I first sampled Montale's Cafe Intense years ago when I was initially getting into fragrance and perfumes. I guess I was feeling a little nostalgic for that sample a kind MUA-er sent me way back when! My recollection was that it was meant to be a coffee-forward scent, but...it is not. My partner observed that it smells like a teenage girl who typically wore a lot of candied, sugary scents and who wanted to level up with fancy florals and didn't quite hit the mark. She tried, I guess, was his conclusion. My thoughts are more specific. This is a cloying fruity-floral that smells exactly like Rose Jam from LUSH, which I bitterly loathe because that smells just like those gaggy sweet Jolly Ranchers hard candies that all the popular kids were always eating in 6th grade. Which in turn makes me think of the MOST popular girl, we'll call her Mary Lesa H., who broke off and ATE part of my sugar crystal science project that year. I hate science projects and I have never forgiven Mary Lesa H., and this awful perfume can go straight to hell.
Okay so this is the first Montale review I've posted on Fragrantica and despite having tried many of them I decided to start with this one. My initial reaction to this fragrance having no prior knowledge about notes was maybe a coffee vibe due to the name? I think many people assumed this and were maybe disappointed by the lack of coffee. Anyway my initial thoughts were... Intense floral opening...ROSE!!!...maybe something calming too ...like jasmine? oh then a little touch of the soft background vanilla... then after a few minutes musky/amber. When this settles I do get a very faint coffee note and I'm not just imagining it....it's there! At first it was a little tiny bit like cacao or chocolate (more specifically white chocolate.) but as it dries down it's like very milky, vanillary coffee. The drydown is really very nice and the vanilla comes to the forefront as the rose calms down, when you get a faint waft of it there's barely any rose at all. However, go in close and sniff your skin and the rose remains, a nice little trick it plays with my chemistry. The deep dry down is a really nice Vanilla & Amber. Do you know what? I chose this fragrance to talk about first as it really interested me I couldn't stop sniffing my arm and trying to make up my mind on it. I'm not mad on rose centric fragrances for men despite having a few myself and seemingly recent reviews have been full of roses! This is a great fragrance for delivering on depth and putting interesting notes together that can be easily deciphered. I'm not normally a fan of what I would consider a light(as apposed to dark) rose/vanilla/musk/amber scent but I feel inclined to give this one the benefit of the doubt as I like the smell. This being said I won't be adding it to my collection.
Just to revise my review below....I love this and will be adding it to my collection. Intense cafe takes a few wears but it definitely grows in stature. It taps into my gurgling inner child that loves the sweet and comforting, gourmand softness of this scent. The Oud is really nice and increasingly evident. This is one of ten Montale's I've tried and only four I've reviewed and I have to say I wasn't that impressed with the house to begin with, Pierre Montale has a reputation which proceeds him and I'm starting to think it's fully justified. When I actually think about it the four I've worn extensively have all been excellent if not a little crazy like Oud cuir d'arabie and Black aoud. Intense cafe is a smooth rose/Oud scent which is very cosy and which I'm totally in love with now...I'm wearing it today and I couldn't be happier.
