Have you seen the Armani Privé collection? Or, more accurately, have you smelled it? It's not new... it has been around for awhile. In fact, despite wanting to check it out I have continually walked passed it in my Saks Armani boutique. How?
I have no idea what's wrong with me. But today I FINALLY saw it. And then I smelled it! Ah....
Armani Privé is a collection of fragrances created by Giorgio Armani by himself and for himself his friends. Naturally, this meant no holds were barred when it came to research, ingredients, and design. Mr. Armani also demanded natural ingredients to create a blend of complex unisex fragrances that represented important times in his life. Truly a personal collection!
Here are the scents:
- Ambre Soie | Inspired by silk, and evoking the markets of Morocco and North Africa, this dark and ambery scent is full of cinnamon, clove, cedar and patchouli. Fairly standard fare for a perfume, but unique in its execution. Sadly, it faded almost immediately on me.
- Eau de Jade | Armani was reportedly shooting for "clarity and purity" when he designed this one, and so he reached for bergamot and neroli and bourbon vanilla - more standard fare.
- Pierre de Lune | Check out violet, iris, amber... why is this represented by the moonstone and not that Amethyst?
- Cuir Amethyst | A sweet violet (oh, hey, didn't I just suggest a violet for Amethyst?), vanilla, benzoin, amber.
- Éclat de Jasmin | Jasmine can be scary - I didn't sniff this one, but when I go back I'm checking it and the 3 above this one (I had to limit the snorting today- 3 sales associates and a heavy schedule made me too twitchy to stay and take my time). Anyway, here we have jasmine, bergamot, osmanthus, rose, patchouli, amber and vetiver - and possibly some plum. I'm sorry I didn't brave this one while I was there!
- Bois d'Encens | I saved this one for last, though it was amongst the original 4 scents in this collection (see #1 - #3 in this list for the others). Why? Well, you know me: it's 'cause it's my favorite! This one blew me away. It's clearly an incense scent - and there's no avoiding that! If you don't like incense, then don't even pick this one up. It's not headshop incensey, though, and won't make you do a doubletake looking for Jerry Garcia. It's not Crazy Cat Lady "I'm trying to mask the litter box" incensey, either. In fact, I couldn't figure out exactly what it reminded me of, so when I got home I looked up the collection and then it hit me like First Communion! The inspiration for the scent was the Catholic Mass of Armani's youth. VOILA! And you know what? I love it - though I'm a completely lapsed Catholic. I'm so lapsed I don't even know where the closest Catholic church is... but I wold wear this scent daily if I could. PS: That's it, pictured above.
$185 USD for 50ml