Gucci Intense Oud
Gucci (2016)

I agree with Speedracer that this smells better in the air than up close. The opening is quite captivating—resinous frankincense paired with a touch of saffron gives it a clean, smooth, and slightly luminous start. I’m less convinced about how the rose fits in as it moves into the heart, and in the drydown is where things start to fall apart a bit. It loses that frankincense richness that made the opening so appealing, and instead shifts into a synthetic woody accord that’s meant to suggest oud. I don’t really detect any oud character here, even as a synthetic interpretation. For reference, something like Nooud from Baruti shows that a convincing oud-style accord is possible without actual oud.

By the base, I’m mostly left with a musky white floral feel, supported by synthetic woods and a bit of ambergris. The opening is promising, but the drydown feels noticeably weaker in comparison. Performance is decent, and it feels best suited for fall. It comes across a bit too soft for winter. Overall, it’s very top-heavy. The richness and impact are front-loaded, and then it gradually fades into something less interesting.

Cautiously thumbs up! At first spray, I was totally turned off by this bitter leathery oily frankincense smoke bomb. The intensity was overwhelming. But if I spread the spray out over skin, with a gentle and more subtle touch the aroma comes out as a nice masculine dark oud leather in a similar style to Armani Prive Oud Royal or Perris Monte Carlo Oud Black. Applied all in one spot and the fragrance goes nuclear and begins a dangerous meltdown into toxic petro midnight that is not all that enjoyable. Other than this one caution, Intense Oud from Gucci is very enjoyable and worthwhile if you don't already have a bottle of this or that well used formula somewhere in your arsenal. Nice variety, and totally unexpected from Gucci!

Besides the slight fruit note, if someone told you this was an Amouage fragrance, you would probably believe them. One of the best in the Gucci house IMO. GO EASY ON THE SPRAYS. This one is strong and will last the whole day and more. A nice smokey frankincense combined with woods and amber note in there somewhere, you won't have a problem pressing the ORDER NOW button on your device! Got quite a few compliments wearing this gem. Did I mention "GO EASY ON THE SPRAYS?" 8.5/10

Leather, oud, and a fruity drink in the opening. Later, the sweetness is gone, leaving a dry, spicy, smoky oud that seems to have notes of cumin. It's much better in the air than up close on the skin. It gets very bitter the closer you get to it, so probably not a great cuddle scent. Into the 9th or 10th hour (no joke), I start to get some nice hints of the ambergris in the air, but not on my skin.

A very dressed-up, formal oud. The saffron is prominent while the usual rose is omitted.

It does resemble Black Afghano, just not as beastly, so give it a try if you enjoy that scent.

Performance is impressive with big, persistent projection with only a few sprays.

Very enthusiastic thumbs up for Gucci Intense Oud EdP!

From the very first spray, GIO is strong and woody (reminiscent of cedar and sandalwood), with a deep and richly layered character. Spicy notes touch and permeate this gorgeous scent, with dry, smoky smoldering incense accenting the ambery oud that is very noticeable (but not excessively so). Ambergris adds a slightly animalic twist to GIO that points to well-crafted, thoughtful nature of this oud-based EdP. Leather is quite subtle, neither taking away from nor augmenting the fragrance appreciably.

GIO is a complex, well-made, mature classic oud experience that immediately earned a compliment when I tried my sample. The sillage is quite ample without needing to overapply the EdP. I highly recommend trying this one out and even to add this to the collection of serious oud-lovers out there. Next to my bottles of Versace's Oud Noir EdP and Armani's Eau de Nuit Oud AND Prive Oud Royal, Gucci Intense Oud EdP will become a proud part of my collection.

A nice fragrance, the oud is synthetic and smells exactly like the oud in other low cost fragrances like Acqua Di Parma et. al. Nonetheless, it still smells great and I have had many compliments wearing this. Longevity and sillage are excellent.