Bel Ami is the men’s eau de toilette Jean-Louis Sieuzac composed for Hermès in 1986, a nod to Maupassant’s novel. The house classifies it among the chypres and makes it a celebration of leather: patchouli, rich leather and cistus labdanum, over a base of moss and birch tar, in a bottle inspired by carriage lanterns.
The house places Bel Ami among the chypres, a leathery, woody fragrance. It highlights three materials: a bewitching patchouli, a rich leather and cistus labdanum, a resin it calls sensual.
The leather
Kevin, on Now Smell This, describes a dark, dramatically grained leather made of sticky resins, floral glints and birch tar smoke. The old version strikes him as decidedly virile.
Moss and spices
Oakmoss, which the label declares, and a rich cedar-vanilla accord complete the base according to Kevin. Vivir notes bergamot, lemon, cardamom and nutmeg in the opening, and places sage and carnation around the leather.
What the label declares
The label opens with alcohol, water and fragrance, ahead of limonene and linalool. Three UV filters, ethylhexyl methoxycinnamate, butyl methoxydibenzoylmethane and ethylhexyl salicylate, protect the juice along with BHT.
The list names eugenol, coumarin, citral, oakmoss extract, geraniol, benzyl benzoate, cinnamal, farnesol and isoeugenol, along with a red colorant.
Similar perfumes
Similar notes and family, from other houses.
- Cuir CannageChristian Dior
- Cuir de RussieChanel
- Leather OudChristian Dior
- MetropolisEstée Lauder
- Parfum de PeauMontana
- AventusCreed
- AntaeusChanel
- Habit Rouge Eau de ToiletteGuerlain
More perfumes from Hermès
Also composed by Jean-Louis Sieuzac
- FahrenheitChristian Dior
- Opium Eau de ToiletteYves Saint Laurent
- DuneChristian Dior
- OpiumYves Saint Laurent