Fleur du Male (2007)
by Jean Paul Gaultier

Mogra (a armatic variety of jasmine) amplified! i never "ever" thought the smell of the living Mogra flower would be ever captured so beautifully in a mens perfume, Splendid!
IMHO - this a tribute to a wonderful flower called mogra (its called so in india and is a favorite with every temple goer). i read this smells synthetic and all that, crap, its so true to the smell, couldnt be better, this is how the flower smells, period. by mid notes - neroli shares the space ands adds the bitterness along with vanilla/sandalwood with hints of animalics done in a very "kouros" way. maybe its the musk too.. lovely scent, albeit not for evryone it seems.

A much more enjoyable scent than Le Mâle, in my opinion. In fact, I don’t at first smell much of Le Mâle’s brazenly synthetic, sweet, vanilla oriental structure in Fleur de Mâle. What I get instead is a potent, soapy white flower accord with plenty of indolic orange blossom and a very conspicuous dose of bitter-green petitgrain. The vanilla does well up later in Fleur du Mâle’s development, but tempered as it is by the woody green florals, it is much more palatable here than in Le Mâle. Besides the vanilla, Fleur du Mâle shares with its predecessor an unabashedly chemical mien. Call it crass or artful, but I believe that this effect is calculatedly confrontational – just like the ridiculously campy homoerotic Ken doll bottle. In true Gaultier fragrance style, Fleur du Mâle is also loud, with conspicuous sillage and ample projection. No understatement here!

Two hours into Fleur du Mâle’s development the orange blossom has faded, and while some floral character remains, the drydown is mostly a potent, spicy, coumarin and vanilla based oriental accord that’s quite a bit more ordinary than what went before. I like it well enough, but without the added fillip of the white flowers its bluntness and its sustained high intensity can become tiresome. I see Fleur du Mâle as an olfactory diamond in the rough: a little less loud, a little less crude, and it might be an unequivocally outstanding fragrance. Even as it is I like the idea behind Fleur du Mâle, and I credit its nerve, despite its moments of (intentional?) gaucherie.

Fleur du Male does smell a little like Le Male, but I believe this is due to the orange flower and musk they both share. Otherwise, it's a different beast entirely. I would describe FdM as a sweet, heady, musky white floral, with dominant accords of orange flower, powdery iris and a small dose of slightly animalic musk along with another clean and sensual musk. I agree with others that this could be pulled off by a woman, but I wouldn't say it's necessarily feminine - just because it smells like orange flowers doesn't mean it smells like a woman in the classical sense.

Although FdM is a favorite of mine, my problem with FdM is that it gets a little bit annoying after an hour or two. It's really a shame though that FdM is so strong and concentrated. Therefore, it's not the type of thing you want to over-spray. While the composition and vibe from this scent are great, I wish it lasted less long (longevity verges on 48 hours) and I'd prefer if it was a bit less heavy. Due to its strength and longevity, I would definitely recommend wearing this in colder weather, or at night. On a positive note, there is now a "cologne" version of FdM, which is lighter and less enveloping, however it's missing a bit of magic compared to the original

Besides the fact that FdM is so strong, it's unique and enjoyable. Like rosy, blissful love in a bottle, FdM is not only romantic and sensual but it toys with one's notions of what smells masculine or feminine. I wear this out from time to time and it's always a head turner as it's not your typical "masculine" fragrance.

If you're looking for something in the vein of this but less potent, you might like Neroli by Czech and Speake - it's a heady floral with a dominant neroli/orange flower note, with much more of a natural feel.

8.5/10

This resembles Le Male? wel duh!, hence the name. While playing with the title of Baudelaires book, it's basically meant as a flowery version of Le Male and it succeeded at that IMO, but it is also a wearable one ,for men. If this is going to replace the nr.one selling Le Male of the charts I wouldn't complain for sure. Le Male wasn't a succes (weird bottle) at the time when it was released and look at it now.Le Male is also copied by some niche companies like Profumo's Antico Caruso and Boelies Panama (for a whole lot more money). I wonder if this will have the same succes. The Cologne version is the same , without the sweet vanilla and maybe a bit more wearable. Brilliant stuff! Hats off to Gaultier and Francis Kurkdjian.

Essentially, Le Mâle with dominant florals in the top notes.

The James Blunt of perfumery…

[Original submission date: 29 October 2007]

One of the better men's scents of recent years. Goes against the recent trend toward watery, gourmand, vaporous concoctions that smell like everything else. Fleur looks back to the old school citrus of 4711, the floral, powdery creaminess of Royal Violets and Tabac, and the fresh crispness of Eau de Cartier, yet stands on its own. It's a strong one and not for the faint of heart but has good longevity unlike so many others. The big drawback is the ridiculous bottle - it seems designed as a dare to straight guys to wear this. And it doesn't really do the fragrance justice. This would probably be even more successful in a classier bottle (the white color works, though).