JavSantana

While smelling quite similar to CH Men Privé, the nuances of the opening and the way the leather is constructed differs heavily from one another. CH Privé has a slightly smoky macho leather, on the other side this Le Male Essence de Parfum is more refined and elegant, the leather on it being pretty much a hyperrealistic suede. The cologne starts with a potent herbal and cardamom opening which reminded me of frags from the 1980's. In the drydown we got a suede type leather and some vanilla. I think this is far better than the Carolina Herrera frag, which on my skin smells like plain Coca - Cola. (Not kidding) However, the scent has been discontinued and it had already been reformulated. The one i tried lasted half an hour projecting, unfortunate that Puig destroys their own creations.

I had seen this frag appearing on perfume top videos in youtube since several months ago and i think it is unfortunately overshadowed by other fragrances from the era like Chanel Antaeus, YSL Kouros, Ralph Lauren Polo Green, Paco Rabanne Pour Homme, (The modern one is pretty annoying on heat, they've put a modern tonka sweetness to it nowadays, the vintage is the actual masterpiece) Azzaro Pour Homme, et cetera. I frankly prefer this Givenchy above almost all of those fragrances (Maybe except Polo) and i'll tell you why.

Well, i have to say that i am 20 years old and got a taste for vintage colognes, my collection circles around these masterpiece fragrances of old. For some reason, most modern stuff just doesn't fit me. Excessive sweetness and gourmandish stuff. On the other side, i prefer leathers, woods, herbs, florals and even animalics. This Gentleman de Givenchy, has all of that. Mine arrived today in the mail and is from a batch made in December 2020, i had previously smelled it in a department store here a couple times, along the modern 2017 Gentleman EDT which i also own and it is a nice frag as well, like CH Men Privé but nicer and without the harassing sweetness.

This classic Gentleman is a quite linear creation, since the opening is just a little brighter than the heart and in the far drydown, just when the fragrance is disappearing, the perfume shows its darkest nuances. In the opening we got a dominant, pretty animalic honey with slight vomit tones surely coming from civet (Synthetic nowadays) and some slight citrus nuances to it and some rose (These other components are synthetic as well, the rose note is heavy in geraniol giving it a fresher kind of mixed smell between rose and geranium) in there as well. In the heart we still got the slightly sweet honey nuances, a touch of buttery orris and faint woods (I cannot pick on them since the base is extremely heavy on other notes which i will mention shortly) backed by patchouli (This note dominates the fragrance) and old school, smoky russian leather, which is dominant in the drydown, along with the amber keeping the leather from being too dry. In there also lies the rest of the civet, way darker than in the opening but always with some rancid touch, almost like an excretions smell, it is gorgeous. However in modern formulas the heaviest notes have indeed been tamed down to its minimal expression, same as the leather in Polo green, and they are still harassing smells for younger noses. I can only hope oxygen to get inside the bottles to age the liquid and animalic tones come out with time. It has a very characteristic earthy-leathery-slightly sweet character to it and i think in the drydown is perfectly usable nowadays, a timeless sexy sweetened leather drydown, the leather in here is pretty tamed down and it is not that dry, so it's amazing. The drydown might actually smell like a vintage brown leather jacket that has impregnated with sweat and body odor and smells like OG "russian" leather, the warm amber on top and the patchouli with the earth touch always there. It is an exquisite cologne, and i have to say that to me, this smells like the most elegant frag ever. (Maybe just Antaeus smells as elegant as this) Period. The performance of it is good, went from around 5 hours when i first got it into around 8 hours now. It has a nice projection for the first couple of hours. It is pretty masculine but with that sexy edge given by the sweets and animalics, and extremely classy as well. The presentation i found it to be pretty nice, to some the bottle cap has a bad quality, to tell you the truth, i don't really care, the fragrance is amazing and that's the thing that matters. I find the scent to be quite versatile, but it would really shine in fall and winter. I also don't think it admits casual use, wear some leather brogues, backwards combed hair and a full suit at least two pieces. Maybe Joaquin Phoenix's Joker or Charly Garcia in a suit would wear this frag.

bottom line: Reminding of the elegance from days past and a pretty funky decade overall reflected in the animalics and leather, this is an astounding fragrance. I loved it and i will happily buy some brogues only to wear with this frag since it made me crazy and i will definitely rock it often, perfect frag for starting out fall. (I did got some leather shoes to wear with the perfume.)

