There’s a new new fragrance in town that’s piqued our interest and it goes by the name of Le Beau Le Parfum by legendary French designer and ‘Enfant terrible’, Jean Paul Gaultier. 

More intense, more complex, more groundbreaking – the ICON team road test the latest Jean Paul Gaultier fragrance for men Le Beau Le Parfum EDP Intense.

Benjamen’s Review

There’s a sense of circularity with the launch of Jean Paul Gaultier’s new Le Beau Le Parfum, the latest in the Le Beau family tree. When perfumers Quentin Bisch and Sonia Constant first created the original Le Beau for the French maison back in 2019, with its modern take on the iconic JPG “man in a can” physique bottle, it was a fragrance that embodied a sensual intensity. The torso, suddenly nude and decorated with a mere fig leaf, was the first sign that this was a fragrance for men who weren’t afraid to feel their oats, so to speak.

It also set a benchmark for a new kind of masculine – something that the house of Jean Paul Gaultier has a reputation for excavating and experimenting with. Instead of relying on the more usual binaries of citrus and wood with a dash of amber or lavender in the middle, Bisch and Constant developed a coconut-tonka bean accord that had a mouth watering sweetness – a gourmand for men.

The new Le Beau Le Parfum. Image; Benjamen Judd

Fast forward to 2022, and Le Beau Le Parfum – also nosed by Bisch – has enhanced what made the original so enthralling, and dialled it all the way up. How do you make the intense even more so?

Firstly, redefine the framework of the notes that scaffold the familiar coconut and tonka that is Le Beau Le Parfum’s signature. Rather than the familiar bergamot that was the opening note in the first release, ginger and pineapple are now the groundwork upon which Bisch builds up that heady, gourmand blast. It’s an unusual twist – men’s fragrances historically rely on lavender to add a sweetness due to its astringent, almost medicinal quality. (Indeed, it’s the note that was the bedrock of the brand’s iconic Le Male fragrance back in 1995.)

Secondly, create a diverse accord for the dry-down that combines ambergris, amber and wood notes including sandalwood and cypress. These building blocks create a masculine buffer to the top notes, ensuring that Le Beau Le Parfum never veers too far into too sweet or too boozy from the vanilla.

 

Finally, and perhaps the most important, was to tweak the formulation from an Eau de Toilette to an Eau de Parfum Intense. The former contains 8-to-15 percent fragrance oil, whereas a parfum hikes up the volume to a more potent 15-to-30 per cent. This very subtle adjustment does much to ensure both projection and sillage – from how far away you can smell the fragrance and how long it lasts in the air before fading respectively – are both stronger and longer.

Six hours down into wearing, all the elements of Le Beau Le Parfum are still there – the brightness of the pineapple and ginger drifts in and out from the coconut to create a still-fresh experience while the warm, ambergris and woods of the base ensure that it has the perfect balance to carry over from day to evening.

Josh’s Review

This devilish reinterpretation of the classic Gaultier scent is a summer-appropriate fragrance brimming with seductive notes that’ll you too will fall for.

When you open the all-encompassing bottle of Jean Paul Gaultier’s newest fragrance, Le Beau Le Parfum you’ll immediately notice the attention to detail that’s gone into crafting this breezy summer scent. The bottle itself, which translates to ‘Beautiful Man’, is quite attractive and one that will unequivocally take up prime real estate in your grooming cabinet thanks to its pleasing aesthetic. Aptly named The Seducer, the glass bottle depicts a muscular torso in an azure-blue that sits on a red carpet-esque pedestal. At the nozzle of the cologne is a ring lock to ensure no accidental sprays are made. The slender figure that makes up the bottle’s design offers prominent muscles and wears only a single vine leaf to symbolise “ultra-sexy masculinity” – a cheeky play that endeavours to bring olfactory bliss with every spray.

Le Beau Le Parfum. Image: Josh Bozin.

Housed in the unmistakable Gaultier tin can, the overall package of this scent is impressive to say the least.

As for the scent, Le Beau Le Parfum really is summer in a bottle. From the first spray, you’ll notice a subtle sweetness of coconut wood lifted by pineapple. The scent gradually evolves, offering a woody aroma that blends the warmth of sandalwood and amber. The vitality of ginger in this Eau de Parfum Intense contrasts with  the sweet addictiveness of Tonka bean, which swamps the senses with a masculine sensuality that lingers throughout your day (in the best kind of way).

The scent is overly masculine, but with freshness in mind.

Quentin Bisch, perfumer at Givaudan and creator of Le Beau Le Parfum for Jean Paul Gaultier, describes it as a fragrance that charms us with ambiguity, weaving together a swelteringly sensual spell.

“This hyper-sensuality is expressed through the potent contrast of ambery, sultry and textured iris, right at the heart of the note,” he says.

“At the centre of the fragrance, we find a cypress-ginger accord, while the warming base exalts the Tonka bean.”

Without a doubt, as we look to pack our bags for a European summer adventure, or perhaps ready ourselves for the warmer weather to come, Le Beau Le Parfum by Jean Paul Gaultier is a scent you should have on hand for wherever your adventure lead you.

SHOP NOW:

LE BEAU LE PARFUM EDP INTENSE, JEAN PAUL GAULTIER, SHOP NOW AT MYER OR SHOP NOW AT DAVID JONES