Prada Amber pour Homme Intense
Prada (2011)

This is an odd flanker to the original Prada Amber Pour Homme. I guess there is some fundamental relationship between the two, but I don't get it.

The original is a bright, clean, loud, soapy, soapy scent with a slight floral element.
This one is dark, sensual and sort of romantic.

The combination of myrrh and vanilla really set this apart. A break from the usual Prada squeaky clean scents they do so well. It's hardly animalic, but it is more sultry and darker than most of their offerings.

A nice daily combo would be Amber Pour Homme in day; Amber Pour Homme Intense at night.

Really surprised me. Became a fast favorite. A warm and cozy "come a little closer: scent.

I was always a fan of this line, and I loved the subtle smokiness that the incense brought to this intense version, while still maintaining the clean-amber airiness of the original.

This is my first wearing and successful blind buy of Prada Amber Pour Homme Intense, the 2011 flanker to the original 2006 Prada Amber Pour Homme, which I only just tried for the first time last week and loved, and Intense is similarly very nice. Whereas the original is more of a soapy fresh amber, Intense is slightly spicier, albeit still fresh, but less soapy.

Intense's note listing is relatively straightforward: bergamot, myrrh, vanilla, patchouli, amber. I frankly get a bit of the champagne fresh spicy cologne vibe of YSL Rive Gauche with some of the darkness of Armani Attitude, and I sense some lavender without it being there, though perhaps I'm just smelling the bergamot and patchouli. Like the original, it's not an amber fragrance in the sense that it's especially sweet or thick or animalic, but has an amber base with some other additives. Intense has a good balance of resins quirks–namely, some spice and some smoke–with just a hint of sweetness, to complement the fresh and green vibe of the bergamot and patchouli.

Like the original, Intense is very reasonably priced on the secondary market, about $65 for 100ml on FragranceNet, and it performs decently well, though the original perhaps performs better, despite the greater concentration of Intense (EDP, to the original's EDT).

Overall, I'd say that I prefer the original but enjoy the Intense as a darker, slightly spicier variation.

7 out of 10

Prada Amber pour Homme Intense (2011) is an odd "limited edition" flanker to the original Prada Amber pour Homme (2006), as it is a fragrance that doesn't fit the usual soapy/clean office-friendly profile the house likes to follow with its masculine releases. Instead, we see a borderline animalic vibe and a true amber note saddled with honeyed incense in the fragrance, with little to no iris note to be found. This dark and seductive turn is personified by a dark black version of the original Prada Amber pour Homme bottle, adorned with the same chrome metal label and offset sprayer. I guess perfumer Daniela Andrier really wanted a black sheep in the family, something she would similarly do with the Prada Luna Rossa (2012) range when introducing Prada Luna Rossa Black (2018), except that fragrance has none of the risqué this one does. I sorta wish I could say more, but Prada Amber pour Homme Intense is rather cut and dry despite being an attempt to break the mold, and is still well within the "buttoned up and structured" realm of the Prada masculine vibe, just with a slight pimp limp in its step.

The big deal about Amber pour Homme Intense, the thing that has all the vintage and niche heads up in a roar over the stuff, is the honeyed incense opening. The opening is very anachronistic (as is most of the scent), with bergamot, some spices, and a styrax feel right away. Myrrh or some aromachemical approximation of it enters in the heart, with the sweet benzoin side of styrax adding roundness and chypre-feel. Further roundness with vanilla also comes into play, sitting on a base of patchouli, orris, musk, tonka, and the traditional amber note almost comically missing from the original (which relied more on labdanum under the glorious hotel soap heart). Even as a spicy, musky, ambery oriental with a slight virile streak, Amber pour Homme Intense feels clinical and a tad humorless, like a scientist trying to simulate sexiness with an algorithm rather than evoking a feeling. Wear time is about average and projection is close to skin after the first 30 minutes, with best use being fall through spring in evening situations. You could rock this at an office after-party or on a casual Friday scenario, because it performs conservatively.

I put the words "limited edition" in quotes because here is a scent that has always been just a bit more expensive than the original Prada Amber pour Homme, always a bit harder to find, always declared discontinued (it may very well be), which causes a temporary "Tulip Mania" price spike on eBay that eventually settles back down to a few clams higher than when it started. Make no mistakes, this stuff is getting more expensive over time, but almost in a tidal fashion, with fits and starts of gouging, then lowering down to a bit higher than the previous low price. This makes me believe there is a bit of artificial scarcity maybe on Prada's part, or just subsequent waves of buyers remorse then refunds after every availability scare comes and goes. Compared to Prada Luna Rossa Black, Amber pour Homme Intense is a Prada masculine oriental actually worth investigating, but it's still tame by the standards of those who enjoy more full-bodied examples of the genre. I like the "office chic" of Prada masculines, but when they veer outside it, mixed results occur. Worth sniffing if you find a deal, but only then. Thumbs up.

The opening is powdery patchouli and feels feminine. The drydown is more powdery patchouli but just feels dated, not feminine. I cannot come up with an occasion for this scent but it is too heavy for warmer days, so cooler days should work better.

Projection is decent but longevity is good, lasting 7-8 hours.

A little brutal at the start - a very heady and sweet incense-honey smell. An hour in it settles into a lovely soapy and powdery faint vanilla incense that smells faintly warm and clean.

It's nice but it doesn't seem to have an obviously right season, time or occasion. It's not refreshing enough for summer. It's not sweet enough and too soapy to be sexy for evenings. Warm clean and spicy would be perfect for winter casual but it's not spicy. And the powdery amber-vanilla doesn't really work in the formal office space for me. So it ends up as nice but sort of pointless.