Tuscany Per Uomo

"MA PERCHÉ DOVREI USARE IL PROFUMO TUSCANY PER UOMO?" (trad.: But why should I use the Tuscany perfume for Men?) More than thirty years ago (in my teens) I was wandering around Florence and noticed a clergyman wearing a flawless clean white shirt, a fashionable cassock, and shiny Prada shoes. But what struck me the most was the scent he was spreading around him. I politely greeted him for his beautiful matching clothes and asked him what perfume he was wearing, because I found it particularly pleasing. He just answered me: - "Il profumo è l' americano Tuscany di Aramis; con questa fragranza puoi usare solo Prada" (trad.: The fragrance is the american "Tuscany" by Aramis; with this fragrance I can only use Prada). A couple of days later I bought my first Tuscany flask and since then I only remember not owning this perfume for the length of two years, and after having used my last vintage bottle till the last drop. Currently, I own and use the contemporary Aramis and still love it a lot. Since then I returned to Italy a lot of times and I still have the same initial opinion: This fragrance celebrates the beauty of the Tuscan mesmerizing countryside. The fragrance is quite manly. It does fit well in mid-season to any elegant man - Autumn or Spring, day or night. It has got a wide weather latitude. It's also quite safe to use it on Summer nights and Winter days. It's a serious compliment magnet and a pleasure universal giver, both to men and women. It suggests a true impeccably dressed Italian gentleman, worthy of walking through the fashionable streets of Rome, Milan and Florence. It's a very alluring and sexy fragrance indeed! The fragrance opens with a fantastic accord of different citrus notes (with heavenly bergamot), blended with a memorable lavender worthy of being used in the most exquisite fougére perfumes. The lavender does persist for the second phase where you notice a supreme aniseed note. I must emphasise that the blending quality remains very high throughout the scent evolution. The heart notes propose you also a magnificent neroli/orange blossom that takes over the initial citrus notes. The bottom notes are all about spicy basil (mandatory in any true Italian scent) sweetened by tonka and cinnamon. Those frontal notes are framed by the woody background of sandalwood, moss, earthy patchouli, and mainly, by one of the most clear-cut leather scents I have ever experienced. The woody and leather notes ensure the average persistence of the dry down. You won't get either dark or animalic vibes. Unfortunately, this fragrance has only a common performance. The longevity stands up to 6~7 hours with 3 sprays, the sillage is about arm's length, and it projects for 2 hours. The 2009 reformulation kept the original potion ingredients but is quite watered down. Due to Tuscany's very competitive price, you may always respray at your own will. Let's see the math for Tuscany: ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ - Scent opening: 10.0 (very very good citrusy and fougèric scent) - Scent drydown: 9.0 (very good - sweet woody clean leather) - Longevity: 7.0 (less than 7 hours+ with 3 sprays) - Sillage: 6.5 (up to 3.5 feet with 3 sprays; projects for 2 hours; You get a rewarding skin scent till the 6th~7th hour) - Uniqueness: 9.5 (quite unique, very well blended, giving me some faint vibes of other fragrances, but similar to none; Tuscany per Uomo Forte EDP is out of this equation) - Versatility: 9.0 (almost everywhere, but with better choices for clubbing and formal events. Don't use it while working out or on the beach) - Wearability: 9.0 (high during Spring and Autumn,... quite adequate during Winter or Summer as well, but avoid extreme heat or cold). - Compliments: 9.5 (It's a universal pleaser and a compliment magnet) - Quality: 9.0 (my judgement - does not suggest even a small vibe of being cheap or synthetic. It does smell expensive; with a little better performance it would deserve a 10.0) - Presentation: 8.0 (discrete but nice. Excellent cap and sprayer.) - Price: 9.0 (100 ml non-tester for 25 Euros + VAT) ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ Average: 8.68 / 10.00 - between 7 and 8 =above average; - between 8 and 9 = recommended; - bigger than 9 = don't miss it; My Advice: A fragrance from the '80s but quite pleasant and up to date. It does attract a lot of compliments and it seems to please everybody. It's almost inexpensive. The downside is the average performance of the current formulation. Nevertheless, I do recommend it even with the new formulation! Blind Buy advice - Yes, please! Music: Andrea Bocelli - "Con Te Partiro"

