Mania by Giorgio Armani

Mania 1999 smells like Friends and Monica’s New Year’s Eve party. It is that efficient clean New York woman who hides a dark slightly perverted side. It does not smell of one specific thing but rather of an eternal workday followed by a night out without returning home. It is clean yet dirty sticking around after a morning shower and after a night out fitting any season. Clean notes of white musk and powdery iris that warm up over time into spices amber and non-gourmand vanilla with a citrusy skin note not fruity. I love it because it has its own personality better than any launch from the last 10 years. Beastly performance versatile and it smells glorious. I have two bottles I will not waste; it is a gem from an era when you paid for character in a scent not to imitate but to create a trend. Furthermore it has been out of production for eternity; no one knows it and there are no cheap equivalents. Ole.

Mania is a meat and spice stew made into perfume. Musky, sweet, spicy, with a waxy, pasty texture, matte and openly sexual like perfumes from the 2000s. It has that dry, woody point, almost masculine, because back then fragrances were gender-bending: feminine unisex and masculine sweet ones with nutmeg, saffron, tobacco and incense. It smelled of human skin, used sheets and sweat, just like an old, well-worn leather watch strap injected with sensual scents and traces of sweet sweat. It’s one of my favourites, alongside the chaos of a box full of vials, of a realistic and hyper-sensual sweetness. We were hypnotised by those minimalist oriental scents of the 2000s, incense-laden and edible. Mania was one of the best of that hedonistic breed, but undervalued because it didn’t last long. Years later they reissued it with a clear bottle, but it’s not the same; trying the new one will disappoint if you liked the original. Armani in the 90s was pure art: from the tuberose of Giò to the cold talc of Lei, passing through this elixir with hints of hedonistic drug. I won’t forget Sensi, that velvety almond. Mania captures the moment of a kiss on the neck and falling apart in a shower. A hard-to-find gem for fans of sexy, opaque and dirty scents like Organza Indecence, YSL Nu, Trussardi Phyton, Dior Homme, Wonderwood, Le Baiser du Dragon, D&G By, Nemo, Feminité du Bois or YSL M7.