Ultra Mâle fragrance notes
Head
- bergamot, pear, black lavender, mint
Heart
- cumin, cinnamon, clary sage, black aztec flower
Base
- black vanilla, amber, cedarwood, patchouli
Where to buy
Latest Reviews of Ultra Mâle

Perhaps Kurkdjian studied the success of scents like the aforementioned Invictus and its forebearer, Paco Rabanne 1 Million (2008), when he was tinkering with Ultra Mâle, since the start is very sweet just like them, with impressively strong ethyl maltol notes that wrap around lemon, bergamot, pear, and lavender. There is a bit of the original Le Mâle's trademark cooling mint, but it is buried in a mire of sweetness, folding into a heart of spiced vanilla, which JPG cleverly calls "black Aztec flower" since for them, vanilla was a black ripe flower when used as currency for trading. Cinnamon and a small dollop of cumin surround the vanilla, with hints of lavender and what feels like a raspberry ghost note further the gourmand-like interpretation of the original Le Mâle along into the syrupy base. A gigantic tonka dose mixed with cedar, a denatured patchouli isolate (pick one, there are so many), ambrox, and an amber accord very reminiscent of the one Kurkdjian uses for his own Maison Francis Kurkdjian Grand Soir (2016) finish this off. Performance is ungodly, and longevity is until you scrub it off with 300-grit sandpaper, so be warned this also doubles as a chemical weapon in high doses. This stuff is perfectly awkward in it's forced extroversion for the "please notice me so I can get laid" 21st century nightclub scene. Best use is basically at night if you're going to use Ultra Mâle, although summer nights are better for the original stuff or one of the fresh flankers.
For people who don't like extremely thick and sweet fragrances this is a no go, and for people who furthermore don't like their fragrances doing the talking for them so they can just shuffle and sulk to an endless trance loop won't find much favor here either. I don't blame Kurkdjian for turning his original gaudy gay scene club champion into a CISHET internet generation mating ritual monster, because that's where the money is for the line, although you'll have to make your own Tinder account before use, it's not included. I'm not the biggest fan of the "fruitchouli" and "tonka bomb" styles and have given big thumbs down to most entries in this class, and the original Le Mâle DNA is the only thing saving Ultra Mâle from wholesale rejection, but I still can't recommend this for any self-respecting person club scene or not. To me, there are still plenty of loud sweat-enhancing perfumes out there that cook under the body heat of dancing and grinding on someone who's caught your eye, but still have enough class self-respect about them that they leave someone caught in the wake of your sillage a chance to react before they're choking on niceties. Ultra Mâle takes everything that ham-fisted about Le Mâle and dials it to 11, which is exactly what JPG and people looking to buy this want but maybe not what they necessarily need, if you catch my drift. Neutral.

If the original had better longevity, I'd have purchased it.
I bought this one instead because Kurkdjian was still the perfumer and this is an absolute BEAST when it comes to projection and longevity. Holy crap.
It is sweet, but there's spice in there, too. And I don't find it to be necessarily juvenile. It's a pretty scent.
I legit would not use more than two sprays on myself and go out in public, and I'm generally not shy about being smelled.
Easy on the trigger, cowboy, I kid you not.
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It starts very candy sweet and stays strong for the first 2 hours. It then loses its power and whiffs at you every so often. This strong sweetness becomes off putting unless you are on a tropical beach holiday.
Prominent notes I detect are: lavender, cinnamon & vanilla.
I have a full bottle but sadly I do not love it enough to wear it more than a few times a year.
Medium thumbs

