It's been a while since I last wrote about an Amouage perfume. Readers of this blog will be well aware of my love affair with Amouage, although I have to say that recent releases have left me rather less inspired. Dia was one of the first perfumes I tried from the line and I love it still to this day.
I wouldn't say that Dia is incredibly innovative. It smells very masculine, although with that trademark Amouage use of lots of floral notes it is by no means run-of-the-mill. Above all, Dia smells to me of high quality ingredients, masterfully blended. It really does speak of class. Dia opens fairly gently, with citrus notes that are very quickly joined by herbs and cardamom. As I also said, there are some heft floral notes too. I detected mainly ylang-ylang and rose, although the list of notes mention peony, ylang-ylang and plum blossom. The heart is where Dia really sings, as the vetivier and patchouli come to the fore and a more structured chypre accord becomes recognisable. It smells slightly mossy, refined, sophisticated and, quite frankly, stunning. I also detected a slight creaminess, which I thought was sandalwood, and a hint of leather. Again, the notes do mention leather, but palisander rather than sandalwood.
In the dry down the vetiver becomes the most prominent note to me and Dia becomes woodier and more masculine in feel. The patchouli lends a slight earthiness that probably counter-balances the florals.
The notes are cistus, bigarade, cardamom, frankincense, labdanum, peony, ylang-ylang, orris, plum blossom, vetiver, leather, patchouli, amber and palisander. I have to admit that overall Dia is so well blended that I don't smell half these notes, although I would suspect that the whole in this case is greater than the sum of its parts.
I know this is a slightly technical review, with lots of notes and quite a lot of complicated development, but don't let that put you off. Dia is a lovely perfume well worth looking out for. At least sample it. It is quite masculine, but the slightly mossy, floral chypre feel to it would make it, I suspect, a little easier for a woman to try.
Image credit - http://www.luckyscent.com/
Michael, I know you're a fan of Amouage and have sampled quite a few of them. Have you done much testing of the women's fragrances along with the men's?
ReplyDeleteSo far my favorite is Homage attar (someday when I strike it rich I'll buy a bottle!). I've tried the women's Lyric, Epic, Reflection, Ubar and like them, they are just so intense I feel uncomfortable wearing them in public.
Is it worth trying the men's versions? or are they too intensely masculine? I'm not someone who usually worries about gender in perfumes and wear whatever appeals to me, but for some reason I'm having problems figuring out the Amouage line.
Cymbaline, I have tried pretty much the whole line, attars excluded (other than Tribute) and I have to say that two of my favourites in the line happen to be for the ladies, Jubilation 25 and Lyric Woman.
ReplyDeleteIt's true that they are intense, and I can't say that the men's ones are any less intense, but actually, they often contain a lot of florals, Gold and Dia being the most obvious spring to mind. Epic and Lyric both have a lot of incense, while Jubilation XXV is incensey, but has a whole lot else going on.
I could write pages on these, but a good one to start with is Lyric Man, which is very much rose-and-incense, and possibly Reflection, which almost veers into ozone/marine territory and then thankfully steers a wholly different course!
Thanks for the tips, Michael. I think I will start with Lyric and Epic. I love incense in fragrances. Epic Woman is the one I've come closest to liking and the Epic Man could just be 'the one' : ) And, of course, your review of Dia sounds like it's worth trying also!
ReplyDeleteOh! I just remembered about reading a review of the upcoming Amouage Honour Woman. It was on olfactoriastravels.com yesterday. It sounded really interesting. There is a Man version also, but no info on that yet.
ReplyDeleteMichael, yesterday after reading your review I found my sample and wore it again for a while - just "to compare notes". I agree with almost every word of your review (well, I smell probably even less distinct floral notes than you). I like Dia Men but probably will enjoy it on my vSO - it's too masculine for me to wear (though, again, I agree that a woman can easily wear it).
ReplyDeleteUndina
Cymbaline, Epic Man was one that I struggled with at first, but it grew on me. It is very complex and has an oud note as well (synthetic or real - I don't know - Amouage does have a reputation for using high quality ingredients).
ReplyDeleteI also read briefly of Honour Woman and Man. I always get excited by an Amouage release, although I was underwhelmed by the Library Collection (Opus IV in particular) and the Memoir pair.
Undina, glad you have tried Dia. As I said the other day, it was one of the first I tried and was my 'gateway' to Amouage and it holds associations for me.
ReplyDeleteI came back to say that as a "sweater scent" Dia Men is unbelievably gorgeous. I can't stop smelling the sleeve of the cardigan I wore when I tested it.
ReplyDeleteUndina
Undina, it's interesting how perfume develop on skin and then smell on paper/fabric/yarn! In some cases I prefer perfumes off skin...
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