Jean Paul Gaultier Le Male – Retro-Futuristic Late 20th Century Fougere (Francis Kurkdjian, 1995)

Scentrack

Skee-Lo – I wish

The April is coming to its end, and so does the Barbershop April. I hope the readers enjoyed in my reviews. At the end of the series I chose a hyper popular fragrance with pronounced barbershop aspects.

Photo by T.D.

Le Male was launched way back in 1995, and put both Jean Paul Gaultier and Francis Kurkdjian on the perfume Olympus. It was a huge hit for more than a decade, and somehow became a victim of his own success. Its composition was so appealing to the customers, thus created a legion of similarly composed fragrances. I have avoided Le Male for more than a 15 years due to its enormous popularity among men. Now, when Le Male’s place was taken by Paco Rabanne’s 1 Million I can fully appreciate its creative composition.

Le Male opens with a short shot of bergamot and mint, followed by synthetic lavender reminiscent of classic fougere fragrances. The lavender is complemented by strong cinnamon note and almost dirty white flowers of orange blossom and jasmine. I like this dirty and strong powdery aspect of Le Male reminding me steamed bathrooms and present musky old school barbershop vibe. This clean / dirty combo is ingenious. To its base Le Male becomes sweeter by enhanced artificial vanilla, Tonka bean and sandalwood notes. The whole composition is very synthetic, but in a good way. Like some late 20^th century retro vision of the future. It still garners lots of compliments, and it’s great as a clubbing fragrance. Performances of the old formulation are beastly. Unfortunately, present formulation is just a shadow of its old glory. I recommend to avoid present formulation, and try to obtain older one or some similar fragrance.

Source: newyorker.com

Longevity / Projection

Excellent (10-12 hours) / Excellent (present formulation is awful)

Suggested wearing

Still perfect for clubbing, also suitable for other night time use

Alternatives

Jean Paul Gaultier Le Male Terrible – a redundant cleaned up version of Le Male

Cuba Paris Cuba Royal – a cheap copy, still better than current Le Male formulation

Prada Luna Rossa Sport – quite close to old Le Male, good performances

Brecourt Mauvais Garcon – a niche copy of Le Male

Amouage Reflection Man – similar vibe, but focused on neroli and cedar

Profumum Roma Antico Caruso – just a similar vibe

Pros

Very creative retro-futuristic composition

Extremely attractive

Great performances (old formulation)

Cons

Too synthetic for some

A victim of its own success – you’ll probably smell like someone you know

Terrible performances and composition of present formulation

Tacky bottle

Rating

7.5 / 10