Azzaro Couture
Azzaro (2008)

A bitter-dry and melon-fruity floral, with some sweetness.
I have the 1975 iteration, which is more or less the same but called Eau d'Azzaro. Reading the reviews (to try and identify it), I have to say the description by Way Off Scenter is good and clear. And more than that, jtd makes some astute comments I can only applaud :
• he describes Azzaro Couture as 'an implied or suggested chypre' which I would term
pseudo-chypre; it has the bitter feel of a chypre but without the oak moss it isn't as dark or rich;
• he implies Couture is like the dark heart of Diorella - frozen in time, because - as he says -
• once it settles down it's more or less linear.
I agree with these statements, and think jtd was one of the best perfume bloggers on the Internet.
He is sorely missed.

Genre: Chypre

Azzaro Couture's mossy green and tart citrus top notes are followed by an interesting dusty-sweet, dark, fruity accord, which while oddly familiar, is not something I've encountered in a perfume before. The structure is clearly green-fruity chypre, but the details are marvelously novel.

When recognition strikes, it's a delightful surprise: Azzaro Couture channels the scent of my favorite imported lychee black tea! The scent is credited to Aurélien Guichard, and I have no trouble believing that it comes from the same nose that gave us Bond No. 9's Chinatown. Not that the two smell all that similar. Both rely heavily on fruity lactones, but the Azzaro is at once darker and more translucent than the Bond, with very little of the latter's sweet powder and its own distinctively smoky, bitter-green edge.

As Azzaro Couture develops it manifests a tangy animalic undertone that I find especially compelling. Indolic white florals appear in the heart as well, adding another layer of complexity, yet somehow managing not to compromise Couture's overall transparency. In its fruity chypre structure Azzaro Couture is a not-too-distant relative of Diorella, but it's a more shadowy and ambiguous scent. Given that Diorella cross-dresses pretty comfortably as a fragrance for men, I'd consider Azzaro Couture unisex as well. Projection and sillage are only moderate, but Couture's lasting power is excellent, and I can still smell it on my skin after several hours' wear. I like it.

A further advance on Chandler Burr's complimentary review on the new Couture would be redundant and a little arrogant, it really hits the mark. Yes, I often bemoan the dearth of elegant perfume releases in a plethora of saccharine concoctions. Saccharine is artificial sugar, a chemical aping of cane sugar just as the sweet monstrosities of the perfume world dull and dumb us down with the olfactory equivalent of high blood sugar. When I heard that Prada had produced 'Candy' there was a sharp intake of breath and a very long measured sigh. Small voices say 'Learn to accept the things you can't change and be grateful for small mercies,' then came Nicky Minage. Candy, all is forgiven.
I had never heard of Couture, not even the older version but the new one caught my eye at a ridiculous price on a daily special. Mentally I was rockin' Austin Powers as I spied the bottle. I really liked it, in the way I liked Thunderbirds (FAB) and the suspended polycarbonate white sound shell chair of the sixties. I found a few references, Chandler's being one of them and gave it a go. I'm so pleased I did. I can believe that this perfume contains five absolutes, which is to say, I want to believe it because I like it, If you took to 'Enjoy, Bill Blass (new) Fleur de Cristal, Flora Nymphaea, Champs Elysee, Y (YSL) Belle en Rykiel etc then that's the general direction but they're not as good. Obviously regulations have taken their toll on these and Couture has been built from the ground up. It's a happy spring scent. a feminine scent (sorry guys, I can't see it on a man) It's compote sweet, not jammy sweet.(compote only has enough sugar to keep for a few days) and there is a sort of guava or feijoa blossom tang. I've worn it faithfully for days, enjoying the fruit tea aspect of the dry down. That's a smash hit at my place.

The bottle has tiny crystals on the top, Austin Powers' fembots are grooving the scene. "Hey DaddyO, do I make you smell nice, baby? Oh Austin, behave....and retrieve my bottle of Couture from the fembots, I'm sure there's state secrets embedded in those little Swarovski crystals. Yes, I can see Liz Hurley as Vanessa wearing this, a top model with a comedic side, classy but fun.

This is an interesting floral/fruity chypre. It is largely linear, not a common trait for a chypre, and while it is sweet, the sweetness lies in the floral notes and not the fruity notes. The rose is candied, but the fruit note, somewhere between melon and pear, is tart and sharp. There are many notes listed (rose, bergamot, mimosa, ambrette seed, galbanum, patchouli.) Somehow they create a nose-gestalt that reads as a light chypre, a floral/fruity and a spicy musk. The spiciness reads as a nicely placed pepper note reminiscent of the one in Caron's Parfum Sacré. It lines up beautifully with the rose and the fruit. It cuts the rose's sweetness, gives the fruit its green edge and lasts from start to finish.

The linearity tells me that Azzaro Couture might not so much be an ‘actual' chypre (ie. with oakmoss) as an implied or suggested chypre. Bergamot and the pepperiness give a hint of that rough bitterness that I associate with chypre. The great thing about linearity here is that it stops the clock at an accord that reminds me of the heartnotes of Diorella---almost turned fruit balanced with a dark raspiness.

AC doesn't have great projection and it lasts better on the strip than on my skin. Although linear for the most part, AC's constituent elements (flower, fruit, musky spice) remain distinct, and even into the drydown there is no blurring of the lines.

The opening is hard to describe it'sfruity with metallic nuances. I'm not crazy about the bottle design it's homely in it's appearance i think what's making thatmetallic smell is probably the Amberette seedlings and the Mimosa notes is making it metallic those two just dominate the other notes you barely smell the rose and iris in it these are one of those perfumes that are hard the review.

It's a very ladylike fragrance. The start is fresh and citrusy, then the florals boom and in the end the animalic and chypre notes give it sillage and personality. Will defintely become my "dress up for a formal date" perfume!