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New York Intense Nicolaï 2014

8.3 / 10 676 Ratings

A popular perfume by Nicolaï for men, released in 2014. The scent is spicy-citrusy. The longevity is above-average. It is still in production.
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Main accords

Spicy

Citrus

Woody

Fresh

Green

Fragrance Pyramid

Top Notes

Lemon

Bergamot

Lemon petitgrain Thyme

Thyme

Mugwort

Heart Notes

Clove

Lavender

Black pepper

Chamomile

Cinnamon

Base Notes

Oakmoss

Musk

Styrax

Tonka bean absolute Vanilla

Vanilla

Frankincense

Patchouli

Perfumer

Patricia de Nicolaï

Ratings

Scent

8.3676 Ratings

Longevity

8.1592 Ratings

Sillage

7.6594 Ratings

Bottle

7.7515 Ratings

Value for money

7.6333 Ratings

Submitted by Cassandra, last update on 10/20/2025.

Smells similar

What the fragrance is similar to

New-York

Bois du Portugal

Eau Sauvage Parfum (2017)

Pour Monsieur Eau de Toilette

Lalique pour Homme Lion Eau de Parfum

Pour Monsieur Eau de Parfum

Reviews

41 in-depth fragrance descriptions

07/12/2021

8.5Scent 9Longevity 7Sillage

Kurai
388 Reviews

Kurai

Very helpful Review 5

Intense indeed

Upon spraying this perfume leaves a high quality impression. High end sophistication. Old school fougère comes to mind, but that wouldn’t do it justice. There’s a lot more going on in New York. Intense. A number of plots.

Particularly in the first 4-5 hours the scent morphs smoothly between sparkling citrus, an aromatic pepper-clove heat and an exciting base of moss, vanilla, resin and animalic musks.

What prevents me from giving this a greater score is the late drydown, after 6+ hours, where the moss and musk fade out and the oriental Guerlainesque vanilla takes over. Still a pleasant quality scent, just not how I wished the plot would end.

This perfume and its older sibling New York are rather similar. To my nose the Intense version is more pepper less clove, more civet less resin. Both have excellent performance.

I love that Nicolai offers 30ml bottles. Will get one of NYI for sure, if not a 100ml. Nicolai has surely impressed me with this one. Time to get familiar with the rest of the collection!

07/23/2024

8.5Scent 9Longevity 8Sillage

Jomas
32 Reviews

Jomas

Helpful Review 6

Ageless, timeless, flawless.

For a long time, I had skillfully bypassed the New York Intense sample, because I had read the notes on another site - the F-site, obviously - and I really didn't feel like putting on something that seemed so, so animalic (both civetone and castoreum are listed there).

Well, now I'm sorry we didn't meet sooner and I'm glad I finally tried it. True, I'm still not convinced that there isn't a hint of castoreum in the base, but more animalic seems to me the labdanum in Ambre Cashmere Intense, for example.

New York Intense is a chypre-aromatic with an extraordinarily beautiful citrus opening, classic without being old-fashioned, somewhat masculine but not exclusively masculine. It shines in the cold, becomes a little dull when it gets hot, it's possible that the overdose of oakmoss makes it hard to carry in the summer heat. It's so bright and clear, it's like a brilliant-cut crystal.

Ageless, timeless, flawless. Outstanding performance. Excellent overall!

11/26/2024

9Scent 9Longevity 8Sillage

Aristipo
57 Reviews

Aristipo

Helpful Review 5

An uber-saturated, old-world masculine

Boom! Bitter orange, sugar biscuit, heady oakmoss, dreamy lavender, earthy patchouli, and a twang of animalic funk. This is a high-contrast, dirty-fresh, uber saturated masculine with distinctive, high quality materials. It is so complex that it’s taken me months to unravel. Is it a fougère? Yes. Is it a chypre? Yes.

Very Guerlain-esque, there are facets of Mitsouko and Habit Rouge and Derby here. (I wore my Dior Jules yesterday and there’s also an echo of its green, damp-herbal, bitter aromatics.) It’s a maximally layered composition. Warm spices, notably clove and cinnamon, meld with dry vanilla and an ambery facet, from the labdanum, while the tartness of the citron and the freshness of its green notes linger throughout.

[Side note: I read somewhere that this was Patricia de Nicolaï’s homage to Caron’s Alpona (1939), the last fragrance composed by Ernest Daltroff before his exile from France due to the N*zi occupation, which NYI purportedly emulates in style and composition.]

The overall effect is luscious, a bit aristocratic, and somewhat staid. For me, it’s too much in high heat; best reserved for mild or cooler weather. I plan to wear this to my next formal evening gig — should be a banger in that context.

02/05/2016

10Scent 8Longevity 7Sillage

Bruhman8000
12 Reviews

Bruhman8000

Helpful Review 4

Just Wow!!!

