Armani Code: Theming your scents for Father's Day

Regular readers will be aware I'm very fond of Armani Code eau de toilette for men (below, linking to my Amazon store).




Also known as Black Code and still listed as such in some websites, it suits me because I like the citrus, bergamot and the underpinnings of warmth - there's a bit of leather and tobacco in there too. There are clearly people who hate scents and I do share a certain bewilderment when people turn up whiffing of the stuff for a business meeting (if I do so for a meeting with you, you can assume I'm testing it for this blog).

Recently Armani has issued a couple of new versions of Code for men. The first is Armani Code Summer.




Season-specific scents are commonplace in the female market. The male of the species is catching up - or the marketing departments are doing so, anyway. Armani Code Summer is a lighter version of theoriginal. The heavier undertones are gone and there's more citrus - overall a more floral feel. It's very refreshing as it goes on - does the job nicely and there's enough of the original left so it's still familiar if that's your regular eau de toilette. My thanks to Debenhams' Beauty Club for arranging the sample. The bottle matches the original - as indeed does the other new one, out next month, Armani Sport (so new it's not yet on the Amazon site).

This one, again designed so the packaging matches the others, has a mint zing as you put it on which gives way to a more gingery version of the other two. There's a lot of citrus in this too, probably more orangey than lemon/limey compared to the others. It's certainly another excellent offering in the range.

My only query is whether anyone's actually going to buy all three - or whether this is just clever marketing; there are a lot of blokes like me who get a bit obsessive, we collect box sets of DVDs rather than individual titles, we like to drive the same brand of car for years on end - and now we have themed scents. No-one should take this as a criticism - L'Oreal, which owns the brand, is in business to be in business and if they can persuade me to buy three bottles of cologne instead of one they're probably doing a good job for their shareholders.

Luckily for the buyer, the scents themselves are pretty good. Oh, and if my daughter's reading, bearing in mind Father's Day is now only weeks away, I like Armani Diamonds too but haven't got any (you see what I mean about brands? Hadn't even occurred to me it was another Armani before I typed that last bit).

During this coming week I'll be looking at something different in terms of scent - a bloke who makes his own.