Ultra Mâle Jean Paul Gaultier 2015

I like the original scent, even though there are perfumes that I prefer over Le Male. Unfortunately, the original scent quickly devolves, in my opinion, into a homogeneous mass of very synthetic-seeming vanilla. The longevity was also better a few years ago. Then I heard that a new sailor was preparing to explore unknown scent continents. The fragrance notes immediately intrigued me. I was curious how black lavender, black vanilla, and pear would come together. Eagerly, I sprayed it on for the first time today. I hoped I wouldn’t have to agree with my predecessors here; I was really hoping for a great Le Male flanker, but unfortunately, that’s not the case in my view. The opening is really very sweet; it feels heavier and stickier to me than the opening of One Million. The first thing that came to my mind was: "Sweet gum covered with a thick, very thick layer of vanilla, with a few spices sprinkled on top." I can smell the Le Male DNA through the spice in the first few minutes, but then it fades a bit, although it remains recognizable through the lavender, vanilla, cumin, and cinnamon combo (you really have to pay attention to recognize it behind all that sweetness). The spices gradually fade, and what remains for me is a lot of vanilla, lavender, and sticky sweetness, almost something fruity, perhaps caused by the pear. There’s a hint of amber, and the woods come through a bit at the end of the drydown.

I do like sweet scents, even with a lot of vanilla, and it can even be a bit powdery. DHI and Midnight in Paris both have very soft sides, but they are elegant and not sticky.

I don’t know if it’s just my nose perceiving it this way, but this perfume reminds me of a multitude of women’s fragrances that are just very sweet, packed with vanilla, sugar, and something fruity, those typical overloaded perfumes that have flooded the market in recent years.

The longevity is really good. The scent lasted 6-7 hours, well noticeable on my skin, and then faded slowly. A bit better than the original sailor. The sillage is also quite decent, although I don’t really want that when I smell like this...

All in all, you might already hear it? A big disappointment... Who approves such fragrances and decides to release them, especially in summer? It would definitely only be suitable for winter or cool autumn days. I was really looking forward to a more intense Le Male that skillfully plays with a bit of pear and dark vanilla, but that’s not how it turned out.

When it comes to autumn and winter fragrances, there are simply too many strong alternatives.

Leave this one on the shelf and set sail with another fragrance.

Permission to come ashore, not granted!!!

Edit: I have to completely revise my judgment on this scent. I now find it damn good. Yes, the scent is sweet-sticky. But now I especially like the opening with the strongly dominant pear, a bit of lavender and mint, better than almost any other fragrance. Despite the fact that there are a lot of sweet and slightly sticky fragrances on the market, I know only a few that smell really similar to Ultra Male. After some time, Ultra Male is an interesting, sweet, and yet masculine blend of pear, a bit of dry sweet lavender, cinnamon, and vanilla. A great and definitely sensual mix, in my opinion. After about 1-2 hours, it resembles the normal Le Male quite a bit in the base. This is probably due to the base of amber, vanilla, and woods, which you can also find in the original, or something similar. However, I have long since lost interest in the original scent, and I find it quite boring and never particularly great even before.

The longevity of my scent is quite good, but not nearly as great as the wonderful reviews here suggest. Maybe it’s because I have a new bottle. When I tested it back in July 2015 (and also wrote this comment), the scent lasted significantly longer.

The sillage: This is also quite good, but it doesn’t reach a strong 8 points for me. More like 7.

Compliment factor: The scent is incredibly well received by women. My girlfriend keeps mentioning how delicious and great the scent smells when I wear it. And other women have often turned around and said things like: "Wow, you smell delicious, what is that?" Many of the women reacted to Ultra Male significantly more intensely and positively than, for example, to Sauvage or Aventus.

Fragrance rating raised from 6 to 8.5. A great scent that is very well received by women. Even though it is considered the clubbing scent for young men, I wear it without any problems at 29 years old when going out and also just casually in my free time, and I always get good reactions. Especially since the sillage is quite decent but not very strong, the scent has never been too intrusive for me. A great companion for autumn, winter, and not too hot summer evenings.