Bel Ami and Puredistance M

[SymbianBlack]

Warning Small Rant! LOL:grin:


Hey guys its been over a year since my last post I believe (I was inquiring about a wedding day scent) and alot of you guys chose Puredistance M. I eventually went to L'Air Du Desert which was a beautiful choice for my special day. I finally got my nose to Puredistance and that also is a luxurious frag for men.... Impression good enough to get in on a split for about 15ml (someone split a big bottle of it Dan Mickers).

I just got my nose on Bel Ami by Hermes..... and I have to say.......Roja Dove and the Puredistance Team need to be ashamed of themselves LOL. They took and 27 year old frag and trumped the price of it by almost $500 and put the "derived from the finest leather of an Aston Martin" to Justify it. I wished someone would've said try BelAmi by Hermes..... That would be my power interview, no jokes and games scent.


The "master perfumer's" at Puredistance need to give Jean-Louis Sieuzac a round of applause and credits. You forget he also mastered the classic Fahrenheit by Dior!

 

[hednic]

I think BelAmi is a true classic.

 

[FullCollapse]

Bel Ami is definitely in my Top 10 favorites. Which formulation did you try, vintage or current? If you havent tried the vintage then prepare to be even more amazed. It is much richer with a more sensual leather note. Its one of those frags that almost demands a suit and tie be worn with it. I was pretty appalled by Puredistance M in the same way you were. Its a wonderful frag no doubt, but for that price it should be completely original and unique.

 

[andregooren]

I'll have to give Puredistance M another go. I have worn it a few times and I wear Bel Ami regularly and have not noticed the apparent similarity. Interesting...

 

[mesaboogie]

I've heard that M was inspired by Bel Ami and that they smelled similar. I'm thinking of buying Bel Ami, but is it really that similar?

 

[dougczar]

I like both, but don't notice too much similarity

 

[alfarom]

The similarity is there but where Bel Ami (vintage) has a dissonant citrus-leather combo, M feels plushier, smoother and more refined. I honestly couldn't choose which one to get over the other. They're both well worth owning IMO.

 

[hedonist222]

The similarity is there but where Bel Ami (vintage) has a dissonant citrus-leather combo, M feels plushier, smoother and more refined. I honestly couldn't choose which one to get over the other. They're both well worth owning IMO.

Agreed. M is plush. Opulent.
Bel Ami is citric.

 

[Marais]

Warning Small Rant! LOL:grin:

They took and 27 year old frag and trumped the price of it by almost $500 and put the "derived from the finest leather of an Aston Martin" to Justify it. I wished someone would've said try BelAmi by Hermes..... That would be my power interview, no jokes and games scent.

I agree, the differences in scent aren't worth the huge price differential.

 

[Dorje123]

Agreed. M is plush. Opulent.
Bel Ami is citric.

That's a good summary. I have the old formulation of Bel Ami and M, both are really good but M is much more modern feeling and IMO, a much better frag all around. I think it's worth the money and is one of the very few frags I wear often after sampling hundreds. M is much more concentrated vs Bel Ami as well.

I do not doubt M was inspired by Bel Ami, but the similarities do not detract from M in my opinion.

 

[gtsb]

M is a great replacement for vintage Bel Ami (if you can't get it) and way better than current Bel Ami (regarding longevity, richness, etc). Even in comparison with vintage (I have 10 ml of it), I think M has a different enough scent (and better) to warrant a purchase if you can afford it.

 

[PalmBeach]

Compared to the newest formulation, I think M has it all over Bel Ami. To vintage, they are close, but still prefer M.

 

[SymbianBlack]

The similarity is there but where Bel Ami (vintage) has a dissonant citrus-leather combo, M feels plushier, smoother and more refined. I honestly couldn't choose which one to get over the other. They're both well worth owning IMO.

M is a great replacement for vintage Bel Ami (if you can't get it) and way better than current Bel Ami (regarding longevity, richness, etc). Even in comparison with vintage (I have 10 ml of it), I think M has a different enough scent (and better) to warrant a purchase if you can afford it.

with that said where can I get vintage?

 

[tehtimmeh]

And I thought I was the only one that thought they smelled similar. Identical? No way. But close enough.

 

[SymbianBlack]

with that said where can I get vintage?

bump

 

[gtsb]

bump

Every once and a while a vintage formulation will pop up on ebay--look out for the minis (but make sure they have been well stored) since they are usually vintage formulations. Vintage are rounded oval bottles, newer formulation are square.

Also you might be able to find people selling decants of the vintage formulation (e.g. perfumed court), but that will probably be expensive. Might be cheaper than anything you find on ebay though...

 

[GelbeDomino]

The similarity is there but where Bel Ami (vintage) has a dissonant citrus-leather combo, M feels plushier, smoother and more refined. I honestly couldn't choose which one to get over the other. They're both well worth owning IMO.

