Description
Napoleon would spray himself with it before going to combat; Je suis un Homme (I am a Man) is a reinterpretation of Cologne accords dear to his heart. Citrus and bergamot top notes to summon up the guard and prepare to storm an attack somewhere in between a Corsican scrub – on a myrtle note – and a retreat from Russia. Birch wood and cognac evoke the smell of saddle leather, boots and belts. The charge will be hasty and imperial… in a rough and ready way! Energetic and clearly manly, Je suis un Homme (I am a Man) suits men who assert themselves…and women who assume their masculine side, ready to launch the offensive without being scared of reversing roles.
Composition: Bergamot, orange, lemon, myrte, cinnamon, clove, cognac accord, leather, patchouli, animal notes…
Nose for this fragrance is Antoine Lie. Je Suis un Homme was launched in 2006.
sivan1 – :
Wow, wonderful stuff. I’m a bit worried however because I dont get a lot of the notes that others are listing.
For me it starts with a blast of candied citrus, definitely bergamot, that is like what I imagine a lemonhead would be if they made them in orange flavor. The candy quality of the opening fades rather quick leaving a lasting semi-synthetic citrus that lingers into the mid notes. Other than that it’s all animalic muskiness for me. I was expecting an old school citrus leather like Versace L’Homme, but found nothing of the sort. I don’t even get leather at all..hmm.. Perhaps I was expecting too realistic a leather? Perhaps I catch a whiff during the “semi-synthetic citrus” part I mentioned, but I’m really searching there. Either way I’m not getting any of the other notes either. Cognac? Birch? Clove? I get none of these. Patchouli? Well ok I’m sure I could miss that buried in there. There is a shy cinnamon note that pokes its head in distinctly every now and then in the mid drydown, but I could hardly tell how it contributed to the overall accord. Maybe that’s the magic.
I love musk so this is all great to me, I’m not complaining, but truth be told it got a little too realistic at the end of its lifespan (which is excellent, by the way). Have you ever kissed your lover’s neck and then been able to smell the saliva on it afterwards?? Yeah, it kinda gets like that towards the end.
I actually find it easy to wear casually (blue jeans, t-shirt, boots) and suppose it would work well in almost all weather except maybe the extreme cold. I appreciate it for that and would love to add a bottle to my collection. Perhaps I’ll be able to appreciate the nuances like the other reviewers here over time.
piter222 – :
From the tester, this seemed to open very floral to me but soon became a very pronounced sweet yet masculine leather.
Projection and longevity are both a step above the average designer fragrance.
I can definitely believe the claim in the description that Napoleon wore this.
sasha_himy_pvl – :
aramis but a hipster aramis the one that eats quinoa
Irinka-19813 – :
From the start you know what you’re at. A classic timeless inspired fragrance. The start reminds me Armani Eau pour Homme with bergamot and cloves blended. Fresh but very manly fresh.
Then it develops towards warmer notes, with a very elegant letaher that make me think of Bel Ami (the forst one), you can think maybe of Jules Dior too. Anyway this perfume is based and shaped around the good old classics but with its own character. It just has the good influences of timeless masterpiece. I love it. One day I’ll wear it for sure. As a rotation with Jules and Bel Ami.
In conclusion : Well done Etat Libre. This is how a good man perfume should be done.
danik9000 – :
A citrus-leather combination with a vintage vibe done with today materials. At the beginning it is refreshing with the citrus notes mixed with the cinnamon and the other spices. At the end becomes a classic masculine fragrance with a strong birch-leather,patchouli combination which takes you back to the 70,s and early 80,s. It is elegant,think a little of Knize and Patou pour homme,but not that deep and rich.And it is powdery. Nice.
Agentkent90 – :
It has a similar vibe to Azzaro pour homme.
Buy it if you can!! This is just in one world: AMAZING!!
I’m always complimented. Bravo ELDO, this is a real men’s cologne!! You will smell the quality of this juice! Worth every penny!
