Intense Pepper

I believe most people who didn't enjoy this just tried it in the wrong season. Currently my go-to summer daytime fragrance; I could not find many fragrances like this that completely lack any sweetness, making it perfect for when it's warm imo. That dry pepper and extra sour lemon last for ever, but you can also pick up some woods in the background. The lemon note is pretty bold and I understand it might be polarizing to an extent, but it anycase I think it plays so well with anything else that makes it worth it anyway. Where I live you can find this for 50/60 euros for 100ml, which makes it an easy recommendation for me, even though I personally would buy it at higher prices.

I love this scent. I managed to find a Greyland (discontinued) a while back and after getting Intense Pepper today, this certainly has some of the base DNA, but with a citrus twist. I was hoping for a more beastly version of whatever it was going to be, but it does last well with moderate projection. It's not Greyland reborn but for those that missed out, it'll scratch at least 50% of that itch with a subtle lemon overlay. Greyland was a bit warm-spicier, where IP replaced that with pepper. On a side note I've had one person say they didn't like it on me, but I don't wear it for them, so....😎 Suitable for any time or place pretty much.

Starts off with an immediate lemon peel, then conifer notes creep in, then fresh timber and a pinch of oud and spices. Do not be concerned that a citrus scent will make it another overpriced variety of CK- this is not the case, Intense Pepper is an independent and well composed bouquet. Not the "pepperest" perfume in my experience, definitely not "intense" (try Onde Sensuel to get punched by pepper in the face), but still- a beautiful scent that will turn heads. Good layering and good notes selection. Montale has managed to take the right turn to avoid the Generic Fresh Aftershave road. Sexy, masculine, fresh, solid, confident. 10/10

One of the best Woody/Zesty Lemon/Spicey Pepper fragrances I have ever warn. Not that I have warn that many making it's appeal even more to me with its uniqueness. For me it was the Cedar Wood almost Pine like note and Pepper that projects off my skin that ensured I splashed out on this fragrance. The Lemon works well with the Woods but could maybe have been a little more Zesty and Fresh but I'm not complaining, it does work well all the same. Monster level projection and longevity like it should be.... Another stunner from Montale!!!

Pepper and lemon 🍋. Clean fresh with a summer vibe. Longevity is really good, after 8h of sun bath, 3 swimming sessions in the sea and a hot shower, still feeling like a strong skin scent. Definitely a good bang for the buck specially if you go with the tester version. Sillage and projection works only in first hour. Then is more a strong skin scent. In the opening, I get the same vibe as D&G light blue intense only the mandarin is now lemon. And BTW, light blue intense project stronger only it doesn't have the Montale longevity.

A hell of a journey. The opening is fresh spicy (with the peppers) and citrusy resembling a "punch in the face". After half an hour the peppers become more pronounced with the citruses still there. After 2-3 hours, the fresh spicy feeling starts to settle perfectly blended with the base notes. A masterpiece by montale at a very good price for what you get. Longevity is enormous, i still smell all of its components in my skin after 15 hours. Projection is strong as well. 95/100 easily.

A nice blast of pepper accompanied by lemon. The pepper never really disappears but it gets weaker rather fast. What remains throughout the life of this scent is the smell of those licorice fruit bites, specifically the lemon flavoured ones. I don't know what you make of that, but for me it's enough to put a smile on my face. I wouldn't probably wear this in a business meeting, but aside from that I think it's fairly versatile, albeit on the young side.

I got a sample of this with my Montale order and tried a swipe across my chest when I went to bed. It really smells deeply of fresh ground pepper for...about 5 minutes. Then it morphs into something very beautiful...kind of a lemony oud. It kept wafting to my nose as I lay reading. I want a full bottle of this. It was still on me when I awoke the next morning. One swipe! Scent 8/10 Projection 8/10 Fortitude 10/10

Totally digging this one. It has the usually Montale toughness about it but there is somehow a big city vibe that carries on in this juice....very nice mood! It opens with a decent, slightly synthetic lemon and then turns into the peppery/musky combo which lingers on forever. I have attached a nice memory to this scent which carries it on whenever I smell it. Love!

I absolutely LOVE this! I purchased a sample for my husband but he never got it. I bought a full size 6 hours after putting it on. Made me feel exotic in our extreme summer heat. To improve sillage, make sure some gets on clothing rather than skin and it lasts forever. Just a note- it seems to layer amazingly with a non complex rose floral. I like Molinard Rose.

