Bentley Intense’s criminally underrated brother.
The Bentley brand has some surprisingly wonderful fragrances.
I’ve already covered Bentley Intense, which is extremely popular on its own merit as a boozy, beautifully blended powerhouse on a budget.
However, its brother Absolute is largely ignored.
Which is a shame, because it’s fantastic.
Equal, if not better than Intense.
Initial Thoughts
Where Intense is boozy, Absolute is based on woods and smoke.
It’s immediately notable to the nose as dark and powerful.
Something to ward off the cold on an evening.
A dark forest, near a secluded river.
Bentley Intense presents in a bottle shaped identically to its fellow flankers, however this one is dressed in black.
It sells in the same sizing of 100mL, eau de parfum strength, usually priced slightly lower than Intense due to lesser popularity.
The Olfactory Notes
The first spritz of Bentley Absolute reveals a well-blended, wood dominant scent.
Opening notes include a hint of frankincense smoke, a touch of ginger and a sharp splash of pepper.
The heart is a trio of woods; I find cedar to be the dominant accord in the mix, followed closely by a strong sandalwood accord. The heart is completed with a papery accord, cited as papyrus, which gives an added dimension of sharpness to the smoother cedar and sandalwood.
In the base, a smooth amber is combined with a dank moss.
Synthetic oud gives a dark character to the overall blend, creating the finishing touch to the forest olfactory picture.
Ratings
Longevity: 1/1
Bentley Absolute has some serious staying power. Ten to twelve hours.
Projection: .8/1
Notable projection joins the high longevity to create a performance beast.
Blend Quality: 1/1
Given the budget price point of the scent, the blend and its ingredients cannot be faulted.
Presentation: .6/1
The presentation is perhaps the only part where Bentley Intense wins over Absolute.
I’m not a big fan of the jet black everything; it marks easily and shows wear quickly.
I also prefer the ability to see the juice level in the bottle.
Personal Smell Score: 1/1
The scent is wonderful on the nose.
Total score: 4.4/5 A
What Would I Wear This With?
This might be a dark fragrance, presented as the night, but it’s not suited to evening wear.
In the sense of formality, that is.
Its power makes it something of machismo, which gives me the intuition that the scent is best paired with workwear or country inspired outfits.
Buffalo plaids, denim, tweeds, corduroy and so on.
It’s a good accompaniment to Harris Tweed and a Barbour.
Concluding Thoughts
I’d argue that while this scent is perhaps less versatile a wear than its more popular brother, it’s actually a better scent.
It’s more unique (I can easily think of at least two scents very similar to Intense, and did so in my previous article), smells fantastic and has better performance.
Or, frankly, buy both.
It’s still under $200AUD to buy both, and you could probably get by with just these two for around nine months of the year here in Australia.
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