AMOUAGE
DIA MAN

2002

PERFUMER
Bertrand Duchaufour

Incense
Cardamom
Labdanum
Bitter Orange

Peony
Plum
orris
Ylang-Ylang

Vetiver
Leather
Rosewood
Amber
Patchouli

Dia Man is an underrated Amouage and one of my absolute favorites.

Dia Man is almost a throwback cologne style fragrance to me, especially in the opening. It has a masculine, lovely smelling fresh opening, with citrus and incense. When the initial blast starts to dry, it quickly becomes more of a unisex, floral fragrance, with some warmth below. The warmth is coming from amber and leather notes. As with most Amouage fragrances so far, I find it hard to pick out many of the notes, it’s just blended to a soft round all-encompassing composition.

Plum is said to be one of the main notes and I can get a hint of dry fruit in this, although not specifically plum. What I do get is a soapy clean vetiver throughout. Texture wise it’s powdery, but also airy. Dia Man is light, inoffensive, easily wearable in most situations (but a better fit for slightly warmer weather) and although it’s smelling great, it’s not my most exciting experience with the house of Amouage.

I’d place this in a bit of an outlier category with Reflection Man as far as the ‘pre-Renaud Salmon era’ as creative director for Amouage.

Unfortunately, performance seems to be below average, with this becoming a skin scent within 5 hours. I think Dia Man would make for an awesome office scent, even though it falls behind Reflection Man in that regard for me. With the release of some Exceptional Extraits in later years, I’m keeping my hopes up for a highly concentrated Dia Man release.