Infinite Intense

I decided to write a review for this fragrance, after starting to wear it more often again, as I realised I love it for what it is. I’ve had my current bottle since spring 2017, have not worn it all through 2019 and just tried it again the last couple of days, when the weather was a bit colder outside. This is a great scent for a spring day, but not a hot one. I would attribute this to the 5-20°C range in spring and fall, when the mornings are cold and damp, but during the day the sun announces the coming (or dwindling) of summer time. This fragrance sort of captures this vibe to me. It will be too strong and possibly cloying due to the florals on a hot day and the fresh green attitude it brings will not really fit winter time as well. Though in the mid I pick up a slight pine note coming in, which might even fit Christmas time a bit, as long as it is a typical central European rainy Christmas around 8°C and has the Christmas tree as a friend hanging around in the house to keep it company... Intense is certainly key here for sure though, at least in the opening. Spices with Pepper being the dominant one and floral notes force their way into your sinuses, opening them up with a punch and a nice undertone of sweet lavender. A lot of people say it shares similarities with Terre d’Hermes, but certainly not in the opening (I’ll get back to this in the mid and dry down section though). But regarding the opening, it is true that ultimately both fall into the “green scent”, outdoorsy feel, walking through damp spring meadows kind of category, but they both have their own unique character to them. Hermes has this “dirty/earthy” orange scent in the opening and Infinite Intense replaces that with spices and sweet florals. The vetiver is noticeable and with that blast of pepper, combined with the sweet florals the opening feels very different from Hermes. It feels more masculine though a bit sweeter than Hermes, not as fresh due to the lack of a distinct citrus note. The way Infinite Intense behaves in the opening is as if it wants to let you know that this is a man’s scent, right from the start. No modern, mass appealing unisex stuff going on here! It feels well balanced in the opening and interestingly different, even providing a slight boozy note to me. With all the scents combined and noticeable it almost smells like a Gin with several added botanicals, but in a very good way. I enjoy the opening a lot. Going into the mid after about an hour/hour-and-a-half it feels like I am taking a hike and am transitioning from the flower covered fields/meadows into the woods. The woody note of cedar and the resins start coming into play, while the florals and spices take a step back, but they are still present, just not as forceful as they were in the opening. There is a stronger sweetness, certainly due to the listed elemi resin, kicking in as well now. And here it starts to get a bit closer to Terre d’Hermes as well due to the woody notes, but smelling both side-by-side, there is still enough of a difference to justify having this in your collection next to Hermes. I almost do not like the mid, because the woodsy scent with a hint of pine smells a bit like a certain Nivea men’s deodorant I had for a while, but the underlying sweetness and the remaining spices save it and elevate it way beyond a cheap deodorant. The dry down reveals more and more of the woody notes and due to them becoming rather dry in their feel it almost seems like there is a very faint smoky note in there as well, but it might just be me. It settles quite similar to Terre d’Hermes with the previous notes fading out until it becomes a musky woody skin scent. Very nice and warm indeed. The overall projection is moderate. It blasts out of its cage, a rather nice-looking bottle, like a hungry lion though, but settles down quickly (30-45 Minutes) and then leaves a subtle but nice trail. Longevity is above average. I easily get 8 hours off it and even when I work out and sweat in the evening or take a shower I can smell it again when the skin gets wet, which is something I have come accustomed to with the Bentley Intense fragrances though, so no surprise here. This scent, just like Hermes can be a bit off-putting to some people. While fragrance enthusiast usually praise Hermes and Infinite as being unique and well made, people who are not accustomed to a lot of different fragrances or prefer mass appealing ones might find them to be too “earthy/dirty”. I once got the comment: “Did you climb a tree this morning? You smell like the woods”. But even then, it is not truly negative, more like people noticing you are wearing something different to the norm and that can be beneficial as well, as it lets you stand out. Overall the positive reactions are more frequent than negative ones, because it is different, but you should expect negative/surprised ones as well. But overall, they can easily be worn casually or at work, as their projection is not too strong, so you will not really offend people with them. So, is it worth buying this over Terre d’Hermes? No, it is not, but it is actually worth buying both of them together! They have enough differences to one another to be unique scents standing on their own two feet. If I could have just one, I would go for Terre d’Hermes though to be honest, even though it will twice the price on average. The dirty Orange note in Hermes makes it a bit more modern to me although it is 10 years older in terms of year of release, while still being unique enough not to be confused with any other “spring freshy”. Bentley Infinite Intense feels a bit more “old school”. Still unique and very nice, but for a more mature audience (30+), while I think Terre d’Hermes can be pulled off by a 22yo with a leather jacket as long as he is not acting too childishly, just as well as a 50yo with a suit. If you can only afford one, get Hermes. If you can afford both, get both! On a side note: I personally really like what the perfumer Nathalie Lorson is doing for the Bentley brand. Whether it is Bentley for Men Intense, Momentum Intense or this one, they all are very masculine, boozy, long-lasting and rather unique “cheapies”, with good projection as well, essentially being in the top tier with much more expensive designer fragrances. She really captures what comes to mind, when thinking about Bentley. You would think expensive luxury cars for a more mature audience, that still wants to be flashy though, as a Bentley surely isn’t subtle like a BMW 7 or Mercedes S-Class would be (The blue fragrances of the luxury car world). But you also think of them smoking expensive cigars, nipping on expensive booze, like 30yo scotch and wearing expensive tailored suits, like a whiff of a time slowly disappearing from modern society as it is deemed misogynistic and outdated. Bentley fragrances often offer excellent quality and a certain uniqueness (always set into relation to what they cost), that you would usually attribute more toward niche perfumeries. And considering the price they often are just plain awesome, but that said the Bentley fragrances are distributed by Lalique and they also are known for creating very unique and affordable gems more often than not. Like the Encre Noire line that as it happens was also designed by Nathalie Lorson!

