Creed Bois du Portugal (1987) vs Nicolai New York Intense (2014)

[Peter The Fragrance Lover]

Hey everyone,

I'm curious as to what your preferences are regarding these two iconic men's fragrances, that are quite frequently compared to each other.
Do I know what they both smell like? Absolutely.
Do I have them both in my collection? Yes.
Do I love them both? Again - yes.
Do I have a preference for one over the other? I'm not so sure. They both have their pros and cons - "pros" and "cons" according to my subjective opinion of course.

Creed Bois du Portugal:

Creed Bois du Portugal is an utterly green, woodsy citrus fragrance with a strong lavender note. I love it!
Pros: Ultra masculine, utterly green woodsy fragrance, with strong citrus and lavender notes. Smells "dated" to some people, but if you ask me, it smells classic, classy, sophisticated, refined, gentlemanly, and utterly timeless. It has a slight "James Bond vibe" to me. Longevity is in all fairness quite good. It's probably between 7-12 hours on my skin - depending on the day.
Cons: It's a fairly simple or non complex fragrance, sillage and projection are quite strong the first hour, but Bois du Portugal remains a skin scent most of its timespan.

Nicolai New York Intense:

Nicolai New York Intense is a refined and polished citrus-woodsy scent with a vanilla dustiness that reminds me of Guerlain Habit Rouge EDT. I also love it!
Pros: If that's even possible, it might even be more refined, polished, and elegant than Creed Bois du Portugal. New York Intense is certainly more complex, and contains in my opinion, elements from Creed Bois du Portugal, Lalique Pour Homme Lion, Floris No 89 and Guerlain Habit Rouge EDT. The complexity of New York Intense means I recognize many familiar scents that have, on purpose or not, been brought together into one glorious fragrance. New York Intense is quite manly, but not overly so (everything is relative of course). To my nose, it's a hybrid of chypre and fougere fragrances, and unlike Bois du Portugal, the emphasis here is on the citrus and the oakmoss. I'd call it a citrusy-woodsy scent. Longevity is excellent; I probably get a minimum of 10 hours, if not longer. Sillage and projection are quite strong for the first hour. New York Intense has a strong scent that lasts for several hours.
Cons: Nicolai New York Intense has a level of complexity that Bois du Portugal simply doesn't have, but it lacks the ultra-masculine, butch, and deeply green woodsy scent profile of Bois du Portugal.

I'm not so sure I have a preference in this case since I love them both for very different reasons.
I do detect some similarity between the two, but I wouldn't personally say they are "identical" or "almost identical."

But, let's forget for a moment what I think. I want to know what you guys think.
Do you have a preference?

Which do you guys prefer and why? Creed Bois du Portugal or Nicolai New York Intense?

/Peter The Fragrance Lover

Please watch the very entertaining comparison review by Mr Smelly1977 at Youtube:

 

[Hakeem Olajuwon]

Love them both. I find the Creed less easy to wear, less sweet, and more old-fashioned (though New York is also a little old-fashioned).

The Creed's top-notes, while distinguished in their own way, are less appealing to me, but I love the beautiful woods, vetiver and ambergris which start to emerge after an hour or so. I wore BdP on my wedding day. It was 41 degrees celcius and I still remember nervously waiting in the dressing room, sweating while my cousin tried to make small talk, while I was enveloped in its smell.

I like New York even more. It's more complex. It's one of those perfumes I can never quite put my finger on - it is constantly shifting and I get a slightly different experience every time. It is a joy to wear from start to finish.

 

[hednic]

Own both and equally love them.

 

[StylinLA]

Own both. If you like one, you'll pretty much like the other.

I personally don't find them all that similar. The opening notes of the original New York smelled exactly like the opening notes of Bois du Portugal and I think that's what started this whole "they smell alike" stuff. New York Intense opening not as close.

I find Bois du Portugal a bit simpler; New York Intense more complex.

Gun to my head can only have one- I go Bois du Portugal.

But there is no gun, so I have and enjoy both. As noted, I don't find them to be as "smell alike" as some people. But they have the same sort of elegant, manly personality.

 

[Bangkok Hound]

I still don't get why these two are compared to each other so often. I blind-bought NYI because of these comparisons and was quite disappointed because it really smells nothing like Bois du Portugal. They're both old-school style scents, but so are hundreds of others.

