Cologne Intense Houbigant 2015 Eau de Parfum

Cologne Intense (Eau de Parfum) by Houbigant

See Prices

More

We may earn a commission when you buy from links on our site, including the eBay Partner Network and Amazon.

See Prices

7.6 / 10 142 Ratings

A popular perfume by Houbigant for men, released in 2015. The scent is citrusy-spicy. It was last marketed by Perris Group.

More

We may earn a commission when you buy from links on our site, including the eBay Partner Network and Amazon.

Main accords

Citrus

Spicy

Fresh

Green

Woody

Fragrance Pyramid

Top Notes

Moroccan neroli

Paraguayan petigrain

Sicilian lemon

Tarragon

Calabrian bergamot

Lavender

Pink pepper

Heart Notes

Frankincense

Jasmine absolute Maté

Maté

Base Notes

Labdanum absolute Oakmoss

Oakmoss

Patchouli

Musk

Amber

Perfumer

Luca Maffei

Ratings

Scent

7.6142 Ratings

Longevity

7.2123 Ratings

Sillage

6.5127 Ratings

Bottle

8.5122 Ratings

Value for money

6.933 Ratings

Submitted by OPomone, last update on 05/10/2025.

Smells similar

What the fragrance is similar to

Cologne Intense Extrait

Colonia Intensa Eau de Cologne

Iskander

Salt

Rising Cologne

Reviews

6 in-depth fragrance descriptions

05/10/2025

6
Sillage 6
Longevity 6
Scent

Sn0wr1n
8 Reviews

Sn0wr1n

Helpful Review 2

Pretty strong

The opening of Cologne Intense is like a citrus based soap with a mix of green and herbal aromas. The mate tea not gives it that herbal feeling and kind of levels out the citrus notes and doesn’t allow them to become too acidic.

The petitgrain is pretty strong at first and definitely give this Houbigant cologne, it’s green sort of element.

After a few minutes, the tarragon note starts to emerge as one of the most dominant notes in this fragrance. It adds a bit of spiciness to the scent to go along with the citrus/soapy/herbal feel that has already been established.

The spiciness never feels all that ‘intense’ to me (nor does the cologne in general) and I think it gets tempered a bit by the lavender.

It does have a dryness to its scent, especially in the latter stages. Dry, greenish, spice, with like a post-shower soapy clean scent on skin, versus a rich lather.

10/26/2024

10
Pricing 9
Bottle 7
Longevity 9.5
Scent

MKramer
11 Reviews

MKramer

1

Cologne Intense

This perfume, like all the others of House of Houbigant, is amazing. The scent is in my opinion breathtaking, I could not get enough of the fragrance. Unfortunately, this fragrance is discontinued by Houbigant. Even though it is still available on sites like Vinted or Ebay, I won't be buying it.

Cologne Intense smells rich. When I close my eyes I see a manor in front of me, an old classic manor surrounded by hills, trees, with horses galloping in the meadow while the sun is shining in the early spring. This is most definetly one of my favorite fragrances. The fragrance smells fresh, spicy and classic. Unfortunately, I do not have the fragrance anymore so I will not be able to describe the notes, well I could do it from memory, but I will not.

The scent of Cologne Intense is in my opinion 70-80% similar to Patchouli Sauvage, also by Houbigant. Which is also an amazing fragrance. However Cologne Intense has more green spicy notes, and smells sweeter. The longetivity, etc, I have not tested or compared with each other. For the people who want to buy a fragrance similar to Cologne Intense, because it is not available anymore. Patchouli Sauvage by Houbigant is a great replacement!

05/26/2018

10
Bottle 7
Sillage 8
Longevity 10
Scent

Yatagan
94 Reviews

Translated Show original

Yatagan

Top Review 50

Black Cologne Water

I am fascinated by fragrances that combine seemingly irreconcilable opposites: Jasmine or tuberose fragrances for men, oriental vetivers - and dark, heavy eau de colognes / cologne waters.
As explained in my blog on the subject of Eau de Cologne, the following components belong to a classic Cologne water: Neroli (possibly orange blossom, but usually too sweet), lemon, bergamot and / or: petitgrain, mandarin, lime, grapefruit (Hesperidia), cedar (as light, light wood), lavender (as the freshest and lightest of all florals), rosemary (and / or comparable light herbs).
In my blog I further claim that the absence of dark, heavy, oriental tones such as patchouli, sandalwood, oud, vanilla, amber / amber, larger amounts of musk, labdanum, tonka, civet and beaver geil (at best in the smallest doses) is just as important. The green-woody and earthy basic accent vetiver (in all its derived variants: vetivery acetate, vetiver oil) is also more likely to be avoided, since it can quickly imprint a vetiver stamp on a fragrance and would thus inadmissibly change its basic character. The list could be extended by other striking green resinous tones (mint, resin, moss) (quoted after my blog "Kölnische Wässer - 1709 und heute").

