Gucci Intense Oud
Gucci (2016)

Cautiously thumbs up! At first spray, I was totally turned off by this bitter leathery oily frankincense smoke bomb. The intensity was overwhelming. But if I spread the spray out over skin, with a gentle and more subtle touch the aroma comes out as a nice masculine dark oud leather in a similar style to Armani Prive Oud Royal or Perris Monte Carlo Oud Black. Applied all in one spot and the fragrance goes nuclear and begins a dangerous meltdown into toxic petro midnight that is not all that enjoyable. Other than this one caution, Intense Oud from Gucci is very enjoyable and worthwhile if you don't already have a bottle of this or that well used formula somewhere in your arsenal. Nice variety, and totally unexpected from Gucci!

Besides the slight fruit note, if someone told you this was an Amouage fragrance, you would probably believe them. One of the best in the Gucci house IMO. GO EASY ON THE SPRAYS. This one is strong and will last the whole day and more. A nice smokey frankincense combined with woods and amber note in there somewhere, you won't have a problem pressing the ORDER NOW button on your device! Got quite a few compliments wearing this gem. Did I mention "GO EASY ON THE SPRAYS?" 8.5/10

Leather, oud and a fruity drink in the opening. Later, the sweetness is gone, leaving a dry, spicy, smokey oud that seems to have notes of cumin. It's much better in the air than close up on skin. It gets very bitter the closer you get to it, so probably not a great cuddle scent. Into the 9th or 10th hour (no joke) I start to get some really nice hints of the ambergris in the air, but not on skin.

It does resemble Black Afghano, just not as beastly, so give it a try if you enjoy that scent.

Performance is impressive with big, persistent projection with only a few sprays.

Very enthusiastic thumbs up for Gucci Intense Oud EdP!

From the very first spray, GIO is strong and woody (reminiscent of cedar and sandalwood), with a deep and richly layered character. Spicy notes touch and permeate this gorgeous scent, with dry, smoky smoldering incense accenting the ambery oud that is very noticeable (but not excessively so). Ambergris adds a slightly animalic twist to GIO that points to well-crafted, thoughtful nature of this oud-based EdP. Leather is quite subtle, neither taking away from nor augmenting the fragrance appreciably.

GIO is a complex, well-made, mature classic oud experience that immediately earned a compliment when I tried my sample. The sillage is quite ample without needing to overapply the EdP. I highly recommend trying this one out and even to add this to the collection of serious oud-lovers out there. Next to my bottles of Versace's Oud Noir EdP and Armani's Eau de Nuit Oud AND Prive Oud Royal, Gucci Intense Oud EdP will become a proud part of my collection.

A nice fragrance, the oud is synthetic and smells exactly like the oud in other low cost fragrances like Acqua Di Parma et. al. Nonetheless, it still smells great and I have had many compliments wearing this. Longevity and sillage are excellent.

Just lovely. I tested this a few weeks ago. This is oud done well. Powerful stuff but smooth at the same time. I get oud, leather, incense and fruity smoke. I shall be making a purchase very soon!

Gucci Intense Oud is a good release, a designer-priced (especially on the grey market) oud/incense offering with niche quality.

Leather is listed in the mix but I don't get it, mainly just the olibanum and oud, with some woody notes as well, perhaps cedar or oak.

Overall, there's not much to it, and its elegance is in that simplicity. If there IS leather, it's hardly all that animalic, but rather a smooth contributor to an otherwise smooth blend of incense and oud.

The closest comparison I can make is to the more refined By Kilian Incense Oud, which is undoubtedly smoother yet substantially more expensive at retail at ($395 for 50ml) than Gucci Intense Oud's pricing on Notino of $90 for 90ml.

While it's not all that daring or complex, I concede that it's unusual to find a fragrance so well put-together at designer pricing.

Performance is very good overall, both in terms of projection and longevity.

Not one I'd necessarily buy since I own By Kilian Incense Oud, but one I'd surely consider.

