The house of Azzaro has been producing a wide variety of fragrances since 1975. Started by fashion designer Loris Azzaro, the brand’s fragrances have become synonymous with quality at a fair price.
From the classic fresh aquatic blast of Azzaro’s most famous cologne - Azzaro Chrome, to the super long lasting and seductive Azzaro Wanted by Night, there are lots of varied choices. I’ll help you break down the best options for any and every situation in my 10 Azzaro colognes review.
Our Favorite Azzaro Cologne Selections
Best Overall
Azzaro Chrome Aqua might well just be the perfect scent for anyone, in any situation within the Azzaro collection. It hits every aspect of what I’m looking for when it comes to versatility. There is no age limit on Chrome Aqua. It fits every age group and dare I say - could even work well as a unisex fragrance.
Aquatic Marine fragrances often lean toward warmer temperatures, but the addition of violet leaf, cypress and vetiver in this blend adds an aromatic green pungency to the clean vibrant freshness. The result is a unique balance between aquatic fruity sea notes and airy fresh, vibrant touches of mint and basil that transcend the seasons.
Created by perfumer Jean-Christophe Hérault, Chrome Aqua has a moderate projection and a pleasing evolution on the skin. It’s a great office scent, while still fitting in with most casual moments.
- Sillage: Great
- Longevity: Great - lasts 4 - 7 hours
- Scent Potency / Appropriate For: Medium Plus Potency for school, office, casual, outdoors, all seasons
- Price: $$
| PROS | CONS |
|---|---|
| Great for any age, situation or season | Marine aquatic notes may clash with certain skin types |
Best for a Night Out
When hitting the town with friends or a date, I want something that will last and project. I’m competing with a lot of other sensations, so it’s important to wear something that will project, last and cut through all the other stimuli. That’s why Wanted by Night is the perfect night out scent.
It has a warm spicy cinnamon characteristic that is alluring and seductive, with excellent projection and performance that will last throughout the night. There is a unique fruity incense note which flows through a deep leather and tobacco. It is incredibly sweet, almost verging on overripe fruit, but the cleaner citrus and lavender notes help keep it all in check.
Launched in 2018, this woody spicy cologne has a sensual quality that is a great match for colder weather and evening wear. Wanted by Night takes the original Wanted scent into a new direction, making it bolder, louder and even more playful.
- Sillage: Excellent
- Longevity: Excellent - lasts 8 - 12 hours
- Scent Potency / Appropriate For: Strong Potency, best for night out, clubbing and colder weather
- Price: $$$
| PROS | CONS |
|---|---|
| Amazing projection and longevity | May be too sweet and cloying for some - especially in warmer temperatures |
Best for the Office
Now that mandatory WFH (Work from Home) is a faded memory and many businesses are requiring their employees to RTO (Return to Office), it’s best to have a pleasant and widely appreciated office scent. The original Azzaro Chrome is the perfect fit for this situation.
It’s a clean, inoffensive, classic that is well liked by many. A few sprays of Azzaro Chrome is a quick and easy way to smell fresh, totally put-together and masculine.
The bright and vigorous projection of Azzaro Chrome is never too loud. Just enough to convey a level head and total competence. When I want to come off as clean and refreshed and ready for anything, the original Azzaro Chrome is where I start my day.
- Sillage: Good
- Longevity: Great - Lasts 3 to 6 hours
- Scent Potency / Appropriate For: Medium Plus potency / casual, office, daytime, warm weather, late spring and summer, beach, vacation, sports and outdoor activities
- Price: $
| PROS | CONS |
|---|---|
| Fresh and clean vibe that generates compliments | Can come off as a basic shower gel scent |
Best Classic Barbershop Scent
I’m a sucker for the classics. There is something just so reassuring that the things which were great back in the day still have a place in the world. Give me a martini, an old-school Salisbury Steak with mashed potatoes and a turntable playing Chet Baker Sings and I am in heaven.
That’s probably why I can’t live without having a bottle of the first and original Azzaro cologne for men, Azzaro Pour Homme. Since 1978, Azzaro Pour Homme has been a mainstay for the well dressed and sophisticated man.
It’s an Aromatic Fougere that is uber masculine, totally rugged and yet refined. It’s a complex blend that calls back to old-school shaving foams. Azzaro Pour Homme exudes a level of confidence that suggests, “I know what I’m doing and you don’t have to worry. I’ve got this.”
- Sillage: Great
- Longevity: Great - Lasts 6 to 8 hours
- Scent Potency / Appropriate For: Medium Plus potency / professional, office, signature, best for winter, spring and fall
- Price: $
| PROS | CONS |
|---|---|
| Super affordable for the quality level | May come off as dated or old fashioned to some |
Best Day to Night Choice
Sometimes I need a cologne that I can grab and wear to work, maybe visit a few clients during the day, grab lunch with a friend and then head out for a few beers with the guys before heading to a sporting event or concert. It’s the kind of day that starts early and ends late and I’ve spent practically no time at home. That’s when I start with a few sprays of Azzaro Visit, toss the bottle in my bag and I’m ready to refresh as the day turns to night.