Scent: 10/10
Longevity 8,5/10 (8-11 hours)
Sillage: 8,5 /10 ( 4-6 hours)
Projection: 9/10 (beastly first hour, good until 5 hour)
gony – :
I really like and enjoy JSuH
It starts out with an immediate quick trip to the past, to a generic 1970’s testosterone laden retro perfume. Nostalgic to many older men and alien to most of the younger ones. A dated, sharp, citrusy and in your face scent at first (made on purpose obviously), something along the lines on Brut d’ Faberge, and the likes. I was taken for a brief moment to Times Square at night in the 1970’s when I was in high school. Then the perfume takes just a little bit of this retro scent and travels forward into the future to mix it with something more modern, morphing to something still masculine but more edgy, current, unique, wearable, elegant and with its own character. Not a linear composition by all means. Wonderful. It dries down to something very likeable and enjoyable. It is in my to-buy list.
oksanakishyk – :
Praticamente il vecchio Capucci pour Homme, con una durata sulla pelle di circa un’ora.. mi sembra un po’ poco…
lexx09 – :
Yep, fersure this is a masculine fragrance. It’s gorgeous though, with the clean, almost spicy leather and expansive citrus. The citrus is almost dry, but has a radiance. The boozy, slightly scorched patchouli starts making it’s appearance as the citrus opening fades. One of the most animalic fragrances I’ve tried, but in a really macho way. While I really enjoy JSuH I won’t be buying it because it’s too masculine, even for me.
kleekamp – :
This is really manly and sexy, especially for autumn/winter. The only problem I have with this one is that there is something in here which I m allergic to.
Scent: 9/10
Longevity: 8/10
Projection: 8/10
Grom177 – :
This is a very retro scent, I love it….sounds weird stuff but it reminds me of this old pino silvestro that my grandfather used to wear but with a lot more depth, I get some leathery cypress in the opening with a nice churchy piney smokey dry down….. I love it, but it’s not for everyone, there’s something manly and blue collar about it that is just awesome tho, I am basing this review off of a sample but this is def a buy for me.. The most masculine scent in the ELDO line IMO
Matzeratti – :
What a heavenly dream! Ohh I love it. This is joy at first sniff, if Napoleon smelled like this, I want to be his Josephine. This smells so expensive and exclusive, incredibly sexy, reminds me of a vintage cologne. This is so heady, fresh, it is making me delirious.
Though it does not smell like Habit Rouge, I would put this in the same category, having a luxurious leather saddle and boots smell, with fresh citrus, and is super sexual.
evg2265 – :
Upon getting the same (from arelleshoshanna.com), the first thing I did was hit up google to find a few reviews. The first hit, from the pourmonsieurblog, describes it a clone of Creed’s Neroli Sauvage. After trying it on my skin, I have to agree, as long as the top notes stuck around. Stronger and more tenacious than the Creed (NS usually leaves me in a matter of minutes, never to be smelled again until reapplication), the ELDO offering also had a more pronounced candy nuance (it was sweeter than the Creed). Hopes boosted, that I had finally found a viable, longer lasting (and cheaper) substitute, found, much to my dismay, that this also has a pronounced Cypress accord. Much like Tom Ford’s Italian Cypress (in my opinion, one of the worst of the TF line), this is all cypress in the base (surprised this is not listed in the note pyramid). A definite pass for me, but highly recommend trying this if you like TF Italian Cypress (but not the price).
alex399 – :
This perfume is a glorification of manly odors. It starts bright, lemony, minty, leathery, rich and heavy. But those layers fade away with time, almost like getting undressed and revealing a truth. It goes from a long shiny fairy tale about a big bad nasty deceitful wolf to a sweaty, naked and vulnerable man. At the drydown the fragrance smells like sweat, more bothersome and sour than sexy, and quite realistic. It almost smells like a faint odor of a person’s private parts. This fragrance tells a story. But you have to follow every step to get the plot. And the ending is not a happy one.
rendik2 – :
Very nice perfume with considerable Great scent with a good price
miks555 – :
An hour after application and I agree with those who say this is a less complex Z-14 (not the recent cinnamon-dominant formulation). The dry citrus really dominates with my skin chemistry, and I’m definitely not a fan of that kind of thing. No cognac or much of anything else that might have made this interesting, but I’ll update if things change.
avs9nka – :
My father would have liked this.
Very elegant. Fresh and invigorating at first due to bergamot and lemon, but soon giving way to leather, cloves, and cinnamon.
I get a slight churchy note as well, almost frankincense but it is the myrtle, funnily enough.
Birch and Cognac underpin the classical character of this scent but are way too faint for this daring brand.
In fact the entire concoction would be more suitable for an ARMANI Classic relaunch.
Not strong or bold enough. Given the kudos this brand has garnered by now and what they are capable of I’d only give this a 5/10. (Had it been Armani, then I’d give it an 8/10)
psixolog83 – :
i have a sample of this one, at the beginning it gives the splash of the essence of the splash zesty lemony that you can smell in an arabic barbershop, cleanness and repetitive, so it was a drawback, then after a while on my wrest i guess the essence of a leather it gives is similar to something burned or something EXACTLY like the smell of a fireworks on my skin, quite weird but very interesting to me. i guess ill give it another try cause im thinking to get one.
prostomiha75 – :
I love it.
