Top Notes 
Cardamom
Georgywood®
Bergamot
Heart Notes 
Leather
Osmanthus
Base Notes 
Tonka bean
Vanilla
04/24/2018
MrHonest
116 Reviews
MrHonest
Helpful Review
1
Le Male + spicy, dusty leather
From the moment I smelled the opening years ago, I liked it. In fact, the opening is just awesome - a drier and slightly spicier Le Male - still with plenty of sweetness - albeit with "more mature" slapped all over its chiseled torso. Unfortunately, the disappointment came in the drydown.
On my skin, the original Le Male backbone in Essence de Parfum loses its muster quite quickly - about an hour in, to be exact. The sweetness fades, to be replaced with a super dry cardamom, subtle leather and vanilla combo, all the way to the end. It's definitely a decent scent, but just a tad dry for my tastes.
For months, I was turned off by how the cardamom was being used in this composition - unlike the sweet, smooth and fully integrated nature of the spice in YSL's La Nuit de L'homme or CH Men Prive (both obvious competitors), the cardamom in Essence comes off a little brash and astringent when combined with the leather. There's simply not enough tonka and vanilla to balance it out. Perhaps the addition of a denser wood or amber would have been more appropriate?...
In either case, I've come back to it after a couple years of disillusionment and still enjoy wearing it sparingly on cool autumn nights and rainy spring days. Damp environments tend to bring out the sweetness a bit more. And compared to the overly sweet / fruity / ambroxan heavy men's releases in the past two years, Essence de Parfum is actually a breath of fresh and elegant air, dry cardamom 'n' all.
On my skin, the original Le Male backbone in Essence de Parfum loses its muster quite quickly - about an hour in, to be exact. The sweetness fades, to be replaced with a super dry cardamom, subtle leather and vanilla combo, all the way to the end. It's definitely a decent scent, but just a tad dry for my tastes.
For months, I was turned off by how the cardamom was being used in this composition - unlike the sweet, smooth and fully integrated nature of the spice in YSL's La Nuit de L'homme or CH Men Prive (both obvious competitors), the cardamom in Essence comes off a little brash and astringent when combined with the leather. There's simply not enough tonka and vanilla to balance it out. Perhaps the addition of a denser wood or amber would have been more appropriate?...
In either case, I've come back to it after a couple years of disillusionment and still enjoy wearing it sparingly on cool autumn nights and rainy spring days. Damp environments tend to bring out the sweetness a bit more. And compared to the overly sweet / fruity / ambroxan heavy men's releases in the past two years, Essence de Parfum is actually a breath of fresh and elegant air, dry cardamom 'n' all.
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