Note Pyramid
Boss Bottled Elixir
Frankincense is a strange material to find in a mass market men's fragrance, and it is the first thing that happens in Hugo Boss Boss Bottled Elixir Eau de Parfum Intense 100ml.
It smells of cool resin and dry smoke, with a lemony brightness at the very top that most people do not expect, and it carries a faintly solemn quality, the smell of a cold stone building. Cardamom arrives with it, green and camphorous, adding a sharp aromatic bite that keeps the resin from feeling heavy. Together they make an opening that is more austere than anything else in the Bottled range.
The middle brings vetiver and patchouli, which is where the fragrance earns its name. Vetiver is dry, rooty and bitter, patchouli is dark, earthy and slightly damp, and the pair of them sit under the resin and deepen it rather than changing direction. Cedarwood closes the composition out, clean and sharp, lending structure to what is otherwise quite a dense arrangement.
Five materials, used with restraint, and it is a quieter fragrance than its billing suggests. The intense in the name refers to concentration rather than volume, so this is a scent with eight or nine hours in it that stays reasonably close to the body after the first hour. That combination is genuinely useful, because it means you can wear something this serious to an office.
Released in 2023. Cold weather and evenings are where it belongs, and it reads male, formal and a little severe. Hugo Boss, the German tailoring house that started in a Metzingen workshop in 1924 and still operates from the town, has licensed its fragrances out since 1984.
Please note: images are a guide only. Packaging and bottle design may occasionally differ from those shown due to manufacturer updates or promotions.
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