Reviews of Ultraviolet Man (2001)
by Paco Rabanne

such a disgusting scent.no creativity

This one is a guilty pleasure for me. As an earlier reviewer said, it is deliberately and wholly synthetic, which I normally detest. However, if you can get past its synthetic qualities, it can actually be a fun wear from time to time. UV Man is an oriental-gourmand fragrance, yet the synthetic nature of it must always be kept in mind and acknowledged. The fragrance opens with a 'liquid mint' note that some have accurately described as a menthol aroma or eucalyptus, and then settles into a heart of 'organic' vetiver and 'moss crystals' (wonder what those are!). The base is an entirely technological recreation/rendition of ambergris, purely synthetic and not smelling at all like the ambergris used famously by Creed. The fragrance is very sweet and it can be cloying if overapplied, but it is a fun one to me for some reason. I sort of associate it with a futuristic world (as silly as that sounds, and probably based on the original print ads for the fragrance). The bottle itself is very nifty, and suggests futuristic impulses. It is not one of the best fragrances ever made as it can get a bit overbearing and sickly sweet (think of those rubber alien toys some have mentioned, perhaps). It is nowhere near my personal favorite, but what it lacks in smell it makes up in ingenuity. It certainly is one of the more adventurous and creative releases in recent years so it gets my thumbs up for that, and although I will not repurchase it when I run out, I will definitely keep the intriguing bottle as a memory.

CRAYON! That's just about all I'm getting out of this. I've worn this when staying home as I do when I first test anything and I've been afraid to actually go out with it on. My days of smelling like a box of Crayola are long since gone. I just can't think anyone could smell this on me and not wonder if I've been staying within the lines.

Still though, I cannot give this a negative for one reason. It is unique. It's also not entirely unpleasant and very interesting which will keep you sniffing yourself after you've sprayed it.

I just don't really want to smell like crayons.

A very sweet yet spicy and slightly soapy. Wow this is intense. There is no development other than that but it still smells pretty good.

I give much love to Paco for creating such a sensual masterpiece!! I liken this Roma Uomo in some ways that I can't pinpoint. Women literally attck in clubs when I wear this scent around them. Guys... if you want some positive attention from the lovely ladies, look no further.

i've always dismissed this as something i might not like, but today i decided to get aquainted with ultra violet man.

At first i get a wash of sweet fruit, a juicy peachy note which is quite pleasant, underscored by a driving metallic/eucalyptus accord (the 'liquid mint' perhaps?) which stops the fruitiness being too feminine and lays the first stones of UVman's stark, synthetic olfactory experience. Then i start to detect what i think might be the 'gray (grey!) amber', which to me is piqued by the lingering pine-air-freshener (not unpleasant) into what i can only describe as being almost like savoury marzipan, almost almondy yet spiky and interestingly weird. From then on, the fragrance is indeed quite linear, mellowing from this to a more rounded 'gray amber', and what smells to me like cedar, or cedar-lite - all the while with a persistent metallic note evoking hard, shiny surfaces and neon light. it's a light fragrance which manages to persist on my skin, the 'moss crystals' in the drydown being yet another alien reproduction of a classic fragrance note, here a mossy softness which never quite feels real.

the overall feeling from ultraviolet is, it seems, quite deliberately wholly synthetic in concept and execution, as Milamber said it 'has a certain vibrancy to it that is almost teasing but monotonous. It fades very quickly but lingers for hours.' herein perhaps lies the ultimate failing of UVman perhaps - it's rapid fading. conceptually i think it's a very interesting and valid exercise, but all that wonderful weirdness and synthetic reality just isnt quite weird enough for long enough.
Nonetheless i think it provides a welcome occasional diversion from luxurious, beautiful 'real' scents into an outer space starkness that remains surprisingly sultry, utterly inorganic yet nevertheless vibrant with sexual energy. and so I think this defines its use - it's absolutely perfect for clubbing; pulsating strobe lights and filthy electronic music.

not perfect, but buy it. UV rave clothing optional.