My all time favourute fragrance! Unfortunately after using it for an year i got this terrible allergic reaction and ever since i get anywhere near it i get a rash. Same happens with other Montale fragrances and also some of the Mancera ones i have tested. I miss this scent every day 🥲

It has definitely the DNA of Greyland + Red Vetiver. The warm peppery opening of Greyland together with the spicy freshness of Red Vetiver. The lemon encens, cedarwood and white musks blending together in a very pleasent drydown. Great performance and good value Eau de Parfum.

Have a tester of this. Maybe I'm not smoking the right stuff, but the dry-down of this is pretty darn close to Terre d'Hermès. Seeing the votes be net negative for that suggestion is concerning, lol. Of course, the voting system here being corrupt is nothing unusual...

Lovely. It reminds me of a childhood friend who had a very wealthy, yet very warm and generous family. Their house always smelled similar to this: pink pepper, light citrus.. I'd love to visit them again as an adult, though I've moved far away.

If you happen to own YSL l'homme ULTIME edp (people pleaser mainstream juice but a nice masculine in its own right) you might want to try layering the two at 1:1 ratio. They compliment and amplify each other very nicely! Mark

I received a sample and I immediately fell in love with this fragrance !! I've loved for years Black Aoud and now I think I'll be captivated by Intense pepper! Great!

Оriental, classy and very suitable for women who want to show a position in society. My husband really likes it and uses it sometimes.

Smells like 7up drink. Great for summer but is strong enough for all seasons.... I really like it!

And if you own Boucheron ph, you might want to try layering theses two. First ip ,then bph.

This is pretty nice fresh pepper fragrance with a dash of a lemon!

Outrageously modern, strong interpretation of pepper. Not hard black pepper but more of a sweet pink pepper, powerful, futuristic, ultra sharp citrus and iso e super. This intense combo of cedar, lemon and pink pepper puts me squarely in mind of certain esscentric molecule and Ormonde Jayne creations, and what do they share? That’s right a certain nose and I think this fragrance is the ultimate homage to Geza Schoen, it could so easily be one of his rather than the work of a fictional, globe trotting recluse. (Yeah that doesn’t work!) Also, intense pepper could quite as easily be incense pepper because although I clearly know the difference between these ingredients and beloved resins like olibanum and labdanum, I can’t help but think this is a way of evoking them, with sharp effervescence. Also...I’ve mentioned what I think of the term ‘synthetic’ so I won’t go over that again but people seem to critique Montale for their monster output and synthetic vibes where some would praise other houses for bravery. This stuff is great and I love it but strangely it kinda grates on me after a while too. This is probably due to the longevity and projection which I thought was superb, low lying but strong.

I'm always keen on trying pepper fragrances since it remains an intriguing note that I enjoy much of the time (as in Amouage Honour Man or Le Labo Poivre 23), so this release of Intense Pepper by Montale from almost two years ago remains one I'd wanted to try. Lemon, pink pepper, and black pepper comprise a pungent opening that is slightly fresh but of course a healthy dose of pepper. It's fresh and clean in the opening while becoming a little more daring in the dry down, where amber, synthetic oakmoss, and white musk round out an earthy, musky, ever slightly so sweet vibe, though the black and pink pepper remain the main players. Not Montale's most powerful entry but certainly strong enough to merit its cost, even discounted, at $108 for 100ml on Beautyspin. An enjoyable cold weather entry that works better for men, I imagine, but women can enjoy it too, Intense Pepper is an easy-to-wear pepper winner in my opinion, as pepper fragrances can often be a bit overwhelming but this one does the note justice in a considerate way. 8 out of 10

Nose Note #1130 Hm, I'm apparently the only one that picked up the similarity to Full Incense. The difference is obvious, but the spirit of it is similar. Here you have rather realistic black pepper and a very bright lemon note, sort of like what you have in Lemon Line. Many of Montale and Mancera fragrances do share common traits. The cedar here is similar to Full Incense. I get a similar "freshly cut wood" feeling, but only in the background. So, not bad, but not the most interesting fragrance from Montale. Full Incense is absolutely a winner and if you want just a fresh super lemony scent - then Lemon Line is the thing. But if you just love the black pepper note in any shapes, this one here will become a gemme. Truely interesting pepper+citrus accord. Overall pretty pleasant, sort of an all-year-round scent. I think not all people will like this, there's something slightly challenging about it. 7.2/10

