Fragrance Notes
Le Male Elixir
Three materials, no padding: the Jean Paul Gaultier Le Male Elixir Parfum Gift Set holds a short composition, and short does not mean simple when the materials are chosen to argue with one another.
The set pairs the 125ml Eau de Parfum with a 75ml shower gel. Lavender is the first of them and the most familiar. It is used in its clean, slightly medicinal register, cool and sharp rather than soft and floral, and it gives the scent the grooming counter cleanliness this house has always played with. Tonka bean is next, and its sweetness is dry and dusty, the sort that coats rather than sparkles, with a faint bitterness right at the back of it. Benzoin closes the formula, a resin that smells of warm balsam with a wisp of smoke through it, thick and slow moving. Put together they make something sweet and barbershop clean at once, which is a harder trick than the material count implies.
Parfum is the concentration here, the heaviest of them, and in wear it shows up as staying power rather than volume. It hugs the skin, it survives a jacket, and it is still faintly there in the morning. One spray is usually the right amount, and it is worth starting there rather than correcting later.
Given as a set it is aimed at someone who wants to smell clean and warm rather than sharp or bracing, and it belongs to winter, to evenings and to indoors. It is also a reasonable present for somebody who already owns a lighter version and would like the serious one beside it.
Behind it is a Paris fashion house. Womenswear was shown in 1976 and a boutique opened in 1984, with fragrance added in 1993. Puig has owned most of it since 2011 and has been responsible for the perfumes directly since 2016.
Please note: images are a guide only. Packaging and bottle design may occasionally differ from those shown due to manufacturer updates or promotions.
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