This is (was) the one for me; you know some scents just blend well with your own body chemistry. I wore this the year it came out in 1986 (a Christmas present from my sister) for about a decade until I was too poor to afford it in my post college years. What I remember the most about its previous formula was that it had an incredibly deep richness to the scent. It had a way of lasting 8 hours or more with one spray -- I remember waking up in the girl's dorm, having had slept over, and still the women would come up to me and put their noses in the small of my neck, breathing in deeply. I myself had not still been aware of its smell, because my nose was so used to it, but then realized that it still smelled just as good as when first put on - actually even better. I miss this quality about it the most. Its bottom notes would just ripen and get better the longer it stayed on the skin. So for a long time once I bought it again years later, it is reminiscent of the original but lacks the richness -- I tried to figure this out and really regret more than anything that this classic is but a shadow of its former self. I think I read somewhere that the European Union outlawed certain ingredients saying that they increase the probability of cancer. Natural oak moss was one of supposed carcinogens. Could this be the reason why the richness is no longer there? Is this the reason for the reformulation of so many classic scents? I believe so, but I believe most persons in the industry will not say this is what happened. They don't want to admit changing many perfumes on us because of mere legislation. European Union legislation destroyed many classic scents. Not to be overtly political but this is the same organization that determines which cheeses are acceptable and which wines can be called champagne, etc --- seems ridiculous to me that they could do such a thing, destroy the quality of scents based on their ideas of what is canonical or not. I'm convinced everything could be demonstrated as a carcinogen if exposed to it in large enough quality etc, remember that bacon supposedly caused cancer at one time? The wonderful thing about scents is that there is terroir in them, they are regional and the ingredients were sometimes not artificial but found only in nature. Seems to me that something has been dulled in this scent, and while I will always love it and hope that one day I will pick it up and it will smell exactly like the original, in the meantime as long as people in Belgium can control what happens in Eze or other perfume making regions, there is somewhat of a loss of quality. (And for those who say its made in the USA, in order to sell it in Europe they would still have to follow their laws.) Bring back my Tuscany! I have a feeling it's the artificial oak moss that really changed it. It lacks depth and longevity. This was formerly the one that would turn heads -- people would come at me in stores asking what it was. A waitress once sat down at the table with me, having been the first to a party at a restaurant to meet my friends. She said, "you smelled so good I have to sit here beside you for awhile." When my friends finally arrived they thought what a stud I was having this beautiful server sitting at the table with me (I tried to explain it was my cologne and they all laughed.) Tuscany was a one of a kind. It's burned into my mind, how it used to smell. I hope one day it will be restored to its former glory. I miss it so much, like an old friend that passed away.

The comparison to the classic aromatic fougere Azzaro Pour Homme is apt, but so are the reservations to that comparison. The major similarity (in a positive way) is the sillage. Like APH, Tuscany's is of the kind of wafting aromatic character that radiates discreetly but noticeably, and is actually far more pleasant than the (still decent) skin scent. The skin scent in both cases retains a kind of fuzzy effervescence (the shaving foam thing) right into the drydown... hooray for that. Now the differences. For me, it is a matter of blending... As has already been noted, with Tuscany, it is less about the punch of the lavender & anise, and more about the orchestration of the total ensemble, including supporting players like basil, tarragon, caraway, cinnamon, and lime. I've just realized that I'm closely echoing Karlovonamesti's review much farther below, so here's another way of saying it: Azzaro does, for a while, give me a strong, 'just shaved'/dressed up barbershop feel (if I use Pinaud Clubman as an aftershave with it, I almost feel an itch of stray hairs around the back of my shirt collar.) Tuscany offers this, but also the lasting sense of casual suavity as you leave the barbershop, skipping down the street whistling to yourself in the sun. And here's the thing: follow-through. My trouble with Azzaro, in some of he recent (2014-15) formulations I've tried anyway, is that it presents this up-front, masculine aromatic fougere facade, but then gets a bit thin and overly-abstracted in the soapy drydown. With Tuscany, there is a softnesss and variability in the drydown that seems more relaxed and well-mannered. As a result, I feel less self-conscious wearing this than I used to with Azzaro. Rather than brash or demanding, it feels easygoing and lived-in. Convincing pleasures here are the persistence of citruses in an acidic mix with savory herbs as they give way to the drier, almost dusty textures of spices and patchouli, and a smooth trail that conjures leathery tobacco as an idea more than as a real olfactory simulation. This is old school, to be sure, a real aromatic fougere that has borrowed a few notes from the chype genre, but with charm enough to feel you can wear it without recourse to bracketing your appreciation with the costumery of nostalgia. Its lingering tang of citrus and dustiness of patchouli also reminded me, in miniature form, of the dry cacao-patchouli in Davidoff Zino. There is an almost gingerbread-like quality to this aspect of the drydown that was, for me, the least expected (and now most craved) part of this fragrance. Tuscany has discreet but decent performance by contemporary standards, and solid enough construction to dial back to a light wearing if you don't want to come on too strong. It gets pretty close to the skin after the first 2-3 hours, and seems to last around 6-7 hours at most, but holds together reasonably well as it fades into a still-slightly pungent skin scent. I'd picture it as an autumn scent, but I'm sitting here sweating in it on a hot summer night and enjoying my own company in the process. Really pretty good, especially considering the price for which it can be acquired (my 100 ml bottle was $20 CDN...): a solid B+/A- grade designer-level fragrance that might well become a cherished workhorse for the right chemistry & personality.

