Jean Paul Gaultier
Jean Paul Gaultier
276 votes
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
The aldehydes fire first, creating a champagne-bubble effervescence that's immediately doused in peppermint extract—bracing, almost medicinal in its intensity. Neroli weaves through with its petitgrain-like bitterness, orange blossom's sharper sibling cutting through the sweetness before it becomes cloying.
Sage and sclarene form an alliance that's more laboratory than herb garden—a constructed aromatic quality that smells green and fresh without referencing anything specifically natural. The mint fades but leaves behind a cooling sensation, whilst the faintest suggestion of fruitiness (likely the aldehydes oxidising) hovers at the edges, neither grape nor apple but somewhere in between.
Tonka bean and vanilla finally claim their territory, creating that signature Le Mâle almond-marzipan accord, but the sandalwood keeps it tethered to something drier and more woody. The sweetness is present but restrained, like vanilla essence diluted in tonic water, with that persistent synthetic aquatic note humming underneath like white noise.
This is Le Mâle stripped down to its nautical singlet and given a cold shower with mint soap. Nathalie Gracia-Cetto has taken the original's gourmand swagger and filtered it through a lens of aldehydic brightness and herbal crispness that reads more Mediterranean morning than sailor's cologne. The opening hits with that unmistakable aldehydic fizz—the kind that makes your nose tingle—before mint crashes in like cold water over sun-warmed skin. Neroli adds a bitter-fresh citrus edge that keeps everything from sliding into toothpaste territory, though it teeters close.
What's fascinating here is how sclarene (synthetic ambroxan's herbal cousin) works with actual sage to create this peculiar aromatic-aquatic hybrid in the heart. It's neither traditionally aromatic nor genuinely marine, but rather a constructed freshness that smells expensive and deliberate. The base is where Le Mâle's DNA reasserts itself: tonka and vanilla create that familiar almond-like sweetness, but sandalwood keeps it drier than you'd expect, preventing the full gourmand avalanche of the original.
Add fragrances to your collection and unlock your personalised scent DNA, note map, and shareable identity card.
Mexx
3.0/5 (84)