BURBERRY
Her Intense

2024

wild strawberry
orange blossom
amber woods

This is a re-release and seemingly altered formulation of the discontinued Her Intense (2019). The presentation has changed slightly and you can tell them apart from the box; the 2024 version is listed as ‘Eau de Parfum Intense’, instead of ‘Intense’.

‘Burberry Her Eau De Parfum Intense is a vibrant gourmand perfume for women. Its bolder scent captures an even more daring and free-spirited character that’s ready for the next adventure. In this latest addition to the Burberry Her family, Her Eau De Parfum Intense amplifies Her’s signature fragrance with fruity notes of wild strawberry and orange blossm, rounded with warm ambery wood. The bottle comes in a deeper shade of lacquered matte pink, representing the intensity and femininity of the fragrance.’ – Influenster

I’m not sure if this is one of the worst fragrances I’ve reviewed or just my worst written review. In defense of Her Intense, I applied it while I was tired and didn’t pay much attention to it. I also wore it alongside Valentino Born In Roma Donna Extradose, which I felt only a tiny bit more positive about, but that was significantly overpowering Her Intense. That being said, this seems to be one of the least interesting fragrances I’ve come across. And after several hours, I practically had nothing to say about it and contemplated skipping out on this review. But here we are.

I have never smelled the original Burberry Her Intense (2019), but I’ve heard a lot of good things online; it seems to be a crowd-favorite, so I figured, there must be something here. However, what I got from this 2024 version is a faint whisper of a sweet, fluffy, fruity cloud. Florals are practically none existent here as far as I picked up on this wear. It could be that I went nose blind to this fragrance quickly as it does feel as synthetic as they come.

I’m aware that to some people, I’m generally harsh, especially when it comes to women’s designer fragrances, but this has to be one of the most generic, soft hair-mist like fragrances I’ve come across even within that genre. And given that this is not a Zara cheapie or very affordable clone brand, Bath and Body Works or Victoria’s Secret mist, but a popular €68 to a 138 fragrance depending on the size, with ‘intense’ in its name, I figure some scrutiny is in order.

What little scent I pick up from it is mostly ‘marshmallowy’ sweet with a fruity tinge. Luckily (and partially due to it being so subtle), it’s not too cloying. It’s not a negative experience in that sense. It actually starts reminding me of a more fruity, berry-esque ambroxan at one point. It feels like wearing one of those ‘moleculair’, single-ingredient fragrances, but somehow misses the mystique or ‘it wears nicers on the skin’ vibe from a Escentric Molecules ambroxan or Juliette Has a Gun Not A Perfume cetalox etc. It reminded me in a way of the experience I recently had with Sol de Janeiro Carioca Crush, but that had a nicer fruitiness, a more mature sweetness and is a fraction of the price.

Regardless of it being pleasant enough to wear, it begs the question, why a release like this needs to exist? And without having smelled the other Burberry Her fragrances, I can hardly imagine this Her Intense adding anything of value to the collection.