Montale is a Parisian fragrance house that specializes in classy, high-quality scents for men and women. Each fragrance is designed by their founder, owner, and in-house perfumer, Pierre Montale, who draws inspiration from his travels through Eastern countries.
Montale uses notes like rose, incense, amber, cedar, and vetiver to create one-of-a-kind scents reminiscent of beautiful and remote places. This guide will help you find which of his scents work best for you. We can’t wait to see which one you make your own.
Top 15 Best Montale Fragrances
Montale offers plenty of scents to choose from. This list will help narrow down your choices.
1. Montale Intense Café – Best Overall Fragrance
This powerful, alluring unisex scent is sure to strike a chord. At first spritz, Intense Café fills the air with delicate floral notes. These quickly give way to heady middle notes of rose, coffee, and vanilla; a perfect blend of femininity and masculinity that can speak to anyone.
Intense Cafe gets universal praise for its sillage and longevity. Due to its strength, as well as the more gourmand notes like coffee and vanilla, we recommend wearing it in the winter season. (We can’t think of a more wonderful fragrance to pair with a cozy sweater, wool socks, and hot cocoa)
2. Montale Black Aoud – Best Selling Fragrance
Black Auod is a classic men’s cologne. The sleek jet-black bottle gives a hint to the complex and mysterious scent within, and each spray of Black Aoud reveals notes of rose, agarwood, and patchouli. Thanks to these powerful notes, it’s among the highest-rated perfumes for both longevity and sillage.
We recommend Black Aoud for a high-power man who is unafraid of being noticed. Spray it on before your next big work presentation.
3. Montale Honey Aoud – Best Fragrance for Beginners
Honey Aoud is a sweet and subtle unisex fragrance. Its copper-colored bottle houses a blend of honey, amber, and Madagascar vanilla, creating a universally pleasing blend. Due to its high – yet not overpowering – sillage and great longevity, a single spritz can last all day. Spray this on before a workday, a job interview, a date – any time you need a subtle boost of confidence.
4. Montale Mukhallat – Best Fragrance for Women
With its pearly white bottle, this fragrance stands as a feminine counterpart to Black Auod. Mukhallat bursts with juicy strawberry, sweet vanilla, and subtle almond, undercut by Peruvian balsam. The sharp balsam and creamy vanilla notes make this perfect for the cool fall and winter months.
This scent has somewhat mixed reviews for sillage, but most reviewers rank it “strong” or “enormous.” And, it’s almost universally praised for its longevity.
5. Montale Black Musk – Best Fragrance for Men
This sleek and stylish silver bottle beautifully reflects the classy scent inside: Black Musk swirls with masculine notes like leather, black pepper, and teakwood. It’s perfect for people who want to maintain a classic style with a bit of edge.
The peppery, spicy notes make this scent ideal for winter and fall. Black Musk has a moderate to strong sillage, and one spritz is enough to last you all day, so apply with a light hand.
6. Montale Roses Musk – Best Floral Fragrance
From its sparkling pink bottle to its floral bouquet of notes, Roses Musk is a love letter to all things feminine and womanly. It blooms with the scents of rose, jasmine, and white musk, and you only need one spray to catch attention without overpowering those around you. It receives somewhat mixed reviews when it comes to longevity, but most fans praise it for lasting a full day or more.
Roses Musk pairs perfectly with the fresh flowers, crisp weather, and sunny days of spring. We wholeheartedly recommend it for anyone who wants to embrace their feminine side.
7. Montale Red Vetiver – Best Woody Fragrance
Red Vetiver comes in a scarlet-and-gold bottle that is just as fiery as the scent it contains. It crackles with notes of vetiver, pepper, and cedar. The woody notes make this perfect for fall.
This is one of the lighter Montale fragrances in terms of sillage, but it shines when it comes to longevity. It’s not for the faint of heart, but it’s ideal for men who want to make their mark on the world every day.
