Diva (Eau de Toilette) by Emanuel Ungaro

Bottle Design:
Jacques Helleu

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Diva Emanuel Ungaro 1983 Eau de Toilette

7.5 / 10 172 Ratings

A popular perfume by Emanuel Ungaro for women, released in 1983. The scent is floral-chypre. The longevity is above-average. It is being marketed by Salvatore Ferragamo Group.
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Main accords

Floral

Chypre

Spicy

Woody

Animal

Fragrance Pyramid

Top Notes

Cardamom

Tuberose

Aldehydes

Coriander

Mandarin orange

Bergamot

Heart Notes

Carnation

Jasmine

Narcissus

Orris root

Ylang-ylang Rose

Rose

Base Notes

Oakmoss

Musk

Honey

Amber

Patchouli

Vetiver

Civet

Iris

Sandalwood Vanilla

Vanilla

Perfumer

Jacques Polge

Ratings

Scent

7.5172 Ratings

Longevity

8.2133 Ratings

Sillage

7.8117 Ratings

Bottle

8.4137 Ratings

Value for money

7.915 Ratings

Submitted by Kankuro, last update on 09/03/2025.

Smells similar

What the fragrance is similar to

Diva Eau de Parfum

Rumba (2009)

Paloma Picasso / Mon Parfum (Eau de Parfum) by Paloma Picasso

Paloma Picasso Eau de Parfum

Basile (1987) Eau de Toilette

JCC No. 2 Eau de Parfum

Sikkim (2005)

Reviews

24 in-depth fragrance descriptions

01/21/2013

7Scent 7.5Longevity 7.5Sillage

LadyRogue
166 Reviews

LadyRogue

Top Review 6

R.I.P Diva

I had the pleasure of owning and enjoying a pre-formulated bottle of this Diva. Lush roses wrapped in oak-moss, a lovely carnation (normally a no-no note on me) dipped in honey on a bed of sumptuous amber.

Was she strong? Yes, but in a very good way. Was she 80s style? Yes, but in a classy and beautiful manner. *YUM* But every bottle has a last drop and sooner or later you'll reach it. So, when I saw this in a shop I decided to try it despite that I was told it's reformulated. It's Ungaro...surely he wouldn't murder his leading lady? Right?

Oh dear! I am soo sad! It's like they took an old school Hollywood Diva, stripped her of her designer clothes and banned her from starring in feature films to *star* in day-time soaps. On my skin it's a aldehyde one-note mess of strong perfume that smells a lot like Gloria Vanderbildt (Gloria smells MUCH better though!) Nothing is left to remind me of this unique and beautiful scent.

I must assume that the *reformulation* gang has murdered yet again another innocent and beautiful victim. A true star & Diva....If I can't find a pre-reformulated bottle...I shall miss her.

07/28/2012

jtd
484 Reviews

jtd

Very helpful Review 7

mea culpa

I owe Diva a bit of an apology. It's a heavy rose chypre, an era-specific genre (70s-80s) that I love. In the past I've noted that I like some of Diva's cohorts more than Diva. (Paloma, Knowing, Scherrer, La Perla.) I've tended to point to what I find 'off' in Diva. Too much honey sweetness, not enough green, a bit soft for a chypre.

Well, on reflection, I was wrong. When I see Diva as a hybrid rose chypre/oriental, it comes beautifully into focus. What I used to see as a simple honey sweetness I now recognize as a wonderfully sweet, waxy-honeycomb scent that connects the heartnotes to the spicy amber drydown in a rather lavishly paced transition. I used to want more brash green with more patchouli and moss in the drydown. What was wrong with me? While there is an identifiably chypric drydown, the amber emphasis is both comfortable and stirring.

A few other bits make Diva's evolution so interesting to keep tuning into. Right from the top there is an identifiable rose, but it is woody rather than green or dewy or brightly 'floral.' It calls to mind both rose and rosewood. And there's a slightly acerbic note that balances the honey and ties it to the dry spiciness that lasts through the entirety of Diva's drydown. Also, while I still hold that Diva is a rose chypre, there is an indolic note that suggests white flowers and keeps the rose from reading as strictly dark as in Scherrer or La Perla.

02/04/2012

8Scent

Lola82
361 Reviews

Lola82

Helpful Review 3

Emanuel Ungaro Diva

Impressive just impressive if you want to make an impression this perfume is for you. the aldehydes the cinnamon
and i can pick up some incense and with
it's stately bottle design and bold red
label says it all. an 80's high powered bussiness executive wearing a white italian bussiness suit heavy gold jewelry thick gold round earrings 4 inch bleck stellto heals hair fashioned
like brigette nielson kind of a woman.
this perfume is for women with strong
style sense and Confidence not for the meek.

