Armani cologne starts with a holiday island. According to Italian Wikipedia, Acqua di Giò was inspired by Pantelleria, the island between Sicily and Tunisia where Giorgio Armani spent his holidays. The women's version came first, in 1995, but the pour homme followed in 1996, created by perfumer Alberto Morillas, and it became one of the best-selling men's fragrances in the world. The frosted glass bottle with its pearl-gray cap was designed by Fabien Baron.

What Morillas made was a fresh, transparent scent that smelled like sea air, citrus and warm skin rather than a heavy cologne. Three decades later, most of the Armani range still follows that split: the Acqua di Giò family for fresh and marine, the Code family for citrus and woods, and Stronger With You for warm, sweet and spicy.

The other thing to know is concentration. An eau de toilette is lighter and brighter, an eau de parfum lasts longer, and a parfum or elixir is deeper and sits closer to the skin.

The first grid is Acqua di Giò and Armani Code. The second is Stronger With You, Code and newer Emporio scents. My tip: test on skin, not paper, and wait an hour before deciding, because the fresh top notes fade and the base is what you will actually wear all day.

Acqua di Giò Eau de Toilette is the original direction and the most reviewed cologne in this grid. It opens with marine notes and Calabrian bergamot and dries down to cedarwood, and it is the one I would pick for daytime and warm weather. The Eau de Parfum keeps the marine feel with green mandarin, sage and vetiver and lasts longer. The Eau de Parfum Intense is deeper, with bergamot and ambery, woody accords.

Profondo adds cypress and musk to salty marine notes, a little darker than the original. Acqua di Giò Parfum is the woody version, with bergamot, rosemary and incense, which works better in the evening. The Elixir is the most different, woody and leathery around a violet accord, and it ties for the best rating in this grid.

For Code, the Eau de Parfum is a fougère with an ambery base and a citrus opening, and it ties the Elixir for the top rating here. Armani Code Parfum is warmer, with mandarin, rosemary, vanilla and cedar.

What I would skip: buying three Acqua di Giò versions at once. Start with the Eau de Toilette or the Eau de Parfum and add Profondo or the Parfum later if you want something heavier for night.

Stronger With You is the warm side of Armani. The original Emporio Armani Stronger With You opens with pink pepper and sage and settles into a candied chestnut accord, sweet but not sugary. Stronger With You Intensely adds lavender and vanilla and has the best rating in this edit. Absolutely Parfum brings rum, cedar and vanilla, and the Parfum is leathery vanilla with pink pepper and lavender, the one I would wear in cold weather. Powerfully Eau de Parfum adds a smoky cherry accord to the classic, with bright mandarin at the top, and it is the most modern of the five.

Armani Code Eau de Toilette is lighter than the Code picks in the first grid, with Italian green mandarin, tonka bean and cedarwood, which makes it easy for the office.

The two newer scents are the surprises. Power of You Eau de Parfum is the most reviewed fragrance in this edit, a gourmand with passion fruit, frangipani and vanilla. I Will Eau de Parfum is a long-lasting woody vanilla with bergamot, violet and lavender.

What I would skip: the heaviest Stronger With You versions in summer heat. They are built for evenings and cold air, so keep Acqua di Giò for July and save these for the colder months.

I think the best Armani cologne is the one that matches when you will wear it. For daytime and warm weather, go with Acqua di Giò in eau de toilette or eau de parfum. For the office, Code. For evenings and winter, Stronger With You in any of its stronger versions. Test on skin and give each one an hour before you decide. Armani built Acqua di Giò on the memory of a summer island in 1996, and the fresh ones still smell like that.

Once you have settled the Acqua di Giò and Stronger With You question, the next step is a darker bottle for the evenings when a fresh marine scent feels too polite. I would start inside the house with Armani Privé Oud Nacré, Noir Kogane and Santal Dan Sha, then add Cuir Nu if leather appeals. Outside it, Maison Francis Kurkdjian OUD satin mood, Memo Paris Irish Leather and Acqua di Parma Oud Ambrosia give you different takes on the same dark idea. For something brighter, Armani Orange Méditerranée and CREED Wild Vetiver keep a lighter hand, and Hermès Terre d'Hermès is a fine bridge between the two camps. What I would skip: Penhaligon's The Tragedy of Lord George on a warm afternoon, because the name alone says it belongs to a cold night.