Dior Homme Intense

Dior names only three materials for Dior Homme Intense: Tuscan iris at the top, Ecuadorian ambrette in the middle, Virginia cedar at the base. The house speaks of an iris lifted by an amber facet and a base of precious woods, and places the trail among woody and vanilla notes.

Iris, the central material

The iris pallida comes from an exceptional Dior garden in Tuscany, farmed according to the principles of organic agriculture. Dior counts its absolute among the costliest products in the perfumer’s palette: the rhizome must dry for at least three years before being processed, and its powdery scent carries green, woody accents that the house likens to warm bread.

Around the iris

Ambrette, obtained by distilling the seeds of the hibiscus fruit, gives a plant musk that Dior places between pear liqueur and silk talc. Virginia cedar, native to the United States and steam-distilled, holds the woody base.

At launch, in 2007, the announced list also included lavender, vetiver and vanilla; the house no longer arranges them in tiers. The pear the market commonly adds does not appear among its notes: it comes from the way Dior describes ambrette.

What the label declares

The ingredient list Dior publishes in France has thirty-five entries, and it is the same in the United States. It names several materials: bergamot, bitter orange, Virginia cedar, lavender, patchouli, vanillin, Peru balsam and Ceylon cinnamon, and, right after water, a synthetic woody molecule, tetramethyl acetyloctahydronaphthalenes.

Iris and ambrette do not appear by name: they remain inside the word parfum. The list shows a single UV filter and three colorants, alongside the regulated allergens, including limonene, linalool, coumarin, alpha-isomethyl ionone, citral, geraniol, farnesol, cinnamal, benzyl benzoate and benzyl cinnamate.