Reviews of Le Mâle Le Parfum by Jean Paul Gaultier
I’m really confused about this scent. What is it trying to be and why is it rated so high on other sites like Parfumo where it is #4 overall?
Le Parfum is like the customized playlists Spotify or Apple Music give you that try to give you everything you like all in one but give you the worst songs from your favorite artists.
Le Parfum opens with the traditional 1995 Le Male opening minus the intense olfactory blast and dries down to a rubbery vanilla powder. Along the way you’re treated to some notes from the greats over the past fifteen years like the rubber / powder tonka from Play Intense, Luna Rossa black and Allure Eau Extreme, the white florals of the Gucci elixir and Myslf lines and ends up with a sweet vanilla scent that lasts and lasts and last.
In the end maybe I’m not confused, this is corporate artistry at its most basic. This is pleasant. However I would rather wear some of the scents this includes in the mixtape.
If there was a positive minus I would rate it that way.
Le Parfum is like the customized playlists Spotify or Apple Music give you that try to give you everything you like all in one but give you the worst songs from your favorite artists.
Le Parfum opens with the traditional 1995 Le Male opening minus the intense olfactory blast and dries down to a rubbery vanilla powder. Along the way you’re treated to some notes from the greats over the past fifteen years like the rubber / powder tonka from Play Intense, Luna Rossa black and Allure Eau Extreme, the white florals of the Gucci elixir and Myslf lines and ends up with a sweet vanilla scent that lasts and lasts and last.
In the end maybe I’m not confused, this is corporate artistry at its most basic. This is pleasant. However I would rather wear some of the scents this includes in the mixtape.
If there was a positive minus I would rate it that way.
I had to do a double take as it reminds me of YSL's La Nuit de l'homme Le Parfum. That's not a bad thing at all--maybe it's the cardamom and vanilla. Very sexy -- great for date night.
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Definitely a smooth and well-blended fragrance that doesn't smell cheap, but is also very likely to give you diabetes!
The "Le Male accord" of lavender and vanilla is there, together with some spices, and the mint removed. However, the attractive top notes betray the fact that the base is just an average vanilla that can become cloying with repeated wearings or a heavy application. Definitely more suited to a younger demographic for casual evening wear.
In this vein I find Caron's Pour Un Homme Parfum to be a much better alternative, especially for men. Though unfortunately the Caron could be hard to find outside of France.
3/5
The "Le Male accord" of lavender and vanilla is there, together with some spices, and the mint removed. However, the attractive top notes betray the fact that the base is just an average vanilla that can become cloying with repeated wearings or a heavy application. Definitely more suited to a younger demographic for casual evening wear.
In this vein I find Caron's Pour Un Homme Parfum to be a much better alternative, especially for men. Though unfortunately the Caron could be hard to find outside of France.
3/5
Probably my favorite Le Male flanker. It’s a toss up between this and elixir depending on my mood.
Jean Paul Gaultier Le Male Le Parfum (isued along 2020 and performed by Quentin Bisch e Natalie Gracia-Cetto) is a recent intenser and more introvert flanker of the iconic and successful original super musky Francis Kurkdjian's Le Male EDT 1995. Personally I still consider the original Edt as the best and more innovative of the various versions today standing on the market. Whereas the original Edt used to push the accelerator over a super bombastic and freshly (minty/spicy/fluidy) intoxicating association of lavender and soapy muskiness Le Parfum smells basically as a less powerfully musky, more aromatic/assertive and finally more vanillic, sweeter, elegant and sophisticated contemporary version (with a more assertive and woody manly twist) which (despite could not properly be classified as an highly classy/elegant fragrance) plays better along the colder seasons (due to its more stressed, warm and restrained woody-oriental elegance) and in the course of special events (romantic dinners or more refined particular meetings) while Le Male Edt or the following Le Beau Male and Ultra Male were more daring, juvenile, more "brash/bully/salty" and unapologetic four seasons/more social/"eyes catching" olfactory beasts (parties, clubs, social events, summer holidays). Le Parfum includes a less uplifting fluidy lavender (a standout note in the original Edt) and a slightly downgraded cardamom (which is anyway standing out along the first stage) but more vanille, an enigmatic spicy iris (more intimate, dark and lyric) and a more featuring woody presence connected to oriental sweeter patterns. The latter, joined to spicy silky iris, provide a a quite smooth sweet trail. This one is slightly cozy, characterized by this powdery sweet dusty talkiness provided by iris and woods and more kind of warm and intimate and could probably appeal more those people looking for something sensual but romantic as same time. This version could be intended probably as a Jean Paul Gaultier's market answer to a more recent trend represented by spicy oriental and silky/nutty leathery fragrances a la Valentino Uomo, Dior Homme Parfum, Prada l'Homme Intense etc. The sillage of this Le Parfum version is kind of weaker on my skin (if this fragrance is compared to the original Le Male) while duration is more than performing on me.
