Giorgio Armani’s new fragrance for men, Attitude, was created by Annick Menardo, Alberto Morillas and Olivier Cresp. All three perfumers have worked for Armani before: Menardo created Emporio Armani City Glam for men and women (with the help of Cresp) and Morillas developed Emporio Armani White, Sensi, Sensi White Notes, and the female version of Aqua di Gio.
Menardo (Boucheron Jaipur Pour Homme, Bvlgari Black), Morillas (Bvlgari Omnia, Yves Saint Laurent M7) and Cresp (Thierry Mulger Angel) have all created interesting and original scents, so why did it take all three of them to come up a conventional fragrance like Attitude?
Attitude has a lemon-and-coffee opening that reminds me of an unfortunate incident that happened in my kitchen years ago. Friends were visiting from Los Angeles, it was a hot day and I had the bright idea of spiking a freshly pressed carafe of coffee with two lemons’ worth of lemon slices and ice cubes. I created a brew that could strip tooth enamel in an instant and made stomach acid seem weak in comparison. One friend drank an entire cup of my lemon coffee before holding her stomach in agony. Attitude’s opening doesn’t cause me physical pain, but it’s a bit too strong for my liking (maybe I just don’t think lemon and coffee smell good together).
After Attitude’s powerful opening, one gets a pleasant whiff of cardamom and lavender (both easily recognizable) before the scent moves into its best (and final) phase. Attitude’s base notes are cedar, patchouli and (I think) vanilla; the base has a “coffee-amber” aroma. All the base notes are smooth, pleasant and slightly sweet.
Armani Attitude is being introduced in spring but it feels like a fall/winter scent to me. Even with its rather ‘strong’ notes, Attitude’s lasting power is mediocre; after the first 10 minutes it stays very close to the skin and disappears within a few hours.
Attitude’s “cigarette lighter” bottle (designed by Fabien Baron) seems to have no connection to what’s inside it; and how does it relate to the ad campaign? Armani Attitude’s “The Thinker” model has the shiny hair and smooth skin of someone who has never smoked a day in his life. There seems to be no desire at Armani to create original ‘statements’ with its lower-priced, mainstream fragrances — it can be done, using any of the three talented perfumers who concocted Attitude.
Giorgio Armani's Armani Attitude is available in 30, 50 and 80 ml Eau de Toilette ($39-$65). It is widely available now at department stores, and will no doubt be at the online discounters by the end of the year.
Very disappointing. We also have to realise that for every top tier fragrance created by these talented perfumers, there are 10 hacks that they put out every year.
I will stick to Terre D' Hermes and Dior Homme, thank you very much.
Let's blame it on the FOCUS GROUPS shall we? K
I was interested in a man's perspective on this one. I liked it fine (I got very little citrus, which is a good thing), but agree that it seems more suited for a fall release. Also, it reminds me a lot of Polo Double Black (which is better IMO) and how many coffee-driven scents do we need, anyway? I do think the packaging is adorable, but you're right, where is the attitude? The name conveys something with more edge.
I found it amazingly forgettable, given the packaging and brand. I didn't even get the coffee, just some inspid citrus! Perhaps it wil sell on the strength of the cigarette lighter bottle, in these smoking-ban days.
You know, not to divert the discussion or anything, but coffee with lemon juice is the traditional cure for diarrhoea here…LOL
I wasn't impressed by this either and I am starting to believe that too many noses involved do not bring a good result in the end.
http://perfumeshrine.blogspot.com/2007/05/attitude-by-armani-fragrance-review.html
The name is certainly not served well in this case: it is rather insipid and inoffensive. Too bad.
After only a quick sniff I think I like Polo Double Black better than Attitude as well. I can do without coffee and cocoa in all my perfumes, K
I have read that some men hate the bottle design…they have trouble with the lid getting in the way of an easy spritz.
Alors! My home “remedy” only succeeded in keeping my friend from eating for 6 hours, so perhaps my lemon/coffee proportions could be used as a diet aid?
Could be! I wonder if it would be palatable for long periods of time though….maybe you should patent it! LOL
Interestingly, the flip-cap seems to be removed from the testers in various stores. Wondering if they broke off? Folks couldn't figure out how to open it?
You know PEOPLE…probably kept forgetting to flip the lid down after sampling and thus the bottle took up room! (But I'm betting all testers were made without a lid)
When I smelled this I thought of how your clothes smell the next day after being in a smokey bar all night.
