Dior Homme Eau for Men
Christian Dior (2014)

It doesn't feel right this.
You've got the louche Powdery Amber* of Dior Homme, overlaid by a cheap aromatic, which is a triumph of mis-casting, like some grizzled barfly actor in the role of thrusting middle manager in a crime drama.
He may dress flash and he's got the sweet talk, but as his true nature wins out, you get the sense he's faking it.

* aka Oriental

I dislike this fragrance. It is the picture of all that is boring. It takes a great fragrance, the original EDT, and strips away all life and anything interesting. Don't go looking here for coriander and spice, it is some plain iris. Flat, generic. Even by generic standards you can do better. This is a thumb straight down.

A very sweet fragrance that reminded me of CK One. After spraying I wore it for about an hour and wished I hadn't. I spent twenty minutes washing my arm in the sink trying to get the smell off. I saw one review refer to it as a metro sexual fragrance, which I agree with. Not for a man who likes manly fragrances this is more for the guy with a man purse or drinks wine coolers.

Dior Homme Eau (2014) is basically the warm weather version of Dior Homme (2005) that hardcore fans always wanted, and takes the iris-prominent dry leather of the original Olivier Polge masterpiece, and cuts it loose from the cacao and oriental notes, but keeping the vetiver and amber in place. The point of Dior Homme Eau is obviously to make a fresher take on the classic mid-2000's dark horse champion, and house perfumer François Demachy mostly succeeds, with only the smallest loss of original's character lost in translation, which is acceptable considering all the other "fresh" flankers we get that amount to having diddly in common with the pillar they flank. What's even more amazing about Dior Homme Eau is that it manages to avoid heavy and obvious usage of ambroxan or norlimbanol, which anything made in the post-2010 wake of Bleu de Chanel (2010) that isn't niche, artisinal, or Avon seems saddled with these two base notes if made for men. François Demachy wasn't kidding when he said the stuff "avoids every masculine cliche" in his blurb on the stuff, which amounts to bonus points for house Dior, although I'm not sure how much those points amount to now since François Demachy created and Dior released Sauvage (2015) literally a year after the release of Dior Homme Eau, almost reneging any mention of avoiding cliches in the process.

The opening of Dior Homme Eau is pretty expected to be honest, with bergamot, grapefruit, and a light dusting of coriander. The spice is dialed back hugely compared to the coriander levels in the original Dior Homme, but that iris rings loud and clear, coming to the fore from the heart right away. Vetiver joins it as it did in the original, but without any cacao or patchouli to thicken up the formula into its usual gourmand self, Dior Homme Eau becomes sharper, almost arguably more femme-flirting than the original, which is a quality I like. I think more masculines should flirt with a naked iris like Dior Homme Eau does, because it's only a feminine note by social programming, since the stuff is crammed into most lipstick or compact foundation. The base is amber and leather like the original but with the new player of Virginia cedar joining the party, adding a dry, crisp, and woodsy tone without the need for Mr. Norm B Limbanol crashing the party. Without norlimbanol, there is still a bit of Iso E Super spit shine and a smidgen of ambroxan to give Dior Homme Eau that aquatic glow, but it works.
Wear time is a respectable Eau de Toilette length of eight hours with moderate sillage. This isn't a screamer anymore than the original Dior Homme, and feels more casual, or suitable for strange company.

Overall I feel this teeters on redundant to somebody that focuses on variety and just wants the main pillars in his collection, but for somebody fully invested in a specific line like Dior Homme, and all it's many variants, Dior Homme Eau will shine as one of the better adaptations. François Demachy has his moments of utter cash-in cheese (see Sauvage Very Cool Spray from 2016), but overall he tends shop pretty well, all hobbyist misgivings about Sauvage aside. Dior Homme Eau might also be the perfect answer for guys who think the iris and cacao of the original is a bit much but does actually like iris in their perfumes, sort of like a "less is more" since the note is toned down a tad even if it still reigns as the star of the show beyond the citrus. Dior Homme Eau fills a specific niche in the Dior Homme lineup that only it can fill, having a pretty legitimate place in my eyes unlike the constantly-remade sport flanker that has had no less than 3 editions now, plus the various intensifications of the original which have come and gone. Definitely a thumbs up from me, but as always, try before you buy! Outside of the previous year's Dior Homme Cologne (2013), the entire character of the line is defined by it's desire to go against the conventional masculine fragrance DNA. Dior Homme Eau does bring the line closer to the norm, but by no means close enough to itself be considered a safe blind-buy.

Not bad. Wears very light. Very similar to Prada L'Homme but I much prefer the Prada.

Starts off bright and intriguing. A real star. Then in the blink of an eye you are left with a powdery iris. If you like that kind of thing it is very well done. Slightly powder puff metro for me.

Fragrance: 6/10--if you like what its aiming to do give it a solid 8/10
Projection: 7/10
Longevity: 7/10