Having said that, I have grown to love NYI, but not nearly as much as Bois du Portugal.

 

[deltasun]

I oversprayed my NYI once and got an overdose. Had to sell my bottle a few weeks later. BDP is always an enjoyable wear for me, and so my clear preference between the two. But I agree, I don't get much similarity between the two.

 

[StylinLA]

I still don't get why these two are compared to each other so often. I blind-bought NYI because of these comparisons and was quite disappointed because it really smells nothing like Bois du Portugal. They're both old-school style scents, but so are hundreds of others.

Having said that, I have grown to love NYI, but not nearly as much as Bois du Portugal.

I don't want to go off on a rant here, but here's my two cents.

The original Nicolai scent was just called New York. I had a bottle around 2010 or so. The opening blast of New York smelled a lot like Bois du Portugal. A LOT. In the full wearing, they were slightly similar but not exact. I found original New York way too light. I believe it got purged of oakmoss by IFRA.

My theory is that many of these "smells just like" remarks are often fueled by people who give things a quick sniff in a store, are reminded of another scent for 20 seconds and forever in their mind the scent they just sampled is "just like X."
"Y is just like X" gets into the fragosphere and becomes canon. If everybody is saying it, it must be true.

For about 20 seconds, the opening of Reflection Man has a bit of a resemblance to Le Male. Full wearing, not so similar.
Nevertheless, Reflection is "just like Le Male" in some comments.

Both BdP and NYI are kind of stately, manly scents. Very little in their notes profiles are similar. I can see where you (or others) expecting something "just like Bois du Portugal" would be puzzled.

But if you ever get an in store chance to sample the original New York, one quick spritz on a card will probably make you laugh if you're a BdP fan. I'm not some hyper sensitive nose, but the opening blast was quite, quite similar to Bois du Portugal.

In fairness, maybe to some people's noses there is some sort of similarity. But I sure don't get it.

 

[Man Of The World]

Bois Du Portugal for me. Probably my all time favorite. I respect NYI and they are similar but I sold it as it never really clicked for me.

 

[freewheelingvagabond]

New York Intense for me. On the same level as Patou pour Homme, vintage Heritage EdT etc. Bois du Portugal, while very nice, clearly a rung below.

 

[thrilledchilled]

New York Intense for me. On the same level as Patou pour Homme, vintage Heritage EdT etc. Bois du Portugal, while very nice, clearly a rung below.

This is my read as well. BdP is nice, but NYI is much, much bigger and more interesting to my nose.

 

[Kandad]

NYI, but not by a lot.

 

[ihxb01]

Merely to add a tiny bit of information to the discussion.
Michael Edvards puts NY and NYI in the woody ambers category. But according to him, BdP is a chypre/mossy woods. Those categories are not far from each other on his fragrance wheel just not the same obviously and none of the fragrances is a fougere.

 

[L'Homme Blanc Individuel]

My opinion:

New York Intense makes more of a statement.

Bois Du Portugal is more of an elegant easy wear.

New York Intense says "I am a man who has found success."

Bois Du Portugal doesn't say a word, because it doesn't need to.

Both are excellent, each for different reasons even though both share a similar style. My pick is Royal Oud, which is like Bois Du Portugal made for a modern rather than classic style. But if you're going for a classic style, and you're choosing between these two, I would ask you this: Do you want to make a statement, or would you rather play it cool in an understated way? There is no wrong answer. It's a matter of figuring out which suits your personality.

 

[sjg3839]

I prefer New York Intense.

 

[manicboy]

Smelled BdP years ago and it reminded me of NY.

 

[StylinLA]

Smelled BdP years ago and it reminded me of NY.

Just curious... smelled it as in a brief in store test or wore it all day long?

 

[Scentologist]

I'd have to revisit both as it has been ages since I've had my nose on them. They are both great in what they are. They weren't my cup of tea back then, but I'd be interested in retesting to see if that has changed.

 

[Franco65]

Own both and equally love them.

this

 

[ShawnS]

Creed Bois Du Portugal will always be the model formal men’s fragrance.

 

[Pippin06]

Having only experience NYI, I am quite content with it due to the prohibitive cost (for me) of Bois.