Easily the best from JPG line. Instant love at first sniff! Very affordable and easily to find. Get yourself a bottle before it gets discontinued. Great performance as well.
Jean Paul Gaultier Le Male Le Parfum is a 2020 flanker to the iconic original 1995 Le Male. Le Parfum. Whereas the standout 2015 flanker Ultra Male was an intensely sweeter and fruiter version that many, myself included, regarded as a sort of loud 2000s-era clubbing fragrance, Le Parfum smells like a more modernized, sophisticated version, sweeter but restrained, with a little less lavender but more vanilla, albeit straightforwardly a blend of lavender, vanilla, iris, and woods. Although darker than the original or Ultra Male, it's still somewhat bright, inviting, and feels like an all-day type of scent in cooler weather. I quite like it, and it seems to perform well.
Le Parfum's current retail pricing is $128/103/82 for 200/125/75ml at Macy's or Ulta Beauty, and I find the pricing reasonable for the product, as it could easily be a modern staple men's scent that someone could get a lot of use of, and it's not so stereotypically masculine that anyone couldn't enjoy it fairly easily. Certainly more of a crowd-pleaser than niche, artistic, or divisive, but it's a useful designer release in that respect.
7 out of 10
Le Parfum's current retail pricing is $128/103/82 for 200/125/75ml at Macy's or Ulta Beauty, and I find the pricing reasonable for the product, as it could easily be a modern staple men's scent that someone could get a lot of use of, and it's not so stereotypically masculine that anyone couldn't enjoy it fairly easily. Certainly more of a crowd-pleaser than niche, artistic, or divisive, but it's a useful designer release in that respect.
7 out of 10
Beat my expectation. I heard it was: "just a mix of Le Male and Ultra Male". And it is actually! For the most part...
Except there's also the costus note you get from Essence du Male. It's sort of a sweet, coconut mixed with a milky lychee fruit note. And a lipsticky iris.
There's definitely A LOT more notes than advertised. My guess is:
TOP: mint, artemisia, bergamot, cardamom.
HEART: costus, lavender, iris, cinnamon, cumin.
BASE: sandalwood, black vanilla, maltol and/or ambrette.
Okay, it's not groundbreaking, I'll admit. We had Le Male and Ultra Male already. But this is still an undeniably good perfume and a lot of (especially non-fragrance community) people will tell you you smell good if you wear this around them.
This is a solid 7.5 or 8 even to me. For me, if the sweetness was toned down and ambergris would have been added like they did in Le Male in the Navy, then I think we could have had a 9 out of 10 scent but that's really personally speaking.
Except there's also the costus note you get from Essence du Male. It's sort of a sweet, coconut mixed with a milky lychee fruit note. And a lipsticky iris.
There's definitely A LOT more notes than advertised. My guess is:
TOP: mint, artemisia, bergamot, cardamom.
HEART: costus, lavender, iris, cinnamon, cumin.
BASE: sandalwood, black vanilla, maltol and/or ambrette.
Okay, it's not groundbreaking, I'll admit. We had Le Male and Ultra Male already. But this is still an undeniably good perfume and a lot of (especially non-fragrance community) people will tell you you smell good if you wear this around them.
This is a solid 7.5 or 8 even to me. For me, if the sweetness was toned down and ambergris would have been added like they did in Le Male in the Navy, then I think we could have had a 9 out of 10 scent but that's really personally speaking.
