Reviews of Emporio Armani Diamonds for Men (2008)
by Giorgio Armani

Don’t buy unless you try. Don’t buy unless you try. Don’t’ buy unless you try. (I should write it more than 3 times just to punish myself for ordering this, relying just on the Armani brandname). Aggressive and synthetic opening that clogs the nose. Just bearable mid notes, (still synthetic) and average base. Dysfunctional spray (at least mine). A complete disappointment.

I'm not sure what happened to my original review of this -- it may have been pulled because of the comments I made about Luca's book -- the point being that ok, he is a recognised and respected nose, but in the end, apart from some technical aspects, it is all just so subjective -- like saying blue is a better colour than yellow. I mean, witness the thumbs up on the board for this fragrance, whereas everything I personally hate about male fragrances lies in Diamonds.

The litany applies: Synthetic, generic, unoffending, unexciting, copycat, too weak, too short-lived, too expensive, bland…

What DIAMONDS is, is a sweet, youthful, generic, expensive, synthetic, unoffending fragrance… just like scores of others, and quite a bit like most of the other Armani fragrances. Nothing unique. Nothing to get excited about…

I probably am being too hard on this particular fragrance, but the marketing division asked for my disdain… They are the ones that named it “DIAMONDS”…

…ALL CAPS, no less. That’s just going too far.

This is just Armani Black Code version 2.0. It's a little sweeter and would induce a headache if sprayed more than a few times. Fits the trend of sweet, perfumy colognes of today. Apparently it doesn't sell very well since Sephora has already dropped it from it's stores.

Update 8/02/09: Sorry, Sephora does still carry this. They just temporarily removed it from their website at the time of this review.

To my nose, it is simply a cocoa & citrus affair. I could'nt detect any vetiver as someone wrote here, starts with a blast of hidden tropical fruits toped up with cocoa then a blast of fruits for a while & in the end it's all cocoa again. Not a complex composition though !!

This one focuses on three things: citrus, cocoa, and synthetic amber. Somehow mixing cocoa and citrus is not intuitive to me, but it is done in other fragrances as well and somehow it works. Pleasant smelling, but does strike me as original. Nor would I buy it for myself. So a neutral rating.

The younger, more playful brother of Armani Code - you won't need to own both. When you boil it down this is ALMOST the age old question of whether you prefer Chocolate (Diamonds) or Vanilla/Tonka (Code).

At first spray it's quite hard to even tell them apart, but once they start to dry down the subtle differences emerge. While Code tempers it's vanilla with a rich mixure of woods and florals, Diamonds is unabashed in it's in-your-face chocolate sugariness. It's fairly linear all the way through - which isn't to say it's bad - just not too complex. Like Code, it finishes up with a sweet, powdery softness. Likely aimed at the below 30 crowd, it's great for a casual night at the bar.

A nice subtle fragrance. Elegant and charming but not in your face. I could imagine wearing this on a warm evening near the sea. Maybe while attending a dinner party held aboard some fat cat's yacht, and being seduced by his wife.

if you want girls then dont buy this because they hate it if i can describe it in 2 words it would be dull and strong it smells like you smoked cigarretes the whole day and then you put a fragrance on top that wears off fast in 2-3 minutes. so beggining would be at least OK but the smoke scent comes in then it dries down very fast to a horrible stong smell. its not suitable for any age. i sprayed some on my arm and a girl walked by and said that it smells funny, then after 10 seconds it smells like a cheap cologne. i wonder why there are positive reviews for it. personally when i first smelled it i thought it was ok even if it had the cigarrete smell so then it wore off to horrible. and it has bad longetivity

DO NOT BUY IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! if you choose to not take my advice and buy it then you will hate it soon after you buy it.
by the way i am 18 and my review is based on some people i showed and people i didnt show that hate it.

To me this smelled generic, had poor longevity, and smelled girly. I'd only accept it as a gift, and only to be polite! Next!

