Belle Âme

Warm, round and rich. Belle Ame is a spectacularly well executed perfume which for me is based around a gorgeous but not atypical iris/orris scent with a musky, vanillic bedfellow of tonka absolute which really chimes in more in the latter stages. Initially I found it more than mildly leathery, the ginger gives a pop of freshness in the opening and again works incredibly well with orris materials. There's a huge dollop of jus ne sais quoi in this, a mysterious quality which takes it away from being just another niche brand iris/orris of which there are many, very good ones, but many which have similar tropes, tricks and material combinations, despite what the note listing here might suggest, it's not another of those. Cacao for example is one of those tropes with orris perfumes and in all fairness it's here, but it doesn't feel played out. I actually felt it was so subtle as to be more like a particularly chocolate faceted benzoin. Also, despite all my patter about originality and uniqueness, my immediate association was with Dior Homme Parfum, this is clearly different in many ways and smells like an elevated more natural version of what is a superb perfume in the Dior, so it's definitely not a diss! It has been suggested to me that this is quite a misleading comparison (by parties who shall remain nameless) but it really isn't. So fuck you Dad!!!! This is the second part in Les Abstraits inital trio of releases and represents the beginning of the healing process after La Douleur exquise and it truly is a beautiful soul, and masterfully made perfume which just like the first release, doesn't give away all it's secrets right away. It's a very mature and measured approach which is in it for the long haul and to stand the test of time, rather than the temporal, 'look at me', instant gratification culture of perfume products. Again, Bravo Eugen and crew for making the world a better place by creating art that is worthy of discussion, praise and your money.

Immediate love for this. Addictive. Resinous softly sweet iris-cacao. The description of this perfume as a comforting iris chocolate made me pay instant attention and get the sample, which I promptly finished, then the bottle. Almost gourmand as others say, full of body- not quite at the degree of sweetness of Guerlain Art et la Matiere for example and thinking of comparable quality perfumes with a sweet resin feel (eg Bois d’Armenie) but almost. I get what I think is olibanum giving a slight pickled effect at the start similar to what happens in Hiram Green Lustre as it mixes with the beautiful cacao, musk and sweeter base notes. This gets sweeter and pillowy in the dry down. Long lasting. None of the Antoine Lie’s very good Indemodables convinced me enough to get a bottle, but this one is gorgeous, grew on me and could not stop thinking about it when my sample went. Truly a cocooning comfort, I get no discernible “aromachemical” feel in this whatsoever. So well done, Eugen! Looking forward to smelling more of Antoine Lie’s work. What a great team! Edit: I watched the interview stream to the perfumer in Eugen’s channel and it was fascinating. He used “everything he likes” into the comfort/ contemplative iris brief including orange blossom. No wonder this was such an instant like for me as including favourite notes of iris, orange blossom, cacao, vanilla, resins. Could this be a ‘mass appealing’ quality perfume? Edit #2: I can’t put this bottle down. It’s become one of my top 3 fragrances.

This is my third time coming back to this perfume, and I think I’m finally starting to warm to it. I was initially unsure about the ginger which, though only there in a supporting role, definitely makes its presence known. It challenges the orris in some ways, but is that a bad thing? I’m still not sure. What I am sure of is that it adds a layer of interest that so many iris perfumes seem to lack. It takes time revealing itself, lingering in each stage of development. The initial brightness hangs on for longer than expected before giving way to the dustiness of the cacao. It doesn’t feel at all chocolatey to me; instead it offers a kind of textural nuance that’s hard to describe but easy to appreciate. In the final stages, a sweet, smooth sandalwood feels creamy, soft, and luxurious. There’s musk too, but it never threatens to turn animalic. It stays incredibly clean and slightly vanillic for hours, clinging to the skin with determine. What’s abundantly clear is that this is made from high-quality materials. I read another reviewer compare it to Frederic Malle, and I agree, it feels like the brief was simply to use the best materials without restraint. It’s undeniably a great perfume, and one that’s hard not to eventually come around to... as I indeed have.

So much vitriol @mignique for your first ever opinion on Fragrantica!😳 Maybe you are the one who knows Eugen? I for one watched a couple of his videos (the ones relative to Belle Ame) after falling in love with the scent. If he likes Guerlain’s perfumery style though, it would make sense that something he commissions would appeal to guerlanophiles (Guerlain is my favourite brand). It makes sense that people who tried Les Indemodables tried Belle Ame and compared them, as they’re both made by Antoine Lie and use the same lab source for fragrant materials. It also makes sense that people who follow his channel both love Guerlain and tried his scents, if he loves and reviews Guerlain. I personally learned about him, the perfumer and the perfume via the YouTube fragrance community (people I follow reviewing this scent)- same as many other fragrances I have tried. And I am so glad I did, it’s really awesome and one of my best recent discoveries. Also, Les Indemodables is not an ‘obscure’ brand but pretty well known. I have known about it for 4 years, when I ordered a sample pack and reviewed several of them. I think most people here just care about scents, and not personality cult or hate.

@mignique: just for the record.......I happen to know both Les Indemodables and Les Abstraits. Because 'obscure' perfume brands fascinate me. That's why I browse this website, why I check YouTube for fragrance reviews and why I visit niche perfumeries. And why I order samples. Loads of samples! I genuinely think Belle Âme has very much in common with Musc des Sables (which is not surprising as it is made by the same perfumer) and I genuinely think Belle Âme is more complex. I have never met Eugen, I never spoke to him, I never interacted with him online. I have watched some of his content on Youtube and admire him for setting up a Indie perfume brand in this over saturated market and for teaming up with Antoine Lie, who I think is a very talented perfumer. I wish him all the succes in the world. And no brand or store will refund an opened bottle of perfume.