Or Masculin
Bourjois (1985)

Or Masculin feels to me like the glissando of a pedal steel, warming my heart with its stimulating aromatics and blissful woodiness, a supple, spiced leather. An astringent, invigorating opening of citrus, basil and coriander leads to subtly powdery and smoky sandalwood, shaded with a spiciness and the slightest indolic jasmine. This winds down into a lingering soft, smoldering leather and a reassuring mossiness, like a comforting companion.

It is simultaneously commanding and nuanced, a sentimental masculinity, more concerned with honor and compassion than with demanding respect. It's sensitivity in earth tones and wide-wale corduroys, a strong hand with a gentle touch. It sits at the crossroads between the wonderfully confident wielding of Aramis and the storied styrax luxuriance of Bel Ami, yet has a presence all its own, a legend in itself, but lost to time, discontinuation, and scarcity. Or Masculin truly is golden.

Here are some fragrances I might think of that, to me, smell more like Bourjois Or Masculin than Bel Ami does: 1. Guerlain Chamade, 2. Givenchy III, 3. Diorling, 4. Chanel No. 19, 5. Hermes Amazone. I like those, and I like this.

Cartier Santos might be the closest masculine I can think of.

It is a classy fragrance. All the qualities to be called a masterpiece.

Very smooth and well blended, and also discreet.

I feel sad it is discontinued and doesn't get much attention by fragrance lovers.

I was a big fan of vintage Bel Ami until I tried Or Masculin.

This smells just like vintage Bel Ami which I also have. I would say about 90% identical to it, maybe just slightly spicier. Same top quality, in fact I could see people liking this slightly more than vintage Bel Ami. It has more of the soft spice over the leather than Bel Ami.

Imagine the smell of a old worn leather sofa with a lot of soft spices on top and you have this fragrance. Wonderful scent which unfortunately is now discontinued though it does pop up on Ebay occasionally.

Another fragrance that had such great potentialI believe Bourjois started life in Paris at the turn of the century,producing makeup products to the Theater profession,before expanding its range,with men's fragrances not making an appearance until the late 70'sI think 'Or' Masculin - or 'Gold' Masculin formed part of a range of 'Masculin' line of products,of which 'Or' is sadly incredibly rare to find - Masculine '2' and other fragrances apparently still turn up,mainly in Poland,but rarely on other sites.I have to concur with one of the other reviewers,having owned original Hermes Bel Ami - this is as good - in some ways slightly better for me,as I do not appear to get the lysol smell,that accompanied Bel Ami once it was several hours into its final stages of drydown.I suspect Bourjois had used very high quality ingredients here.There is a powerful opening,reminds me of Aramis,or something like that,but after an hour,you are rewarded with the most fantastic spicy,woody and amber middle and end - thankfully for me the listing of ingredients states some patchouli - of which I am not a fan at all - but it does not surface sufficiently for me to notice,or be offended - god - how I wish perfumers would not reach for that ingredient every time they try to tame powerful fragrances - much prefer the use of sandalwood myself.Cons are the bottle and packaging look incredibly cheap,which belies the treasure that lies inside this bottle - otherwise,I will look for more and use my 50ml for special occasions.Here is another useful review that convinced me to buy this...http://aromierotici.blogspot.co.uk/2010/07/or-masculin-by-bourjois.htmlPros: A surprisingly high quality fragranceCons: No longer in production"

Not much to add to the views below, but I do want to add another strong plus to the pile. This is a real gem that is, unfortunately, now very hard to find. Very lush, dark, woody, spicy and smokey, yet not overwhelming or overbearing. I love wearing it, but it makes me melancholy each time, for the day when it will be gone for good I fear is too fast approaching...