Hero Parfum Intense
Burberry (2025)

Hero Parfum Intense by Burberry (2025) is an odd turn for the line, as the sweetening and dosing with heavier amber elements seemed to be the direction Burberry was going with this one after the decent woody original eau de toilette. I gave the original entry a middling rating because it still wasn't really all that interesting and felt like a retread of Terre d'Hermès (2006) with half the ingenuity, but was perfectly serviceable otherwise. Here with "Parfum Intense", we see a big staggering smoke accord, leather, and some akigalawood that will make the FragComm weirdos automatically sing "Quentin Bisch" as if he's the only perfumer who uses the stuff; folks online, let me tell you...

So, this isn't bad, but still price parity one can do better I think. The thick, smooth velvety smoke and incense thing was done better by Cartier when they tamed the style of Comme des Garçons into Pasha de Cartier Noir Absolu (2023). Burberry doesn't add much to that formula by stapling on the same smoky elements to Hero, except the Tom Ford black boot leather accord replaces the nag champa vibes of Cartier, so I suppose this maintains a bit more of the ostensible "Britishness" Burberry only pursues in a cursory factory anymore. Other than that, this is a very raw vivid cedarwood note mixed with the above smoke and leather, so you'll feel more at home taking a walk in the forest than downtown in this stuff. Performance borders on annoying too, so go light.

People in the online "cognoscenti" recall coconut here, and I don't really get any of that, but I do get slivers of the "picklewood" sandalwood-type note that Le Labo cursed the world with years ago here in this scent; I still haven't forgiven them for that, nor should you. If pickle and coconut share an olfactive family tree branch, I guess I should just pack it up and stick to wearing my Avons instead of writing reviews about overpriced designers I never intend to buy. Outside of that, you know the drill, and there are a lot worse things in this price range you could spend money on if you need a smoky woody perfume, although there are also a lot more better things, so I'd just sample this instead and put your money elsewhere if you need just one of these options. Neutral