Top Notes 
Clary sage
Heart Notes 
Leather
Base Notes 
Vetiver
StinkSultan
59 Reviews
StinkSultan
Helpful Review
5
Another One Bites the Dust
All of the entries from the Scandal pour Homme line have disappointed me so far. The original Scandal pour Homme lacked smoothness and was simply a mishmash of synthetic sweetness, Scandal pour Homme Le Parfum toned down that synthetic edge a bit, but still failed to impress me in terms of scent, and Scandal pour Homme Absolu left me down due to its disappointing performance and short-lived delicious opening. Simply put, none of them are worthy of wearing the crown and occupying the throne. But now we've got another contestant, Scandal pour Homme Intense, which can either save the Scandal line for me (nothing left to save, really), or it can join its cousins in the pit of shame...
Immediately upon spraying, the OG DNA comes upfront - synthetic sweetness. The clary sage brings that sweet, herbaceous, floral, and musky mishmash, which isn't necessarily bad on its own, just lacks balance. The synthetic undertone which is the signature accord of the line and on which all of the notes are built upon just kills it for me. Also, I do get some slight hints of some creamy tonka bean in the opening, which appears to be more and more prominent as things dry down.
As minutes pass by, the synthetic aura takes a slight step back, making way for even more prominent tonka bean sweetness, while the vetiver mildly shows up. It adds a dry and woody aroma to the composition, but it's hardly earthy, which is one of the key accords of vetiver, meaning that there's not much vetiver in here, really. Frankly, you really got to dig through the scent to just get the slightest of that unmistakable vetiver aroma, which here is quite cheap and as "safe" and bland as it gets.
But you know what else you don't get a lot of in here? Leather. When I initially saw Scandal pour Homme Intense added in leather, I admit, my expectations rose a nudge. I adore leather, and I hoped that this would finally be the ingredient that might save whatever's left of the Scandal pour Homme line for me. But boy, was I wrong. The leather here is some of the faintest, most subtle, softest, mildest, barest leather that I've smelt in a fragrance. There might be something which reminds of leather, but hardly so, and it appears like 10-15 minutes after spraying. Let me be clear, though: there's little development here. The syntheticness dissipating a bit since the start gives you the feeling that there's development underway, but really, everything smells very similar from start to finish. There's no story being told, nor much quality at the door.
On a more positive note, longevity here is excellent, at least on my skin. I get a minimum of 12 hours, with some cases reaching even 15 hours, which makes it the Scandal with the best longevity on my skin. Of course, by those marks, all I sense is a very faint, warm leather woodiness, which frankly, I much prefer over the loud synthetic-sweet opening. As for projection, I got about 2 feet for the first hour, settling down to about a 1 foot bubble for the next few hours, and reaching a skin scent somewhere around the 5 hour mark. Not bad at all.
With occasions, Scandal pour Homme Intense pretty much falls in the same bowl as most of its cousins - partying and clubbing. It can definitely work as a daily too, or even for evening dates. But honestly, I would never recommend this or any of the other fragrances from the Scandal line to someone over 25 years old. Even though Scandal pour Homme Intense will be seen as the more "mature" Scandal purely because of that misleading leather in the notes pyramid, it's still very clearly aimed towards the younger demographic. The whole line has that youthful edge, mainly because of that synthetic sweet combo and that weird "bad boy" vibe I get from the Scandal line as a whole.
So, it's another unfortunate candidate. The scent resembles the Le Parfum flanker quite closely, which is definitely not something I missed, and the leather is not really there, which adds to my disappointment furthermore. However, I'm more disappointed in myself for having any sort of expectations from this. The only pros here, in my opinion, are the performance and the marketing. This (and the whole Scandal lineup) is clearly dedicated and marketed towards the youth, teenagers, Gen Z, etc. So in the end, if the fragrance finds its right fanbase (and it will, since anyone more invested in perfumery and niche will stay away from this), then it will also find plenty of success. That's pretty much all most companies care for these days. Nonetheless, I think Scandal pour Homme Intense concludes it for me - the Scandal line is not for me. It never was and it will never be.
Overall Rating: 6.5/10
Immediately upon spraying, the OG DNA comes upfront - synthetic sweetness. The clary sage brings that sweet, herbaceous, floral, and musky mishmash, which isn't necessarily bad on its own, just lacks balance. The synthetic undertone which is the signature accord of the line and on which all of the notes are built upon just kills it for me. Also, I do get some slight hints of some creamy tonka bean in the opening, which appears to be more and more prominent as things dry down.
As minutes pass by, the synthetic aura takes a slight step back, making way for even more prominent tonka bean sweetness, while the vetiver mildly shows up. It adds a dry and woody aroma to the composition, but it's hardly earthy, which is one of the key accords of vetiver, meaning that there's not much vetiver in here, really. Frankly, you really got to dig through the scent to just get the slightest of that unmistakable vetiver aroma, which here is quite cheap and as "safe" and bland as it gets.
But you know what else you don't get a lot of in here? Leather. When I initially saw Scandal pour Homme Intense added in leather, I admit, my expectations rose a nudge. I adore leather, and I hoped that this would finally be the ingredient that might save whatever's left of the Scandal pour Homme line for me. But boy, was I wrong. The leather here is some of the faintest, most subtle, softest, mildest, barest leather that I've smelt in a fragrance. There might be something which reminds of leather, but hardly so, and it appears like 10-15 minutes after spraying. Let me be clear, though: there's little development here. The syntheticness dissipating a bit since the start gives you the feeling that there's development underway, but really, everything smells very similar from start to finish. There's no story being told, nor much quality at the door.
On a more positive note, longevity here is excellent, at least on my skin. I get a minimum of 12 hours, with some cases reaching even 15 hours, which makes it the Scandal with the best longevity on my skin. Of course, by those marks, all I sense is a very faint, warm leather woodiness, which frankly, I much prefer over the loud synthetic-sweet opening. As for projection, I got about 2 feet for the first hour, settling down to about a 1 foot bubble for the next few hours, and reaching a skin scent somewhere around the 5 hour mark. Not bad at all.
With occasions, Scandal pour Homme Intense pretty much falls in the same bowl as most of its cousins - partying and clubbing. It can definitely work as a daily too, or even for evening dates. But honestly, I would never recommend this or any of the other fragrances from the Scandal line to someone over 25 years old. Even though Scandal pour Homme Intense will be seen as the more "mature" Scandal purely because of that misleading leather in the notes pyramid, it's still very clearly aimed towards the younger demographic. The whole line has that youthful edge, mainly because of that synthetic sweet combo and that weird "bad boy" vibe I get from the Scandal line as a whole.
So, it's another unfortunate candidate. The scent resembles the Le Parfum flanker quite closely, which is definitely not something I missed, and the leather is not really there, which adds to my disappointment furthermore. However, I'm more disappointed in myself for having any sort of expectations from this. The only pros here, in my opinion, are the performance and the marketing. This (and the whole Scandal lineup) is clearly dedicated and marketed towards the youth, teenagers, Gen Z, etc. So in the end, if the fragrance finds its right fanbase (and it will, since anyone more invested in perfumery and niche will stay away from this), then it will also find plenty of success. That's pretty much all most companies care for these days. Nonetheless, I think Scandal pour Homme Intense concludes it for me - the Scandal line is not for me. It never was and it will never be.
Overall Rating: 6.5/10
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