sport" variant (reviewed separately) gets discounted more often. MyChemist and its sister stores often stock this scent and its variants, and pricing is substantially lower than RRP.

It is best to check the catalogues for a number of outlets before you buy.