Cuba Gold
by Cuba Paris

Very inexpensive cologne. I get a lot of sourness in the opening, but it only lasts for a minute or two, then the sourness goes away and your left with a soapy, slightly powdery vanilla with a touch of lavender and spice. Smells almost identical to Le Male but nowhere near as strong. The drydown is also less sweet than Le Male.

I actually prefer this to Le Male, as this smell is really a casual/day wear for me and I find Le Male too strong for that. I actually do 4 sprays of Cuba Gold, and I usually never go over 2 for something a wear during the day. You can even get away with this in the warmer weather. I get about 8 hours for longevity.

Overall, great value for the price.

12nd December, 2011.

I bought this one because I wanted to try something that smelled like le male. It smells like mint and vanilla toothpaste it is very strong and I do not like it at all!

6th October, 2011.

Dirt cheap. I'll give it that. I'm not sure where to place this. Does it have similarities to Le Male? Yes. It also has similarities to BOD $$$ especially in the drydown. I think Le Male is stronger, and so is BOD $$$. It falls somewhere in between IMHO, less synthetic than the ultra cheapy, less strong than the more expensive. I put it on at 6:30AM and can still smell it at 10:30PM. For a $5 cologne thats pretty good.

2nd May, 2011.

I've left my Le Male bottle at my parents place for whenever I visit. Liked it but never figured out all the hype. But a few months without it, and hearing the constant raving about it, I wanted to rediscover it but didn't want to dish $60 on a bottle. I also have been only buying +$200 bottles lately, so I wanted to give the cheapie market ago. So I got this from ebay for less than $10, can't go wrong with that eh? It's the price of skipping a meal after school I suppose.

The packaging is actually not bad for the price. I'm surprised that they've got such a fine sprayer for a cheapie considering the abundance of dysfunctional expensive bottles lately (I'm talking about you Montale).

Anyway, I've never thought Le Male could smell anymore synthetic, but hey they managed to pull it off! As everyone else have mentioned, it is a slightly more watery, one dimensional version of Le Male, than that it's identical. It's cheap and very well made, but that doesn't mean it's worth buying, unless you're horribly broke or love Le Male so much you have to get every fragrance similar to it.

Oh by the way, if you don't know what Le Male smells like. I suggest you go out more. But Kidding aside, it's Vanilla+Cinnamon with a touch of mixed spices. Body Kouros still stays at #1 in this category for me, and it's also a cheapie, but semi-discontinued, so grab a bottle while you can, it's only another $10 more than this.
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Presentation: 8.5/10
Uniqueness: 3/10
Value: 9/10
Longevity: 6/10
Projection: 6/10
Smell: 6/10

Overall: 7/10

2nd March, 2011.

I don't care for the "in your face" potency of Lemale, but besides that I love everything about it. That's were Cuba Gold and Jacomo de Jacomo Rouge comes in. Cuba Gold is a toned down version and the bottle (cigar) fits great in the glove box of your car. Hard to fault a cologne that's less than $10 that you can use as a backup.

27th February, 2011.

I heard so much about this Le Male alternative that I picked up the variety pack. To test it out I put Le Male on one wrist and Cuba Gold on the other. To be certain, Cuba Gold really attempts to be Le Male. However, the "toned downed' vibe is just another way of say not the same quality, but at 4 dollars for 1.7 oz that is to be expected.

So why only a neutral review....well, it is because every now and then I got a very sharp bitter scent that made my head spin*(SEE EDIT BELOW). Something in Cuba Gold became cloying, and I almost washed it off my wrist. If you have ever worn Dunhill desire you know the sharp, bitter scent I am talking about....it is horrible when it decides to do a sneak attack.

EDIT:

I have worn this cologne twice since this last review and I have not smelled the cloying note again. I think what happend is I got the Cuba Orange (which is horrible) paper too close to my nose and some liquid stayed. I continued to smell Cuba Orange while reviewing Cuba gold. Cuba gold doesn't seem to have the cloying note like I first thought.

This cologne does have a purpose over that of JPG le male, and that is if you are going to be stuck on a bus, conference, church, etc. I made the mistake of using the real thing instead of Cuba Gold when I went to church with my wife's family on Christmas eve. The seats were so close and it was so hot in the church that Le Male start to project uncontrollably. I was so uncomfortable it became embarrasing, and I only put one spray on the chest!. I wish I had used Cuba Gold (1/5 of the projection and 1/5 of the lasting power). At the price you can't do much better, but for a bit more you could buy a good scent off of Ebay.

14th December, 2010. (Last Edited: 26th December, 2010.)