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L'Art & La Matière

Bois d'Arménie Guerlain 2006

8.3 / 10 796 Ratings

A popular perfume by Guerlain for women and men, released in 2006. The scent is woody-spicy. The production was apparently discontinued.
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Main accords

Woody

Spicy

Sweet

Oriental

Powdery

Fragrance Pyramid

Top Notes

Frankincense Iris

Iris

Pink pepper

Heart Notes

Gaiac wood Benzoin

Benzoin

Coriander

Base Notes

Copaiba balsam

Patchouli

White musk

Perfumer

Annick Ménardo

Ratings

Scent

8.3796 Ratings

Longevity

7.8639 Ratings

Sillage

6.8627 Ratings

Bottle

8.6575 Ratings

Value for money

6.3223 Ratings

Submitted by DonVanVliet, last update on 10/20/2025.

Interesting Facts

The fragrance was part of the collection L'Art & La Matière.

Smells similar

What the fragrance is similar to

Paris-Saint Honoré

Cuir Béluga Eau de Parfum

Benjoin Bohème

Danza Armena

Bois d'Argent Eau de Parfum

Jade Parfum Nektar Extrait

Reviews

34 in-depth fragrance descriptions

08/15/2024

9Scent 9Longevity 6Sillage

Omnipotato
366 Reviews

Omnipotato

7

Armenian paper

The history of "papier d'Armenie" or "Armenian paper" is a fascinating one. People in Armenia in the 19th century would burn benzoin resin to release its fragrant smoke for disinfecting and cleansing purposes. A Frenchman on his travels came upon this practice and wanted to spread it in his home country. He came up with a way to dissolve the benzoin resin in alcohol and infuse it onto blotter paper. He started a company called Papier d'Armenie which is still around to this day and run by his great-grandaughter.

Being Armenian, I was drawn straight away to the name of this fragrance, "Bois d'Armenie" or "Armenian Wood." Unfortunately the practice of burning benzoin has died out in our culture, and most Armenians have never even heard of the papier d'Armenie that is ubiquitous in France. I only found out about it through reading the description of this fragrance on Guerlain's website then doing my own research about its history.

As you may by now realize, Bois d'Armenie is Guerlain's take on the scent of papier d'Armenie. And even though I have never smelled the burning paper myself, Bois d'Armenie is a beautiful representation of sweet benzoin and a light woody paper accord. Dry frankincense and creamy vanilla add to the experience, rounded out by soft iris. It is subtle but long lasting, and it somehow grows over time, like a room slowly being filled by the scent of burning benzoin-infused paper.

11/09/2012

8Scent 7.5Longevity 2.5Sillage

Apicius
1328 Reviews

Apicius

Helpful Review 3

A Vanilla Titbit

There is a certain kind of paper – the sort which you may use to cover the shelves in a cupboard – that allegedly was responsible for the creation of Bois d'Arménie: a childhood memory of Sylvaine Delacourte – as I read or heard somewhere. As Guerlain's art director, she seems to have a leading influence on the creation of new fragrances. Well, another of those Guerlain legends!

With Bois d'Arménie, Guerlain gives us a fragrance which simply can only come from this house. It is this special handling of vanillic notes, which only Guerlain has lead to perfection. For me, it does not matter that vanilla is not mentioned as such in the known fragrance notes. Anyway, Guerlain is always telling only half of the truth.

The vanilla – or whatever I identify as such – has an unbelievable depth and intensity. It is not accompanied by woody tartness as the tonka complex in Arsène Lupin Voyou, but by a completely different dark and recondite woodiness. This has some resemblance to certain liqueurs, but without being overly sweet. And also, it almost has some smokiness. In its clear, only slightly shaded expression, this vanilla comes near to the wonderful Spiritueuse Double Vanille, however, it is darker.

With that paper story, Bois d'Arménie touches the world of orris fragrances – besides the powder note there is the impression of old foxy paper which also applies to some orris fragrances, and among those most of all to Dior Homme. They have something in common, however, only initially. Bois d'Arménie is not developing any “lipstick” accord as the Dior scent does.

Bois d'Arménie is a difficult fragrance, and it is a little bit demanding. The pithiness of the vanillic part obviously makes it necessary to shift down the intensity. And so, Bois d'Arménie is a difficult candidate for testing. During my first encounters at my local Maison Guerlain, Bois d'Arménie seemed to have nothing to say. Having my olfactory sense affected by other, less discreet fragrances, I was hardly able to smell it. Bois d'Arménie creates only a faint aura around its wearer – getting acquainted with it needs some time and devotion.

Besides vanilla and orris, no other note reveals itself to me. On the contrary, during its development Bois d'Arménie more and more retreats into the vanilla-like shell until it is completely faded after almost a day.

So, which one is to prefer? The clear and ethereal Spiritueuse Double Vanille, or the noble, darkish Bois d'Arménie? Of course, these questions are not to be answered. Both will equally delight their owners – providing that one can cope with such a lot of vanilla-like orientalism.