Citrus and leather, very good in spring and summer.
A classic and class one, clean and dirty, in a paradoxical way : Je suis un homme, I’m your man, I’m your fan, no doubt!
@ Karlovonamesti : Je suis un homme = I am a man. No need to be gifted in language. 😉
Bravo. 8,5 / 10
Caroline_fromAD – :
Between all those inventive, original and sometimes excentric ELdO scents this is behaps the biggest surprise of them all; a very classic man’s scent that can fit right in between your bottles of Zino, Knize Ten and Floris Elite. Although slightly citrusly, it is mainly leather and spices that I smell on my skin. A classic, vintage scent that is well balanced.
After I put it on I was waiting for a twist….something that made it a typical ELdO scent…..that all of a sudden there would be raspberries, or inscenses. You can wait long, because the scent lasts long but dont expect any twists with this scent. It stays classic, vintage all the way to the end. A great scent, but because of it not a great ELdO.
120RYSLAN120 – :
Etat Libre D’Orange does Z-14. There’s a pleasantly dry lemon-citrus top note, which segues into a woody cinnamon-leather base, and eventually thins into a warm musk. It smells okay, but lacks the floral and mossy notes that make the Halston fragrance so interesting (in any of its formulations). JSuH winds up smelling rather boring and flat instead. Save yourself $70 by passing on this and geting Z-14 – its materials are of equal quality, its composition is superior, and you won’t have to butcher the French language every time someone asks what you’re wearing.
kisa1975 – :
I’ve discovered artificial citrus note at the opening but after 5 minutes here comes the leather with an accord of cloves. Quite solid, elegant and rich scent and it could easily be unisex at least for my nose.
Deroxiumya – :
At first this scent is very mixed. The first notes I get are probably the myrtle, somewhat minty, with citrusy notes blended in. Very quickly the smoke leather emerges and, then, takes over. After only a few minutes all I smell is the leather, and a bit tarry at that. Hours later the Leather seems to have faded leaving a very plesant spicy note.
mals_as – :
I am currently wearing this, having stolen a bit from the sample I gave my boyfriend ~_^ I get the citruses from this, just a bit of leather and spice. This stuff smells of pure quality and it is very apparent that its a niche. It must be the bergamot and lemon that gives it a ‘grapefruit’ scent (smooth grapefruit like Lush’s ‘Whoosh’, not raw like Guerlain’s ‘Pampelune’. God I love them both, and this). Grapefruit scents always make me deliriously happy, as do bright lemony scents and I definitely get that from this 🙂 My boyfriend loves it as well. I would buy a full bottle sometime 🙂
deric – :
very nice to my nose!
I can find cognac accord, myrte much myrte,a synthetic lemon
leather and cloves!!
the right dosage of bitter and a tip of sweet.
very manly but not staid or too much serious
sv13 – :
The initial blast of leathery medicinal smell is almost too much, although impressive, but it quickly changes into something much more wearable and masculine in a very good way. See, this is not virility in the sense of the Hugo Boss crap that tries so hard to make a straight men sure of his sexuality that it’s actually completely and utterly gay. (As in pathetic. And, you know, gay.) This man doesn’t really need to prove anything to anybody. Il est un homme, quite simply, straight or not. And when you smell this gorgeous mix of dusty old leather and background cleanness on him, you might not even straight away recognize it as perfume. The citruses make it fresh, leather and patchouli turn it very skin-like and even sweaty. Very attractive.
miklmakl – :
After the quite conventional citrus / bergamot opening, Je Suis Un Homme turns to a classic bitter animalic leather frag with a slight modern twist. Maybe not what you would expect by one of the most controversial brand ever but yet a very interesting composition with an impeccable touch of class. Recommended!
Je Suis Ce Que Je Suis.
Rating: 8/10
powerlexa – :
This is a leather perfume on my skin. Unfortunately not a good one for me. I would definitely be attracted to this scent on a guy. I imagine is smells amazing on a guy. I would hope so with this name. I smell bergamot for a few seconds and then the leather kicks in. More like kicks the door in and takes over. I think the citrus notes make the leather smell even more dry and masculine. I don’t smell any patchouli, but I do like the clove dry down.
I was really hoping to be able to wear this perfume and I’ll be eternally jealous of any girl who can.
JIexaHT – :
“Je Suis un Homme” says it all. This is a very elegant masculine fragrance.A frangrance you would probably smell on the red carpet at the Oscars. Classic charmers like Humphrey Bogart or George Clooney would be wearing this. I imagine a library with leather chesterfield sofas,draped with elegant males drinking fine french cognac and smoking imported aromatic cigars.