Gather round boys and girls, olfactory enthusiasts and cologne connoisseurs alike. I come with a tale of love at first smell, of disappointment, of regret, and of great fortune. It centers around one of the most popular fragrances ever created: Acqua Di Gio. A few years ago when I had just become interested in colognes, I (blindly) bought a small sized bottle of a very popular and highly rated fragrance, Acqua Di Gio EDT. At the time, I was not even aware that flankers had existed of this fragrance, nor that it was considered very popular. I simply thought breakdowns and reviews of the scent sounded very pleasant, so I thought it to be a safe choice. It was at a reasonable price, so I saw no harm in this. I had great luck with this purchase; I loved the scent from the moment I first made contact. It was salty, fresh, almost a little sweet. It was like being at the beach with your top 3 buttons undone, saltwater in your hair, waves echoing across the firmament. It was great. It was clear to see why this was so popular. A year passed, and eventually I finished this small bottle of ADG. It was sad to part ways with it, but I was happy that I had found something so enjoyable that I would be compelled to use it all. By this time, I knew a bit more about fragrances, and had been looking to buy more. I read about the flankers to ADG; Most everyone online claimed that the future versions blew the original out of the water, that the old version was “dated” or “weak” (not that this held much water looking back; I’ve never smelled this on anyone else, much less someone my age. Remember, most people don’t wear cologne!) I read that Profondo was widely agreed to be the best version of ADG. Everything about the original, but amplified. By this point, I had stopped the habit of blind buying and only purchased a full bottle if I absolutely loved something. But this was different, surely. I knew about ADG and how great it was, surely this was a risk free slam dunk… During a Fathers Day promotion I pull the trigger. Within a week, Profondo arrives at my doorstep. Immediately, there are some problems. Upon first spraying it, it takes on a sort of astringent, cleaner kind of smell. I figure, “This has happened before; sometimes the first couple sprays aren’t indivisible of how it’s going to perform”. I try it again, on different days and in different amounts. It does improve, but I can’t help but feel very underwhelmed. I like the Rosemary, sure, but there’s something that does captivate me the way the original did. If the EDT is Salt, the. Profondo is Pepper. I love pepper! But this pepper was dull, flat, unmoving…It could smell nice in the air, but I just didn’t like it. I even tried committing to wear it for a week or two every day to see if it would grow on me. I thought, “Sometimes it takes a bit for something to become familiar to me, and then I fall in love. Profondo must surely be like that, right?”