This fragrance is out of this world. Pay this rant no mind but this frag gets busy. On the opening it is strong as an ox. On the opening this fragrance smells simple and dated. I could compare it to Polo green or any generic scent like old spice or brut. That's when the magic happens. The lemon and bergamot bloom after the the alcohol smells dries down and it's amazing. Normally I would not break character and have to write about a fragrance from my collection but it's oh-so-worthy. This composition mixes the old with the new in my opinion without using anything synthetic. Pour monsieur and Edition Blanche by Chanel can all take seats. The king is here. To explain how this fragrance works I will say that it smells like a lemon tart from from a fancy restaurant. This balanced and I could smell most notes of this for at least two hours. It went from citrusy to masculine and brut. This frag much like Aventus make cross over into every style of fragrance since it drew notes from all across the spectrum. Don't miss out on this as I think it's my new all time favorite.

06/04/2022

9Scent 8Longevity 8Sillage

EnCuirNoir
6 Reviews

EnCuirNoir

5

Ode on Guerlain

I broke a 30ml bottle of this juice in my home gym last night and now the whole house smells like a fucking handsome lad from 60s. Every breath I've been taking for the past 20 or so hours has been a constant reminder of my momentarily clumsiness in the most beautiful way possible. I'm ordering a bigger bottle and using this tragedy to write a review for those interested.

Review:

New York Intense to be dumbed down is a fougere chypre, in that order. It starts by being a barbershop with chypre characteristics and then starts smelling more and more like an old Guerlain chypre, think of a masculine Mitsouko mid-to-drydown but with a remaining hint of oldschool masculine fougeres. The fougeres start in a rush, literally, the perfume starts by showing you lavender and playfulness of artemisia, like a man who's slapped some after shave that fills the room for a minute or two. The next change comes almost immediately as the house for the first 2 or 3 hours smelled so strongly of civet. It's a very high quality creamy musky civet that settles nicely for us to behold the full beauty gradually through the heart of New York. Note, don't be alarmed, civet doesn't smell like bodily secretions on its own, contrary to popular belief. There's also a constant recognizable oakmoss in the house, a very green and synthetic moss like the ones of modern Mitsouko rather than a heavy metal mousse of Rogue's. There is also bergamot, it has long left, but that too in the beginning along with the far cries of oakmoss and a creamy smokiness that resembles labdanum (probably castoreum musk) feels like a foreshadowing of NYI's chypre nature that will eventually unfold. This very unfolding into chypre aspect itself, is also reminiscent of another Guerlain to me, the gorgeous Derby. The similarities are so much that I can confidently recommend a blindbuy of one to a lover of the other. Note, New York Intense isn't nearly as smoky as Derby, yet everything else is shared either directly or in parallels between the two. Let's get back to the notes, Citron is still in the air after many hours, a rough piercing green citric accord that somehow doesn't mix with the creaminess to feel foamy/barbershop, and instead adds to the mossy side of this duet. It's a very well made perfume. It changes a lot and purposefully so. In a very sophisticated manner it walks a fine line through the history of French perfumery. You can also get small hints of a vanilla here and there, it's a realistic bittersweet vanilla, just not in a Guerlain style nor porpotions. Which I always believed to be what makes a Guerlain, but this beauty brought to my attention the bergamot, the florals and the structure of a classic Guerlain as just as important a aspect as the superficial tone to a vanilla note (something that seemingly Guerlain itself has forgotten for the past decade or two). What -for me- saves NYI from being limited to and overshadowed by the house that lost her brilliant nose, is the simple fact that despite all the heritage and history of Guerlain house, they haven't put out a single master perfume that reaches the heights of Mitsouko, Shalimar, Derby or Mouchoir de Monsieur in decades. New York Intense could easily be another masculine offering in the league of Derby for Guerlain -something the whole house have lacked for a long long while-, now it's Nicolai's smirking revenge.

To whom do I recommend this? If you like chypres or fougeres of old. If you like the idea of a more modern Derby, a much deeper richer Bois du Portugal, a masculine Mitsouko or an easy wear that has depth to keep you interested for a bottle and more, then this is for you. They don't make them like this anymore. It's not a dated perfume imo, don't worry. It's just mature, sophisticated and lush. It's not extreme in any way. Don't expect anything animalic, futuristic or groundbreaking, and you won't be disappointed.

What do I think when smelling this and who do I imagine wearing this? Well it takes me back. It's so classic that I can't ignore personal memories in favor of imaginations. It reminds me of good old days. Sharp dressed aloof men with big offices going about their day, perfumed for the task of being the provider of their family in the 60s! What do I feel wearing it? Mature, as in responsibility and not taking trivials of life too seriously! And of course handsome in a 60s parisian way! It keeps projecting for 8 hours before finally getting too close to skin and stays interesting whilst constantly getting deeper. It's relatively cheap considering what it offers, and what similar qualities cost elsewhere in likes of Diaghilev, vintage Mitsouko or Derby. New York demands respect and I love her for it.

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