This. Also the current version of Bel Ami, though decent, is a lot weaker and less interesting than the vintage. M is lot smoother.
As a woman, I feel more comfortable wearing M than Bel Ami.
That is not to say M smells ''ladylike'' at all.

 

[Jkidd]

I have M but never smelled Bel Ami which I am ashamed to admit lol. In my case, is it really worth sniffing?

 

[mesaboogie]

I have M but never smelled Bel Ami which I am ashamed to admit lol. In my case, is it really worth sniffing?

Yes

 

[badarun]

The most underrated Hermes IMO - own it and it is a grt classic frag. Yet to test Pure Distance M...

 

[mikeperez23]

I have M but never smelled Bel Ami which I am ashamed to admit lol. In my case, is it really worth sniffing?

Definitely. It's a classic! Get the vintage juice, if you can.

 

[d4N13L]

I have a decant of M and a sample of Bel Ami and in the drydown they are very similar, M being richier and sweeter.
In the opening they are very different, Bel Ami is very citric acid.

 

[ChuckW]

I have Pure Distance M on my left arm. To me, it's 90% like Bel Ami (current). I'll give it a full wearing in a couple of days. It's very nice, but so far just a dead ringer for Bel Ami IMHO.

 

[Temptation]

I wished Puredistance could work with Jean-Louis Sieuzac to make a fragrance similar to Fahrenheit..Just more opulent, more refined, more complex, darker and more personal....

 

[Colin Maillard]

I wished Puredistance could work with Jean-Louis Sieuzac to make a fragrance similar to Fahrenheit..Just more opulent, more refined, more complex, darker and more personal....

Ah, don't worry, they'll get there too with their, ehm, "tributes" to classics.

 

[Temptation]

Ah, don't worry, they'll get there too with their, ehm, "tributes" to classics.

You misunderstood me....Puredistance is a very good company with very good fragrances.

M is a masterpiece, but it smells dated although the opening is heavenly..

I just love the smell of Fahrenheit, but I wished it could smell stronger and darker...

Puredistance could do that (Actually, they just recreate old school fragrances in my opinion).

 

[r n c r n t d]

It's been a while since anyone discussed anything here

I thought i'd share my opinion on the subject, now having first reformulation of Bel Ami (the broad shoulder bottle, that's still very much like good old vintage shaker one, but ever so slightly brighter from the words of those who own both of them) and recently bought Puredistance M & Fetish Pour Homme from Mr Dove.

To begin with, all of them smell different. Very natural and rich, but substantially different. If i could classify them, i would put Bel Ami and M into one corner and Fetish into another one. In my opinion, Fetish smells nothing like those two, and i was quite amazed when i sniffed it first time especially after reading on numerous sites that those were close, while in my eyes (or better say, to my nose) they're worlds apart. Fetish hits with the powerful animalic note straight away (neither BA nor M has that on the start), very apparent and strong, but quite short lived. Then it changes to something i can't quite explain, but nonetheless beautifully crafted and very smooth, however to my nose overly feminine, which is something that i personally don't like at all.

Now here's the interesting part - while M and BA are indeed close relatives, they are still different enough to not mistake one for another. While Bel Ami is ruggedly masculine, raw and very, well, classical (ok, just a tiny bit retro, but in a very attractive way to me personally), M decides to go in a totally different direction - a modern one. If you smell them separately, ones may think that nether M nor Fetish are on a sweet side, however when you smell them side by side it becomes apparent that both of them are so much sweeter (M with very apparent cinnamon and vanilla to me, and Fetish with some mellow flowers that i can't even describe) when compared to Bel Ami and very, well, dense. Not in a bad way, however to the point that you can hardly pick anything apart in these dense, thick elixirs.

Performance wise, again i would not say i am frustrated, rather a bit surprised. Many people claim that those two, M and Fetish are basically room fillers, last on skin for days and days etc. In my experience, they are indeed very nice performers, both in longevity and projection, however they are not monsters i expected to see after just one spray. Maybe i am just lucky with my Bel Ami, or alternatively very unlucky with how M and Fetish perform on me, however i would say that all 3 of them act just like you would expect from an expensive, high quality fragrance - nice, deep and strong smell without being overwhelming. You know, the more i get into this hobby, the more i realize that the scent should be discovered, not announced, and i think that all of those beautiful creations do it outstanding.

To finalize, i would not say i am disappointed in M and Fetish, no. It often so happens that your expectations towards something may be way too high, and just like we all know, expectations and reality are two different things. I was expecting miracle in a bottle from both of them according to their reviews on internet, i thought i'd be taken into heaven, however what i got was a very nicely crafted, high quality fragrance. That's it, nothing more, nothing less.

And finally. You can call me biased if you wish, or too amateur to appreciate those, however i still believe that Bel Ami is something else, a masterpiece that still inspires to this day, a beauty that set the bar so high that even 37 years later it is still in the league of its own.

Cheers!