Light Blue Pour Homme Italian Zest by D&G

Italian Zest is the Light Blue flanker release from 2018. It really wasn’t one that I was too interested in trying out, but since I’m working my way through the entire Light Blue Pour Homme line, I grabbed a small decant to put through its paces. How does Italian Zest smell? Does it last long? Is it worth getting a bottle?

What does Light Blue Italian Zest Smell Like?

Notes include: lemon, grapefruit, bergamot, mandarin orange, Sichuan pepper, rosemary, rosewood, musk, hedione, moss, incense, amberwood

My Full Review

The opening of Italian Zest is a mix of sour, bitter, and tart citrus aromas. The lemon has the upper hand early on, with strong contributions from the usual Light Blue grapefruit, and the lighter bergamot.

That will settle into something more tolerable rather quickly. But, that first minute or two is pretty tough.

Underneath all this is a dry, spicy, and musky aroma which will grow in prominence as we move forward. The rosemary, Sichuan pepper, and even a very light smokiness from incense are all here.

The lemon note will fall back and the grapefruit will come back into play. Italian Zest starts to resemble more of the original Light Blue, but a muskier and woodier version, in the latter stages.

So, once that lemon has taken a backseat, you will get a bit of an orange peel aroma that is surrounded by light floral touches. Really, the floral notes here aren’t major players.

The progression of this scent is: citrus, citrus/spice, citrus/musk/spice, citrus/musk/woods.

That’s pretty much the extent of it. Not super complicated, but one that does evolve throughout the wear. The ending is the remaining citrus blend, rosewood, musk, and a general dryness underneath it all.

Sillage, Longevity, and Versatility

Italian Zest Pour Homme starts out with a bang, but that will very quickly dissipate into something that is a lighter moderate. The citrus opening can punch you in the face from across the room, but the fragrance for most of the duration will be in 2-3 foot range, from where you sprayed.

Fine. It’s a lighter summer cologne.

The longevity is also pretty basic. I get just about 6 hours of wear, maybe 5.5, as I wasn’t keeping exact time. Just don’t expect some all day monster fragrance.

Seasonally, summer. Wear Italian Zest on the hottest days of the year. It holds up as well as it can and actually smells it’s best in that sort of weather. I wore it on an 80+ degree Fahrenheit day and it was more enjoyable than inside with the AC running.

Like the other flankers in the series, Italian Zest is casual and mostly suited for daytime wear. Even during the summer, I’d go with a different evening cologne. It’s appealing enough, not sexy, but a laid back scent to freshen up when it’s hot.

Overall Impressions of Italian Zest

Overall, do I like Italian Zest? It’s not something that I dislike, but it’s pretty average in terms of smell and the performance is below average for this line. It’s like a worse version of the original Light Blue and on the bottom half of the list for all of these flankers.

That opening is a sharp citrus mess. I’m glad that it doesn’t last long. The next phase is lighter and easier to wear. Surprisingly, after that bold start, Italian Zest is actually one of the worst projecting (if not the lightest) from the Light Blue Pour Homme line.

Musky, woods, the usual take on this line. I do like the additional spice from the pepper which comes across for a while.

The performance isn’t really good enough for me to want to pick up a full bottle. Sure, this is a basic summer scent, but the other D&G options smell better and give me a little bit more power and longevity.

Since this was a limited edition, bottles of this stuff are getting scarce. It’s not really worth ponying up very much money to acquire Italian Zest. I’d say skip it and you can pretty much grab any other summery citrus cologne to get the same effect.

Best Men's Colognes

Best Men’s Colognes started back in 2013, as a way to share my learning experiences with different fragrances, as I dove head first into the hobby. Since then, I have written hundreds of reviews and other pages about perfumes and colognes.