Quite a youthful flanker of Le male with its sweet nutty opening, it feels very on point with todays designer offerings, i tried it twice in store and ended buying a partial bottle online, i think i was seduced by the opening as this for me is the best part. i see the ultra male comparison sure but i also see a bit of ormonde man in there too, thankfully its not ruined by the bubble gummy vibes of todays style and manages to keep it tamed with vanilla and the original dna. The first hour it performs well on me but then starts dropping off quite badly, the vanilla is quite annoyingly synthetic and at this point 2 hours in i'm done with it.
If Le Male Essence de Parfum is discontinued, then Le Male Le Parfum is very welcome. Notes of cardamom, lavender and vanilla makes this 2020. iteration very similar to 2016. flanker. Le Male Le Parfum is a bit warmer, rounder and softer than Le Male Essence de Parfum. Also the new 2020. flanker is a bit more dry and woody.
If Le Male Essence de Parfum is not discontinued, then Le Male Le Parfum is a redundant frag. However if you really love this line, this won't stop you from having this flanker as well.
Conclusion: warmer, softer version of a 2016. flanker that serves its purpose well if someone never had the opportunity to try Le Male Essence de Parfum or if it's discontinued, to catch this particular train.
I'll rate it neutral. I like Le Male Essence de Parfum a bit more than this flanker and I also own it. By the time I spend the 2016. bottle, I kind of don't see myself in the future actually wanting Le Male Le Parfum as a replacement, albeit it might serve as one quite well.
Originality 5/10
Scent 7/10
Longevity 8/10
Projection 7/10
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67,5%
subjective impression 7/10
If Le Male Essence de Parfum is not discontinued, then Le Male Le Parfum is a redundant frag. However if you really love this line, this won't stop you from having this flanker as well.
Conclusion: warmer, softer version of a 2016. flanker that serves its purpose well if someone never had the opportunity to try Le Male Essence de Parfum or if it's discontinued, to catch this particular train.
I'll rate it neutral. I like Le Male Essence de Parfum a bit more than this flanker and I also own it. By the time I spend the 2016. bottle, I kind of don't see myself in the future actually wanting Le Male Le Parfum as a replacement, albeit it might serve as one quite well.
Originality 5/10
Scent 7/10
Longevity 8/10
Projection 7/10
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67,5%
subjective impression 7/10
Fragrance in three words: Safe Vanilla Lavender
I'm a huge fan of the original Le Mâle (1995) and I honestly believe it is one of the best men's fragrances of the 90s. It's sexy, bold and original. Le Mâle's younger brother Le Parfum is safe, boring and gets lost in the slew of modern gourmand "sexy" fragrances.
Le Parfum starts off with a really good Cardamom note. It is bright and sort of captures the lime note of natural cardamom. The Lavender and Iris come through. It's more bright than lavender oil and sort of OK, but not striking. The base is a heavy vanilla. When mixed in with the cardamom, to me it smells almost like cocoa powder. To be honest this is a nice fragrance and will get compliments at work or in a club if that's what you want, for me it just doesn't stand out.
Sillage is big at first, but this doesn't continue for more than an hour even after 6 sprays. Longevity was around 6-8 hours on my skin which is decent.
Price in the UK (2020) is £56 for 75ml which makes it cheaper than most designer fragrances especially its competitors like Boss and Paco Rabanne.
Rating: a mediocre 6 out of 10
Official 1.5ml carded sample
I'm a huge fan of the original Le Mâle (1995) and I honestly believe it is one of the best men's fragrances of the 90s. It's sexy, bold and original. Le Mâle's younger brother Le Parfum is safe, boring and gets lost in the slew of modern gourmand "sexy" fragrances.
Le Parfum starts off with a really good Cardamom note. It is bright and sort of captures the lime note of natural cardamom. The Lavender and Iris come through. It's more bright than lavender oil and sort of OK, but not striking. The base is a heavy vanilla. When mixed in with the cardamom, to me it smells almost like cocoa powder. To be honest this is a nice fragrance and will get compliments at work or in a club if that's what you want, for me it just doesn't stand out.
