Belle d'Amour

Oh, this is lovely. And I didn't expected it to be. Angelica and I are not always the best friends. It's not as difficult as anise or licorice, but if it's not wrapped up snuggly, it screams in my face. Or nose. But this is adorable. If I didn't already know what it is, I would be highly intrigued, obsessed even. Delicately powdery, delightfully aromatic, sweet but not sticky. It's unexpected and I love it. Blackcurrant is more fruity than green. Angelica is not common note, so I guess comparaison with Angélique Noire stands, but this is so delicate and airy. No one could ever be offended by it. Let's see if I want to wear it. With time, it's more about blackcurrant and vanilla and less about angelica. And vanilla is bright and lively. Delightful. It reminds me of my mother's cheesecake; light, creamy, fresh and tangy. She caught three sons in law with that cake. No, she didn't, but three unrelated men declared it was their favorite cake. Ever. And she baked a lot...not anymore. Since her allergy to flour flared, pastry is forbidden to her. It's a tragedy. It's better than Blossom Love from Amouage. If you like fluffy vanillas like N°5 Eau Première, you will love this. And it's more interesting than Infusion de Vanille too.

Belle d'Amour opens with a very intense note of bergamot which quickly fades in favor of vanilla. A very pretty vanilla I must say, delicious but not too much and quite enveloping. Then come a hint of amber which warms everything up and an indefinable fruity note in the background (blackcurrant?). After a few minutes, on my skin, we are mainly on a vanilla/bergamot duo, slightly amber and enhanced with a note of rose (which takes up more and more space). The impression of 'gourmandise' grows because there is a sort of icing sugar effect which covers everything, but in a very gentle way, without any aggressiveness. It's very cute and very pleasant, a 'Love Beauty' who comes out of her vanilla bubble bath and who dolls herself up with a powder with scents of bergamot and rose before going to meet her lover. Romantic and mischievous at the same time. Edit: excellent staying power, tested around 3 p.m., at midnight the smell was still present. Edit 2: re-tested via vaporizer, there is indeed angelica from a to z and a similarity with Angélique Noire but the Guerlain is better imo. On the other hand, the Fragonard is far cheaper...

I'm so lucky, because this fragrance smells better on my skin than on a blotter/ towelette. When I first smelled it from the little pouch, I thought I would not like it: it was pleasant but the angelica was too overpowering for my liking, and the vanilla maybe a little too cloying. But then I tried it on my skin, and oh my. I was in love with Belle d'Amour. I kept sniffing my wrists, and by the next morning I ordered a bottle. Belle d'Amour is a green vanilla scent. I can't really detect rose, to me jasmine is a more prominent flower here, which I prefer. The perfume is warm and cosy, but has some almost ephemeral lightness to it. I don't think I've ever called a perfume lovely, but here it seems to be the perfect adjective.

In the last days of September I was immediately hooked, which is unusual for me. Black cassis with a drop of bright greenness, apple I would have said first, but it was the angelica note. I grow angelicas near the pond, in my garden, and sometimes we eat their stems candied in sugar, it’s delicious. Sweet, spicy and fresh in the same time. I love the cottony base, more tonka bean than real vanilla, so cosy and addictive. It swirls around the initial fruity freshness. I get a mellow flower too, or its shadow. This blend makes me feel softly sexy and relaxed.

I found this scent because I love Angelique Noire by the same perfumer, but I didn’t love the price. I found it listed in the “reminds me of” section on here (love that section!). This is very reminiscent of Angelique Noire, but it’s fresher, more bitter, greener, less sweet... and in my opinion, superior to AN which smells a little too much like bubbleyum to me. It’s less smooth, but it smells more intriguing, herbal, and clean. Love it. Happy it’s more affordable, as well.

What a lovely scent! Very successful blind buy for me :) Fresher at the beginning it becomes more sweet and bit gourmand with time. IMO it has some similarities to Devotion by DG in the drydown. I can feel a lemon cake but it is lowsugar version that wont overwhelm anyone ;) I can smell a scent on me still after few hours and this is impressive for the edt and the price. It will be one of my fav summer daily scent this year :)

Love at first sniff. Beautiful, elegant and youthful. Hot summers day, first impressions: A delightful sweet, warm, aromatic, floral fragrance with vanilla. The vanilla does not dominate but plays well with other fresher herbaceous notes.

This reminds me of a more herbal Angelique Noire. I love it, especially the drydown.

