Now Men
Azzaro (2007)

I was a little shocked when thirty minutes into my first testing of this. I've been down to the dregs of my Armani Privé Eau de Jade for some time now, with no likelihood of obtaining more. Here I had something very similar jumping off my wrist.

Fast forward to a side by side, Azzaro Now is indeed awfully similar to Eau de Jade. There is a very important difference though, one is dry and the other smooth and vanillic. Now, gets its 'green' from its oakmoss foundation, and although not mentioned in the pyramid, I also detect some citrus fruit zest. Now, is quite dry, fresh and peppery. So you would be thinking, "well that makes EdJ vanillic?" True, buts here's the strange thing, the vanilla in EdJ, I suspect, is from ambergris, but deep sniffs of the Azzaro uncovers the same ambergris note I get from within Creed's Real English Leather.

Sitting with a splash of each on separate hands I feel that EdJ sings the louder of the two, and it is certainly my preference, but Now is awfully good. As time passes the ambergris does appear more openly in Now, but not quite enough for me.

Layering Azzaro Now with my Lempicka Green Lover (vanilla) effectively replaced my summer fragrance of choice. Not perfectly, but I'm more than happy with it.

Kind of smells like a more citrusy Silver Mountain Water. I actually like this one a bit.. and think it's sadly underrated. It dries down into a carbon copy of Gucci pH II.

My main gripe is that the bottle is way too wide, it can't be stood up, and takes up way too much shelf space.

A green, woody, peppery scent that is not all that bad. Not good, mind you, but not as bad as it could have been.

There is a sweetness in the dry down that balances the sharpness of the pepper accord.

Nothing new here. This type of scent has been copied hundreds of times since the Cool Water original. You can't beat the price - I found my 100 ml. bottle on Amazon for $9 - so if you are into this type of scent, it's certainly economical.

Turin was impressed by its quality, given the house it comes from, and gave it four stars, dubbing it a "woody citrus." I don't get the "citrus."

The odd amoeba-shaped bottle can be used either as a breast implant (which it resembles, really, it does) or a paperweight, making it the most versatile object in modern perfumery.

Genre: Woods

Azzaro Now Men is a green woody scent in the general mold of Grey Flannel, though noticeably softer and sweeter. The conventional citrus top notes are rather crudely alcoholic, but they resolve quickly and the main body of the scent is much more appealing. The sweet herbaceous green notes gain interest from an unexpected and judicious dose of spices, which briefly suggest Azzaro Now might veer off into woody oriental territory. That doesn't happen, and instead the scent rolls on for a few hours in a quietly pleasant green woody direction and smelling like a low-budget Ormonde Man. There's not much sillage or projection, so Azzaro Now wears close to the skin throughout its lifespan.

As with so many contemporary fragrances for men, Azzaro Now goes to pot in the drydown. It avoids the standard issue, überstrong, chalk-on-a-blackboard woody amber you can smell in scents like Lolita Lempicka au Masculin or Guerlain Homme, but opts instead for the (other) standard issue, “fresh,” clean chemical spill accord familiar from Acqua di Gio, Light Blue, and their accursed ilk. Too bad, because this fragrance had the potential to be a pleasant workhorse of an everyday masculine. As it is, the ugly bookends that surround its friendly middle volume ruin the experience.

Tried this 2 or 3 times before reviewing. Very harsh astringent opening of synthetic green notes and saddle soap. This mellows to a chemically floral scent mixed with saddle soap and perhaps an arguably "leather" quality. Not pleasant as a personal scent.

I've to say I'm a bit disappointed with Now Men as I expected something more edgy and daring. The opening is incredibly conventional and banal. Citrus plus an acquatic feel that's pretty cheap. In the drydown it gets a little better with an interesting mix of (synthetic) woods, but still nothing that really catches my interest. Unnecessary.