I’ve already written a megareview of all the Stronger With You fragrances before and it’s a good read if you really want to dive deep in all these fragrances. By last count, there’s currently 14 fragrances at the time of this writing which means there’s one that started it all followed by 13 flankers. Sheesh!
So, what’s another flanker amiright? What’s my take on this new fragrance and should you buy it and add it to your collection? I will start off by saying this – it’s as if Lost Cherry fromTom Ford and Stronger With You Intensely got together and made a baby. Easiest way to put it.
If you’ve now gone ahead and looked back at my mega review, you’ll notice that Intensely is my all-time favorite. I’ve tested it, I’ve owned it, it has a special place in my heart. It’s the perfect balance of sweet, spicy and all things nice for this brutal winter we’ve been having so far. It’s truly a masterpiece and if you haven’t tried it, I highly recommend you grab a decant of that when you pick up Powerfully to try out as well.
What makes Intensely so great is only now elevated with the introduction of one note in particular – cherry. Something about that note mixed with other complimentary notes just makes it so much more mass appealing to me. In the opening here we have cherry and mandarin orange (which I don’t notice), in the mid you have spices and lavender and in the dry down you have chestnut, vanilla and amberwood. On paper, this is a really good fragrance but how does it smell and perform?
As most testing goes for me, I never ever test on paper strips, and you shouldn’t either. On skin is the only way to ever test a fragrance out and I can argue that until the cows come home. Paper is neutral and your skin isn’t made of paper last time I checked. Your skin is different from mine and from his and from hers and so on. What smells amazing on me probably won’t smell amazing on you and vice versa. It’s just the way we’re made and is the #1 reason why you should never test on paper. But I digress.
I sprayed three sprays of my decant on my right arm early in the morning and did my initial opening testing. So far, I loved how balanced the scent was but also noticed right away that wonderful cherry note mixed with a caramel-like sweetness as well. It just hits like a fresh cup of coffee in the morning, ya know?
Throughout the day I kept getting wafts from my arm hitting my nose and this lasted all the way up until the evening when I could still smell it. And even up to 24 hours later, it was still a skin scent on my arm. Performance was an easy 8.5/10. My only gripe is I would have liked a more prominent nose hit from my arm that’s 2 feet away but maybe on pressure points with enough sprays this is going to be a beast.
Final Thoughts
This fragrance 100% lives up to its namesake “Powerfully”. It’s loud, it’s strong, it’s sweet and it’s spicy. I don’t recommend this in the warmer seasons but for a cold day or a cooler spring/fall evening this is a banger. If I were to rank this within my aforementioned mega review of the Stronger With You lineup, I think this would definitely be at the top. I think this fragrance is worth your time, your money and worth a try for sure. Grab your sample of Stronger With You Powerfully right here and I’ll catch you all in the next one. Peace!