Sillage is big at first, but this doesn't continue for more than an hour even after 6 sprays. Longevity was around 6-8 hours on my skin which is decent.
Price in the UK (2020) is £56 for 75ml which makes it cheaper than most designer fragrances especially its competitors like Boss and Paco Rabanne.
Rating: a mediocre 6 out of 10
Official 1.5ml carded sample
Less powdery and abrasive than the original Le Male, which makes this scent much more enjoyable for me. It lets the sexy, soft, sweetness be more of the headliner than some of the loud and powdery aspects that I associate with the original. Not an amazing scent or anything that I would say is a "must-try" but the scent is very good and should be mass-appealing.
My biggest issue is with the lack of projection after a short amount of time. Goes on a little loud, which is good, and then really backs off, becoming quite soft in what seems like the first 1-2 hours. It does hang on though, probably 8-9 hours in the low projection phase. It's very good for if you need to be close with someone or not project too much.
My biggest issue is with the lack of projection after a short amount of time. Goes on a little loud, which is good, and then really backs off, becoming quite soft in what seems like the first 1-2 hours. It does hang on though, probably 8-9 hours in the low projection phase. It's very good for if you need to be close with someone or not project too much.
Alright, I'm going to be blunt: this should be called Ultra Mâle Le Parfum but it isn't. Instead, we get a fragrance called Le Mâle Le Parfum (2020), a scent with little tie-in to the original Jean Paul Gaultier Le Mâle (1995), but more direct connective tissue with Ultra Mâle (2015), bearing the name of the former because reasons I guess. Quentin Bisch has been busy with mass-appeal releases in recent times, also churning out Bad Boy (2019) for Caroline Herrera, while returning Natalie Gracia-Cetto lends her expertise from working on several limited Le Mâle flankers to this newest creation. Le Mâle Le Parfum isn't bad by any measure, but feels really redundant. While not a fan of his brand nor his usually inarticulate manner, I'll agree that the pragmatic Jeremy Fragrance summed this one up nicely by calling it "unnecessary", which it really is. Others who've sampled this before me also note that Le Mâle Le Parfum sits somewhere between a fun and office scent, like a weird compromise between an oriental work scent and a clubber with gourmand tones, but it isn't unpleasant at least. Perhaps best of all, Le Mâle Le Parfum doesn't have the screaming projection and eternal sillage of Ultra Mâle, instead swapping in a bit more development on skin that leads to something resembling a proper dry down. Keep in mind, this dry down is still not altogether impressive, as it is more of the usual paint-by-numbers designer consumer tested dreck, but it beats 100% linearity from start to finish.
The opening is going to be an instant callback to the vanilla of Ultra Mâle, with no mint or fruity notes in sight. The sweetness seems less powered by sticky ethyl maltol (although some is probably still here) and more by the vanilla itself, boosted by anise and a dusty cardamom. Some may say this smells close to something like Body Kouros (2000) or Rochas Man (1999) because of the throwback gourmand spices mixed with vanilla in the opening, but lavender and a slightly powdery iris bring in that office feel which helps Le Mâle Le Parfum steer slightly aft from such direct comparisons. Le Mâle Le Parfum plays around with the usual woody amber notes in the base, which is where this deviates significantly from Francis Kurkdjian's custom-built compound amber notes, smelling sharp, with tonka sweetness as an adjunct rather than deftly blended in, some fake incense norlimbanol type nonsense and ambrocenide or amber xtreme talking alongside the tonka, like Dior Sauvage Parfum (2019). If it sounds like I am at a loss to explain the dry down here, it's because it is so hodge podge and dialed into what's common or popular that it smells like everything and nothing all at once, but still better than Ultra Mâle. Wear time is eight hours, and performance will be moderate here, with best suggested use in winter. The most interesting part for me is the the anise and spices in the opening, since it takes me back to that 2000's place when that sort of thing existed in strict contrast to ozonics or aquatics, but not many are going to get that connection, nor is it substantial enough to warrant a full wear.
