Le Beau Male Edition Collector

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 (see main version page) 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.

What? This one is JPG's worst fragrance yet. I was sure it was gonna be discontinued. I didn't expect a "summer edition"! Weird.

waiting for this fresh le male .......like like like ......