I think I largely agree with discardedandroid. I can't fully liken this to any other fragrance. I suppose it does make sense that it's by the same nose as Encre Noire à l'Extrême, though. Anyway, I don't see much similarity to Terre d'Hermès or even just the earthier side of that. I get the 'car interior' idea but it might have to be a car with one of those green Little Trees Forest Fresh air fresheners hanging off the rear-view mirror. I mean, there is definitely a considerable green/woody component to this, somewhere around the mid. The vetiver must be playing a part in that but I suppose the elemi brings some greenish, semi-citrusy zing too (along with some waxy body, perhaps), and anyway, this is quite textured (aldehydic?) and complex, even if it isn't super refined. It's kind of woody/leathery but also buttery/oily/fatty and a little creamy/soapy. I don't pick out a lot of pepper or nutmeg as such, find this very spicy, or get a whole lot of earth, but this is certainly no freshie either. It has some lift from--aside from the elemi, I suppose--the florals and, partly, the musk, but even then I find the florals to be of medium weight, somewhat powdery/dusty, smooth/buttery/creamy, and barbershop-adjacent. The fragrance leans a long way toward the classically masculine. I would not call it exactly dark or super-ambery (at least in any opulent way) but its emphasis is definitely more on the lower notes, although the opening in particular is quite full-on and therefore not summer-friendly. The musk is not backward in coming forward. I would use this in moderation only, as it absolutely could becoming cloying (especially in heat). I experience this as a kind of brown-grey fragrance--the presentation is on point--with a little compatible greenness thrown in. For me it is mostly autumnal. It probably is more suited to mature tastes but I do not find it especially challenging or dated. I think it's kind of classy, even if there's a certain gruffness to it or something. Conceptually that combination of classiness and gruffness kind of reminds me of the 1974 Givenchy Gentleman, which I also find to be borderline dark (darker than this), predominantly about the lower notes, and leathery (more leathery than this). Edit: it sort of surprises me that neither iris nor orris is listed in the notes for this. Perhaps the florals listed are doing a similar job, but this has what I experience as the kind of snowy-white, powdery effect that is present in Comme des Garçons Zagorsk, where it seems to be due to iris. Here the overall dry-down, which hangs around for ages, has something of a laundry detergent feel to it. Though I don't know whether it would last into the dry-down, I wonder whether there isn't some kind of washing powder-like aldehyde at play here (C-12?).

Well I guess this sums it up. I have been wearing this for a week, that is how addictive the scent and bubble it creates are. I have had a couple of people mention the nice smell but today took the cake. I went in to buy a new Bluetooth speaker, as I approached the counted there were 2 ladies and a man, upon approaching I thought one lady say wow what's that. I wasnt sure if i heard right but I got to the counter I asked for what speaker I was after and the lady was okay I'll get it. Then the other lady says no stay you have to enjoy this some more, then I'm thinking okay damn is it the perfume and sure enough as I think that the second lady says okay what perfume do you have on? I tell her it's a secret they start guessing. . No. . No. . No. . No. The guy comes back we sort the payment then I say we'll do you want to know? By this point the guy was walking away, he swung straight round and yes please man I need to know the ladies giggle and say oh yes we must know. So I show them and of course they've never heard of it. They all load it on their phones and one by one I say yep that's it, that's it etc. I get the receipt start walking off and they all start thanking me. Haha what an experience! So yes this juice is magic stuff, initially I didn't pick up on the Hermes vibe but today I did. To me it's like a hint of Hermes just slightly, with a great and balanced ambergris accord almost Creed like but it's own DNA. For me it has overtaken some of my favorite designer fragrances and even niche. I will forever have this in my collection. I just ordered a bottle of Rush White and hoping it has a Creed Himalaya vibe! I was also be trying all the other Bentleys. It has been a long time since a perfume bas captivated me to reach foe it everytime I go to grab a bottle. Now that's saying so something. A huge love for me, I just can't see this ever offending anyone, any situation you couldn't wear it. It's just that good.

I think I prefer this to the For Men Absolute. They both smell of leather but the Absolute is darker and deeper - like the leather of a boot. Infinite Intense smells sweeter...and familiar. I racked my memory bank of scents to place where I've smelt it before and then it hit me - it smells like the interior of a brand new Audi. It's kinda weird and probably not very helpful if you've never been inside an Audi but that's exactly what it smells like. Every Audi I've been inside of smells like this. I'm kinda impressed they managed to capture that scent and bottle it. I'd say it leans more masculine but if you're a woman addicted to the smell of an Audi interior I think you could rock this. Addendum: This doesn't smell like any Bentley interior I've ever been in nor any other product in the Volkswagen group of companies. Then again, Audi doesn't carry its own line of fragrances and I suppose the Bentley name carries more cache.

Did not know what to expect with this, all the positive reviews gave me hope but I will still very hesitant to blind buy. Last week I pulled the trigger and wow I absolutely love this juice. Beautiful opening and drydown is great. The ambergris in this is balanced and whafts for hours, the bubble around me is very comforting. Perfect for the office, dressed up or casual. Definitely Spring & Fall leaning but still could be pulled off year round. I love the bottle too, it's heavy and does look the part especially with Bentley on the front, you'd expect a nice design! For the price I'll give it a 9/10. Losing half a point on it's slight lack of projection which isn't a bad thing but if you're looking for good projection this isn't it. Another half a point for longevity, does last 5-6hours but not a full work day unfortunately. Well rounded, smooth, Refined and luxurious just like Bentley should be!