It is a very late evening, cool air, a slight wind blowing. A man is at a party, a very high class party. A live band plays outside, playing soft music. Everyone is dressed very nicely, and stand around a pool, which is set in marble. The must is barely audible, sort of surreal, women laughing to themselves is barely heard over the bubbling of the hot tub they sit in. They drink. Everyone drinks, and has been all evening, but no one is drunk. The only effect is the warm glow everyone has. The girls watch the men from the jacuzzi, talking amongst each other. A man conversates with another gentleman in a dimly lit corner of the party. He is mysterious, and though he talks casually to this man, he recalls having the lady of the house just moments before. He recalls both of them, hurriedly sneaking away, no one seeing either. He recalls them having each other, quickly, queitly, darkly. He remembers reentering the party, unashamed.

Really good smell. A little fruity so if you do not like fruity smells, avoid this frag. Overall a good clean scent.

This is a crap cheapie. I perceive it as a dilluted Very Irresistible Fresh Attitude, plus tons of alcohol added. Bad, disasterous...like most of the Armani scents. I don't get cocoa beans at all in this, just cheap alcohol.

This is incredible! Reminds me a lot of Armani Mania, with a sweet and powerful opening with a smooth and sexy scent on the drydown. Definately a scent for the young, can be used in all seasons. By far the best fragrance I have come across.

Sadly, this falls into the category of so many modern fragrances I have tried recently. An interesting and fresh opening promises an invigorating and progressive journey, but the whole structure collapses in a few hours. There is a place for light, slight fragrances that enliven a summer evening, but this is too trite and fragile to have any meaningful usage. There undoubtedly similarities between this and Burberry Brit, but the latter is a better balance of ingredients, has greater longevity and is worthy of purchase.

It is easy to lump this new sparkling Armani in with the faceless, characterless and endless parade of fresh flavors of the month that roll out of the designer fragrance labs. But NO, that would be a mistake. Diamonds for Men is a very good new fragrance! It is a refreshingly different combination of bergamot, woods, ambroxen, vetiver and chocolate. The opening is juicy and sparkling bergamot and iso e super, then it softens with a touch of chocolate over cedar, vetiver and ambroxen that gives it a nutty wood middle and base. If you could pick and chose the best parts of Acqua di Parma Inensa + a bit of chocolate from A Men, + woods of HeWood over the familiar Armani Code drydown . . . you might end up with Diamonds for men.

Created by Jacques Cavallier of Firmenich, the effect of Diamonds is fresh and sparkling over warm, slightly powdery woods. The combination works very well.

very delicious as armani is rethinking himself. enough aquatics and let's jump into the gourmand and oriental era. diamonds is indeed a subtle oriental with longevity. sweet but not overly done but very magical with the cocoa and pepper base. slightly above code even though they are a bit similiar. as a matter of fact someone asked if i had on code the other day but it was diamonds. one of the better new releases imo.

In a word, dull. Nothing new or original in any way at all. In fact, so generic and unoriginal I nearly laughed. Nearly.

Ardell1990 is spot on. This is Burberry Brit's first cousin. That's a good thing for me because I adore Burberry Brit. Both have Italian bergomot in the opening notes and both have nutmeg in the notes that follow. This is not the blow you over, headache producing, nutmeg pungency found in some but a more subdued, well blended, in the background nutmeg. I tried a sample of Diamonds and melted. It is so good and I believe it has much better longevity than Brit. I will be buying it. Excellent stuff.

This to me is utterly bland,short lived,over marketed rubbish.

Very generic smelling woods that rapidly dries down to weak synthetic smelling amber. Save your money for something else.

At first, I thought this was a very weak fresh, citrus fragrance.
After spraying it a few times from a sample, I find that Diamonds has a very potent cedar note, with a fizzy bergamot note. I don't get much cocoa!
Delicious, but not for me.

Top: Italian citrus, bergamot
Mid: cedar, cocoa bean
Base: gaiac wood, vetiver, ambroxan
(from Armani website)
Blah. Cocoa up front, then citrus, then cocoa again. It is OK, not too sweet, and definitely cocoa rather than chocolate. The alleged wood and smoke notes are so faint that I missed them. For the first hour this is an airy, somewhat bright cocoa scent. It then settles into a slightly sweet, powdery finish. There are touches of vanilla and amber, and a synthetic tang from the ambroxan. No thanks.

WOW this one really works for me. Just the right blend of sweetness and woods. the Woody dry down is my Fav.

awesome scent! very similar to euphoria by calvin klien and again this is a good thing. long lasting power and great sillage! It seems to be a young scent in my opinion.