During the COVID-19 quarantine in 2020 for some reason i stumbled upon a video that showed classic old school "macho man" masculine colognes. I got obsessed with it and did a lot of research on there and that pretty much meant my entry into the fragrance world. To not make the story that long, when the quarantine "ended" here in Mexico in July 2020 and i finally could get out of my house, i went to my local clone perfumery and asked for several of the colognes that i had in mind. My mom then bought for me two 1oz bottles of two different scents, which ended up being Guy Laroche Drakkar Noir and this one, Paco Rabanne Pour Homme. That clone was heavy on lemon in the opening, i think it lacked lavender and pretty much did not have the characters of the original frag. A couple of months passed and i smelled the original fragrance and then found a clone that was spot on. I bought it because i went crazy with that kinda talcum powder green smell, and had some really nice times with it, a date with a girl my age, and an ocassion when i was smelling the cologne in a place i love while looking at the city and thinking that the smell of it was heavenly and i was in ecstasy.

The fragrance has an aromatic opening of rosemary, sage and a wood hint given by brazilian rosewood. I find that opening to be pretty loud (It could be smelled clearly by another person wearing a mask in a date) and i have to say it is a timeless opening and smells almost psychedelic, as the Paco Rabanne house character is, and its first fragances like Calandre, XS, and Ultraviolet, to name a few, do have this kind of psychedelic tone to them. The heart shows a pretty warm, fuzzy lavender, with some tonka bean as well, smelling as shaving foam or stuff. There are a couple of transition notes from the heart to the base, these are honey and amber. The far drydown of the fragrance smells like a straight pine soap, as the combination of oakmoss and musk, two of the most important notes on the fragrance. I imagine a pretty elegant couple with the man wearing this frag while they are listening to barry white on a romantic evening or stuff, when smelling this perfume. A classic fougere with a sweet and aromatic twist to it. I will have to say that lately i lost the love for it, i find the sweetness to be pretty heavy and when combining with the aromatics, in heat smelling it makes me almost want to throw up because of the overwhelming sweetness. I don't know if the fragrance is unproperly cloned or what, but i am pretty sure the reformulated one is pretty sweet, modern in the sweetness it has. I am here not to hate on the Jean Martel masterpiece, which i am sure was quite different in its nuances to the current one.

bottom line: It is a fougere. If you like sweetness but want something more mature or different, this is your frag.

This was the first original cologne that i got. It was one of my first loves since i first smelled it in 2015 and had a clone of it, i wore it as an after shave and for "Quince años" parties here in Mexico (The equivalent to "Sweet 16's" in the US) and i recall it from those situations. Then my father got the original fragrance for me.

The scent starts with a pretty nice grapefruit and a marine "brightness", pretty recognizable of this fragrance. (Yes, it is synthetic as well, but i think it's nice.) Then it has a bayleaf (Symbol of victory) and jasmine heart, this last note to my nose has a slight animalic tone which reminds me of an "intimate" female aroma. Pretty weird, but the jasmine does actually have an animalic edge to it, since it has a nuance of it similar to the smell of civet. In the base we've got a pretty present ambroxan which just adds to the marine touches, some nice gaiacwood, and very nuanced patchouli and oakmoss. Overall i find it to be a nice versatile scent, could be worn to the club, on a date in summer or stuff, even to the university or school. It has a very present sweetness but i find this character of it to not be choking, at least not as much as other sweet fragrances, those being heavy on tonka and vanilla notes.

If smells bring images into my head, this Santos Concentree brought me the idea of Al Pacino in Scarface. This cologne starts pretty bright with herbs and even a hot pepper note, which i have understood is a combo of eugenol and aldehydes. Then the drydown comes with sandalwood and patchouli, the projection drops when the drydown is reached and when it is sprayed it is a monster. Overall a nice, elegant cologne with touches of warm spicy. (In a pretty particular way, it is not sweet, choking heavy or anything like that) An amazing scent and the performance is good as well, i recall some 8 hours.