8. Montale Pure Gold – Best Fresh Fragrance
This fruity-floral women’s fragrance opens with apricot and mandarin, resting on a blend of jasmine, neroli, and vanilla. It’s a sweet, flirty scent for a sweet, flirty person, and comes in a bottle as purely gold as its name.
Fans rave about this scent for its moderate-to-strong sillage and amazing longevity. Wear it in the spring if you want to smell like you just walked through an aromatic fruit orchard.
9. Montale Dark Purple – Best Fruity Fragrance
Speaking of fruity – if you love fruit fragrances, you’ll adore Dark Purple. The appropriately burgundy-colored bottle houses juicy notes like plum, red berry, and orange, tempered by florals like rose and geranium.
This is one of the highest-rated Montale perfumes for longevity. Its sillage sits comfortably between “strong” and “enormous,” so apply with a light hand. Rock this in the fall if you want to blend in with the fruits of the season.
10. Montale Chocolate Greedy – Best Gourmand Fragrance
This delectable unisex fragrance is a chocolate lover’s dream. One spray of the classic silver bottle, and you’ll be drenched in the scent of chocolate, vanilla, and coffee. Comparable to Dark Purple in terms of longevity and sillage, this sweet, cozy scent belongs in a sweet and cozy environment, such as a family reunion or holiday party.
11. Montale Oudmazing – Best Oriental Fragrance
This elegant, classy fragrance worships a single note – oud.In addition to the potent oud note, this unisex scent swirls with notes like fig, Egyptian jasmine, and leather. Like many Oriental fragrances, Oudmazing impresses in both longevity and sillage. Spritz yourself with this before a big night if you need a dash of confidence.
12. Montale Sweet Vanilla – Best Fragrance for Everyday Wear
Sparkling with notes of apricot, vanilla, and white musk, this fragrance is flirty, fruity, feminine, and perfect for any occasion. We recommend it for everyday use, as you can wear it confidently without overwhelming those around you. Better yet, it has excellent longevity and lingers on the skin for hours. To really put it to the test, wear it to an outdoor event in the spring or summer.
13. Montale Vanille Absolu – Best Fragrance for the Office
Decadent desserts inspired this sweetly feminine fragrance. Vanilla is the dominant note in this blend, but it’s not the only thing you’ll smell; the sweetness of the vanilla is underpinned by cinnamon and clove.
Its moderate sillage means it won’t offend more sensitive noses, making it perfect for understated settings like an office. Better yet, Vanille Absolu is gorgeously long-lasting, so you’ll smell great through the whole workday.
14. Montale Santal Wood – Best Fragrance for a Special Occasion
Santal Wood is a complex, luxurious, and slightly masculine cologne. It’s one of the only Montale scents that contain seawater notes, which sparkle alongside a spicy blend of nutmeg, cardamom, and black pepper.
Santal Wood can have moderate to enormous sillage depending on the wearer. It lasts a moderately long time for almost all wearers. Dab this on before a work event, job interview, ceremony, or any other time you want to stand out from the crowd and linger in people’s minds.
15. Montale Sensual Instinct – Best Fragrance for a Date
This sexy and alluring scent is sure to get you noticed. Sensual Instinct opens with a stimulating top note of coffee beans. Afterward, notes of rose, praline, and amber gently reveal themselves. It’s powerful enough to last all day – or, if you prefer, all night…
What more can we say? Wear this potent perfume on a date with someone you really want to impress. Who knows where the night might take you.
How to Choose Your Montale Fragrance
Even with a helpful guide like this, choosing a perfume can be difficult. If you’re still unsure what you want, think about the types of odors you enjoy the most. How would you describe their scent in one word?
Perfumes are generally classified as “floral,” “woody,” “fresh,” “fruity,” “gourmand,” and/or “Oriental” depending on the notes or individual components they contain.
- Floral perfumes tend to smell flowery and feminine. Montale commonly uses floral notes like rose, jasmine, and geranium.