Annick Menardo created this scent back in 2003. She is also the perfumer behind one of my latest fragrance obsessions - Boss Bottled Elixir. Both creations showcase her affinity for blending woods, incense and spices.
What makes Azzaro Visit so appealing is how it takes these darker tones and balances them beautifully with enticing musks, ginger and a slightly salty amber in the base. It is a perfect choice for a man who is on the go and ready for anything.
- Sillage: Great
- Longevity: Great - Lasts 6 to 8 hours
- Scent Potency / Appropriate For: Medium Plus potency / professional, office, signature, best for winter, spring and fall - day or night
- Price: $$
| PROS | CONS |
|---|---|
| Incredible versatility and complexity | Discontinued scent that may be harder to find |
Best Cozy Scent
Whenever I find a cologne that really turns my head, very often ginger is one of the ingredients. It’s one of my favorite notes because of its zippy effervescent character that is never too spicy. It also gives off a clean fruity aspect without the sweetness, so when I saw Azzaro Pour Homme Ginger Lover, it was a blind buy for me.
Ginger Lover is an Aromatic Spicy blend that works well in any weather. I know a lot of folks have pegged this as a summer fragrance and I agree, it works fine in warmer temperatures, but I also get an incredibly cozy, warm powdery aspect as the cologne moves into the drydown. It’s perfect on a cool evening after a tough day.
I’ll cuddle up on the couch with my favorite blanket after a few sprays of Ginger Lover. A beautiful, warm spicy freshness washes over me, with a comforting powdery overtone. As I watch a classic film and sip a tulip glass of cognac, everything becomes right with the world once again.
- Sillage: Good
- Longevity: Good - Lasts 3 to 6 hours
- Scent Potency / Appropriate For: Medium potency / 30’s and up - Office safe and great for anytime, in any season, day or night
- Price: $$
| PROS | CONS |
|---|---|
| Enjoyable in almost any situation, season or time of day | May not project as well on some skin types |
Best Sensual Scent:
There’s nothing better than spending a romantic evening with my girl out at a quiet restaurant, with low lighting, enjoying the evening while relaxing over a long gourmet dinner. For a beautiful evening like this, I’ll often wear Azzaro Pour Homme Night Time. It’s a gorgeous Aromatic Fougere with an enticingly spicy opening of rhubarb and orange that evolves into a peppery, earthy dry-down.
This fragrance takes the classic Pour Homme cologne into a green, dry fruity and spicy direction that resists being overtly sweet. It’s a warm gentlemanly aroma that doesn’t have enormous projection, which is great when you’re sitting across the table and enjoying a meal together. The light wafts of fragrance caress the air on occasion, drawing you closer to one another until the check comes and it’s time to move on to an even more romantic location.
- Sillage: Good
- Longevity: Good - Lasts 3 to 6 hours
- Scent Potency / Appropriate For: Medium potency / Best for evenings - especially during the cooler months
- Price: $$
| PROS | CONS |
|---|---|
| A sensual cologne without being too sugary or sweet | May not project as loudly as other date night fragrances |
Best for Cooler Temperatures
The transitional months of spring and fall are a perfect time to wear Azzaro Silver Black. It opens with a brash soapy cleanness - bordering on something similar to Irish Spring soap, but then darker, spicier notes kick in, giving Silver Black a mysterious edge. Once the green apple and citrus notes finish battling with a licorice-like anise seed, a fresh juniper note dominates, giving the scent a sophisticated, but mystical gin characteristic.
I love the way Silver Black alternates between a sharp, totally put-together cleaness, with these slightly enigmatic darker tones. It is the perfect scent to accompany the transitional months. One day it’s warm, the next it’s cool - there is a lack of predictability during those days and Silver Black is a perfect accompaniment to whenever I need to be ready for anything.
- Sillage: Good
- Longevity: Great - Lasts 6 to 10 hours
- Scent Potency / Appropriate For: Medium Plus potency / Best for evenings and the cooler months
- Price: $$
| PROS | CONS |
|---|---|
| Comes off clean yet, still mysterious | Strong opening notes can be off putting to some |
Best for Warmer Months
When the sun is bright and the world is fully alive once again - the temps are rising and the flowers are in full bloom - it’s the perfect time to start wearing Azzaro Pour Homme L’eau. This is a fresh and clean take on a classic barbershop scent. It opens with a vibrant and bright blend of citrus that is compounded with an exotic yuzu note. As the cologne develops, I get a clean but bouncy floral note with waves of marine freshness.
Azzaro Pour Homme L’eau gives off a care-free vibe. It takes me to a place where I can get up whenever I want and lazily stroll out onto the front porch of a beach house, overlooking the shore. As the waves caress the sand, I fall into a hammock and sip a cool iced coffee, while the soft warm breezes carry my cologne through the air. I feel a boundless freedom as I settle in, without a care in the world.
