FRAGRANCE | Valentino Uomo Intense EDP: Solid scent and performance

halfwhiteboy - Valentino Uomo Intense EDP

Valentino Uomo Intense has a fairly good reputation, and it's a shame I only got wind of it sometime last year. Well, I got a bottle--nice textured design and sprayer, by the way—to experience it myself. I may be late to the party but at least I made it to the party.

The fragrance starts off with a slightly sweet, lipsticky iris reminiscent of Dior Homme Intense. But for me the similarity ends there, as VUI takes the scent to a different direction just minutes in. A pepper-like sharpness starts building up until it dominates and pushes the iris towards the edge. It's still a little sweet, though. When I first tried it, a colleague remarked that I already have something like it and I thought hard about what it could be. We later identified it as Pink Pepper Leather by ScentSmith Perfumery.

I compared them side by side and to my nose, what they only have in common is that slightly sweet leather and peppery sharpness, which the ScentSmith creation oh so willingly showed all at once from the very beginning. Meanwhile, VUI's leathery character only starts unraveling several minutes after the spicy sharpness has completely lorded over the iris.

Somewhere between the 30-minute and 1-hour mark, the sharpness starts calming down a bit. This is when the vanilla and tonka slowly reveal themselves to add a rich but non-cloying sweetness to the spiced up leather. What I'm surprised with, however, is that the iris is still there all along. It's been weakened, yes, but it has managed to cling on the edges, simply hiding behind all that sharpness that has now parted.

VUI opens with a rather muted projection. It takes a couple of minutes before fully waking up, which happens alongside the crackling of the scent's peppery spiciness. Strong in its first 2 to 3 hours, it gradually softens but doesn't totally become a skin scent until after several more hours. I wear it whenever I want but I think that it's best suited for colder days and perhaps, evenings. All in all a pretty solid fragrance that's worth having or trying at least.

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