Yuk. Really nasty. Since the bottle looks like a cigarette lighter, maybe that is what they were going for.:)
This is a heavy scent on first contact that's for sure…it did remind me of old clothes too. I always forget to dry clean or wash at least one wool sweater before I pack away the winter clothes. Attitude smells of that old 'forgotten' sweater when I unpack it in fall… the sweater retains a faint smell of the last fragrance I wore with it (base notes triumphant), K
Kevin, I really had to laugh at your lemon-coffee story! Where I come from, lemon and coffee is a very well known combo used to induce vomitting after a heavy night of drinking !!!
My poor guests…subjected to 'natural cures', even when there's nothing to cure!
'Coffee amber' sounds promising – I don't get any of that when I sniffed this. It was a total yawm-fest for me.
The only redeeming thing about the scent, is the model in the ad's bicep.
Mike: You have to drench your arm to get the amber-coffee accord. And I assume the model's POSE is the “attitude” in question? Yawn indeed, K
Hello All, I got to sniff it , and as VanillaGirl says… It is forgettable, that is the best description..
I keep up my hopes for the release of the RED eau de toilette hoping we can get a surpise masterpiece like the White HE is for me.
We can dream!
p.s.: Yes the bottle on the Armani sucks bigtime. Nice idea in paper perhaps.But klunky!
Didn't know about an upcoming RED release…so, yes, keep dreaming. K
PBI — it is part of the (Product) Red line to “eliminate AIDS in Africa”, see:
http://www.joinred.com/
The bottles for the Armani Red scents (HE & SHE) are great, but haven't yet seen notes or descriptions for the fragrances themselves.
Thanks R: I hope some of my hated “red” notes are NOT in the mix: cinnamon, pimento!, pink pepper, K
This wasn't for me at all. The opening was a blast of intensity and the fragrance itself just smelled really… metallic on me.
Well… maybe I'm unconventional, but I don't dislke it at all! Maybe I just don't want Armani corp. go to bankruptcy! I like its eau-sauvage-different-citrus scent, as its allure-homme-sport-cologne-citrus-scent too. Yes it has a strong and maybe strange citrus start but, in a fresh way. But that's my thoughts… that I saw no one here seems to agree with! But thanx guys, now I know I won't find this smell all over me, wearing by everybody!
Le Q: we're a bad humored bunch here at NST sometimes…unforgiving! Do enjoy Attitude, but judging from its ad budget I bet you will smell it on others. Don't worry about Armani…they're doing OK….
OMG… you just called me “Le Q”… Since I have French as first language… that's mean “The ass”! But ok, that's explain the “bad humored bunch”. Joking. Maybe -sometimes- but in a pleasantly way. I do enjoy your answers, and the time you take for responding to a lot of comments. I'll try to come here more often, M. K
LQ: Forgive me! And thanks for explaining “Le Q”…there are lots of people I will enjoy calling that, but not you. Take care, K
Armani Attitude is a beautiful scent. Close to the skin and very sexy. Loved it the minute I tried it. But thebottle design and execution are majorly flawed. The cap and top of the sprayer are made of that cheap silver plastic (You know the kind that chips like fingernail polish!) and after you flip it off a few times (as it is intended to be done for that sexy flip-off sound like the cigarette lighter that inspired the bottle) the entire plastic piece detaches and becomes loose on top of the glass bottle and starts quivering. I bought mine at Sephora and after 5 uses, had to take it back. They immediately exchanged it for me. No questions asked. I thought it was a problem with that one bottle I bought. Then my second bottle had the same exact problem (!!!) and I was really pissed. Fingers ready to email Giorgio himself-Mood you know!
So I put it back in its Sephora bag to take back but had to travel for a few days lately. I went through Frankfurt airport and while in Duty Free, I wanted to spray Attitude on me. Guess what: The TESTER AT DUTY FREE had the same problem !!! The German SA did not understand why I walked away laughing. Then when I finally took my second bottle back to sephora this past Saturday, The SA and I went towards the shelf to get a “third” bottle for me.
Guess what: The TESTER AT SEPHORA (!!!) had the same problem. LOL
I laughed so hard. The Sephora SA was so intrigued and laughed as well. She was sweey and said with a smile “Well may be this is not right for you then. May be you should get something else” She was so right.
I gave up on Attitude by Armani and got my refund!
I guess I'll just have to live without it until Armani Parfums (Cheap L'Oreal you know) get their act together and recall the whole existing bottles for safety reasons just like baby car seats!
(Oh and L'Oreal if you want to hire me as a consultant, please call)
Eric
I enjoyed my sample spray phial, but as for a bottle of it…not enough to tempt me.
Does anyone know fragrance bouquets similar to the old GIO ?
this is great perfume,i love it,for me its most beautiful male perfume