Pierre Cardin pour Homme L’Intense (2014)

by: Dr. Marlen Elliot Harrison

This is another in a series of bargain fragrance reviews, scents that may be found online or at discount stores for US $25 or less. Leave a comment below for your chance to receive a sample, shipped anywhere in the world, free!

Summary: A subtle blend of fruit and lavender, Pierre Cardin pour Homme L’Intenseis not quite intense but nonetheless unique for an affordable ”men’s” fragrance in its use of a prominent pear note.

Perfumer: Nathalie Lorson

Try this if you like: Lavender-focused fragrances; orchard fruits such as pear and fig; fougeres; softer aromas; ambery drydowns.

Pros & Cons: As noted above, pour Homme L’Intense isn’t all that intense; in fact it’s short lifespan and subtle sillage make this one rather tame. However, there is something intriguing about this Cardin scent that has kept me from writing it off completely. No longer a fan of the fig note in either fruit or leaf form, I was a bit hesitant on sampling L’Intense.

The pear and lavender notes intrigued me enough however to spend the $14 and if I spray liberally, I find this a rather enjoyable and straightforward composition. It does seem to be a bit difficult to find, popping up on mainly Turkish and Polish websites. I found mine dirt-cheap at a US-based e-tailer. The scent feels incomplete somehow and more like a body spray (or room spray) than a fully realized fragrance. But I’m smitten with the pear and lavender accord.

Notes: Bergamot, pear, fig, sage, lavender, moss, amber, vteiver, sandalwood.

Reminds me of: Dior Higher (though not as sweet), Perry Ellis Portfolio (minus the citrus and herbal notes), Charriol for Men (minus the floral notes), Molyneux Modern Quartz (minus the deeper amber basenotes).

Designer’s Description: N/A; leave a comment below if you know.

Number of times tested: 10 times over the last 2 months.

Number of sprays applied for this review: 2 sprays to the back of my hand from a 50ml bottle I purchased online (ca. 2015).

Fragrance strength: EDT

Development: (Linear / Average / Complex): Not much development here. L’Intenseopens with a tempered fruit aroma balanced by the lavender and bergamot. The lower basenotes only anchor the sweetness of the aroma and don’t have much presence on their own.

Longevity: (Short / Average / Long-lasting) I got 3-4 hours with 2 sprays; this is one to use liberally.

Sillage: (A Little / Average / A Lot) Definitely office safe, this one smells great when sniffed up close but has minimal projection.

Note about the packaging: A striated and twisted, transparent, glass rectangle with pale blue liquid and silver cap, housed in a dark blue paper box.

Where can I buy it? A 50ml EDT can be found for less than $14-$20 USD at online discount and auction sites.

The Bottom Line: I’ve recently become a lavender-lover, which is strange because I’ve long avoided this note – I’m usually reminded of cleaning and spa products. But due to this new passion, I’ve been exploring pretty much everything I can find with prominent lavender notes and have fallen for a few such as Sonas from Fragrances of Ireland (review forthcoming), Penhaligon’s marvelous Endymion, and Czech & Speake’s minty Oxford & Cambridge. In my search, I came across Pierre Cardin pour Homme L’Intense and due to the fig and pear notes, I figured it might be an interesting discovery. I generally find lavender fragrances to fall into one of three categories:

1) straight up lavender scents with no accents;
2) lavender and amber/vanilla aromas; and
3) lavender and citrus. L’Intense kind of falls into this second category.

After my first day testing L’Intense, I failed to perceive the actual aroma, only sensing something sweet. But on the next wearing, after spraying a bit more liberally, I kept coming back to it and finding it, well, intriguing. For the past few weeks I’ve been wearing it over and over again and have been disappointed by the terrible longevity but enchanted by the uniqueness of the fruit and lavender accord. As such, I decided to share this find with you, my Fragrantica friends. After all, pear and fig are not all that common fragrance notes, especially when blended with lavender and amber. At times the scent feels familiar, like a blend of Modern Quartz and Dior Higher. In the hands of a different label (Coty currently owns the current Cardin license), and with better quality ingredients, L’Intense could be a stunner and something I would imagine fromJo Malone or L’Occitane. As it is, L’Intense is the kind of fragrance that like Bulgari pour Homme, I have to spray over and over again in order to actually perceive it, but using a heavy hand is worth it because the scent is equally affordable and enjoyable.