JEAN PAUL GAULTIER
Scandal pour Homme ABSOLU
2024
PERFUMER
Christophe Raynaud
Natalie Gracia-Cetto
Quentin Bisch
plum
chestnut
sandalwood
‘Forget the nights that are too quiet, push the scandal to the point of absolute addiction. A new couple with a scent of scandal comes to push the limits of the night and set it ablaze with their golden reflections. She, provocative, bare legs to the point of daring. He, outrageously free, crowned with mystery. This unrestrained duo displays an assumed sensuality and an incandescent charisma freed from conventions. The night promises to be long. Under its radiant crown, it conceals the opulent mystery of a gourmand woody note with captivating chestnut accents, nestled in the heart of the sparkling plum.’ – Jean Paul Gaultier
Scandal Pour Homme Absolu is exactly what you expect it to be, in the most subtle and perhaps boring sense possible. It is a dense and long-lasting version of Scandal with no surprises up its sleeve.
I’m not a big fan of any of the men’s Jean-Paul Gaultier releases, but Scandal is probably the one that I can appreciate the most, so Scandal Absolu, smelling like the previous Scandal iterations, is not necessarily a bad thing. It has a warm, inviting sweet scent that smells instantly familiar and pretty generic, but not bad at all. I much prefer this DNA over the weird aromatic-sweet and bubblegummy combinations found in the Le Male line.
Some people have commented that this is less sweet than the original Scandal; I’d have to try that again, but from my memory, these are both about equally and very sweet. Definitely still a bit cloying and too sweet for my taste, but it could be worse. What Absolu gets right is the texture; it’s pretty strong and rich, but not super thick, nor is it screechy or thin; it wears pretty nicely.
There is a slight fruitiness to my nose, but mostly a generic, nondescript sweet cloud that is quite unisex to me. Solid for what it is, but probably not worth paying much extra for versus the other Scandal Pour Homme releases and definitely not worth adding if you already own those.