I don't see a lot of sense in owning Le Mâle Le Parfum if you have the original Le Mâle already and some of the fresher more polite flanker options for work, but if you're a huge fan of Ultra Mâle and want something marginally more work-appropriate, this may work, even if you're confined to colder months unless your commute is entirely air conditioned. Another cash grab or collector's fodder to a line already full of such things this feels like to me, but I really tried to give this a chance since I finally came around to the greatness of the original Le Mâle after spending years hating stuff due to its former ubiquity in the social scenes of my younger years. If this had been a proper fougère like the original Le Mâle but smoothed or rounded out with some oriental and/or gourmand notes, we'd have a real winner on our hands, because nothing like that exists in the Le Mâle range and it would be Jean Paul Gaultier's answer to stuff like Dolce & Gabbana The One for Men (2008) or even Emporio Armani Stronger With You (2017). As it stands, Le Mâle Le Parfum is just "slightly less-Ultra Mâle" and no disrespect to Quentin or Natalie, but a lack of involvement from Francis Kurkdjian on what is effectively his baby really shows here. If you're a collector then go ahead and snap this up, but anyone looking too add an interesting fragrance with a practical application to their wardrobe can do better. Pleasant, albeit a bit contrived, this is another torso bottle to add on the pile only for followers of the brand. Neutral.
The opening is going to be an instant callback to the vanilla of Ultra Mâle, with no mint or fruity notes in sight. The sweetness seems less powered by sticky ethyl maltol (although some is probably still here) and more by the vanilla itself, boosted by anise and a dusty cardamom. Some may say this smells close to something like Body Kouros (2000) or Rochas Man (1999) because of the throwback gourmand spices mixed with vanilla in the opening, but lavender and a slightly powdery iris bring in that office feel which helps Le Mâle Le Parfum steer slightly aft from such direct comparisons. Le Mâle Le Parfum plays around with the usual woody amber notes in the base, which is where this deviates significantly from Francis Kurkdjian's custom-built compound amber notes, smelling sharp, with tonka sweetness as an adjunct rather than deftly blended in, some fake incense norlimbanol type nonsense and ambrocenide or amber xtreme talking alongside the tonka, like Dior Sauvage Parfum (2019). If it sounds like I am at a loss to explain the dry down here, it's because it is so hodge podge and dialed into what's common or popular that it smells like everything and nothing all at once, but still better than Ultra Mâle. Wear time is eight hours, and performance will be moderate here, with best suggested use in winter. The most interesting part for me is the the anise and spices in the opening, since it takes me back to that 2000's place when that sort of thing existed in strict contrast to ozonics or aquatics, but not many are going to get that connection, nor is it substantial enough to warrant a full wear.
I don't see a lot of sense in owning Le Mâle Le Parfum if you have the original Le Mâle already and some of the fresher more polite flanker options for work, but if you're a huge fan of Ultra Mâle and want something marginally more work-appropriate, this may work, even if you're confined to colder months unless your commute is entirely air conditioned. Another cash grab or collector's fodder to a line already full of such things this feels like to me, but I really tried to give this a chance since I finally came around to the greatness of the original Le Mâle after spending years hating stuff due to its former ubiquity in the social scenes of my younger years. If this had been a proper fougère like the original Le Mâle but smoothed or rounded out with some oriental and/or gourmand notes, we'd have a real winner on our hands, because nothing like that exists in the Le Mâle range and it would be Jean Paul Gaultier's answer to stuff like Dolce & Gabbana The One for Men (2008) or even Emporio Armani Stronger With You (2017). As it stands, Le Mâle Le Parfum is just "slightly less-Ultra Mâle" and no disrespect to Quentin or Natalie, but a lack of involvement from Francis Kurkdjian on what is effectively his baby really shows here. If you're a collector then go ahead and snap this up, but anyone looking too add an interesting fragrance with a practical application to their wardrobe can do better. Pleasant, albeit a bit contrived, this is another torso bottle to add on the pile only for followers of the brand. Neutral.
Ultra Male plus original La Male. Then as it dries down, Liz Claiborne's Curve shows up.
Not my cup of tea.
Not my cup of tea.