I debated leaving a review here on this stuff... Only because the story is a long one, the TLDR is, this stuff is exceptional. Back when I started collected fragrances seriously in 2015 this was one of the first bottles I ordered in a lot of 7 other colognes. Although beautiful in the opening, my inexperienced nose and younger dumber self didn’t really realize what I had in front of me. I was too busy with commercialized popular scents like Christian Dior, Giorgio Armani ect.. Anyway, I kind of put this in the back of my ever growing collection and forgot about it. Anyway, about 6 months ago my father passed away from a stroke. He wasn’t a rich man and didn’t have a lot of stuff to pass down. A few weeks after he passed I had to go through his things, and to my surprise my father had a small cologne collection too, something I never even knew. Strangely enough there were all these 80’s powerhouse colognes such as Ted Lapidus, Jacques Bogart, and Aramis. It was a modest collection compared to my 400 + and uo collection, but he had 20 solid bottles, and Aramis Tuscany Per Uomo was indeed one of them. I kinda laughed because I too had the bottle at my home, but the bottle looked slightly more different and the juice was just a tad darker. So I grabbed the rest of his colognes and introduced them to my collection. Anyway, for reference sake, my mother told me she bought this bottle for him on Father’s Day from back in 87, I was 9 years old. So for fun I compared the two bottles, my 2015 bottle to the 87 bottle. The are almost the same, but the 87 bottle does come across as a little more cleaner, less synthetic in nature I suppose, they still share the same heart, but there is a real difference with the leather note. The leather note in the 87 bottle is a tad more pronounced. The major real difference seems to be with performance, the 87 year old bottle lasts about 10-12 hours, but the 2015 bottle I have I get 5-7 hours depending on the weather. Other than that, to the common nose they’re almost identical. In his collection I have an 85 bottle of Kouros 90 percent full and also an unopened box of Polo Green from 83, but I’m getting off track here. To my nose this is by far one of the best Aramis scents I own, and would feel comfortable putting it in my top Aramis scents. The lemon in the opening is insatiable, and by the time you hit the mid this oddly reminds me of Yves St Laurent Rive Gauche, albeit a more pleasant citrusy aromatic version of that, and that’s a really good thing. What I like about this cologne is that it’s not overly intrusive and is a creeper. Just when you think it’s gone, it’s right around the corner to remind you it’s there. The leather in this stuff is also very subtle, as a matter of fact everything is, all the notes, except for the lemon, it’s there front and centre all the way through, but it’s not a bitter lemon, more of a sweet soft lemon. I don’t know man, I’ve read some of the reviews here, and I disagree with the negative ones, even though I understand their complaints, to me this is a work of art. This to me is the ultimate date night fragrance on Summers, because everything is so subtle , it makes for great in close encounters. If you can find this stuff, grab it, don’t hesitate. Solid 8/10.

Just a quick review to say that a new-ish bottle (batch code is 11-2022, "Gentleman's Collection" bottling) I acquired last winter is still very good -- consistent with a bottle I owned previously and reviewed in 2018. I took my new bottle out to test it as I have been considering trading it, and have these thoughts to pass on -- - Yes, as Prague's review further down indicates, it really does get better with a little aging. I was a little worried when I bought a fresh bottle last January and spritzed some on straight away because it felt thinner and less complex that I'd remembered. Happily, my bottle, stored away in its box since then, now feels bolder and rounder, with some really nice note separation (always a notable feature of this fragrance) moving from the top to the heart. - This is awfully fun to wear... The citrus in the opening is bold and almost candied (a bit like that in the venerable Versace l'Homme), but the supporting notes like orange blossom, basil and tarragon that follow are gratifyingly natural smelling and nicely blended. The anise 'ouzo' or 'licorice' element here, for example, is really beautifully integrated -- more so than in Azzaro Pour Homme (no disrespect), as just a soft sweet buzz that supports the heart's herbal and floral accents. I enjoy repeatedly smelling it on my wrist, and picking up the sillage as I move. It smells springtime-sporty, but also like someone put some thought into it. -- Tuscany could almost be a warm-weather flanker of Hermes Equipage...It has a similar strong lavender softened by a discreet leather accord and blend of cooling herbal-floral nuances with comforting warm spiciness. -- Though projection is fairly mellow, longevity is surprisingly good in my seasoned bottle, with the citrus medley (especially the lime) persisting right through the heart and defining the skin scent. - Though there are the inevitable vintage versus new comparisons on Fragrantica, this smells coherent, robust and well-balanced, so whatever's been done to it, what we have now is still very good. Did I mention that it's fun? I'll be looking to trade this soon (it's a cruel twist of fate that I have allergies that are mildly triggered by a lot of great fragrances), but I'm very grateful it's still available and I encourage folks to pick it up if they can find an affordable bottle -- it's a charmer. P.S. I also agree with Prague about the creaminess. Read Alphairone's review as well -- as usual, he's incredibly attentive to the details that matter.