... so this is weird one... I loved the idea of "lemon and pepper, lemon and pepper... that's it.." and that's actually what this is! ... aromatic, definitely nowhere near beast, or strong I would say, it never gets noticed, but I do get wafts of it throughout the day when moving around... ... it would make a wonderful signature scent - can be used for any season - daytime only for me (never a night out) - it's just not that kind of scent... ... it's not overly lemony, not overly peppery - just really nicely blended, safe, unique (I think so, there's nothing out there I've smelled like this) it's just a great office aromatic classy fragrance! Sure there's better, stronger smells out there... but for £60 (a fraction of the price of some designers) I think it's a great addition to anyone's collection... 7/10 fragrance for sure (which is great btw!)

Reminds me of Comme Des Garcon Black Pepper a tiny bit. Which that scent is excellent. It really is. It also has Oud. Montale Intense Pepper is well blended, strong and loads of pepper. The initial spray is the most intense. Let it sit for 20 minutes after spraying. Then the Oud comes in . There are some fresh notes here in the background. If you prefer zero fresh notes then get the Comme Des Garcon Black Pepper. If you want Fresh and Spicy get Montale Intense Pepper. I like both. Intense Pepper is one of my favorite from Montale. The other is Dark Aoud. Intense Pepper because it does have some Fresh Notes can be worn in the Spring or Summer. I am not sure if it can last in the winter.

I’ve smelled this perfume on other people and it genuinely felt too overbearing in the term of pepper. But my father decided to try it out and the fragrance suited him very well, so I would suggest to not buy it blindly without trying out for yourself first, as the peppery smell is very specific and would not suit just anyone. The perfume is more for the colder temperatures and it’s leaning towards the male scents for me. It’s very long-lasting, so a few sprays is just enough to get you through the day and a bottle could last a person quite some time.

Unassuming, like many other fragrances from this brand that I have tried so far. Montale is out with new fragrances every other day, all made of synthetic accords that might be pleasant at times, like this one, if you are into peppery acidic lemony blasts. But that is it, after a half hour it all goes down to some Woody accord that accompanies you until the end, 10 hours later. Price is relevant, if you want to smell a little different than designer fragrances without paying a lot, many Montale's might suit you (together with many Mancera's)

It's an interesting fragrance if not oversprayed. It's very simple: strong lemon and potent pepper with a delicate cedar and oud base. Very powerful and very unique, it won't go unnoticed. The problem is that the same fragrance that smells spicy but refreshing in a playful and alternative way can quickly turn into loud, offensive, and repulsive if oversprayed. Use with caution, very intense and long-lasting. 7/10

Montale finally returned to realize masterpieces! After "Aoud Musk" this is the second perfume that I bought. Scent very original, great longevity and sillage; very interesting blend of pepper that fades after a few moments to give way to an intense burned lemon flavor and floral notes. Later you can perceive musk and amber. Might remember Bergamask by Orto Parisi. A must-have. 10/10

Just received my decant sample and.....While this is not the black pepper-bomb I'm looking for, I may add it to my collection. Starts out "peppery" but eventually turns into a Cedrat-like fragrance, by either Comme des Garcons or L'Occitane. Definitely becomes more citrusy after the dry down. Blackpepper by CdG is still in first for me.

Opening is nice and actually smells like pepper, and then it slowly transforms into some generic headachy annoying mess, but if I stand far enough from it, I'm oddly getting some vetiver in the drydown which is rather nice. Overall, the unpleasant drydown is not worth the nice opening. (Pretty much what Bubbles1964 said.)

I'm wearing Intense Pepper today at work in the office. Current observation from few minutes ago: a colleague asked me if I do anything with ACETONE :-). (3 hours have passed since the application, 4 spritzes of perfume, the colleague was at a distance of approx. 2 m).

Airy, citrusy, not really getting any pepper...or anything other than a pleasant ambery lemon. Definitely leans masculine, but want to try layering w/ fem frag to see...

Strong fragrance, lovely pencil sharpening smell. I'm guessing it's because of the cedarwoood notes ..

It smells high quality niche reminds me of some amouage,great combo of notes,pepper lemon oud

Catchy strong pepper. In the same direction with Eau des Merveilles, which I like more.

