Le Beau Male

TL;DR: Herbal, men’s EDT-y mint & wormwood, dirty indolic skin-on-skin smell combined with clean musk. —— ***Before I start, let me clarify that vitriol this fragrance receives is largely due to several reasons unrelated to the fragrance itself: Maligned because of its branding, because it’s “fresh”, and because it’s a flanker.*** —— THE CONTEXT I came to discover this scent as I was looking for a specific combo of mint/musk/orange blossom (or neroli, petitgrain) in the search function on this site. In general this past year, I’ve been looking for fragrances that hide “dirty” within a deceptive facade of traditional “clean”. This was it. And while it’s not the musk in this that is “dirty”, it certainly exalts and blends well with that “dirty” note that I’ll come to soon. I came back to this fragrance, having first sampled in summer, this winter - I live in Northern Europe. For winters, I like fragrances that embrace the cold - I like a camphorous bite with a dose of musk, for example. I was looking for a fragrance to wear to fit in with my freezing, glistening white surroundings and the chilly winter wind of my coastal city (I don’t buy into the idea that in the winter, one must smell like a leather armchair next to a fireplace and a pipe; I like to smell human, thanks). I must have smelled everything before the Fragrantica search function brought me back to this one. Me: Young, university student. THE SCENT This opens herbal, I smelled wormwood before mint, surprisingly. The lavender, a note I dislike for its barbershop and stereotypical fragrance associations, takes a welcome backseat. The dry-down is a musky floral. This has a better longevity than average and the right sillage - arm's length. Le Male DNA? Yes. This is the younger cousin, shyer but more attractive. Deceptively facile. Whereas Le Male peaked as a gregarious personality in nightclubs, baring it all out, attracting the Jersey Shore, Le Beau Male looks down on him and his escapades - he’d rather read a book, go for a winter run or swim. He doesn’t live on the chase, and is that much more attractive for it. But I imagine this layering well with the original or summer editions. THE DIRT The fragrance settles comfortably on my skin, a tryst with my own chemistry, before unleashing the aromatic indole. I had completely forgotten my initial review of this when it smacked me in the face, sweet beautiful sweaty INDOLE. This makes sense, with orange blossom and clary sage both containing this. CONCLUSION I will enjoy smelling under my sweater this freezing winter, the almost-sweet herbal iciness mixed with the sultry skin-on-skin smell of indole. FK, not being an amateur, sneakily knew what he was doing. I was surprised: the cringey and cliche quote from Monsieur Gaultier - the made-for-ad-copy... ..."Icy that makes men hot” is exactly what this ended up being.

This is a very cooling fragrance. The bitter mint-wormwood combination has a menthol-like effect; my sinuses actually tingle when I inhale it. In fact, it's currently my favourite fragrance to wear when I'm suffering from allergies or a cold, because it acts like a toned-down version of Vicks VapoRub while smelling much better. I wish it projected slightly more. For a scent starring mint, it does perform pretty well, but that isn't saying much. While I can smell some vaguely animalic musk during the drydown, I don't get the indolic or urinous notes some reviews here mention. It's mostly mint and wormwood, with lavender in the background and musk later on. I can't smell any orange blossom. Due to its cooling nature, I'm most inclined to wear this during hot weather. However, it would certainly be an interesting choice in the winter, and the musk gives it enough depth to sort of fit cooler temperatures as well. It is unique, and quite bitter, so I'd suggest it to people interested in 'cold' fragrances who aren't married to sweet notes. I haven't tried many others in this fragrance line, but get the impression that most of them are sweet, so I can see how this one might put off fans of the original Le Male and its flankers.

I remember being intrigued by this back in its first release days, and I am so happy that I now own a bottle. This is a very unique mix of clean fresh and musky, the overall scent has an icy sweet candy-cane-like profile that is unlike anything else I've smelled. The amped up mint and wormwood give a cool greeness not present in the original Le Male. The lavender, orange blossom and musk creates that familiar pillowy softness the original has, though a more indolic and sensual kind. This scent creates a subtle sweetness without the use of anything like Vanilla, which is quite pleasent. This scent doesn't seem to project very much, sits rather close to the skin. Longevity is a little weaker than the original, I get an average of 6 hours until it's nearly undetectable. Probably best warn during temperate days but appropriate almost all year round, minus super hot summer days. I just hope this will still be around by the time I finish my current bottle.

I pre ordered this fragrance to insure that I received it upon its release. At first spray I was wholly confused about the accord that I experienced. I bluntly hated it so I put it away for a while. A few months passed and I dared to try it again, this time it was absolutely pleasant to my nose. Since then I have been wearing it as a daytime scent for bright spring and soon to be summer days. I thought about the motives behind my initial impression of this fragrance and noticed that it was popular opinion of this fragrance that gave me the biased perception. The opening is amazingly fresh with sharp notes of mint and then it mellows out to a musky combination of lavender and orange blossom with absinthe trailing in the mix. My absolutely favorite sequence of the dry down is when the absinthe dies down and the musk notes die out. The remaining accord is light and airy. Projection is good. Gets close to skin at around 5-6 hours.

Lighter yet so much better than the OG. I wore it all 2019 with my other fragrance at the time which was Bentley Azure Think of a less spicy/aromatic blend, without the heavy cardamom smell to it. In this flanker, you get the freshness of the herbal notes : Wormwood & Sage. The clean soapy (shaving cream like) side that you could find in the original Le Male : Lavender & Mint without vanilla but replaced with the clean aspect of the musk ! Really fresh summertime fragrance but who can be worn throughout each seasons, all year round. So so sad that it got discontinued, even though I have the 200ml flanker it is now nearly empty (just a little upper the “crotch area” of the bottle). I didn’t know it was such a pricey perfume to buy once discontinued so it’ll be I think, my last flanker... Thanks again Francis Kurkdjian, this perfume is an 9/10 <3