Have you tried these two new releases from Emporio Armani? They're everywhere at the moment. One of the adverts shows a young couple in a very impractical position on a bicycle with their heads pressed together. If you spent Valentines Day last week alone then you may have wished they fell off and injured themselves (only slightly of course). Stronger With You Intensely (for men) and In Love With You (for women) are two fragrances aimed at millennials (or is it Generation Z now?) and seek to capture the essence of young love in all its unbridled, happy, sweet, excitable naivety.
The two fragrances are flankers to the original Stronger With You (for men) and its female counterpart Because It's You, both released in 2017.
Stronger With You Intensely (Eau de Parfum)
Notes:
Top: Juniper, Pink Pepper, Violet
Mid: Lavender, Sage, Toffee, and Cinnamon
Base: Suede, Vanilla, Amber
Stronger With You Intensely is a warm, sweet, rich scent with prominent notes of pink pepper, toffee, amber and tonka. Fans of modern smelling masculine big sellers such as One Million by Paco Rabanne and La Nuit de L'Homme by YSL will love this one. It’s sensual, inviting and comforting all at once.
The fruity, fresh sweetness of the original Stronger With You morphs into a warmer and richer evolution of its antecedent with less of the apple like brightness of the 2017 release. There is a faint suggestion of booze....imagine the smell of brandy snaps infused with cinnamon and you will have a good idea how this one smells.
The scent doesn't develop much on skin and could be viewed as synthetic smelling with its aroma chemical driven gourmand undertones. However, natural or not, this Eau de Parfum is decidedly pleasant and makes amends with its universal likeability for what it may lack in sophistication or originality.
Let's be clear, I like and enjoy this fragrance and have worn it happily a few times now.
Longevity and sillage are both decent without being overbearing and this would be a great choice for a man in his twenties looking to please or attract a partner.
In Love With You (Eau de Parfum)
Notes:
Top: Sour Cherry, Raspberry, Blackcurrant
Mid: Rose, Jasmine, Wormwood
Base: Patchouli
The opening of In Love with You is all about sweet red berries. Sour cherry is mentioned and I also detect a peachy note. The opening gives way to the undeniably sweet and floral mid and base. The journey of the perfume over the duration of a wearing is not a complex one. This "pink" smelling scent smells very youthful and extremely feminine. There is a powdery feel and a pleasant floral aura which complements the bite of the berries very well indeed. As with the male counterpart, In Love With You will be very popular with those who enjoy well established and highly popular designer scents for women, such as Prada's Candy. If we are looking for a more prestigious comparison, In Love With You has some similarities to the widely acclaimed niche fragrance Baccarat Rouge by Maison Francis Kurkdijan. Here we have, perhaps, a lighter and simpler take on that theme.
The candy floss accord created by ethyl maltol also plays its part in keeping In Love With You very easy to like. The smell conveys an image of energetic and uncomplicated vitality and youth and there's nothing wrong with that. Young women looking for an easy choice that is a change from their current scent of preference, without being a leap into the unknown, could do a great deal worse than this. In Love with You is a very well made sweet, fruity floral fragrance with a charming bottle design and a scent that is sure to please the average nose.
Performance is good but not spectacular - as with Stronger with You.
Both of these new releases by Emporio Armani are youthful and modern smelling. They are well crafted and enjoyable with lovely bottles. Anyone who likes sweet designer fragrances will find them highly enjoyable to wear. Those seeking art and innovation in fragrances may find them less to their taste, but they are not the target audience of Emporio Armani. Young people interested in smelling good and getting on with life will be very well served by these two perfumes.
I have heard that they can be layered together to create a unisex fragrance. I tried it and it smelled very nice... but so does the back pocket full of tester strips, with 30 different fragrances intermingled, that I throw away after every trip to my nearest department store!
Thanks to Escentual.com for providing me with these two bottles for review. You can buy them there for the following prices:
Stronger With You Intensely:
50ml - £45.90
100ml - £63.75
In Love with You:
30ml - £41.75
50ml £57.80
100ml - £76.50