Artisan Costiero

What a pleasant blind buy success. I completely agree with pickenders. This is a mildly and pleasantly sweet marine aquatic with smooth and easy going citrus, powdery, floral and aromatic notes. It is reminiscent of Italian designer lines like Acqua di Gio, Prada Light Blue and Versace Pour Homme. On top of that classic citrusy aquatic frame are a couple nice additions. Firstly, there is a soft, powdery accord floating over the main marine, citrus and aromatic elements. And the synthetic floral accord, Karmaflor, adds a Lily of the Valley-like touch of green, spring-time growth and verdancy. Costiero is just a very likeable and easy to wear fresh and uplifting scent. It has been enthusiastically added to the spring/summer dumb reach stockpile in my collection. It leans masculine, but anyone can definitely wear it. I surprisingly give Costiero a high 8.5 and a Fragrantica score of 4.25. It is certainly better than almost any other late 2025 / early 2026 main line designer masculine fragrance, in my opinion. And I've pretty much tried them all. I highly recommend you get a sample, try it at your local mall, or even blind buy it like I did if you enjoy fresh, citrusy, marine fragrances such as the Acqua di Gio line.

This smells almost 1:1 like Tommy Vibrant Summer 2024 to my nose. The only difference is VS is a bit more sweet whereas this one is a bit more salty/marine. They are both citrus forward in the opening but with different citrus notes from what I can tell. This is a fantastic fragrance for summer though, it has some good strength and projection for a freshie. EDIT: After comparing the drydown, Costiero has more of a floral scent than VS does (the latter of which keeps that citrus smell).

This is not the bright refreshing scent profile i hoped for..Has a beachy/ fruity / coconut tropical mixed drink type of vibe to it. Doesn't really project much and sits close to the skin as does the other varvatos releases. Its a solid scent but not overly impressed or no wow factor with this one overall.. Artisan teal is still the best in this line. This kinda is in the same vein as JPG le beau... no similarities to Aqua di gio in my opinion. Overall score 8/10.

I too received mine from macys. What a pleasant smell. A modernized acqua Di gio type of scent. Definitely aquatic and salty - the citrus isn’t sharp - it’s really smooth. Almost powdery sweet. Just a really pleasant scent and a top choice from John Varvatos. Bottle is awesome.

Completely addicted to this fragrance. Very light and beachy with a little spice in the opening. Gives off brunch by the ocean vibes. It’s not your typical JV scent. Seems to project decently as well. I’m in Florida so this will be year round.

The fruity blend with oudy reminded me of Turathi Electric. Not that they smell alike, but that blend with freshness gave the same feel. I like this one a bit more, though it is sweeter, less airy and more floral.

@rich - I know JV has a poor reputation as it relates to performance - but honestly, I haven’t noticed anything egregious. I’d say average to possibly above average for a summer freshie.

This perfume reminds me of a beach cocktail—sweet and intoxicating. While not the best, it's not bad either. I'd give it an 8 out of 10. But why is it so expensive in the US? I bought it for about $70 in my country.

To me this smells like a lesser spicier version of Castley. Same citrus with yuzu. Bottle was beautiful. Has warm Carmelo like under tone, but still very fresh. Honestly very nice

This is unfortunately not really as advertised. No idea where the citrus/marine votes are coming from - to me this is a woody/oud nectarine bomb. Sweeter than it needs to be, and not particularly interesting. It’s a shame, the bottle is beautiful. Artisan XX Teal remains the best of this line.

I love this ! I was expecting a citrus zingy fragrance. Something that at least opens a little bit like Light Blue . Not the case. It opens up mellow citrus almost creamy then gets a slight Pacific chill excluding the mint before getting the miss and light woods. It has this maybe cocktail beachy vibe . Not too aquatic but you get it a bit. Of course the main issue with JV fragrances . The performance sucks . It does it's thing and reaches the full dry down smell in like 3 to 5 minutes. So this develops fast. Not a bad thing at all. But after 30 minutes it's a skin scent. For that reason I was spraying 12 times to get average performance about 5 hours light projection minimum sillage. Varvatos fragrances after a few months will be around $40. This is absolutely worth that because of how it smells. But it's not worth more than that because you need to shower in it. Once this hits discounters I'm absolutely getting a bottle . 8/10

I got this from Macy's this afternoon on Dallas" recommendation from his Chaos Fragrances channel. I don't pick up any aquatic accords. Artisan Costiero smells just like the bartender put an alcoholic drink on the bar right under my nose. Not a mixed drink but something that smells citrusy. In addition to that, the sillage and longevity is low...again I am disappointed in this release. I gave in to the hype and now it's $159 down the drain.

I haven’t paid much attention to recent JV releases. I love most of the older lineup... Vintage, Artisan/acqua/blu/pure, dark rebel / rebel rider... Even the OG John Varvatos for men which I just wore the other day. But for some reason this one is speaking to me... Definitely will check this out.

So I just got this from Macys. It’s definitely aquatic. Almost niche vibes. Very aquatic almost like oyster or a 90’s marine fragrance like New West. It’s fresh, salty with the right amount of woods in the dry down. Really good.

What a simple yet stunning bottle, big fan of the OG Artisan, so will keep my eyes peeled for this for sure. I just wish more retailers in the UK carried JV to make it easier to find and try *sigh*

I plan to buy it and will report back. Can y'all yell me how's the performance? JV makes some of the best smelling masculine fragrances but they don't last except for a few like JV Vintage

Citrusy, creamy, and sweet. I smell vanilla and coconut notes as well but don't see them listed anywhere. I don't get aquatic notes at all. Not a big fan of this one.

Sweeter and more synthetic than I was hoping for. 6/10