Intense
Boadicea the Victorious (2009)

To me, Intense smells like a mix of fruits and flowers over honey, which sounds quite beautiful, but I find Intense quite simplistic and kind of vulgar.

I think there are two issues at play here. Number one, the concentration is too high. Intense is trying to be luxurious, but it overshoots and ends up smelling cheap and amateurish, like one of those Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab experiments or something thrown together by a friend who works at an essential oil store. Number Two, what's trying to be a complex mix of natural fruit and flower essences comes off more like chemical sludge or some sort of tropical punch concentrate thanks to the over-concentration.

Overall, an interesting idea executed poorly. I'd give this a neutral if it were an indie perfume, but there's no real excuse for this when it's a $200 Neiman Marcus/Harrods luxury perfume.

Et voilà, for all the dirty honey-chypre's fetish here you have a serious candidate to be a favorite of yours. Almost unique dirty-honeyed hesperidic/floral accord which initially (in the top) does not seem to remind me significantly any specific perfume (just vaguely several Vero Profumo or Bogue), apparently a good element in my humble vocabulary. Citrus are soon notable, somewhat oily and stuffy. Honey is impressive, so floral, soapy/waxy and nectarine, with this pungent-acid-spicy (almost salty) twist. Dirty animalic elements (honey, dirty musk and spices), connected to lily and may be pimiento, lift upper and upper a sort of acid-spicy-sweaty saltiness. Spiciness is supreme, something tropical, fruity (kind of plummy-peachy), liquid and acid a la Frapin L'Humaniste. Intense is an incredibly sensual fragrance, incredibly warm, orgiastic and sweaty. Jasmine and rose provide a subtle intellectual/victorian waxy-soapy aura apparently contrasting with the animalistic-musky-sultry main vibe (in a way you could imagine dirty french libertine nineteenth-century scenarios). The honeyed musky jasmine is finally a flashback for me (especially along dry down) and yes.., finally an olfactory connection jumps on my mind: I feel Joop Homme in the air which is apparently "here" with its bombastic honeyed-musky-floral vibe despite Intense is more classy, decadent and "intellectual" (as being ideally like a sort of more cerebral and less "teenager's like" new Joop's version). Rose (on the side of citrus) is in here more heady than in Joop and the juice is more honeyed (more visceral) and less (far less) candied/aromatic (less caramellous, being the latter a typical Joop's characteristic). The connection of rose, patchouli, honeyed jasmine and hesperides is in here really classy and "courtier" (somewhat victorian) and finally patchouli emerges enhancing the general state of decadent refinement. Gradually an addition of (still soapy and honeyed) vanilla tames the sultriness providing a soothing dose of warm balminess. A great surprise from a Boadicea The Victoriou's "intense" fragrance able to combine modern floral sweetness, visceral sultry animalism and "Art Nouveau baroquisme".

Intense by Boadicea opens with a blast of vanillin and tonka on a dry woody accord, slightly salty too, with earthy and rooty nuances. At the heart of the scent, a nice pollen-caramel "roasted" accord of dry, resinous honey sweetened by a silky floral breeze and light fruity hints. I must admit this honey accord is quite well played, it is thick and compact, dry and crunchy, quite compelling too, and it beautifully and effortlessly blends with the earthy-woody side of patchouli, and with the flowers. It is not sweetish and not cloying like it often happens with this type of scents, despite being quite bold and strong it's still pleasant. After a hour or so, the pollen-resin-honey notes move a bit aside leaving the main stage to patchouli and dry flowers, in a way that it does not really "change", just feels like the harmony makes a 180° twist – now the center is patchouli and flowers, and they are sweetened by honey and resins. So in short, a nicely executed honey-floral gourmand scent, a bit affected, far better than the average gourmand scents, still with a couple of defects in my opinion – mostly due to the fact it is quite bold, so you better try it carefully before wearing it. For "aficionados".

7/10

Intense - honeyed fruity floralRemember how too much of honey could make frags like Miel de Bois suddenly conjure up images and memories of the men's bathroom? (or in a better case -- noble rot in Ginestet's Botrytis) Well, it's back this time in Boadicea's fruity floral, and it's pissed off. Intense is a very sweet concoction of roses, jasmine, and lily with patchouli and vanilla at the base with honey (unlisted) poured all over it. The phenolic honey note is very persistent and remains present until the drydown. Not too loud, excellent longevity -- perfect one for Winnie the Pooh's wife.Personally, for me, I think it's quite pleasant, but very mundane and boring. List of notes: Citrus, rose, lily, jasmine, patchouli, vanilla