I'm in New Orleans today with a very rare Sunday day off. It's also kind of the last weekend of the busy wedding season and the start of summer slow down for me. This was the craziest week. It started at the Grand Canyon and is ending in New Orleans. I met John Williams (yes, THE John Williams), shot 2 weddings in less than 24 hours, stayed awake for over 30 hours before finally getting to pass out in my hotel, and got to eat at three of my favorite restaurants in the entire world. It's been a good week. MY SOTD for the most part was alternating Andrea Maack's Dual and Acqua Di Gio EDT. It's been very hot and extremely humid (at one point yesterday, I had sweat so much that my hair was soaked), so I needed something that would get me through the day. ADG was the better choice of the two - it holds up really well to high heat and sweat and kept me feeling refreshed and like I wasn't stinking up the place. Dual was better for travel and being indoors. It was light and delicate and refreshing on it's own, but fell apart in the high humidity. I see that it's been discontinued, and I only have one 2mL sample left. I see it available in a few places, but it's too expensive to buy a full bottle. I may get a large decant at a more reasonable price to have for those summer days indoors where light and delicate makes more sense. Others I wore on the trip: ATH Daddy - worn for dinner with the family celebrating my parent's 56th Anniversary and our trip to the Grand Canyon. JPG Le Male Elixir - worn for dinner the last night in Grand Canyon. I'm still getting to know this one, and I love the scent profile, but it disappears very fast to my nose, and I'm surprised at how bad it's performance is, especially for an Elixir. Andrea Maack Zing - the next of her summer citrus fragrances. Worn to Dat Dog for dinner with my friends in NOLA last night. Like all of Maack's fragrances, it is absolutely beautiful and a true work of art. But the scent profile is too similar to other citrus musk fragrances, and at the price point, it's hard to justify a bigger purchase. Will enjoy the sample and move on.

After four days of testing, multiple side-by-side wearings, and comparing them against a lot of other fragrances in my collection, this is how I would rank them from best to worst: 1. Torino 21 (Xerjoff) This is still the benchmark. The mint, lemon, basil, and green notes smell incredibly natural and perfectly balanced. It is bright, refreshing, and energetic without ever becoming harsh or synthetic. The quality is obvious from the opening all the way through the dry down. Every time I wear it, I’m reminded why it became one of the most popular warm-weather fragrances in the niche world. Longevity: 7-9 hours with moderate projection. 2. Torino 2021 (Montagne) This was the biggest surprise of the group. It captures much of what makes Torino 21 special while maintaining a smooth and refined character of its own. The mint and citrus are very recognizable, and it stays remarkably close to the original throughout the wear. What impressed me most was how well blended it is. Nothing feels harsh, synthetic, or cheap. While it doesn’t quite reach the depth and refinement of the Xerjoff, it gets much closer than many people would expect. Longevity: 7-8 hours with solid projection. 3. Turin 21 (Alexandria Fragrances) Alexandria did a very good job with this one. The DNA is instantly recognizable, and performance is excellent. Compared to the original, it feels slightly denser and heavier. Some people may actually prefer that. For me, it loses a little of the airy freshness that makes Torino 21 so addictive, but it is still a very enjoyable fragrance and one I would gladly wear. Longevity: 8-10+ hours with strong projection. 4. Platine Blanc (AROMATIX FRENCH AVENUE) Platine Blanc is a good fragrance, but when tested directly against the Torino-inspired scents, it simply doesn’t create the same excitement. It is clean, fresh, and easy to wear, but it lacks the sparkling mint-citrus combination that keeps drawing me back to Torino 21. I like it, but I don’t find myself reaching for it nearly as often as the other three.