A fragrance that I’ve reassessed. With each wearing of Ultraviolet Man, I like it a little better. It is completely synthetic, but that no longer bothers me because its synthetics are attainable and pleasant; in fact, they fit well into the theme and apparent marketing plan of the fragrance. Ultraviolet Man is an attempt, it seems, to progress into the future of men’s fragrance. I find it very refreshing that a company is interested in its place in the total scheme of things as well as being concerned about its bottom line. Or might it possibly be a marketing decision? UV Man is a very light scent on my skin and one I don’t have to be concerned about in application. Its lightness is apparently a sort of linear progression into the future predicting more and more discreet (almost indiscernible), synthetic fragrances. It’s a difficult fragrance to describe because the notes are “Gray Amber,” “Liquid Mint,” and “Moss Crystals” …those don’t mean a thing to me...and I’m sure that is the intention. After all, why give traditional labels to notes that are obviously synthetic concoctions? Those given names are a version of truth in advertising as well as a marketing ploy. The fragrance starts out synthetically aromatic and ends sort of synthetically mossy. There is very little change between the beginning and the end because the scent is quite linear and, in spite of its lightness, manages to have a modicum of strength and longevity. It is basically unexciting except for the mild intellectual intrigue of its marketing ploy (a prediction of the technological future?); but the suggestion of its unspoken story and its futuristic persona give it a value that I can somewhat appreciate. I have come to actually enjoy it…some of the time. It is a very unusual and unique fragrance and a might try to those who are philosophically inclined.

I'm seeing purple hype! Sweet and synthetic? Yes, also eminently forgettable. We're getting silly with this one. Not fun-silly like Quasar or Nostalgia, just silly.

Sweet, sexy but not very special. It is not very original, but for everyday life it is a nice choice because girls love it. Anyway as a daytime fragrance I recommend it rather than any citrusy-zesty cologne.

Paco Rabanne's best men's fragrance since his original 1973 masterpiece. Truly unique and unto itself, this one almost defies description. It must be experienced on the skin. Highly unusual, perhaps a bit too heavy, none the less an amazing and (I think) highly underrated creation.
I can only put it in the category of "weird"; but good weird. Not bad weird, like Angel for men. Why is Angel so wildly popular and this one not? I think Ultraviolet is what Angel ought to be...of course, that doesn't make any sense, but neither does this type of fragrance. I love it, but I don't own it. Why? Because I wouldn't even begin to know when it was appropriate to wear it. Maybe just every now and then out of the bottle or to bed.

Pure poison. It smells like sugar mixed with your grandmother's shampoo. Doesn't evolve at all.

Insanely similar to Jacomo's Paradox.. they both possess the synthetic mint burst, smoothed out with a sweet tonka base that is both unremarkable and slightly off-putting.. This fragrance gets old pretty quick. The sharp purple bottle colour is striking and the rubber trigger is quite practical.. but I can't see anyone getting overly excited about this light, brief lasting..short in depth offering by Paco...

Very sweet, synthetic too but not very bad either as there are worse sweet scent out there. Strange but forgettable. Unique i guess. A bit metallic too.

Overall, a fairly pleasant but anonymous scent. Its biggest shortcoming in my opinion is its synthetic nature. Its "technologically recreated" ambergris has nowhere near the depth and complexity of real ambergris. I guess if you haven't been spoiled by, say, Creed's ambergris, it would be fine- Just synthesizing ambrein will give you 95% of the character of real ambergris, but that 5% is what makes real ambergris special. The mint up front is nice, but fades too soon into this sort of nondescript sweetness. The "organic vetyver" (their words and spelling) must have somehow forgot to be added- unless "organic vetyver" just doesn't smell like anything. Likewise, the "moss crystals" (can anyone please tell me what a "moss crystal" is?) are barely noticable in the sea of sweetness. If you can get this for cheap, then it might not be bad for using when going to loud, drunken, college-town bars on weekends, but it's just too synthetic, sweet, and linear for my tastes.

One word, YUCK!!!, gave me a headache

Ultraviolet Man starts off with a fresh-minty blast which softens to a warm vanilla with a rich ambery sweetness. Highly versatile.

Unfortunately UV turns very synthetic on the drydown, which is a pity since it's quite a cool EdT. It's sweet and almost gourmand in nature, has a milkiness also found in Diesel ++ and Allure. Additionally It manages to capture the colour purple/violet well in the overall impression. BUT the longevity is bad and the base definitely too artificial to warrant a purchase.

Paco Rabanne Ultraviolet Man (2001)
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Sometimes the search for unique smells can lead us to create enigmatic new scents that widen our spectrum of olfactory experience. What better way to conceptualise a fragrance then by combining 2 sensory elements, the sense of smell with sight. Colors to be exact. There seems to be an almost mystical link between smell and colors. Smell a rose and we see the color red (though there are many varieties of roses that are not red). Smell aquatic scents and we see blue, the blueness of the sea perhaps. This is where a disjunction can be really grating to the senses. For example, smelling Kenneth Cole Black, i see intense blue, not the black that is implied, not the blackness of rubber tyres as in Bulgari Black or the grittiness of Armani Night. Perhaps it's just me, but do smell it if you ever get a chance and tell me there isn't a note of Cool Water in KCB.