- Woody perfumes are musky and masculine. Woody notes common in Montale fragrances include cedar, vetiver, and agarwood.
- Fresh perfumes smell clean, bright, and sometimes citrusy. Montale uses fresh notes like mandarin, orange, and strawberry.
- Fruity perfumes smell…well, fruity. You can find fruity notes like plum, fig, and grape in Montale perfumes.
- Gourmand perfumes smell sweet and “foody,” often like desserts. Montale uses gourmand notes include honey, coffee, and chocolate.
- Oriental perfumes smell heady, spicy, and often sexy. Oud, vanilla, and praline are just a few Oriental notes Montale uses.
Knowing what you like best will help you pick a perfume that suits you. Just look for a fragrance that has lots of your favorite notes.
Other things to consider
Your level of scent tolerance. Scent strength, or “sillage,” plays an important role in perfume. While some people prefer a heavier sillage, which is guaranteed to catch attention, others have a sensitivity to scent that requires a lighter sillage.
If you want a heavier sillage, choose a strong perfume like Intense Cafe, Dark Purple, or Chocolate Greedy.
If you want a lighter sillage, choose a subtle scent like Honey Aoud, Vanille Absolu, or Red Vetiver.
The climate where you live. Certain notes and scents perform better in specific climates or seasons. For example, fruity, fresh, and/or floral perfumes work wonders in the warmer seasons but may be cloying when it’s cold outside. On the other hand, Oriental, woody, and/or gourmand notes bring coziness and comfort when the weather is chilly but may become too spicy or sweet when it’s warm out.
For warmer climates and seasons, wear Roses Musk, Pure Gold, Dark Purple, or Sweet Vanilla.
For colder climates and seasons, wear Intense Cafe, Mukhallat, Red Vetiver, or Chocolate Greedy.
Frequently Asked Questions about Montale Fragrance
Which Montale fragrance is the best?
Black Aoud, Roses Musk, Intense Café, and Dark Purple are some of the most popular scents in the Montale catalog. These fragrances deliver powerful performance and distinctive aromas that have won fans the world over.
How much does Montale fragrance cost?
Montale fragrances average at about $170.00 for a 100-ml bottle. If that’s too expensive, or if you’re anxious about committing to a single scent, try a curated Discovery Collection or customizable Treasure Box.
How do I pronounce “Montale?”
Montale is a French word pronounced like “moon-tall.”
Who makes Montale fragrance?
Montale is unique because rather than utilizing several outside perfumers, every fragrance comes from one man – the fragrance house’s owner, Pierre Montale.
Who owns Montale fragrance?
Pierre Montale, otherwise known as the “French Ambassador of Oud”, is a seasoned traveler, business owner, and the nose behind every Montale fragrance.
The Story of Montale
In a world of old and established perfumeries, some of which began over a century ago, Montale stands out for its relative newness. Pierre Montale founded this luxurious fragrance house in the relatively recent year of 2003.
Inspiration Abroad
In 2003, Montale left his home country of France to explore Saudi Arabia. This trip turned out to be very fateful. He came back to France inspired by the sights and scents he’d encountered during his travels, and he was determined to capture those scents in perfumery.
Notable Notes
Almost every Montale fragrance contains at least one of these notes:
- Cedar
- Incense
- Sandalwood
Additionally, he designs many perfumes to highlight the resinous and heady aroma of oud, one of his favorite scents.
A One Man Show
Montale truly is a jack of all trades when it comes to perfumery. Not only is he the founder and owner of the company, but he’s also the sole nose behind every one of its 141 (and counting) perfumes. He is an excellent example of someone with a passion for fragrance, for whom perfumery is a labor of love.
Montale fragrances are luxurious and high-quality, and choosing the right one may seem overwhelming. But with this guide by your side, you’ll have the confidence and the knowledge you need to pick a perfume you’ll feel good about and love using.