But what if you enrich a fragrance that initially meets all the criteria of a classic eau de cologne with darker, oriental or warm accents? Then something very fascinating can come out, in the best case a fragrance like Cologne Intense by Houbigant.
If you take a closer look at the list of ingredients, you won't notice anything unusual in the top note (and you could say that a Kölnisch Wasser has nothing else). It's all there: Neroli, bergamot, petitgrain, lemon, lavender, the light herbs (tarragon), but then surprisingly also a good portion of frankincense (the only drawback: you could have been a little more economical with the dosage of this ingredient), Labdanum / resin of the cistus (you smell: resinous, almost animal-like, as I always perceive Labdanum). Labdanum gives the fragrance a chypre twist that suits it well and makes it a few semitones deeper. The frankincense provides for an oriental impact, which remains however still very bright. I can't isolate patchouli and amber at all, and I can imagine the moss smelling from many, but I don't see it in the foreground. More like musk, which in the base note intensifies the tingling tones of incense.

All in all, Cologne Intense is a good example of a bold creation that uses a basic scheme but varies it greatly. Oriental Colgnes would be worth a blog of their own, but at least I want to mention Eau de Memo, which varies the Cologne theme with leather, the Chypre-Cologne men's classic Pour Monsieur by Chanel - or some Acqua, the Parma fragrances and the Déclaration series by Cartier. But that's just a first, very rough grid. Here is the proposal for a collection ("Black Colognes"):
https://www.parfumo.de/Benutzer/Yatagan/Sammlung/Cust19

For getting to know such an experiment, a test of Houbigant's second big litter after Fougère Royale would be highly recommended, but a black Cologne would be strongly discouraged from blind purchases.

12/01/2019

8
Sillage 8
Longevity 9
Scent

Torfdoen
23 Reviews

Translated Show original

Torfdoen

Top Review 28

A summer thunderstorm

The air in expectant trembling. Lightning. The last rays of citric-orange light cut off and hidden behind dark clouds. An interval of cooling incense, a slightly ethereal breeze blowing up. It's all in my head. On the dusty streets, rain inertly draws an increasing pattern. The soil reacts and gives off an intense aroma of dominant culinary herbs. Caraway, greasy, coarse leather, but also vital sprouting tobacco. Noble organic barrel material that radiates a dark musty character. Residues of human rule have come to the surface everywhere. Mighty flowers act from the hidden, entice with a beguiling greeting of life. The combination of these fragrances weaves itself into a dirty sultriness, hidden in the light summer haze. Better than the relentless, dust-dry heat. Much better. There is an orange earth refreshment after the shock and some sweetened liquorice screw rubber for calming.

Squatting in the street puddle. Blissful splashing in the murky herb water. Don't be afraid of dirt and filth. Memories of Azzaro Homme, although no lavender soap far and wide, only dirty-orange high pleasure. In the fall. Probably the best time of year for this thunderstorm.

06/12/2021

10
Bottle 8
Sillage 8
Longevity 9.5
Scent

Salva
70 Reviews

Translated Show original

Salva

Top Review 29

A classic cologne - And yet very different

What are the characteristics of a classic colognes? Fresh, citrusy and rather short shelf life. So most would probably describe a cologne roughly.

But there are also Colognes, which are interpreted quite differently, such as this Cologne Intense from the house Houbigant, to which I would like to write a few sentences.
[...]

Houbigant is a historically significant house from Paris, whose foundation dates back as early as 1775. However, its current headquarters are in the city-state of Monaco.

Jean François Houbigant, the founder of the company, had in particular perfumes, bridal arrangements as well as gloves produced. To make his shop not look so bleak, he hung next to the door still a painted sign with a flower basket, whereby his shop quickly received the name "A la Corbeille de Fleurs" (Engl.: In the flower basket).

His products were very much in demand and popular, especially among the well-to-do people. Among the customers is said to have included Queen Marie Antoinette as well as Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte.
Further large personalities, which served themselves with this house, were at its time probably the Queen Victoria OF England as well as the Russian emperor Zar Alexander the third.

[...]

The Cologne Intense is not a classical Cologne in the sense, as one knows it otherwise so vllt. It is a wonderful and fantastically refined with dark notes submitted Cologne, what I had not previously under the nose.

The fragrance begins indeed citrus-aromatic, however, I take right at the beginning first herbaceous and in the further course slightly smoky-spicy nuances perceive. But here really dominates the slightly smoky in conjunction with a spicy touch the fragrance.
Interestingly, towards the base green chords dissolve these tones of incense, lavender and tarragon and mix with the still in the background to smell aromatic citrus notes to a bitter-tart and mossy classic gentleman fragrance.

One quickly realizes that this fragrance is not an ordinary cologne, but in fact, in my opinion - due to this unique composition - a superbly exciting classic fragrance.

The designation Intense I attribute to these darker notes, but in terms of H&S I personally can not speak of an intense character, but this does not bother me at all. On my skin it lasts about 4-5h, this is quite enough for me; the sillage is clearly perceptible in the first hour, then the fragrance becomes rather skin.

In my eyes, the fragrance is wonderful throughout the year and on any occasion easily wearable, preferred vllt. rather in spring and autumn and on not quite so hot summer days.

The bottle made of limited porcelain also seems inconceivably high quality and reflects the classic aura of the fragrance very well, as I find.

[...]

Conclusion:

For all lovers of Colognes, I can highly recommend this fragrance. In my eyes, the Cologne Intense is a brilliant fragrance, which you probably do not get to smell in this form too often.

It is a precious, subtle, noble and classically chic men's cologne enriched with modern elements. I ordered it blindly and was immediately very taken.

[...]

Thank you for reading!

More reviews