Intense Tiaré
Montale (2005)

For starters Intense Tiaré is a Montale-fragrance, namely a fragrance with a "struggling" and turbulent first whide evolution's step (the initial/central stage, a quite messy and "ruffly" intoxication of disconnected notes), a powerful sillage and with a sort of gassy-synth/chemical landmark stable final twist which prevents me to fully appreciate the most part of this house's perfumes. This fragrance is not an exception and so we start by soon smelling a messy tropical and vaguely "grandma" spicy-creamy coconutty white floral, a really massive semi-oriental quite heavy, sweet, "overcharged" and sultry. This status does not make me thinking properly about a tropical scenario (the one I on the contrary imagine by testing on skin scents as Perris Montecarlo Ylang Nosy Be or something in the same Intense Tiaré's league as the lighter Aloha Tiare Eau de Toilette by Comptoir Sud Pacifique). As well as testing Intense Tiaré I get figuring on mind an old distinguished "demodé" woman very sweaty for the strong hot weather along the ways of a south american city. Yes, any airiness or freshness about this fragrance, just a coconutty floral heavy mélange. Tiare, jasmine and ylang-ylang smell initially kind of vaguely stuffy (especially in association with a powerful and vintage in vibe hesperidic initial blast) and finally nectarinic and musky-vanillic on my skin. Vanilla and coconut rise quickly on the stage creating a dissonant olfactory encounter with the hesperidic top and the still leafy/botanical florals. This phase is hard to be faced. Gradually hesperides recede and the tropical white florals start sweetening up and to mingle with coconut, musk and vanilla. This floral/nectarinic/spicy/vanillic affair is too heavy and claustrophobic on me and smells like a mash-up of a stuffy massive old-school mossy chypré with a modern coconutty/honeyed floral. Dry down (after at least three hours of journey) is definitely the best part as the elements start taming down and the florals emerge more clearly from the massive muskiness. I detect mostly ylang-ylang and jasmine and on this stage the aroma is finally more elegant but still vaguely naif in a way I never perceve it as properly tropical (but just as something stuffy exotic, sultry and massively floral). This fragrance does not reproduce on my mind the idea of a tropical beach in any way. For a better and more elegant and balanced exotic solution stick better on Guerlain Terracotta which is less stressed on coconutty sweet vanilla, more classic in olfactory orchestration (and alchemic wisdom) and more balanced on florals (with an heady jasmine).

It's warm, tropical, and dare I say, creamy in a very beach like way.. This is a tropical vacation in a bottle.

A tropical beach scent without being aquatic...intense describes it well...in pretty typical Montale fashion the projection is nuclear...a creamy flower infused coconut with a big dose of vanilla...borderline gourmand...nice break from Montales usual offerings...not bad for a cool summer eve...has a sort of retro vibe , like i've smelled this a long time ago... just a little sun tan lotion vibe at times...pleasant to whiff , but it's just gonna be a sample vial for me ...

Beautiful strong perfume with tiare/gardenia and coconut accords.

Fantastic longevity and ideal for hot summer weather...

I'm not a fan of Montale's assembly line approach to perfume (any company that puts out 50+ “oud"-variants can't be very serious about what they release). However, the line gets my attention when they manage to do something that deviates from their standard agar/rose/sandalwood bombs. This one smells like suntan lotion on meth, and the “intense” is no lie as this stuff is obnoxiously strong. It's supposed to be white florals and coconut, I assume, but it smells more like a spill at the Bond No. 9 counter combined with several bottles of sugary shampoo. This is the kind of scent that was popular in the ‘80s – the sort of thing that people would bathe in, gassing out entire floors of office buildings to make a statement. It's milky, tropical, and smells like some of the fancier shampoos at the drug store. If it were a quarter of the volume, it'd be fit to wear in public, but as it stands, it's migraine material for anyone who comes into contact with it.

Intense galaxolide, a floral-fruity soapy bomb of the same exact quality, depth and interest of my Garnier shampoo. Monster persistence.

4/10