Libre Intense
Yves Saint Laurent (2020)

I thought this had a great dose of tuberose, but it appears it’s jasmine and orchid. Very strong, sweet floral with awesome performances. Great!

it's been about a week since i sampled it at the store and it got on my coat and i can still smell it

it's very smooth, i can't tell the exact notes but it's very creamy and slightly gourmonty...nothing over powers anything and it just keeps getting better and better as t ime goes on (get's smoother and smoother)

I do most of my designer sampling at airports when travelling, which usually means recoiling sharply from a lot of smelling strips and most of the time enduring an at best underwhelming scent for the length of what has now become the norm when flying, a hellish experience.
Very Pleasantly surprised by Libre Intense, I check basenotes, find Varanis's very positive review below and give a good sprayover to my daughter. After many hours in the sky we can confirm.
A wonderful modern feminine scent with yesteryears echoes, rich and classy but not stuck up. I wish it had a tad bit more lavender, but altogether a wonderful surprise.
Elixir first and now this, what the heck is going on??

Libre Intense by Yves Saint Laurent (2020) likely addresses some concerns people may have had about the original Libre by Yves Saint Laurent (2019), by moving away from the intently floral musk-meets-lavender fougère design of the original, something that confused or made ambivalent the majority of people who weren't ready to receive something quite like that. I won't say that where Libre Intense goes is somewhere more conventional, but it is somewhere more familiar. More or less, returning perfumers Carlos Benaim and Anne Flipo have taken Libre further in the floral direction, and leaned on more traditional elements in the base to push Libre further into the fougère box; although not necessarily away from the modern floral musk side, but rather seeing the ambergris accord take on greater prominence alongside tangerine replacing manderin, and tonka bean being added too. In some ways Libre Intense smells more masculine than the original Libre, but in other ways, it also smells just generally more like classic perfumery which will be more familiar territory for everyone smelling it, regardless of gender. What I'm getting at here is Libre Intense feels friendlier to lovers of vintage styles, while also still staying in the modern pocket, being a greater representation of "something for everyone" that may be better for those not happy with Libre.

The opening is similar to Libre in that instantly you get that mix of neroli and lavender that defines the personality of Libre, although the ostensibly modern fruity tones of blackcurrant are gone and in their place is bergamot. The drier tangerine switches in for mandarin in original Libre, furthering the classic feel in my mind, while jasmine sambac and the new addition of an orchid accord form the heart. Libre Intense from this point forward becomes a slightly greener, more aromatic, and musky affair. An ambergris accord from ambroxan mixed with some ambrocenide musky ambery essence, further imbued with a roasty tonka feel adds that reinforced almost semi-oriental fougère quality that gets enriched with nutty smoky elements from the vetiver. Overall, the jasmine and orchid become star players alongside the lavender, which begins to finally fade into base, which continues to remain musky, a bit woody, and smoky with the hay aspects of tonka finishing things off. A rich and rarified women's fougère is this, almost seemingly reinterpreted straight out of the pre and post-WWII period when these kinds of things had their brief moment in the sun before fougère were absconded by men. Wear time is long at 10 hours, but projection is not intense like the name. Best use is casual, romantic, cold weather, or at night. I feel this rides fairly unisex, but I'm also more open-minded than the average bloke reviewing perfumes these days.

If you weren't buying into pretty pink princess presentation and almost peony-like softness of the original Libre by Yves Saint Laurent, you are much in luck; Libre Intense is very much a big girl perfume that smells mature, refined, expensive enough to pass by the snobs, and boldly confident enough that any men in your life can share it too (behind your back most likely). This stuff has the can-do attitude of of classic grand dame orientals like YSL's own Opium (1977), which is why I like it, and really this could have just as easily been the main pillar of Libre itself while the pink juice in the actual Libre bottle can be swept under the rug to be forgotten. Now, I say this fully liking Libre and both Libre Intense, but serious perfume lovers tend to like their perfumes serious, and Libre still had too many fun-loving pops about it a la Chanel Madamoiselle (2002) which just reads as cheap or immature to the kind of person that's going to read a review about this perfume before blindly charging into Ulta or Sephora to be talked into testing it by the sales people. Yes, I'm looking at you Miss "Shalimar is my everything", this is a modern fragrance you may actually be able to get behind because it doesn't smell like a girl's Calgon spray and even your hipster boyfriend with poor taste in hats and indie rock could easily sport a spray of this on his collar. Thumbs up