Amber Aftelier

Right now, I’m wondering which perfume Vicky Pollard would wear? What? You don’t know Vicky Pollard? Well, then quickly check it out on YouTube and have a laugh. Otherwise, you wouldn’t quite understand the headline.

However, one thing should be clear: it’s certainly not Amber by Aftelier. But just as ambivalent as the character of our “lovable” and “tasteful” Vicky is, so too is this scent.

On one hand, the name is completely misleading, as there is officially no amber contained. And the color green doesn’t really fit the known scheme at all.

But if a color suits this fragrance, then it is exactly this one. Amber reveals itself from the start with a brief, somewhat harsh mandarin note, which comes across stronger on paper than on my skin - at least on mine. Here and there, the slightly fruity-citrusy nuances come through, but rather subtly.

One can definitely perceive the dark, resinous-green undertones more strongly, which actually form the core of amber, enveloped by absolutely soft lavender wisps that give the impression of actually sniffing something warm and amber-like, yet are kept in check by the herbal-spicy to bitter labdanum.

Thus, the perfume oscillates between several contradictory facets such as sour-sweet, herbal-powdery, citrus-floral, and resinous-soft, which likely justifies its polarizing nature. Is there perhaps amber in there after all, as one somehow senses a soft complexity that seems to be countered by the listed ingredients?

So Amber may be as fascinating and equally repulsive with a tendency towards penetration as Vicky Pollard, just from the other end of the taste scale.