Vermeil Pour Homme: Got a Light?
Vintages

bySergey Borisov
03/29/25 01:44:02( 12 comments )

Today in our vintage section, we are taking a shallow dive into history: the 90s of the 20th century. I alreadywrote about the French brandJean Louis Vermeil with its Parisian address and French-Arab founders; those who are interested in the story I refer to the articleabout Casaque. Today, we have in our hands a wonderful old-fashioned lighter, finished in gold and dark leather, imitating a table cigar lighter.

Vermeil Pour Homme is a masculine fragrance and the brand's first lighter in a line of several. Its box would look like a cigar box if it weren't for the transparent top lid—of course, this lighter bottle had to show its face as the product's special feature! The unusual design stands out on the shelves and pulls you to take it in your hands.

So what does the aroma inside the luxurious lighter smell like? Certainly not like gasoline! Logically speaking, such a lighter should be somewhere near tobacco and cigars, and we do have a few cigar variants in perfumery:Cigar Remy Latour,Dunhill, andDavidoff. PlusCartier with itsMust de Cartier lighters. (Yes, I know about Zippo and Bic, but...)

In my opinion, of the possible choices,Vermeil Pour Homme is closest toDavidoff Original, a green herbaceous-spicy chypre-'n-fougere, albeit with an implicit leather base. But with a strong beginning, where sage, pine needles, and currant buds on a lemon-lavender background begin their green preface (oddly enough, with references toLancôme's Magie Noire) to the main dark theme.

Vermeil Pour Homme seems to be unable to make up its mind—drink spicy rum, present a bouquet of roses, or sniff, cut, and light a Cuban cigar? Instead of the roses, though, there are geraniums, carnations, and some unclear floral freshness, and the rum has spicy cinnamon and coriander instead of vanilla. Tobacco is there too, dry and tart, with a slight cherry accent in a reddish-brown base of dark woods (patchouli, vetiver, moss, labdanum.) Here, we can think of other similar ones:Boss Number One by Hugo Boss,Open by Roger & Gallet,Santos de Cartier,Baie de Genievre by Creed—mind you, not all of them are rich in tobacco.
 

Shivsri

10/01/19 04:49

Was this discontinued fragrance unique? Maybe by design, but not by its composition. It was just an affordable version of the men's colognes of its time, "dark mysterious masculinity showing-off," and it certainly worked out for its US $20 price tag. On top of that, it was a great masculine toy, like the numerousAvon bottles that hadmasculine andfeminine toy-like designs and figurines.

The lighter design worked perfectly, judging by the fact that several other fragrances were released afterVermeil Pour Homme: Vermeil White, Vermeil Black, Vermeil Red, Vermeil Double Black.

The brand gave out a couple of other interesting designs—in the form of a cell phone and a facsimile stamp—but those never became popular. Surprisingly, the theme of presenting a unique bottle design at a moderate price and with familiar (give or take) compositions inside is still thriving today. The United States, the European Union, the Emirates, Russia, Turkey—almost the whole world thinks it's smart to try such a perfume business, with the design standing out instead of the advertising. And how many pseudo-French brands rent virtual offices in Paris, only to be able to print the "Made in France" line on the box? You won't be able to count them all!

Vermeil Pour Homme by Jean Louis Vermeil was discontinued around the mid-2010s, but its bottles are still found on the secondary market. Prices arequite reasonable: an opportunity for those who like to remember the 90s for around 27-40 dollars per bottle.

Vermeil Pour Homme Jean Louis Vermeil

Top notes:Blackcurrant, Galbanum, Mandarin and Bergamot;
Middle notes: Carnation, Geranium, Violet Leaf, Jasmine, Rose, Coriander, Freesia, Lily of the valley and Ylang-ylang;
Base notes: Oak Moss, Patchouli, Musk, Vetiver and Cedar.