La Fumee Intense

Initially, I had an impossible time telling Miller Harris La Fumee Intense apart from La Fumee Original. But after wearing both for several days, I completely get it now. La Fumee Intense is very similar to Original with a few distinguishable and rather notable differences: less smokiness, less incense and the addition of lavender & oud. La Fumee Intense opens with an intense, aromatic, green & spicy accord. I assume the opening is cardamom, coriander, lavender and whatever else. Original does not have such an opening. Throughout the wear, Intense evolves as a more floral, creamy developed version of Original, minus the immediate appearance of incense...again, lavender & vanilla (elemi) are present, for certain. So, floral & vanilla notes are very prominent during the Fumee Intense mid-phase as well, lasting about 30 minutes in. The floral addition is actually quite nice. But...the opening notes and floral accords DO tone down the incense that I love in La Fumee Original. The immediate dry-down is where I am split. While MUCH more resinous, thick, syrupy, sweet and powdery than Original, La Fumee Intense loses me a wee-bit with its woody, mid-to-base notes. I guess it's oud (or something similar). And there is the persistence of these thick, creamy, resinous notes. All the notes comprising La Fumee Intense do beautifully blend after an hour (or more) with intermittent wafting of spiciness, mild incense, amber and lavender. The beautiful interplay of spicy floral & woody notes makes La Fumee Intense very appealing. Intense is much more well constructed and definitely more complex than La Fumee Original. Yet, there is something unmistakably beautiful that I crave and adore in the simpler, cleaner and more linear smoky incense dry down of La Fumee Original (versus the dry down of Intense). Seems like the smokiness and incense of La Fumee Original are lost amongst the more varied and complex notes of Intense. La Fumee Intense's longevity, performance, silage are all pretty fierce & favorable, as opposed to the closer-to-the body, shorter wearing performance of Original. If this helps, I find La Fumee Original a somewhat "easier," all day, every day wear; whereas due to its intensity and complexity, I might wear La Fumee Intense during the fall/winter months, at night, out for dinner, on a special occasion, etc. In a very funny way, as yet another reviewer noted, with the addition of spiciness, lavender & oud, La Fumee Intense seems more suitable for men, whereas La Fumee Original seems more suitable for women. And yes, as this reviewer stated, "...the LATE dry down is quite beautiful and definitely worth the wait." Either way, you cannot go wrong! Intense, or Original...I love them both!

Compared to the exquisite original La Fumee, La Fumee Intense, is more incense- and cardamom-focused with less elemni up front. The oud is smooth, high-quality, and likeable. The spices are a bit sharper (not in a bad way) than in LF as there is no sandalwood accord to blend the edges of the composition together. The chamomile and lavender are subtle, but play their part if you pay attention (the former being more noticeable). I hardly detect any patchouli at all. I can't say I like this one better than the original or the others in the series, but it is still a solid, wonderful Miller Harris fragrance. Definitely unisex, maybe leans masculine, though I wear it without hesitation.

Has 2 distinct phases. The opening is sweet, balsamic, comforting, almost boozy and lasts for 1-2h with strong projection. The dry down is smokey + fresh spices and extremely good, emotive and reminds me of Christmas or the very high quality incense I once experienced burning in a wooden Austrian chalet - this stage lies very close to the skin. I purchased on the strength of the dry down but the problem is so much would need to be applied for anyone to experience it they would be choked by the opening. However I thought this was clearly the best out of the La Fumme range.

عطری هست که جابجایی بوی خیلی آهسته ای داره. اول کار رایحه بیشتر بصورت اسپایسی ظاهر میشه. بعد از مدتی بوی فلفل سیچوان قابل تشخیصه و در نهایت هم عود هست که تکمیل کننده عطر هست. بوی هل در این عطر وجود داره؛ ولی خیلی محسوس نیست ----------------------------------------- This perfume have very slow scent changes. Top note is spicy, then after about 1 hour; you can feel pepper like scent and after that oud is appear.

By far my favourite of all the beautiful Miller Harris perfumes. It is smoky, spicy but also has a fresh, herbal, elegant tone, probably because of the lavender and chamomile. The incense note reminds me of the sangkangs (incense burners) in Tibetan temple complexes, and makes me feel calm and grounded. I secured a backup bottle in the Miller Harris website's sale.