8 out of 10

if you are looking for good eastern oud, you'll be disappointed. it has oud in it but that has been neutralized by the dominant amber. so you get oud sitting snugly in the back seat while amber is the main driver. excellent silage and longevity. don't go heavy with this or you'll choke people out

Just tried it and I get a bunch of frankincense-oud with leather and spices. I think it's really nice and actually prefer it to Versace Oud Noir. I think the Versace is too soapy, and this is a bit darker but not heavy. Initial impression is very good, I could see wearing this often. It is different from most, it has a slight warmth from the spices, and it is well blended. I am getting great sillage, fairly strong at arms length, but just lovely. I am so pleased with this. It has a nice oud, which reminds of the oud in Fan di Fendi Assoluto, but without the sometimes overly intense cardamom. While I appreciate input and opinions, I am very glad I blind bought this, despite suggestions to the contrary. It may not be groundbreaking, but it is pleasant, a bit mysterious, and different. I don't know much about synthetics, but it smells nice, thats all I know, or care about.

Also, contrary to most fragrances I love, this one actually lasts a long time on my skin. I put one spray on each arm and one under my shirt around 10pm last night, and after sleeping through the night, I can still smell it around 9am. That's pretty impressive for me.

Initial impressions

Scent - 9.5
Sillage - 8.5
Longevity- 9
Bottle - 9.5 - that doorknocker cap is so damn pleasing

Will fit nicely in my top 3 with Montale Greyland and Bentley Absolute.

I'm writing this review one week after first sampling Gucci Intense Oud, and having just sprayed my sample again on a clean cotton t-shirt to see if there's any difference from my initial opinion.

So second time around... On opening I still get a nice rich intense sweet fruity / warm spicy (drunk?) vibe which I really like, which was there first time. I now get the incense and amber a bit more too ... but there's still something bad lurking which was there first time around... within a few minutes I detect maybe a (burned/musty) nutty note which as time goes by does its best to take over the sweet part of the scent. A bit like Jekyll and Hyde lol. This bad note initially destroyed the fragrance for me*, but on second sampling I'm thinking maybe this is the oud/ambergris note/s and I'm not detecting it as strongly as I did initially. But saying that, it's still off putting to me and hour into the second sampling this bad note has unfortunately taken over again and destroyed the sweet part of the fragrance.

Longevity is annoyingly good. I could still detect it three days later on the t-shirt I initially spayed onto, albeit a lot less intense (say something on the lines of 30%Jekyll/70%Hyde). The one spray I put on my arm which I had to wash off within 10 minutes, I could still detect several hours later. I imagine several sprays of this on the skin would last well over ten hours.

Silage is ridiculously huge too. That t-shirt I applied it to ealier, I can detect it over 30 feet away. The scent isn't on me but as I walk through my house it follows me. If you are wearing this, everyone will smell it, no doubt about that!

Another angle to consider maybe is temperature*. My initial sampling was on a very hot day, +30deg C. It was hot and clammy. Its evening now and I think the cooler weather is taming this fragrance somewhat (whereas in heat all the notes come out too quickly), so maybe it would make a good winter fragrance like TF Amber Absolute is often attributed to being? I'll definitely keep my sample to test again once winter is in full swing.

In closing, I'm calling this fragrance an 'olfactory enigma'. I think the 'Intense' tag Gucci have given it is spot on and it's that intensity that quite a few people may not understand initially, I know I didn't. Maybe it will grow on me as several other fragrances have done in the past (the most extreme case of olfactory overload I can think of is Penhaligons LP no9). If you're the type of person who doesn't give their nose time to adjust, and I'm talking weeks/months, not minutes, you may want to pass on this one.

I'm rating this neutral only for the, Hyde, note that spoils it for me. If only that note was say 50% less I'd give it two thumbs up.

A mystical woody scent conjures exquisitely refined, exotic luxury. Gucci Intense Oud is a pleasant oud and is not overwhelming as other araian oud perfumes. The scent is strong and yet not want to miss the scent of oud. Oriental subtly fragrant oud wood with its typical character has been here combines incense, leather and amber notes with oilbanum. A rich fragrance full of sensuality without being intrusive.
Dark, warm, spicy, smoky, luxurious, deep, balsamic and masculine.

The precious fragrance opens with oud oriental notes lifted by a oilbanum accord and amber notes as delightfully spiced as it is intriguing. The base is a warm, intense and serious completion with incense, leather and woody notes gives the fragrance its enigmatic and impressive. A great surprise for Gucci lovers. The bottle is artful. This EDP is unisex but in my opinion it is absoloutely masculine. In fact it starts with strong oud and ends incensy, leathery and smoky. Perfect for winter evenings. Lovely but nothing special.