Personally, I only sometimes like to wear it – carefully, so to say. Please consider: a vanilla ice cream is consumed within a few minutes – but Bois d'Arménie will last many hours! Despite its discreetness, one better wears this beautiful fragrance with consideration. Eat it like a titbit!

09/30/2023

10Scent 6Longevity 6Sillage

Sopelka
40 Reviews

Sopelka

3

Very comforting

I discovered Bois d’Armenie in February 2022 when a kind fellow fraghead sent me a sample. I took it with me on the road when I went to Warsaw to help my parents evacuate from Ukraine. BdA helped me deal with the stress and anxiety while I was way from home for a couple of weeks. I felt its warm, sweet, calming embrace in the mornings and resprayed at night to help me fall asleep.

After I came back and reunited with my collection, I realized that BdA is a lot like Shalimar EDT’s dry down. It is essentially Shalimar less the bergamot opening and no leather.

05/20/2025

ClaireV
969 Reviews

ClaireV

3

Best-in-class benzoin

As a long-time papiers d’Armenie afficionado, I want to say two things. First, the pleasure of papiers d’Armenie is all in the gauzy manner with which the smoke from the lit paper hangs in and on the air. Neither the benzoin resinoid itself nor its essential oil possesses this quality. When the papers, impregnated with the benzoin oil, are burned, they release into the air an accord that I imagine heaven might smell like – roasted chesnuts, sweet paper, powdered sugar, a slightly sour, fermented woodpulp, and a fine incense dust that sparkles as the light catches the mica. Second, Bois d’Armenie is the only benzoin-based fragrance in existence that manages to capture the scent of the papers on the air. Others – Benjoin Boheme, Petit Papiers, Indochine, Candy, and so on – are doughier, emphasizing the honeyed amberiness of the essential oil or the resinoid. Bois d’Armenie is not a perfect perfume, not by any stretch of the imagination. But its faults of (extreme) vagueness and quietness are also the qualities that allow it to corrall the butterfly wing-like essence of one of my favourite smells in the world into a bottle.

04/23/2025

10Scent 10Longevity 7Sillage

Polaroid
51 Reviews

Polaroid

2

Sublimity

I can't properly express how I feel about this fragrance, but from the first moment I sprayed it, I've been utterly smitten. It has quickly become one of my all time favorite fragrances. In my eyes, it's pretty much perfect. It's difficult to describe how this smells. You can look at the note breakdown, but it's not really going to help you. This is a master class of blending. Yes, the dominant note is benzoin, and I'm sure there is some iris, guiac wood, and incense in there somewhere. But when I wear Bois d'Armenie, I can't dissect it the way that I can with other fragrances. This isn't about that. It's about giving you an experience, creating an atmosphere, a mood, a feeling. This doesn't fit at all into the tiresome trend of fragrances being about exactly what's on the tin. This isn't some "Santal 33" or "Vanilla Oud" or "Orange and Musk"; in that regard, Bois d'Armenie even sets itself apart from the rest of the L'Art et la Matiere series. Thank god they didn't call it "Benzoin Encens" or something silly like that. The name itself sparks the imagination: Bois d'Armenie, Armenian Wood (it sounds a lot better in French of course). In ye olden days, you had names like "Opium", "Samsara", "Egoiste", "Shalimar", "Fahrenheit", names that were meant to evoke an idea, rather than simply describe the ingredients in the bottle. Can we go back to that, please? Do we really need more ugly fragrance names like "Wood and Spice" or "Oud & Santal"? Anyway, let me get off my soapbox. I'm here to wax lyrical about my beloved BdA.

This is a gilded fragrance that conjures up a crepuscular, autumnal atmosphere. It reminds me of brocaded silk, a beautiful city built of stone, the rasping of dead leaves on cobbles, the cold breath of the wind, that particular way in which the autumn light falls at a slant that illuminates everything more richly, as if it had been passed through amber. There is great beauty here, but it is faded beauty, lost beauty. It's like an old, early color picture of a party. The opening is like being there, feeling totally present, smelling the beautiful people in expensive clothes, seeing the candlelight refracted through the crystal champagne flutes, feeling the serotinal chill slowly being warded off by a roaring fire. There is something liqueur-like in the opening, almost akin to the boozy vanilla note in Spiriteuse Double Vanille or Tonka Imperiale. But as the fragrances dries, the richness and slight booziness of the opening fades. The characteristic Guerlain dustiness begins to take over, powdery incense and resins and patchouli and woods, a wisp of smoke from a burning leaf of papier d'Armenie which is slowly but surely burning away to ashes. The color has been drained to sepia, the fire has died, the wine's all been drunk, the candles blown out by the wind. All that remains is the room which has absorbed the reverie, retains the perfumes of the ladies, the smoke of the fire and the extinguished cigars, the spilt brandy, the baking sweets. And through the window the city lights blink out one by one.

This is a masterpiece, one of the best in a house full of greats. The quality, blending, and performance are all superb (though this is not a beast). It is expensive, but totally worth it. Memoirs of a Trespasser doesn't even come close. But this is a very personal fragrance for me. It might not be for everyone. Try before you buy, for sure. Then join the cult, like I did.

10/10

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