AVOID Jean Paul Gaultier Le Male: Here’s Why [Review]

Jean Paul Gaultier Le Male has been around for as long as I can remember. Worn by stylish fathers everywhere, this aromatic scent is well known due to its provocative bottle. Additionally, nobody can deny the lasting success that Le Male has enjoyed. However, I believe it’s now a shadow of its former, brilliant self. Read on and let me explain.

Jean Paul Gaultier Le Male smells aromatic, sweet, and…dated

Jean Paul Gaultier Le Male contains notes of vanilla, lavender, mint, artemisia, cardamom, amber, and woods.

On first spray I’m greeted with sharp, aromatic energy. The lavender, mint, and artemisia are the obvious culprits. The combination offers a green, slightly spicy, and softly floral aroma. Additionally, some herbaceous undertones are present too.

Accompanying this mixture is a vanilla note, pulsating up from the base. It provides a robust sweetness, persistent throughout the entirety of the fragrance.

As Le Male progresses on skin, I notice two things happen:

• The lively opening aromatic composition starts gradually withdrawing; and
• Cardamom reveals itself, projecting a calming, warm spiciness. It projects a similar smell to Le Male’s excellent modern flanker, Le Male Le Parfum.

This progression continues as Le Male commences the dry down phase. The aromatics continue losing their earlier vigor; and the cardamom becomes more pronounced.

However, I start to witness the subdued amber and woods make a contribution. They supply a dense, manly facet in the background.

Overall, Le Male doesn’t vary greatly from opening till close. It’s just more aromatically potent at the start, with mellow woody nuances at the end.

Furthermore, I don’t hate the scent. I think it smells okay.

The issue is the outdated nature of the aromatic composition. After spending time with this fragrance, its unsurprising it was released in 1995. Those who have sentimental memories of this iconic aroma will continue to enjoy it. Fragrance newbies, however, will feel like they’ve stepped in a time machine to the 90’s.

This reviewer had a few things to say:

It’s an aromatic vanilla with a soft spicy odor, with the freshness given by the aromatics: lavender and mint. Unfortunately the performance is quite bad and it’s kinda pricy.

Fragrantica.com

Performance isn’t what it used to be

Back in the day, original formulations of Le Male featured beast mode performance. Many would rave about 12+ hours of longevity and projection.

The glory days are gone.

Over the years, reformulations have caused this scent to quell what tremendous performance it once had.

These days, expect closer to 7 hours of total longevity – with solid projection from skin for the first 4.

Only suitable for mature men

As indicated earlier, Le Male embodies an old-school, dated vibe. Therefore, I only recommend this to men with a lasting bond to Le Male – aged 35 or over. This is a similar age bracket to whom I’d endorse a classy fragrance like Creed Viking.

For guys over this age, Le Male is quite versatile. You can wear this in any casual situation, or on dates. Additionally, it’s office friendly too.

Due to some of the deeper notes, avoid spraying in summer. Although I give the green light in any other season – day or night.

In Conclusion

There you have it, my unfiltered thoughts on Jean Paul Gaultier Le Male.

An iconic cologne in a risque bottle, Le Male has been adored across the globe for decades.

Although still smelling okay, its aromatically sweet composition has become increasingly obsolete as time goes on.

I think there are better options out there these days – especially for men who don’t have nostalgic attachment to the cologne.

I want to hear from you. Let’s keep the conversation going in the comments. Do you agree with my thoughts on Jean Paul Gaultier Le Male?