Eau Ambrée Chabaud
33
Top Review
At Lake Toba
Uncommented Fragrances No. 41
We all know that scents evoke memories. Sometimes, however, it is truly incredible, and one can only suspect that our memory is playing tricks on us. Such was the case here.
In 1990, I traveled to Indonesia with my then-girlfriend (and now wife). We had managed to get a very cheap flight through a contact, and the accommodations there were more than affordable. In backpacker hostels, you could still find a place to stay for the equivalent of about 3 to 5 DM (at that time about 3000 to 5000 Indonesian Rupiah) if you asked.
Our actual destination was Lake Toba. At that time, Lake Toba was hardly visited by tourists. Only backpackers and local hippies were around. It is located in the north of the giant island of Sumatra, is an astonishing 87 km long and 27 km wide, the largest crater lake in the world, and more than three times the size of Lake Constance. One third of the lake's area is occupied by an island, Samosir, which can be reached by boat. An island in a lake on an island in the sea, right in the rainforest. Unique!
Near the lake, we visited an old Dutch colonial hotel, which was half-abandoned in the jungle and where you could stay in rundown luxury for a low price.
As soon as I applied Eau Ambrée, images of this hotel appeared before me. Why? I don't know, as the experiences date back almost 25 years, but something in that hotel smelled like this fragrance. Was it the bed linen, a room spray, the perfume of the maids - or is it all just a mistake?
The scent, according to the fragrance pyramid, seems to offer rather little special: citrus components in the opening, rose and iris, amber, leather, benzoin. That's it.
The citrus notes disappear quickly. Overall, I find the longevity of Chabaud fragrances leaves something to be desired. Now, I am not one of those longevity fanatics, so I could certainly live with this flaw.
After a while, what remains is a soft rose-iris-amber mixture (keyword: powder), which is not unpleasant and slowly and consistently fades in character hour by hour. In my opinion, there can hardly be any talk of leather, and benzoin resin is not well distinguishable for me. What remains is the aforementioned mixture.
Slowly, a vague thought comes to me as to why this mixture might have reminded me of my trip to Asia 25 years ago. Eau Ambrée strikes me as the somewhat cheap-smelling, simple powdery fragrances of the past, from the late 80s, that could be smelled in many places around the world, in Asia, in America, in Europe, ultimately not unpleasant at all, actually even surrounded by a nostalgic aura, somehow more feminine than unisex and guarantees a cozy atmosphere.
This would not be a fragrance I would want to acquire, neither back then nor today, but all in all, it is not poorly made and has a nostalgic character.
I am certainly grateful to Eau Ambrée. After this fragrance experience, I pulled out my pictures from Lake Toba once again. How young and full of life we were!
A different time, a different place.
We all know that scents evoke memories. Sometimes, however, it is truly incredible, and one can only suspect that our memory is playing tricks on us. Such was the case here.
In 1990, I traveled to Indonesia with my then-girlfriend (and now wife). We had managed to get a very cheap flight through a contact, and the accommodations there were more than affordable. In backpacker hostels, you could still find a place to stay for the equivalent of about 3 to 5 DM (at that time about 3000 to 5000 Indonesian Rupiah) if you asked.
Our actual destination was Lake Toba. At that time, Lake Toba was hardly visited by tourists. Only backpackers and local hippies were around. It is located in the north of the giant island of Sumatra, is an astonishing 87 km long and 27 km wide, the largest crater lake in the world, and more than three times the size of Lake Constance. One third of the lake's area is occupied by an island, Samosir, which can be reached by boat. An island in a lake on an island in the sea, right in the rainforest. Unique!
Near the lake, we visited an old Dutch colonial hotel, which was half-abandoned in the jungle and where you could stay in rundown luxury for a low price.
As soon as I applied Eau Ambrée, images of this hotel appeared before me. Why? I don't know, as the experiences date back almost 25 years, but something in that hotel smelled like this fragrance. Was it the bed linen, a room spray, the perfume of the maids - or is it all just a mistake?
The scent, according to the fragrance pyramid, seems to offer rather little special: citrus components in the opening, rose and iris, amber, leather, benzoin. That's it.
The citrus notes disappear quickly. Overall, I find the longevity of Chabaud fragrances leaves something to be desired. Now, I am not one of those longevity fanatics, so I could certainly live with this flaw.
After a while, what remains is a soft rose-iris-amber mixture (keyword: powder), which is not unpleasant and slowly and consistently fades in character hour by hour. In my opinion, there can hardly be any talk of leather, and benzoin resin is not well distinguishable for me. What remains is the aforementioned mixture.
Slowly, a vague thought comes to me as to why this mixture might have reminded me of my trip to Asia 25 years ago. Eau Ambrée strikes me as the somewhat cheap-smelling, simple powdery fragrances of the past, from the late 80s, that could be smelled in many places around the world, in Asia, in America, in Europe, ultimately not unpleasant at all, actually even surrounded by a nostalgic aura, somehow more feminine than unisex and guarantees a cozy atmosphere.
This would not be a fragrance I would want to acquire, neither back then nor today, but all in all, it is not poorly made and has a nostalgic character.
I am certainly grateful to Eau Ambrée. After this fragrance experience, I pulled out my pictures from Lake Toba once again. How young and full of life we were!
A different time, a different place.
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26 Comments
Asia has something like that... training for the nose!
Trophy.