I wholeheartedly disagree that this is an exact or even a near-exact dupe of Angelique Noire. Angelique Noire is my signature, so I'm extremely familiar with it. I actually respect the perfumer (same perfumer made both of these fragrances) for not copying and pasting the exact fragrance twice. It's lighter, more herbal, more bitter and rough around the edges in both the angelica and the vanilla, and it's missing the smoothness and roundedness that Guerlain has. These are definitely sister fragrances, but they are not identical twins. But certainly sisters! The vanilla in Belle d'Amour is definitely a sweet, ice cream type of vanilla, and contrasts nicely with the juxtaposition of herbal green bitterness that permeates the sweetness. That being said, the vanilla is not at all like Guerlain vanilla. It's a nice vanilla, but those who know Guerlain vanilla know. All of that being said, they are similar enough. This is an EDT and I bought it to use in the spring / summer when heat is high. That and I don't want to go through my 200ml bottle of Angelique Noire far too quickly. As for how similar this is to Angelique Noire? In my opinion, about a 75% similarity. They differ more in the opening than they do in the drydown. In the opening, Belle d'Amour is more screechy, bitter, and rough. In the drydown, they meet somewhere in the middle. You get that classic sweet vanilla with the bitter angelica note in the background. However, I just don't think that the vanilla accord used in Belle d'Amour is on par with Guerlain's, hence why the difference does feel more stark to me. They're similar, don't get me wrong, but Belle d'Amour's vanilla drydown is more generic and nondescript sweet vanilla vs the deeper, richer, and more lush vanilla of Guerlain. I'm not trying to minimize Belle d'Amour at all. It's a gorgeous angelica-laced vanilla! And yes, it has an uncanny resemblance to my beloved Angelique Noire, but they are different enough to where you can justify owning both and similar enough that you can interchange them depending on mood, season, and occasion. In my opinion, Belle d'Amour is definitely more screechy, unrefined, and just lacking the finesse Angelique Noire has. But for a fraction of the cost of Guerlain, I certainly am not complaining. That being said, will I continue to repurchase Angelique Noire? Absolutely. I do not find this to be a replacement, but this is still absolutely gorgeous in its own way! Had I not been positively spoiled rotten by Angelique Noire and Guerlain's caliber, this would easily be a 10/10 fragrance for me!

Since my last review, I have caved in and ordered a bottle. And I can confirm it is VERY similar to Angelique Noire, but spraying it (as opposed to wiping it from a sachet sample) does change things: at first spray it is quite screechy and bitter, much more so than AN. I actually find this to be the case with a lot of Fragonard scents - but maybe it is just me, I can be very quick to pronounce a fragrance bitter, sharp and screechy :-). In the drydown however, BdA and AN meet again and become amazingly similar. The 'Belle' line triggers the collector in me, but it's not always easy to wear. On the whole, the lasting power is pretty amazing - with the exception of Belle de Paris, the sweet soft lovely iris, which disappears at the speed of lightning. Which, by the way, makes it a wonderful bedtime scent - unlike the others, that I'm sure would keep me up all night.

Admittedly, this is based on a scented sachet Fragonard added to their new catalogue. But that should be pretty reliable, so here goes: On me, it is pure Angelique Noire - from beginning to end. It is probably fair to say that Belle d'Amour is slightly less complex, a little more straight forward, but still - on my skin at least - veeeeeery similar. Loads of angelica, I presume :-), I can't remember ever seeing/smelling the real thing. (I googled it and I've become quite intrigued: you can use it in the kitchen, though apparently it is not good for everyone.) Loads of that specific AN vanilla. Not really that much else, but I'm not complaining, Angelique Noire is one of my favourites! And since I'm in love with the entire 'Belle de -' line, my next order (ie. moment of weakness) will definitely contain Belle d'Amour!

This smell 90% similar to Angelique Noire (made by the same perfumer) and I actually decluttered my bottle of Angelique Noire because of how similar they were. You can get this for under $100 so you might as just save yourself an extra few hundred bucks and spring for this. The only difference is I find Belle D'Amour to be more astringent and less sweet but in the air it's indiscernible.

Oh what an interesting, elegant scent. I get aromatic freshness and spiciness over sweet but dark vanilla. I guess the slight bitterness is from Angelica. I have not tried Angelique Noire, but now I want to get Guerlain’s as well. Belle d’Amour is sophisticated, classy, and smells luxurious. Very nice.

Opens fruity and floral, I didn't think I would like it but the dry down is very nice. Soft powdery green vanilla, you can still smell the floral nuances. Beautiful lasting power as well.

Well, I gave it a try. It makes my nostrils burn. I can't imagine choosing to wear this in public. The bottle is gorgeous, but the scent is challenging to say the least. Lesson learned. If anyone in the EU would like a full bottle, send me a message.

When bittersweetness becomes a cliche, in life or in art, I get annoyed because it seemingly robs the truly bittersweet of its powerfully melancholy impact... so I mean it when I sparingly dip into the scent lexicon to call Belle D’Amour bittersweet! It’s a vegetally-musky green floral with a heavy dose of vanilla in the base. I’m not super familiar with Angelica, but this reminds me of the springy greenness of Penhaligons Ostara, daffodil and narcissus with an ineffable oily-buttery quality — possibly a whisper of pollen — and politely plant-like indoles. And then all of this exists in contrast with a chalky, sweet vanilla. A dark-green amber-floral. Romantic and somber, this reminds me of William Morris prints in all their highly decorative yet still playful gravity. And overall I’m getting a different “noire”...happily this reminds me so strongly of Aerin Ambrette de Noir!

This is a ”green vanilla” and that means that the sweetness of the vanilla is cut by a herbal green note which happens to be Angelica here (just like Guerlains Angelique Noir). Another example of this genre would be the now discontinued Aura by Mugler. It is a nice scent if you appreciate these types of scents. For me it is just okay.

I wish there was a way to order samples separately for men and women on Fragonard's website. I really love their stuff, but where I live now there is just no way to try them. In my case I would order all the men's fragrance samples in one package.

Beautiful, fresh vanilla with a dry-down that reminds me of a luxurious lipstick scent—like something from Guerlain or Charlotte Tilbury. A very, very successful blind purchase, thanks to the recommendation from the Fragrantica community.