Kenzo Air (Eau de Toilette Intense) by Kenzo

Bottle Design:
Laura de Santillana

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Kenzo Air Kenzo 2005 Eau de Toilette Intense

8.0 / 10 41 Ratings

A popular perfume by Kenzo for men, released in 2005. The scent is spicy-woody. It was last marketed by LVMH.
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Main accords

Spicy

Woody

Fresh

Green

Sweet

Fragrance Pyramid

Top Notes

Aniseed

Bergamot

Caraway

Heart Notes

Angelica

Vetiver

Base Notes

Amber

Vetiver

White woods

Perfumer

Maurice Roucel

Ratings

Scent

8.041 Ratings

Longevity

7.129 Ratings

Sillage

6.326 Ratings

Bottle

7.440 Ratings

Submitted by Kankuro, last update on 02/29/2024.

Smells similar

What the fragrance is similar to

Kenzo Air Eau de Toilette

Dalmatian Sage

Encre Noire Eau de Toilette

Reviews

4 in-depth fragrance descriptions

04/20/2015

ColinM
516 Reviews

ColinM

Helpful Review 2

Mineral woody gem

Notes-wise, Kenzoair Intense is practically identical to Kenzoair, but correcting its only and main deal-breaker: the lightness and closeness to skin. Finally this Intense version gives that “potentially beautiful” scent the projection and the “stereo boost” it deserved. Which doesn’t mean this is a bold scent; actually, it means just that you can finally smell Kenzoair, and finally for some hours. If you aren’t familiar with Kenzoair, it’s basically a really clean, contemporary, tremendously refined minimalistic aqueous-vetiver-anise scent, bright and crisp like a freshly-cleaned window glass, still with some water drops on it. Breezy and cozy like a very few else vetiver scents. The vetiver here is soft, mellow, salty, not the most realistic or rich around but that’s the beauty of it here, rounded by something like cashmere wood. It quite reminds me of Encre Noire, just more bracing, sophisticated and transparent. Encre Noire is thicker and a tad more synthetic, while Kenzoair smells just more “airy”, slightly watery-mineral too. Delightful and classy, with a perfectly gentle drydown, bright and quite close to skin. An uplifting mineral-woody gem, which I personally prefer over the original.

8/10

12/12/2012

8Scent 7.5Longevity 5Sillage

Apicius
1328 Reviews

Apicius

Very helpful Review 3

Ouzo Intense?

Kenzo is well known for “airy” perfumes: aquatics and sports fragrances, and lots of fresh summer scents. But: whenever they do something different, they state the opposite by giving the perfume a completely misleading name. Just as Kenzopower is not powerful but a very faint and discreet musk, Kenzo Air is not ozonic, at least not the Intense version. Only the deep blue square bottle which is very stylish indicates something airy.

In fact, Kenzo Air Intense is a spice bomb, and the overall dominating impression is aniseed. The fragrance salutes us with a very alcoholic form of that spice, and one really wonders if it is perfume that comes out of the bottle. Instantly, one feels reminded of the taste and smell of Greek Ouzo or Turkish Raki liquor! You cannot escape it when you go to a Greek restaurant – they will serve it to you as a digestif along with the bill.

I like Ouzo, and I have no averseness towards aniseed. But any fragrance becomes problematic if it is very close to the smell of food, especially alcoholic beverages. In the end, you will have to thoroughly make up your mind about the occasions that you might want to wear Kenzo Air Intense. The Ouzo impression is so strong that it limits this fragrance to your private environment – absolutely out of question as an office wear, even if the Ouzo top note gets tamed after a while.

Indeed, the alcoholic impression fades with the head notes, giving way to a dry woodiness. The aniseed, however, is further on supported by a rough and bitter Vetiver note. The lean, bitter spiciness is transferred through the whole drydown. Traces of Ouzo will join you throughout the day, and so I consider this Eau de Parfum strength. Kenzo Air Intense is attractive to anybody who appreciates a dry and lean spiciness, not the warm and opulent gingerbread feeling that may come with notes of clover or cinnamon. If it just wasn't so close to Ouzo, Kenzo Air Intense would be dynamic and straightforward enough to be used in a professional environment. This woody spiciness gives me some energy and strength, and so the basic structure indeed is that of an office scent – confusing!

Next to the intense version, there was the original which was a bit more close to the concept of airiness, with considerably less spices, and it would probably appeal more to my today's taste. Both fragrances have been discontinued, but some leftover bottles can still be purchased over the internet. Kenzo Air Intense is considerably different to what one would expect from a Kenzo perfume. It is well worth testing if you can find it.

06/22/2015

10Scent 7.5Longevity 7.5Sillage

Sarungal

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Sarungal

Top Review 9

The Sweet Grass Chronicles - Part III: The Breath of Olympus

Not only because of the quite unpretentious title was I tempted to embed my comment into a narrative about the scent. Strangely, that didn’t work out, even though none of the fragrances discussed so far is as close, as familiar to me as this one. Instead, there’s now a dry report about One Like No Other…

Like all iso-e-super-boosted fragrances, Kenzo's vetiver composition needs the skin as a catalyst to unfold its effect. On paper, hardly anything remains from the start other than an almost weapon-license-required licorice-laden anise attack. This also belongs to the opening chord on the skin; there, however, bergamot adorns the stiff sweet woody breeze with a hint of slightly bitter freshness. The spice of cumin very delicately complements the opening bouquet - and builds a bridge for a not overly well-mannered, somewhat unruly vetiver for its deployment.

