Bel Ami was launched in 1986 by Hermès. The fragrance was originally created by Jean-Louis Sieuzac. The scent was updated by Jean-Claude Ellena in recent years.
The company say:
Irresistibly charming and masculine. An audacious mix of cardamom, amber, patchouli and leather
Bel Ami fragrance notes
Head
- lemon
Heart
- ylang-ylang, iris, cardamom, amber
Base
- vanilla, sandalwood, vetiver, patchouli, leather
Where to buy
Latest Reviews of Bel Ami

Apart from Metal music Prof had an air about him that leant toward fastidiousness and a certain gentleman's poise and presentation. A Gentleman and that in way is how I see this scent.
This is a scent for Gentlemen, not men, not a masculine, not a boy’s scent. Like Terre d’Hermes or Chanel Egoiste this is a Gentleman’s scent.
The man who wears this would not be able to name a single Instagram model, no idea what a Kardashian is, has a favourite novelist, a presentation to shame the devil has a vinyl collection of different surprising musical genres; a small library of books both fiction and non-fiction on display and a refined taste in tailoring, personal grooming and kinky sex
Drives a pristine car with enough power to escape the city but smooth and quiet enough not to wake the neighbours.
I really like this and will have a bottle of this soon enough, and when I’m say five years older will wear this with aplomb.

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However, I decided to give in to the current reform of Bel Ami as the vintage is prohibitively expensive, and I was really pleased; I am sure that if I smelled a vintage I'd be floored and I'd understand the difference, but even in its current incarnation, it really is impressive, mesmerizing even, to my nose. It is opulent, yet wistful; robust, yet mildly sweet. The leather starts off as raw, animalic and rugged, but smolders into a tender and refined entity, genteel yet still of solid constitution. The supporting notes of vetiver, orris and carnation do add interest to the experience, imparting texture and leverage to the leather. Overall, this is really a moving wear for me.
One day I am sure I will experience the vintage and really understand what others claim, but I know what I like, and what I have now surely is a keeper to my nose. 9/10

Longevity 1.5/10,
Projection 1/10.
I wore Z-14 & Polo in the 80's and that is what men smelled like. This Bel Ami smells like my Mom on a Saturday night---Wind Song and lipstick when she would come home and pay the babysitter.🥱

The original is a denser animal although still refined and has a more oily petrochemical and oakmoss foundation.
An excellent manly classic.
8.75/10

The perfume starts off with a burst of citrus like a classy chypre - lemon,bergamot,sage and rosemary.it then moves to a classic floral heart as it begins settling with notes of basil, jasmine,and carnation,and finally settles into a leathery woody chypre base comprised of patchouli,leather and oakmoss.the key attribute to Bel Ami is the great compositional balance,where a styrax driven leather accord rests harmoniously on a chypre foundation laced with a deft blend of herbs and florals. sometimes it's more spicy, sometimes more herbal.this certainly isn't for little boys,it's a perfume with strong character.absolutely awesome fragrance.Double thumbs up!

Leather is a power scent, but unlike the biker jacket with its black toughness, Bel Ami is more sedate. It’s a soft brown leather which feels rather complacent, all monogrammed slippers and dressing gown.
If you compare Bel Ami to Fahrenheit (which the same perfumer wrote two years later) you can see how staid this is. Bel Ami: the boon companion of rich old white men.
(This is the vintage, not the new version.)



Bel Ami opens familiarly to those acquainted with the tannery leather vibe: harsh bergamot, bright lemon, aldehydes, and clary sage bring all our eyes forward to the oncoming storm. Bel Ami diverges from past leathers in this genre by not getting mucked down by dandy florals like Knize Ten, English Leather, or Aramis, nor does it become particularly woodsy like our bargain friend Avon Clint, but instead goes into cardamom, a spice Hermès has played with since the first Eau d'Hermès (1951) by Edmond Roudnitska, and still played with all the way as recently as Hermèssence Cardamusc (2018). Patchouli and vetiver make a bit of a show in the middle with a twang of Iris to round things, but that deep, rich, abyss of leather shows up not long after the hammer drops and that sets the tone of the scent, and what drives all the vintage guys crazy. Pure unadulterated isobutyl quinoline tannery leather over animalic styrax and amber become the par for the course, resting on an academic chypre base of sandalwood, oakmoss and labdanum. There is a touch of vanilla to keep things from getting hairy, but it doesn't jump out to me, with the whole affair being immaculate in blending. Sillage is apocalyptic and longevity is until the end of days, making Bel Ami a winter weather warrior. If you do get a vintage bottle, it will probably outlive you unless you use it every single day. Some of its more hardcore fans with cash to burn actually do this, increasing scarcity and driving up the price even more, making that unicorn horn on the forehead of vintage Bel Ami look more like the leaning tower of Pisa by the minute. Bottom line here is this is a spicy, ultra-masculine, and ultra-mature leather scent that is the holy grail of many Generation X guys who used this when it was new, or just guys in the over-30 crowd that discovered recent production at their nearest Nordstrom. The hype is deserved here, as Bel Ami is a benchmark in the masculine leather genre, even enjoyed by a few particularly daring women who love animalic scents with self-control. A flanker penned by Jean-Claude Ellena also exists in the form of Bel Ami Vetiver (2013), which is a greener, but also more animalic take since it adds civet to the mix.
If all of this sounds too daunting for a colognoisseur of more modest means, fear not, for the modern interpretation merely dials down the depth of the chypre base within regulated tolerances, but otherwise retains the basic leather, spice, and citrus character of Bel Ami. Many older vintage guys have what may seem to be an unhealthy fixation to the onlooker with the presence of oakmoss in their scents, preferring as much of the thick, woodsy, slightly sweet, and pasty (in large enough quantities) odorant as possible in their favorite creations. Tastes are subjective and often the result of acquisition through years of exposure (like beer), but if you don't fall into this category of person, my recommendation would be to try the newest form first then work your way backward to older formulas when convenient to sample. Moschino Pour Homme (1990) is often compared to Bel Ami, but goes in a slightly brighter, more dandy, and more lewd direction with lavender, mace, jasmine indole, rose, and carnation on top a nearly-identical base, and used to be considered a cheaper alternative to Bel Ami until it was discontinued. Honestly, modern Bel Ami still compares favorably to it, and perfumer Roja Dove in particular has paid homage not once, but twice to this scent with two of his own super-ridiculous "haute parfum" creations in the form of Puredistance M (2010) and Roja Dove Fetish Pour Homme (2012). If you like leather scents already, this is one rare example where I actually encourage a blind buy, and although I do still roll my eyes some at the hysteria over the vintage productions of this, I understand their madness. If you had to get bent out of shape over any fragrance, Bel Ami would not be a bad choice, and is not only the best leather scent Hermès has ever created, but is in the top of the crop. Bel Ami isn't the end-all be-all Hermès fragrance, but another example of why the house has such a fervent fan following in fragrance hobbyist circles.
