Jacomo has always marched to the beat of it's own drum both with novel packaging and contributing something out of left field to a popular or emerging style, which is what they did with 1980's blackened moss classic Jacomo de Jacomo, and is no less the case here.Īura makes it's claim to this brief resurgence in green men's fragrance by revisiting the ginger/tobacco/woods power trio of the lauded and lusted for Gucci Envy for Men but mixes in some of the sweet artifice of Contradiction for Men's creative direction, with a bit of that "fake pine" I mention in my sentimental starry-eyed review for it. All of them had rather bizarre packaging with both Envy and Contradiction featuring oversized caps, while Aura went a step further with a cap-less suspended bottle within a plexiglass frame real avant-garde stuff here. Contradiction was definitely the sweeter sibling, while Envy the spiciest with more ginger, and Aura tries to compromise these two dynamics by resting somewhere in the middle. However, almost one after another came Calvin Klein's Contradiction for Men (1999), then Aura for Men by Jacomo (2000), both of which follow similar lines as Gucci Envy but are overlooked probably because everyone is too busy hunting unicorns. Gucci Envy for Men (1998) is perhaps the earliest and most famous of this set, achieving mythic status because Tom Ford was involved with Gucci/YSL at the time and it (like many Gucci/YSL fragrances from the period) became discontinued when he left as creative director to start his own house, despite whatever their sales were prior. Yes, the bottle is cool too, and the neon green communicates something of the piercing intensity of the ginger-green opening, even if it fades to something much more conventional and well behaved.Īura is an intriguing, obscure scent that was part of a brief resurgence of "green" fragrances which tried to take what was conveyed by the aromatic chypres and fougères of decades past and "modernize" them with lighter, brighter, and sometimes sweeter accords. Although I won't be wearing it, this is a well composed fragrance and excellent value, so it still gets a thumbs up. But since I don't like florals generally, I would like this scent better without them. The florals don't make this fragrance feminine–the green notes and piercing ginger keep it unisex. I can only guess the "sage" listed in the notes means clary sage and this has been created with linalool, also present in lavender. I'm surprised more reviews don't mention the floral notes, which I'm apparently quite sensitive to, but aren't mentioned in the official notes. Projection is excellent from the topnotes to the heart in the first 1≢ hours, but lower, fading to skin scent, in the drydown. After about two hours, the heart transitions into a semisweet vanillic amber base, underpinned by cedar and sandalwood, with notes of nutmeg and cinnamon and traces of the piercing green ginger from the opening and hints of the tea. Here the tension between the sharp green floral note and the creamy, soapy undertone is well balanced. The lemon and ginger notes persist into a floral, green-tea heart, which rests on a semisweet, creamy, soapy base. A bit of floral violet(?) emerges a few minutes in. Jacomo Aura opens with an intense blast of lemony lavender riding a wave of icy-spicy synthetic ginger, with a green juniper undertone. Cheap and synthetic yes, but a nice scent and good performance to price ratio, 3.5/5. A good fragrance for a young man, as a school scent during autumn, Aura for Men could be a reasonable budget signature scent for everyday use, office, school, college etc. Aura for Men is great value, it lasts about 4 or 5 hours and projects moderately well and it is around $12 or less for a 40mL bottle. A nice warm, confident, masculine scent, not too bold, not particularly unique or amazing but very much a decent, peasant scent. As Aura for men dries on the skin it settles with warm, musky, tonka notes with tobacco and hint of spice in the background. It has a woody and musk opening and as it begins to dry down some nice spice notes come to the fore and I detect the green tea and ginger here. Aura for Men is a very nice aromatic green fragrance. I didn't have high expectations for it, but it turned out to be a gem. Aura for Men caught my eye due to the distinctive bottle so I took it. A blind buy, I was purchasing a few designer fragrances from an online discounter and I decided to add a cheapie to the cart just to round the price up and get something extra for fun.
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