DesirToxic L'Intense M. Micallef 2024

I remember when I believed that the original DesirToxic was a worthwhile competitor to a scent like Layton. The free product flying around on YouTube and Instagram definitely can give off that sensation. On my first experience of the original DesirToxic, I actually felt like there was some of that there. And then 1 day before smelling this flanker, I downgraded my rating from 8.5 to 5.5. The original DesirToxic is in line with stereotypical sweet-masculine F-boy style fragrances, but due to the huge overload of tonka bean, the scent feels like it could easily be in Carolina Herrera's line of Bad Boy fragrances.

While the opening of the new DesirToxic L'Intense has a similar designer feel from the sweetness and tonka bean, the on-skin scent is a mild improvement over the original. The scent features a prominent woodiness this time around. At first it smelled a bit, dare I say, green and/or camphorous. It made me believe that the cannabis accord was still featured (in reality, it isn't). I notice the patchouli bringing a mild spicy flair in the base and I notice the black currant offering hints of fruitiness. However, I wouldn't say that fresh is a top 5 accord.

The core utility of the fragrance remains the same. The performance improvement is nonexistent as I get equal performance with the synthetic tones aiding performance on the original. The price mark-up is quite negligible, meaning the flanker is a little bit better in value. Both Micallef and Penhaligon's have produced fragrances in this genre and ultimately, the product of both houses (within the masculine sweet-aromatic class) smells closer to designer than they do to fragrances like Layton and even Papilefiko. Nothing to see here, move along people.