How then do you capture the color of Ultraviolet? Paco Rabanne seems to have done so in their Ultraviolet Man creation. Because links are like hooks that connect in ever expanding tributaries so, the link with ultraviolet is technology and the artificial, the man-made, synergy of syntheticism. There is nothing natural about Ultraviolet man and the marketing hypes on this aspect of it - the smell of technology. In an increasingly synthetic world, syntheticism becomes the object of reverence. Just look at the notes of this scent - grey amber, liquid mint, organic vertiver and moss crystals. None of those notes exist in the real world and don't be fooled by the "organic vertiver" which is probably another way of saying "man-made synthetic verviter", in any case, there isn't a hint of vertiver in Ultraviolet Man anyway.

So, what does Ultraviolet Man smell like? Well, in a nutshell, it smells very sweet. Interestingly, i do get the color ultraviolet in this scent and its a rather sweet color in a very synthetic way. It has no soul in it, very uncomplicated and singular in accord yet has a certain vibrancy to it that is almost teasing but monotonous. It fades very quickly but lingers for hours.

Admirers of artisinal fragrances will curse the creation of such a soulless creature. Devotees of the classics will scoff at the fleeting, ultra-femininity of this scent that dares to call itself "Man". Perhaps only a technophile can appreciate Ultraviolet Man. That said, there are legions of techies today, in a modern world dominated by Apple, IBM, Intel, Microsoft etc... This is probably Bill Gate's signature frag.

OK, I admit it, at first I thought - blimey very minty and icy. But then I thought why not spray it all over. I did, went clubbing. The sheer amount of kudos I got from the ladies was amazing. Turns out my girlfriend loves Ultraviolet for women, and for men too! I can understand how the varied tastes of the members of basenotes can ignore this one, but really, it brings in the compliments, and its by Paco. A sure winner.

Eeeek ghad! I've tried this three times, and three times walked away liking it less and less. The first time, it seemed so light--the second, not much better. This last time, I sprayed it on my skin and it just induced a big headache. As mentioned in the other review, I can easily name two dozen colognes I enjoy better than this. It has a bright, orangey burst to start off with, but dried down to that rubber alien bit. I can't wait to wash it off!! Must...go...now. It's got...like...kryptonite in...it...

One of the baddest bottles/One of the baddest scents to match.I own well over 100 bottles and there's not one that even remotely smells like UV! Unexplainable but awesome!

The good news, right off the bat, is that the bottle is extremely cool. The bad news is that the contents aren't.
I'd read great stuff about Ultraviolet Man on Basenotes, so I took a chance and mail-ordered it without trying it first. The first few sprays stuck in the tube smelled positively VILE, with an acrid odor reminiscent of some cheap, stinking, probably toxic rubber alien toys I owned as a child. (Long story.) I worked like crazy trying to get the smell off my skin and it just wouldn't go away. I seriously felt nauseated by the scent.
However, having spent so much money to order this stuff (plus, having a bit of a masochistic streak), I decided to keep giving it a chance, and it actually got better. After I got those first few sprays out... it started smelling more like a cologne and less like frog vomit or some sort of biochemical agent. The scent actually began to resemble (as tacky as this sounds) Lemon Pledge!
It's definitely distinctive. These days, I can wear it comfortably and sometimes I even enjoy it, but I can name over two dozen fragrances in my arsenal that I like more than Ultraviolet Man. I have never gotten a compliment on it, and when I was bold enough to ask a female companion what she thought of the scent, she didn't think it was disgusting, but she wasn't highly impressed by it either.
I did notice the comparison between this fragrance and Paloma Picasso's Minotaure here on Basenotes, but I don't see much of a resemblance, as Minotaure is one of my favourite fragrances ever and this is just... well... barely above adequate, especially for the price tag. Were it not for the design of the bottle, there wouldn't be anything about Ultraviolet Man to really "wow" me, and frankly, I don't make a habit of taking my fragrance bottles out on dates with me. Frankly, I regret paying so much for it, and I would recommend that prospective buyers get experienced with this scent before making the same mistake I did.