Men's grooming

Fragrance Of The Week: Jimmy Choo Man Intense

We know what you’re thinking. Why the hell is a designer brand best known for crystal-embellished stilettos releasing a scent for men? Right?

Well, because that’s how designer fashion works these days. Well, that and the fact that – despite the prevalence of Jimmy Choo’s red carpet bling for women – the brand also does a good trade in men’s footwear, particularly statement-making stuff like tasselled slippers and crocodile embossed leather sneakers. So Man Intense, the flanker to 2014’s original Jimmy Choo Man, isn’t way out of left field.

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In fact, as fragrances from luxury fashion brands go, Man Intense is one of the scant few that seems to reinforce what its namesake brand stands for as a whole: tinted windows, flickering flashbulbs, A-list parties, general opulence. All sounds terribly glamorous, doesn’t it?

And Man Intense is – in its thick, syrupy, fougère-y sweetness – by all accounts glamorous. But it’s not, as the brand says it is, particularly “masculine”. Or at least it’s not masculine in the same way as a deep, woody, leathery cologne is: it opens with a generous powder puff of lavender, not the bracing rush of bergamot or the hair-stripping clout of rum.

Which, if seducing the fairer sex is your top priority, maybe isn’t a bad thing. Man Intense is in many ways a women’s fragrance with a bit of huskiness to it: lavender, tonka bean and patchouli spiked with artemisia’s herbiness and the punch of black pepper. Overall its scent is smooth, sweet and intoxicating – the intoxicating part registering as a bewitchingly pleasant waft, or a stifling fug, depending on personal preference.

If you’re in your late teens or twenties, and looking for something that reads more glam rock frontman than old-school gentleman, Man Intense might just be for you.

Just spritz moderately. (And be prepared for some flak from your mates.)

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