06/17/2017

10Scent 10Longevity 10Sillage

Eriele
323 Reviews

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Eriele

Top Review 23

Mature Beauty

Finally, I took the time to take a closer look at the estate of my late aunt-in-law, who passed away last year. Bureaucratic matters took priority. Among all the fragrances I found in the bathroom, there was also a new bottle of Diva. Just because of the bottle and some memories, but not of the aunt, it is worth seeing. I have no idea how old the bottle is now. It doesn’t seem to be spoiled, even though the scent is different from what I remember from the 80s.

Back then, in the mid-80s, I was freshly married and in my mid-20s. My sadly deceased friend, also a young wife but a student at the time, and I would go on a city stroll once a month. A detour to our favorite perfume shop was a must. My friend, supported by her well-off parents, didn’t have to worry about the price and happily bought everything that was new and expensive.

In that perfume shop, our regular attendant was a café au lait-colored beauty and a few years older than us. She was called Miss Toppsy (after a film from the 50s) and her real name was Karin Williams. Her father was a colored soldier and her mother a white German. The older ladies looked down on Toppsy as a child of occupation. It didn’t matter that the colored singer Kenneth Spencer was part of her parents' circle of friends. But we were taken with Toppsy/Karin because she had a lot of expertise when it came to beauty and fragrances.

Now, there was a big media campaign for Diva, and my friend, whom I will call Betty here, absolutely wanted to have the scent. Testing was out of the question because what was well advertised had to be good. Toppsy threw her hands up in despair at Betty's choice. She said it was a scent for old ladies, around 50 or 60 years old. Only then would it be a scent for us. My friend threw her head back and laughed in her own loud way and bought the scent. I cautiously tested it in the store and opted for a lighter and cheaper fragrance. A sample of Diva went into the bag. But back then, I found it overwhelming. It didn’t suit my friend at all. She was too young and too petite for such a big scent.

So now, after all these years, I opened the bottle of Diva. Hmm... not bad. The beginning has a bit of a kick with a lot of tuberose that pushes everything else aside. Then rose, carnation, and ylang-ylang come in, making it a bit spicier. The dry down features patchouli, sandalwood, amber, and various woods. Now you are sure to attract attention, and the diva's entrance can begin. The scent is not bad, and the longevity is very long. Only now, with the scent in hand, and even at the right age, it doesn’t appeal to me as much. I’m still the type who, like back then, is into Janine D. Sporty and a bit like Pippi Longstocking. Whether my friend had long-lasting joy from the scent, I cannot say. At some point, we lost sight of each other. She turned 50 and a few more years after that. But on her 60th next month, I will go to the cemetery where she has been resting for four years.

10/29/2015

9Scent 10Longevity 7.5Sillage

Minigolf
2522 Reviews

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Minigolf

Top Review 21

Two Divas. One like an old Hollywood movie, the other a daytime soap starlet.

I have the luck to compare two versions of Emanuel Ungaro's "Diva." An original from the late eighties and a newer one from the 2010s. The old Diva delivers what her name promises: an incredibly complex, unsweetened floral, sandalwood-mossy fragrance enriched with plenty of patchouli. One that evokes emotions, comparable to a TV evening featuring 3 or 4 good Hollywood films, each in its own genre. Starting with a film starring the girlish Bette Davis with her mysterious eyes. Finely spiced herbal citrus! Then comes a film with Elizabeth Taylor from the fifties, where her role is sometimes charming, sometimes aloofly elegant, then again prickly and temperamental, and then passionately written. Cool iris alternates with fiery clove, enchanting rose with innocent daffodil and sophisticated jasmine!! But never too sweet. At the end of the film evening, there’s a double feature of "Dynasty" with Joan Collins (patchouli, iris, oakmoss) and Linda Evans (sandalwood, IRIS, musk, and honey); even male representatives like vetiver and civet make a subtle impact. Diva, as she lives and breathes. Long-lasting, fine, good sillage, moody, and unmistakably herself. The new "Diva" does smell quite good on its own, everything is there, everything in the right place, purely externally speaking, but it has lost the unmistakable personality that makes it the "True Diva." Pretty face, good figure, fashionably dressed, but somehow interchangeable. Like in a well-made but somewhat shallow soap opera, which, if you know little else, is worth watching, but compared to "From Here to Eternity" or "Cleopatra," it’s just everyday fluff.

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