Why is Dior Homme Intense 2025 getting so much hate?

I think a lot of the criticism towards Dior Homme Intense 2025 comes from comparisons to the older versions, especially the 2011 era batches.

The fragrance community tends to judge every new Dior Homme release against that “golden age”, so people often criticize first and smell second.

But honestly, if we judge Dior Homme Intense 2025 as a fragrance on its own, I think it’s excellent.

To me, it’s still a very elegant, seductive and mature iris fragrance with a strong “status” aura. It smells masculine, refined and perfect for dates or evening wear. The iris feels smooth, classy and wearable without losing sophistication.

Interestingly, I don’t feel the same way about Dior Homme Parfum. I understand why many people love it, but to my nose the Intense version feels more attractive, balanced and versatile overall.

It actually reminds me more of the feeling I get from Prada L’Homme Intense: classy, adult, seductive and confident without needing to scream for attention. Maybe Prada is more "clean iris", not so darkly seductive as Dior.

Maybe the problem is that people keep expecting 2011 instead of evaluating what’s actually in the bottle today.

the same reason why Dior Homme Parfum (2024) got so much hate when it initially released; it’s a reformulation by kurkdjian of a beloved dior classic.

of course i agree that evaluating the new formulation for what it is, is paramount. comparing it to the older formulations to form an opinion is also valid. what i don’t necessarily agree with is the general masses’ seemingly exaggerated criticisms of both reformulations, as if it’s a sign of the world coming to an end because kurkdjian had something to do with it.

older fragrances from multiple different brands get reformulated all the time, and it’s no different here. neither reformulation is superior to their predecessors in my opinion either, but they’re not a 1/10 fragrance just because they’re not the same thing as what came before them and because kurkdjian was responsible for it.

side note: kurkdjian has actually been involved with dior’s fragrances for decades. he had part in perfuming the original trio of La Collection Privée fragrances.

Night pour Homme III was supposed to smell like the classic dior homme intense, then the new came out, which smells even worse than the zara one.

From what I understood is that the 2025 version is exactly the same as the 2011 version so no I don’t understand the hate. Who’s hating on it?

Technically the formulation is different but the scent didn't change AFAIK, unlike Dior Homme Parfum (2014) vs Dior Homme Parfum (2024). This is the first time I've even heard it mentioned.