Scandal Pour Homme Absolu

Today we're going designer and heading over to the house of Jean Paul Gaultier. The fragrance we're looking at today is Scandal Absolu; the newest addition to the Scandal line. Now the Scandal line doesn't get as much love as the Le Male or Le Beau lines, but those in the know are familiar with it. Scandal Absolu has been garnering an insane amount of hype in the fragcom lately, so I figured I should go ahead and grab a sample of it to see what the buzz is about. Let's get into it; Scent: The opening is fruity, woody, and warm. There's only three notes in the official breakdown; Mirabelle plum, chestnut, and sandalwood, and it's easy to pick out all three of them. The strongest note off the top is the Mirabelle plum. This note manifests as a sweet and fruity accord with a distinct accompanying freshness. Right underneath the plum are the chestnut and sandalwood. The chestnut is warm, nutty, and very reminiscent of the chestnut notes used in the Stronger With You fragrances by Emporio Armani. Lastly, the sandalwood gives the opening a solid foundation of woodiness with pronounced powdery tones. The dry down is sweet, woody, and warm. The primary notes are the same, obviously; but the strongest note in the dry down has become the chestnut. Supremely warm and nutty, reaching further into the gourmand realm. Beneath the chestnut lies the Mirabelle plum, not as bright and fruity as it was in the opening but keeping the same level of sweetness. Lastly, the sandalwood still forms the foundation in the dry down with the same powdery woodiness, albeit a bit more pronounced than it was in the opening. From opening to dry down, the fragrance is a sweet, mouth-watering, gourmand experience. I will say that it does have strong similarities to Paco Rabanne's One Million Lucky. Not saying that's a bad thing as I enjoy that fragrance too, but it did remind me quite a bit of it. Performance: Initial projection in the first hour is very strong and can easily fill a room. Sillage matches that intensity with a dense and heavy scent trail that lingers in the air. After about 3-4 hours the projection was still about 6 feet and the scent trail was still easily noticeable. The fragrance lasted about 10-11 hours before becoming a skin scent. When to wear: Scandal Absolu is the epitome of a fall/winter fragrance, best suited for evening wear. It's heavy, dark, and sweet, which makes it perfect for special occasions like date nights or anniversaries. I wouldn't dress it up too far though, it doesn't fit the bill for anything past a sport jacket. In other words, I wouldn't pair it with a suit. This also isn't something I would consider office friendly; it's just too strong and sweet. Blind buy: If you like sweet and warm fragrances like One Million Lucky or the Stronger With You line, this is a safe blind buy for you. Final verdict: So let's break down Scandal Absolu one step at a time. First things first, the scent profile. It's deliciously sweet and gourmand, and that falls right into my wheelhouse. I enjoy heavy, edible smelling fragrances and that's very much what this fragrance is. As I stated before, Scandal Absolu does have strong similarities to One Million Lucky. With them being so similar to each other there is a bit of redundancy between them and I wouldn't necessarily feel the need to own them both. For what it's worth, between the two I think Scandal Absolu is the better fragrance. Next up, performance. Scandal Absolu starts off the show with beast-mode performance that fills rooms and leaves scent trails so thick you could cut them with a knife. This continues on in some degree for at least the first 3-4 hours, and the scent sticks to the skin and continues to project and leave scent trails until the 10-11 hour mark when it becomes a skin scent. Let's talk about versatility. This fragrance fits neatly into the slot of a fall/winter non-formal special occasion fragrance, but that's about it. And even then, that's pretty niche. Mass-appeal, however, knocks this out of the park. This scent profile is right in line with a lot of other sweet fragrances being released right now, so it's gonna be enjoyed by almost everyone. To wrap this up, is Scandal Absolu worth the hype? Yeah, I would say it is. It smells amazing, it's a strong performer, and it will be liked by most people. That's pretty much everything the standard fragrance wearer could ask for. If you're looking for something mind-blowing and cutting edge, you won't find it here. But if you want something that's an easy reach for the cooler months, Scandal Absolu has you covered. Scent: 8/10 Longevity: 8/10 Sillage: 9/10

