Dimitar

I do not seem to have a very refined nose, because side to side comparison between Aventus sample and CDNIM has left me feeling they are almost identical. If anything, I like the scent of CDNIM better as it does smell a bit 'smokier' in the drydown. I do not find the opening of CDNIM that synthetic at all - I drink fresh lemon juice every morning and the lemon in CDNIM smells natural enough to me. The fact that it is lemon and not pineapple, as in Aventus, does not make the opening synthetic.

Performance wise my batch is with black sprayer from France 2017 and the performance is decent - around 2 hours nice projection and 5-6 of longevity. On clothes it stays for days, but after a day the smell becomes a bit unpleasant with hints of bug spray feel. In comparison, Aventus stayed on me for a whole day, albeit projecting less and longer. Needless to say, the Aventus scent is much more refined and luxurious.

I have received quite a few compliments with CDNIM , but I think it truly shines in night out settings. I have tried it in intimate encounters and it was not appreciated as much. It is a very masculine smell that is better suited for crowded spaces rather than dates. In fact its 'ashtray' type of smokiness complements clubbing settings extremely well.

I personally like it and for the price point it does not seem to have rivals. I should say that its increasing popularity makes me use it less recently though and I do not intend to repurchase it.

I have had an interesting relationship with this fragrance. It was a love at first sniff when I first tried it a few years back and I purchased it immediately. I got bored with it pretty quickly though and left it behind for quite some time. One winter day the bottle caught my attention and I decided to give it another go. I must say even though by default this is a summer fragrance exclusively, it felt better than ever. I would say Aqva Marine is a all year round signature worthy fragrance which smells contemporary and different from most currently modern frags. I fell in love with it all over again during winter and have been using it for the whole season with great enjoyment. My girlfriend adores it as well and I regularly get compliments with it. The scent has an easy going holiday-ish vibe and is perfect for casual wear. I should mention that all 'Aqva' line have terrible quality bottles. The inscription on both my 'Marine' and 'Amara' have been erased and the plastic around the sprayers have peeled off a bit. Unfortunately, for me, this compromises the whole feeling of wearing and using something luxurious.

Projection is very good and longevity is amazing on me regardless of the season. It easily lasts a whole day leaving a very noticeable silage around me for a few hours. For the price point I easily give this a perfect 10/10 and would be sad if this ever went out of my collection.

As for the scent though this is a masterpiece in its simplicity.

Dior Homme Parfum is arguably the best perfume I have had the utmost pleasure of trying. It is indeed a more masculine approach to the iris based fragrances and I can understand why so many reviewers say it is 'niche quality'. I love almost all iris based men fragrances, but Dior Homme Parfum is by far the most complex and luxurious one. Based on feedback from the females in my life, I do not think it will do well in romantic or intimate settings though. I believe it is made to be worn on special occasions when you wish to exude confidence and make a statement. If you want to wear it casually, I think it will best complement a dark leather jacket outfit with Chelsea or combat boots.

Currently this is the most enjoyable scent I have in my collection and it has been so for some time.

Regarding reformulation - the formula on the bottom is the same as the original, but I confirm that my bottle is definitely weaker than the testers I have tried in stores. I remember one time I sprayed this on my jacket sleeve 3 times and the scent stayed there strongly for the whole winter and spring! With the current bottle the same experiment left me with just a day or two scent that then faded away. it still does perform very well and on skin I get around 2-3 hours nice projection and up to 8-9 hours longevity. Some say that the Dior 'Homme' line perfumes get stronger and better smelling with time and oxidation which at this point I cannot deny or confirm.

The review is based on batch code 8J05 (meaning production date 09/2018).