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How good is Le Male Terrible?

How good is Le Male Terrible? 9 years ago
I want to be a little different from the crowd and choose Le Male Terrible over the original Le Male. How good and versatile is the juice?
Re: How good is Le Male Terrible? 9 years ago
Keppy1792:
I want to be a little different from the crowd and choose Le Male Terrible over the original Le Male. How good and versatile is the juice?

I tested Le Mâle Terrible shortly after its launch, and it left me a bit clueless. It is basically Le Mâle but with a variance towards some Eau de Cologne in the top notes, something slightly animalic in the heart and maybe a bit vetiver in the base notes. Besides that it is just slightly different from the original, and I could not find a different concept in that fragrance.

I don't think that people who smell it on you will necessarily notice that you are wearing something different from Le Mâle.

Good alternatives with a statement of their own to Le Mâle are:

"Fleur du Mâle"
"Collection Impériale - François Charles"
"Antonio de Curtis"
"Custo Man"
9 years ago
I think many people fancy Fleur du Mâle much more than Le Mâle Terrible. Maybe because of the citrus vibe in it. What is your take on Fleur du Mâle?
9 years ago
Keppy1792, I actually prefer Fleur du Mâle. I think it suits me better. I like the combination of flowery orange blossom with a deep dark accord that reminds me a little bit of tar and gasoline. It is two extremes put together.

Because Fleur du Mâle is a bit opulent and strong (just as Le Mâle) I then went for "Fleur du Mâle La Cologne". This version is perfect for me but unfortunately discontinued by now.

Every fragrance has its time. Le Mâle once was extremely popular in my country and since it is very recognizable you soon got the feeling that everybody was wearing it. At a certain point, it got linked to a negative clichée of lower class male youths, and that was the point when some people were really put off by it. I think it still sells well, and it is worn by those who really like it and give a damn about what people think.

What has happened to Le Mâle happened to "Joop!Homme" a decade earlier. Exactly he same scheme: an opulent and unmistakable fragrance was worn by far too many people, then people got fed up with it and it got a bad image for many years. Unlike Le Mâle, Joop!Homme is getting a revival. You can smell it on some people (not too many) nowadays, and you think: That wasn't that bad after all.

I think this will happen to Le Mâle as well but time has not come yet.

Have you tested Joop!Homme?
9 years ago
Apicius, I have Joop! Homme in my collection. But I don't use it often.
9 years ago
I see, either I overlooked it or you just added it to your collection Smile
9 years ago
Apicius:
I see, either I overlooked it or you just added it to your collection Smile
Yea...I just added it...I will submit the pics soon. Am not in the mode to shoot now. Wink
9 years ago
A different question about "Le Mâle"...

I found the Le Mâle deodorant in the bargain bin, so I bought it and I've been using it the past few days. That vanilla just smells so good!!

My question is:
WHY does the vanilla from Le Mâle smell so good? Normally I don't like vanilla. Is the vanilla maybe combined with another ingredient, that makes it extra appealing?
9 years ago
Sleuth:
A different question about "Le Mâle"...

I found the Le Mâle deodorant in the bargain bin, so I bought it and I've been using it the past few days. That vanilla just smells so good!!

My question is:
WHY does the vanilla from Le Mâle smell so good? Normally I don't like vanilla. Is the vanilla maybe combined with another ingredient, that makes it extra appealing?

This is quite interesting, Sleuth. I am picky about vanilla, too, and I find almost every incarnation of Le Mâle delightful, including many knock-offs to boot. The reason I can think of why the vanilla in Le Mâle is so good, and does not get cloying or boring, is because the lavender and the mint balance and curb the sweetness of vanilla pretty effectively. I would have suggested that the (relatively) high quality of the ingredients might be a factor, but as I said, I enjoy the Le Mâle concept even in cheap (as in "affordable") knock-offs, and I do not imagine those to have high quality ingredients. So, at least for me, what makes the overall Le Mâle concept quite superb despite the risky premise of having vanilla front-and-center is the excellent balance achieved by the masterful use of lavender and mint.

And let me clarify the concept of "cheap knock-offs" a little bit. I have an extremely cheap, (bought from a dollar store for $1, mind you,) Le Mâle knock-off that I use as a car air-freshener, and although I would not imagine using it on my body or clothes, I still find it quite good for the purpose I have assigned to it, and not the least bit cloying or boring. Obviously, there are better knock-offs, such as Cuba Gold, (in which I find the mint to be more pronounced,) and Fujiyama Gentleman (with more pronounced lavender, to my nose), which do not fall flat on their noses, unlike most knock-offs do. Again, I think the vanilla-lavender-mint concept and the balance between the three are so good that it is hard to go wrong with them.
9 years ago
Hi MV,

One other thought that occurred to me is that Le Mâle also contains some herbs and wood, and maybe those ingredients make the vanilla a bit more masculine.

But I think your explanation makes more sense, thanks!
9 years ago
I think most of all Le Mâle and its follow-ups contain an aromachemical compound that has no direct resemblance with any of the notes that you find in the pyramids. For me, the typical Le Mâle scent reminds me a lot of fuel.

It would not be healthy to use gasoline as perfume, but I have read that this was popular in the 1920's. Men put a little bit of petrol on their hankerchiefs so the scent would identfy them as car owners.
9 years ago
Fuel in perfume ...it is back again in fashion.

: Shocked

www.parfumo.com/Perfumes/Volkswagen/Memoire_de _Petrole
3 years ago
I got Le Male Terrible back in 2015 and it's getting close to being empty. It's not my personal favourite fragrance, but I do like it and my wife loves it. She thinks it's the best Le Male flanker. That's why I have "stretched" it quite a bit.
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