Welp, on first sniff I can tell you that this is one of the hip new pure sweetness scents without too much else going on except for a few subtleties. It is ludicrous that victory elixir is not in the reminds me of section, because this family of fragrances basically consists of the scandals, the most wanted line, victory elixir, and a few others, and they all smell insanely similar. Crazy that Stronger With You is in that section, because at least that scent has some distinguishable spicy scent character and ultimately is miles away from this, considering how close the aforementioned are. They are their own thing, and there are distinctions to be made for sure, and I don't hate them. On the contrary, I actually love a lot of them, but outside of their general pleasantness, there isn't a tremendous amount of depth to the casual nose in my opinion. I will say that if we're excluding Stronger WY line, this one is my favorite so far. I find that Victory E has the musty Invictus DNA that makes me want to cough, the other Scandals seem next-level 1-dimensional to me, and the most wanteds are the same vibe plus added syntheticness. The Most Wanted Parfum has that "grape soda" thing going on in quite a pronounced way, which is the most noteworthy divergence from the bunch. I love that stuff, but I feel like it still has a slightly more synthetic vibe than Scandal Absolu and is more noticeably fruity, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Just something that should be sampled if you're nervous about blind buying one of these. This one projects just as beastly as the most wanteds and maybe even Victory E, but the way it is in the air has something nicer going on to my nose. I am a sucker for nutty notes, so that is possible, but I am more excited to be trying this than anything else I have mentioned, except for continuing to wear SWY Intensely, which is literally absolu plus spicebomb in a perfect balance, which I love. If you like any of the ones that I called flat out sweetness, I would sample this and all of those and decide for yourself which one you think straight up smells best. If you can be confident in that decision, then owning all of those is definitely redundant, I do not think it is a stretch to say. I own most of them, and this one is probably my favorite among them. I would include a lot of other things in that category, give or take, trying to be fair. Things like 1 million, ultramale, etc. (but to me, those have much more pronounced differences). To me, the differences are barely articulable. You just have to try them and decide for yourself. I don't mean to sound negative in some of my descriptions, I just know reading some reviews that a lot of people's noses read this stuff as quite linear sweetness also, and in a way that is extremely similar to this family of scents. There is nuance that makes a big difference between them, I believe. Just don't go in expecting great depth and complexity. Anyway this shit is lit. AFTER 1 DAY: I think I definitely prefer this fragrance to any of the other linear sweeties I mentioned above, and probably equal to SWYI just in a different way. There is something so satisfying about it. So many of this type of scent has something that eventually annoyed me after a little wearing, but not this stuff. It has that alluring, addictive quality. You don't just tolerate it or even appreciate it, you start to crave it a bit. That's when I feel like I'm discovering a scent that I really enjoy, and I'm definitely getting that sensation with absolu. It goes to show how the most minute details matter. It makes me really respect the creator of a thing like this, because that precision of the balance of aroma chemicals, not just the ingredients, is the key to a successful creation, and this scent might be a real masterpiece in its niche. I was actually struggling to justify this style of scent as a wearable fragrance before I sampled Absolu, but I really do get it now. It's a great option. Last edit: I knew I was forgetting at least a few flat sweeties that are similar to this, and at least a few of them are almost the entire Code line by Giorgio Armani. I have a huge bottle of Absolu which has a little definable spice character, but my old-style bottle edp, the older parfum, and to a lesser extent profumo all, to me, have a very similar sweetness and overall profile. I was never a fan, but I hold onto those few bottles for posterity, and I sort of regret selling the profumo, even for discontinued price. I, of course, prefer Scandal Absolu to all of those as well.

I absolutely ADORE Scandal Absolu’s scent profile. Loved it so much that I bought Armaf’s King as money was tight at the time and nearly creamed myself when one of my boys bought it for my birthday. Scent: Scandal Absolu opens with a beautifully balanced plum which smells both tart and sweet. Then it dries down into this warm roasted chestnut that’s just a touch creamy with hints of that tart plum still lingering around. I genuinely believe that words aren’t able to do this scent justice and you just gotta go smell it for yourself. Scents are wildly subjective so there are definitely people who absolutely hate this scent but to me this is PEAK designer simplistic perfumery done at the absolute HIGHEST level. Performance: Great performance. Quite a long lasting frag which edges slightly over 10 hours on each of my wears and it projects just like a JPG fragrance tends to do... with the intention to draw attention which this does a bloody good job at. Also leaves a pleasant roasted nutty scent trail that feels like it embodies the scent of fall. Versatility: Viable for most seasons except maybe summer as it’s not overbearingly sweet but still sweet enough where I’d recommend you not to wear it in high heat. Absolute belter in cooler weather, doesn’t even need to be fully cold out just chilly enough to let the roasted chestnut note truly shine. Scent: 10/10 Performance: 9/10 Versatility: 7.5/10 Personal Score: 9/10 I LOVE SCANDAL ABSOLU. Personally, this is my designer fragrance GOAT and that says a lot as it's the only designer still sitting in my top 10 list.

at first i didnt like it at all . i felt like the opening was way to syntethic and overall not my type of fragrance, even tho i love gourmand scents. by the time it grew on me and i found myself picking it up more and more often and i have to say i dont regret the decision of buying it . in the opening the plum note for me its not sweet at all leaning more tart , but i have tested the fragrance in stores since buying it and i have to say that the opening its actually very sweet and enjoyable so maybe its just my own flanker or imagination that its messing with my love for this fragrance. even tho the opening its not the same to the flankers in stores ,it doesnt bother me anymore to the point i d say its syntethic or bad . the dry down its amazing and where personaly i think the fragrance shines the most .the chestnut note its sweet and warm ,almost as id bake my own tray and tossing them in a bowl of sugar afterwards .combined with the sandal wood its giving me christmas vibes and i have to say its almost nostalgic of some sort. the performance its amazing , 8 to 10 hours on my skin and projects like a beast in the first 3 maybe 4 hours, afterwards turning more intimate by having to get closer to smell it but not quite skin scent .overall i have to give this a 8.5

No regrets on this one, a welcomed addition. Opening to dry down is a hit. It starts off pretty light to my nose with a kind of fresh element. In the mid it starts to put on weight, activating the sweetness of the plum. It's not cloying to my nose, but I could see the level of sweetness here might be a problem for some. The way the notes blend creates a almost creaminess and thats warm, sweet, comforting, intimate and inviting. Definitely a good option for a date night with your lady. I would say majority of women would enjoy this profile on a man. I haven't sprayed this on clothes yet, but the way this rest and radiates off skin is really nice. Well into the dry down, it continues to levitate off the skin with subtle movements, reminding you its still there. But not in a aggressive eternal beast mode kind of way, but rather in a "just right," Goldilocks zone type of way. At least for me, its just right. I think this falls in the mass appealing realm for smell-ers. But wear-ers is gonna be a smaller number. Safe blind buy if you dont mind sweet profiles. Overall: Tis nice me Lords. Certified winner winner chicken dinner, increase your chance to be invited inner. 👍 9.5/10