- Sillage: Good
- Longevity: Good - Lasts 4 to 6 hours
- Scent Potency / Appropriate For: Medium potency / Best for summer
- Price: $$
| PROS | CONS |
|---|---|
| A perfect barbershop style cologne for the warmer months | Not as strong as the original Azzaro Pour Homme |
Best Opening Notes
The top notes of a fragrance are often the most beautiful and enchanting. They’re designed to captivate the individual right away, so when you’re sampling a cologne at the shop, you immediately fall in love and make the purchase. One such example of this is Azzaro Pour Homme Wild Mint.
The first moments of this cologne are breathtaking. It has a fresh and unique opening that releases a fruity mint with slightly darker aspects of an almost chocolate patchouli. The mint leans more toward a spearmint than peppermint, making this less like toothpaste or a cough drop and focusing more so on the rounded, greener characteristics of mint.
As the cologne dries down to the mid however, it gets a little murky, and that’s where it loses me. Wild Mint cologne never hits the awesome potential that it offers in the opening, which is unfortunate. I had high hopes for this one, but like the cologne itself, Wild Mint falls flat.
- Sillage: Good
- Longevity: Good - Lasts 4 to 6 hours
- Scent Potency / Appropriate For: Medium potency / Best for spring, summer and fall, office safe
- Price: $$
| PROS | CONS |
|---|---|
| Excellent fruity minty opening with a unique darker tone | Disappointing dry down may not develop well on some skin types |
What Makes Azzaro Cologne Stand Out from the Rest
As one of the more prolific fragrance houses in the industry, Azzaro has something for everybody. They release new fragrances for men and women every year and many of them are top sellers.
Azzaro has worked with some of the best perfumers in the industry. From Quentin Bisch and Michel Girard to Aurélien Guichard and Fabrice Pellegrin, as well as the aforementioned Annick Mennardo and Jean-Christophe Hérault - the creator of the legendary Creed Aventus, Azzaro’s roster is top notch.
The brand also has its share of simple, everyday fragrances, so whether you’re looking for a signature scent or a simple inexpensive gift, you’re likely to find something within the Azzaro collection.
Can Azzaro Be Classified as a Luxury Brand?
The fragrances produced by Azzaro are typical of a designer brand. While not necessarily bargain colognes, they are generally more accessible and affordable than higher end niche or independent brands. Nevertheless, you will find well constructed, highly regarded colognes and perfumes within the Azzaro line-up. They’re timeless and enjoyable.
Unveiling Azzaro's Most Famous Scent
One of the things I like most about the Azzaro lineup is that they continue to stay relevant. They are forever changing and unafraid to try new things. As a result, their most famous perfume has changed over time. Their first men’s cologne in 1978 was Azzaro Pour Homme and for over 10 years, it was Azzaro’s mainstay.
As of now, sales figures would suggest that Azzaro Wanted by Night is their most popular perfume. Released in 2018, it made a major splash and it quickly eclipsed the original Azzaro Wanted. However, if you had asked this question before 2018, without a doubt - the answer would have been Azzaro Chrome.
A mainstay of the Azzaro brand since 1996, Chrome has defined a generation of colognes focusing on the fresh aquatic side of life. Although Chrome has the most flankers in the men's line, the Wanted collection is on its way to becoming a foundational fragrance for the brand.
Who Would Like Azzaro Colognes
There is something for every guy in the Azzaro cologne collection. It is definitely a house that offers all kinds of cologne styles. Wherever you find Azzaro cologne for sale, you’re likely to find a style that fits your age, mood, season or look. The next time you’re in a department store, definitely check out the lineup that’s available to sample. You’re bound to find something you like.
How Azzaro Colognes Perform
For the most part, Azzaro fragrances are typical of most designers in terms of projection and longevity. Most of them are solid, giving off at least an arm length of sillage and lasting for half the day or more. In some cases, where they’ve produced a lighter, fresher summer fragrance - like Wanted Tonic, or the fragrances in the Azzaro Splash collection, which are designed to be exhilarating and uncomplicated, the projection and longevity will be limited. That is to be expected in those styles of fragrances.
When Azzaro produces a deep, dark, warm and ambery style of fragrance, which are often best in the colder temps, they have fantastic projection and longevity. Choices like Azzaro The Most Wanted are typical of this and often exceed expectations in that area.
Final Thoughts
I’ve been enjoying and collecting fragrances for almost 10 years now and have amassed a much larger collection that I could likely use in my lifetime. Over that time, I have never set out to focus on Azzaro as a house, like I have with other brands, yet as I look back at it, Azzaro colognes now represent a large percentage of my collection. I just found myself picking them up here and there, whenever a new release interests me, or I discover a lost treasure that I had not yet experienced. Before I knew it, Azzaro began taking up more shelf space.
This is really a testament to the diversity and adventurous nature of the house. Not every one of their releases will appeal to everyone. More than likely though, if you check out the brand, you’ll likely find something that you’ll enjoy and appreciate.
Ron Pitt is a winemaker who developed a passion for fragrance while studying the olfactory relationship between smell and taste. After producing and marketing wines that focus on complex aromatics along with flavor, Ron altered his attention from the tasting room to the perfume lab. In addition to his passion for both wine and fragrance, Ron and his wife have been rescuing beagles for over 20 years.