Cheap synthetic lemon candy, a photorealistic smell, with a dash of fresh pepper

In summary, Intense Pepper is a fragrance that falls above the average range of mainstream offerings but doesn't quite reach the exceptional quality Montale is known for delivering to its customers. The scent is invigorating and tantalizes the senses, yet it carries a somewhat synthetic undertone. In a world filled with outstanding peppery fragrances like Poivre Piquante by L'Artisan Perfumeur, Poivre 23 from Le Labo, Hermes - Piovre Samarcande, and Lorenzo Villoresi's Piper Nigrum, it struggles to stand out. However, I must acknowledge that the concept of combining pepper with lemon is truly brilliant, though the execution might have fallen a bit short of expectations. Intense Pepper works well for any season, leaning more towards daytime wear rather than evening occasions. There are no age restrictions for its wearers, and despite its minor drawbacks, I still recommend giving it a try as it might resonate differently with individual tastes. My rating: Ok. (4/7)

Ahhh this is a lemony upgrade of my arch nemesis, Escentric 01, which I blind-bought on accident thinking I was buying Molecule 01. I spent several years trying it in different seasons, situations, and moods before I eventually sold it off. This actually works better for me because the grassy/herbal notes of Escentric 01 are replaced by a strong lemon. I have a hard time with picking out oud, as it always seems to smell different, but the woods definitely ramp up about 30 minutes into wear when the pepper starts to settle down and it turns into a pine-sol smell. I wish the pepper lasted longer, as the opening is the best part. Not for me, but interesting.

I was interested in this because of the pepper scent it claimed. On first spray, I got zero lemon, but the pepper was pretty strong and I really liked it - very unique! Sadly the pepper scent only lasted about 5 minutes on my wrists. What was left after that was a nice, warm, woody scent that reminded me of being in wood shop. Really masculine and comforting, but not something I'd wear again (I've kept it though, so there's hope for it still). I wish the pepper scent had lasted!

Started off promising as a lemony pepper scent. Then more pepper, then just pepper then transitioned into something unpleasant with my chemistry. Not a downvote, but rather I’m indifferent.

At first spray I get the pepper, but the lemon takes over from there. It’s nothing groundbreaking. Glad I got the sample instead of the bottle.

Quite pleasant, probably can be classified as a peppery water, but it has some added, perhaps more interesting horizon, an addition, nicer.

#662 in my "Tour De Fragrance" After testing this one out I became curious and did a quick "find" search of the my Excel database of the 662 scents I've tried, owned and reviewed for the word "Intense" in the fragrance name. 32 results. I reviewed my notes on each. Mostly indifferent performance from the 27 EDPs. Really bad performance, as we generally expect, from the 5 EDTs. I became suspicious. As a former marketing guy I imagine a familiar conference room scene. A bunch of marketing guys in dress shirts and ties in the conference room with the product manager, passing around this fragrance, all with confused looks on their face as they smell it, and it finally gets to the Director of Marketing: Director of Marketing: "You do realize this isn't as potent as what we normally get from you. Final version?" Consumer Products Manager: "Well yeah, and we're under the gun to start production by Wednesday." Director of Marketing (to his lackeys): "What do you think guys?" Lackey #1: We could call it "Gentle" something or other." Lackey #2: "And how's that working out for Reyanne Tradition? "Gentle Elsatys" has been on the market over a year now and it hasn't even made it into Fragrantica's database." Lackey #3: "Well, we could do what we always do when product sends us over a weak one." Marketing Team (in unison): "INTENSE!" This is NOT intense. The name is an irony, not a descriptor. Is it even peppery? For about five minutes. Not at all what I'm used to from Montale. I own 13 Montales. This won't be number 14.

Oh, dear, This does not work on me. Very intense pepper opening, lasting an hour or so, then turns bad. Real bad, like an ill maintained musty produce department in a neglected grocery store. This is the exact smell this turns into on my skin- the oozing juice of spoiled celery mixed with cheap gin and a dash of stale white pepper. No thanks.

i like good peppery frags like lalique white ,spice n wood but this is weak one. Half hour later becomes skin scent. Opens up salty lemony and peppery. Not bad. But not enough for that money. like the dry down little bit

I've just used up a 2 ml sample, an instant scrubber for me, thanks to this frag I've understood I can't stand any pepper as a main note. Lemon does not save this nasty concoction.

Had very high hopes for this one. Starts peppery but quickly it devolves into celaskon vitamin tablets.

Katasztrófa az illat. Vakon ne is vedd meg.

It’s horrible. It smells like strong freshly ground pepper but it’s a very generic peppery note nothing interesting and not at all likable. The oud is slightly noticeable but the lemon is almost unnoticeable