The first half of Intense Cafe (IC) reminds me a lot of Guerlain's Gourmand Coquin. The notes of IC combine to conjure an olfactory illusion: one of rich, floralized chocolate. The rose is powdery, velvety soft, slightly fruity and pink toned. Combine that with the luxuriously creamy vanilla note, a big dose of lactones and the dark bitterness of coffee and VOILA!: Chocolate. After about the 30 minute mark the chocolate hologram fades and most of what I get for the rest of the considerable wear time is a vanillic rosey musk.
Both phases are appealing but the chocolate facsimile found in the opening/heart of this fragrance is notable in that I actually find it more chocolate crave-worthy than other scents actually marketed as chocolate such as Gourmand Coquin, Chocolate Greedy, and Amour de Cacao. I've owned all of these at one point and got rid of the other full bottles in favor of my decant.
This is delicious, interesting and special. It performs as you would expect a Montale to, you're going to get noticed wearing this.