At first spray, I didn't really like it that much. But the dry down turns into what reminds me of a powdery smell. Reminds me of Burberry Brit. But, I think this one has a little more manly-ness to it. I don't know what it is, though.

At first I smelled this on the spray card and hated it. All I could smell was the S. Pepper and it made me instantly not like it. Then the vendor sprayed it on my hand and I could smell everything else that was in it and I was amazed!! I then tested it side by side with Code and I LOVE LOVE LOVE diamonds way more than Code. Code is GOOD but DIAMONDS is AMAZING. Test it on your skin if you don't like the way it smells on the card. Slightly fruity to my nose but not too feminine. Great buy and this is one that I will always buy!!!

i love it. got a free sample when i purchased Prada Amber, and i had to rush back the next day to buy it. It smells absolutely delicious!

it's very cocoa on me, which i like (i'm really into gourmands), yet fresh and it's actually pretty strong. my only issue is the longevity, it just doesn't last more than like, 4-5 hours for me which means that sometime around lunchtime i need to reapply.

still, a good everyday gourmand.

I tried it and unfortunately I don't like it at all. Too synthetic. As Andrew The Cologne Guy said...."it lacks originality". To me, it's common and ordinary and follows the trend of todays scents

Surprising. It's like cloudy woods and fruit storm. Cartier's Declaration mixed with a light fizzy fruit. One spray is enough, too. It's not potent but it has great sillage and longevity. Love it!

Fantastic! Armani Code (Black Code) is one of my favorites, and to my nose this is similar in concept and execution. Think of this fragrance as 'White Code,' because in my opinion that's the perfect description for it, especially the top and mid notes. It's like Code's twin brother, except this smells of white musk instead of Code's darker, richer accord. Test them out side by side and you'll see what I mean.

A great fragrance, and the perfect complement to Code. I picked up a sample vial of this, and once that's used up I am picking up a bottle.

I highly recommend Armani Diamonds!

Very bland and safe, synthetic and a little dull. Obviously a very commercial release after the female version. Even the name is a little tacky. 'Diamonds for men'... since when that is masculine or suave?

It just isn't impressive and remind me more of the less successful cK releases. There is cedar, Guaiac wood, some type of citrus in the opening (bergamot or lemon maybe), a character-less vetiver note, some amber at the base with cacao. It doesn't smell expensive nor chic: it is just inoffensive and weak.

Armani never fails to disappoint me, and this creation is just another way too mundane scent just overcrowds the perfume counters. Both new fragrances Versace pour Homme and Gucci by Gucci for men are far better scents (comparison is inevitable, because they are all being released at the same time), and even though I did not have the chance to test it yet, I am sure Prada Infusion d'Iris will also be much more worthy of your attention.

Not bad by any means. To my nose is an extremely sugary, powdery, candy-like long lasting fragrance. If I was in my early twenties, this could be my thing. However, not a corporate scent by any means. I was positively surprised.

with Bergamot, a touch of Cocoa, little bit of Vetiver and a dash of Szechuan pepper, Emporio Armani Diamonds for men was just made for me!

Just tried today at the airport and it forced me to write my first review. Well, start was close to the CK Euphoria (that´s not that bad), little sweet, but nice. Lady at the Greek duty free shop told me, that when the cologne settles down it will be completly different. She was right. Hour later I was not able smell nothing. Others parfumes that I tried was detectable long after flight, but Armani Diamonds faded away hour after I left shop. Not worth 46 euro. But I am ready to give AD another chance. Maybe the Diamonds Intense will solve the problem.

I like this smells nice lasted over 8 hrs on my skin sillage was good got me a few compliments so a thumbs up.

Got a sample of this today. Was curious though the female version was lacking. Quite simply, it follows in the footsteps of Paco Rabanne's Blaxk XS, Ralph Lauren's POLO Explorer and most recently Mont Blanc's Exceptionnel. It has that sweet (almost strawberry-ish) vibe with the somewhat icy background. This is only my first impression, as I am sure the more time I spend with it the more distinctive it will become.

Overall, not bad, however, it gets a neutral for lack of originality.