Free from any soapiness, the sweet grass root sneaks into the foundation of the opening chord. While the vetiver subsequently amplifies its gray-brown vibrations, the anise note weakens, without completely sinking into the sweet grass. Instead, it allies itself with the angelica. The result is a resinous, licorice-like hint of balsamic softness that gives the vetiver texture and refines its unrefined appearance with restrained shine.

Thanks to Iso-E-Super, Kenzo Air Intense develops an exciting volatility already in the heart note - as if olfactory pyrotechnicians were working to enliven the scent trajectory with brief but significant reminiscences of the opening sequence. This gives the fragrance a playfulness that one would hardly attribute to its rather dark character. Kenzo Air Intense shows wit, where its olfactory relative Encre Noire prefers to gaze into the abyss.

The fragrance base picks up the balsamic hue of the heart note with amber and envelops the vetiver in a resinous crumple zone. In this rubber cell, it finally calms down and radiates, now much more mannerly buzzing, its woodiness into the bouquet. The persistence of the anise is surprisingly stable, still refusing to completely evaporate. However, its licorice note has now blended so perfectly with the sweet grass that it appears to have grown naturally. The white woods of the pyramid make a better impression on paper than in aroma; there, they play a role at best in that Kenzo does not want to follow its colleague Encre Noire into comparable depths. Nevertheless, it is quite a demanding task to distinguish the two fragrances in the drydown - anise or not.

The longevity of Kenzo Air Intense is decent: it remains loyal to its wearer for 7 to 8 hours - thus ironing out the only relevant weakness that its ancestor Kenzo Air had: it was as fleeting as its name suggests. Overall, the designation "Air" is a mystery to me - does that insinuate that Maurice Roucel composed an airy aquatic? Created a life elixir? Sung the air? I pass - because regardless of what the little water is called: It is a great work that occupies a prominent position in my fragrance Olympus for good reason. It stands high on the cloud-covered peaks, where the air becomes very thin. (Ha - and thus we also have the reason for its name).

Its sillage is a bit treacherous - and should not be underestimated. However, it is not a real threat to the environment, as despite its bulkiness on the test strip, Kenzo Air Intense is an obviously well-liked scent. (For those who prefer it clearer: It is basically my Aventus...)

The bottle is a matter of taste; I am a blue fetishist and am therefore well served. The spray head is integrated and requires a firm press - but then it does a good job.

Whether Kenzo's presumably most ambitious Eau de Toilette owes its short lifespan to the fact that it did not seamlessly fit into the mainstream of the 2000s remains speculation. The downside of this manageable success is its sadly early death: the fragrance apparently is no longer produced today; however, a few perfumeries still sell remaining stocks, which they unfortunately charge quite well for.

So please do not get the idea to tap into the remaining sources - otherwise, I will write a new comment and tear Kenzo Air Intense to shreds in it… ;o)

05/29/2015

10Scent 7.5Longevity 7.5Sillage

CD1810
32 Reviews

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CD1810

3

Absolutely Unmistakable

Since the release of Kenzo pour Homme, I have been a fan of the brand. I have owned almost all the fragrances, many of which I bought without testing. I was only a bit disappointed with Homme Sport Extreme, which, although a good fragrance in itself, somehow seems far too average to me. Because what I appreciate about Kenzo is that it releases unusual fragrances that are unmistakably beyond the mainstream.

For me, the most unmistakable is KenzoAir Intense.
The absolute main note is anise, which is clearly noticeable from the very beginning and lasts the longest. The opening also strongly features bergamot and vetiver, which makes Air Intense not only unmistakably spicy but also fresh, green, and woody. The composition of the main notes is so successful that, despite the dominance of anise, a homogeneous yet multifaceted accord is created that lasts a very long time.

And this brings us to two facts that are unusual for Kenzo and generally for summer perfumes: KenzoAir Intense lasts and lasts and lasts. And it fills the room. Especially in comparison with the original KenzoAir, which tends to dissipate too quickly for me. Despite its strength, Air Intense does not cause headaches; it presents itself confidently but not intrusively. However, one should not overdo it with the dosage in higher temperatures.

It is a great pity that KenzoAir Intense - just like the almost equally great Tokyo - has been discontinued. So I had to pay a decent price on eBay to enjoy Air Intense again after years.
But it is worth every euro: a summer spice bomb with a lot of understatement. Absolutely unmistakable!

Statements

6 short views on the fragrance

PallasCC

5 years ago

6.5Scent 7Longevity 6Sillage

4

Maurice is great when it comes to designer fragrances. Anise with vetiver and woods. Not extremely complex, but a nice
"blast from the past."

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Musowski

5 years ago

2

intense back and forth. the scent stays airy and barely noticeable.
I would see nishane ege as the beast version of this DNA (probably because of the anise).

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