Emporio Armani Diamonds
Giorgio Armani (2007)

As I am writing this it is a week before Christmas. I have been wearing this EDT for the last two days from a free sample vial I received.

My initial surprise came from the name. I was expecting a scent called Diamonds to, in some way, evoke the scent of the winter holidays - something sparkling and sophisticated. Imagine my surprise that what I got instead is a scent I can best describe as Jolly Rancher Watermelon candy. Sweet and fruity scents are not on my preferred list and I would never purchase this, but I am surprised to find that I rather like it. It would certainly make a lovely summer scent for those who like this type of thing. It has good longevity on me.

The opening is quite generic. It smells like walking past the fragrance counter at any department store which sells all the popular celebrity fragrances. Then the watermelon candy scent comes together. Over time the base notes of rose, vanilla and a little cedar start to emerge through the fruity sweetness and this is when I begin to like it - a little.

A nice floral, mainly about muguet. It's nice, really. But it's not special at all. Longevity and sillage are very average.

Lychee, raspberry and rose. Not unpleasant initially, then synthetic and a dull sweetness. Could be worse.

A male sales associate whispered to me at a department store that when he smells this he has to "adjust himself". Of course I couldn't resist trying it after that and I walked around the mall and didn't have to fight off any men or run for my "virtue".

What I did get was a sickeningly, overwhelming sweetness that smelled like Jolly Ranchers to me. It just downright stank.

I like this fragrance. It is beautiful, bright and fresh.

Mediocre scent and even less than this. The beginning is immediately fruity, herbal and dry, the note of raspberry is soaring in the air pushed up by the lychee's synthetical power. The combination of lychee, raspberries and muguet produces a fruity-floral smell of wild berries and fruits of forest. The central part is shortly lasting because the initially angular whiff fades soon towards a final rosey and sugary, slightly vanillic, kind of smell with the barely herbal and fruity harshness coming from vetiver, cedar and some spices. The last bring out, on the flank of patchouli and raspberry, a touch of womanly sophistication. This is a citrusy-fruity fragrance with a tamed and sweet vanillic and green dry down.