4
Glorious Monolithic Amber
Hats off to Christophe Laudamiel, for creating one of the most opulent Amber fragrances out there! A few years ago Christophe had made the formula public, as a dedication to his recently passed friend, on Instagram. It's a rather simplistic formula - which gets rid of everything but the most essential raw materials - for maximum impact. It's only made from a handful of ingredients (as the notes listed above) - a massive dose of Vanillin, making up more than 1/4th of this formula, supporting an even larger block of Sandalwood-like raw materials (Bacdanol, Sanjinol, Polysantol, Ebanol, Sandalore & Javanol). The Ambery-ness is crafted with another monolithic block mostly made of naturals - Labdanum Resinoid, Cistus Absolute, Ambreine, Patchouli & Olibanum oil. That's all of it.
If one were to take any of these blocks by themselves it'd be impossible to understand how this perfume works. Typically anything above 3-5% of Vanillin in a formula tends to get very sweet - though perfumers do use higher doses occasionally. Jacques Guerlain probably used more than 20% Vanillin in Guerlain Shalimar - but it's tamed with a rather huge dose of Bergamot and the florals. In the case of Amber Absolute it's the remaining massive blocks, of Sandalwood & Ambery raw materials, that tame the massive dose of Vanillin or maybe it's the other way round. Without that much Vanillin this would probably be an overwhelmingly funky Sandalwood dominant fragrance and without the Sandalwood & Ambery materials the Vanillin would likely kill everything else and this would be just a cloying Vanilla scent.
The magic here is in the balance that Christophe has achieved with so many high impact materials. And even though Vanillin has been the topic of discussion - this perfume, true to it's name, is about Amber - represented here by Labdanum(&Cistus). They bring the raw, animalic, spicy, (over-ripe)fruity, sweet, smoky, balsamic nature of Amber to the forefront - everything else is just dress, make-up, & lighting. Ambreine, the element besides Ambroxan, that gives natural Ambergris it's characteristic aroma, highlights the main theme. The Sandalwood, with it's deep, creamy, nutty, musky, woody facets, provides the perfect base for this Amber to rest on. Patchouli adds some camphorous earthy dirtyness with a touch of Chocolate and the Olibanum oil brings it's classic pine-y, cool, resinous incense facets to complete this Ambery-ness. And the massive dose of Vanillin ensures that the sweetness sets in right at the beginning and stays all the way through. All this beautifully comes together to make a glorious Monolithic Amber. It performs exceedingly well on my skin - with insane longevity, lasting 24hrs+ on me and for days on my clothes (i don't even spray on clothes - this is just from wearing my clothes over perfumed skin). It can be supremely cloying on a hot day but works like magic on really cold days. It just surrounds you with a gorgeous vanillic-ambery aura that follows you everywhere. I feel lucky to have bought a few decants when this wasn't yet discontinued. It is perfumes like this that remind me why I love perfumery so much! It's absolutely magical.
10/10
If one were to take any of these blocks by themselves it'd be impossible to understand how this perfume works. Typically anything above 3-5% of Vanillin in a formula tends to get very sweet - though perfumers do use higher doses occasionally. Jacques Guerlain probably used more than 20% Vanillin in Guerlain Shalimar - but it's tamed with a rather huge dose of Bergamot and the florals. In the case of Amber Absolute it's the remaining massive blocks, of Sandalwood & Ambery raw materials, that tame the massive dose of Vanillin or maybe it's the other way round. Without that much Vanillin this would probably be an overwhelmingly funky Sandalwood dominant fragrance and without the Sandalwood & Ambery materials the Vanillin would likely kill everything else and this would be just a cloying Vanilla scent.
The magic here is in the balance that Christophe has achieved with so many high impact materials. And even though Vanillin has been the topic of discussion - this perfume, true to it's name, is about Amber - represented here by Labdanum(&Cistus). They bring the raw, animalic, spicy, (over-ripe)fruity, sweet, smoky, balsamic nature of Amber to the forefront - everything else is just dress, make-up, & lighting. Ambreine, the element besides Ambroxan, that gives natural Ambergris it's characteristic aroma, highlights the main theme. The Sandalwood, with it's deep, creamy, nutty, musky, woody facets, provides the perfect base for this Amber to rest on. Patchouli adds some camphorous earthy dirtyness with a touch of Chocolate and the Olibanum oil brings it's classic pine-y, cool, resinous incense facets to complete this Ambery-ness. And the massive dose of Vanillin ensures that the sweetness sets in right at the beginning and stays all the way through. All this beautifully comes together to make a glorious Monolithic Amber. It performs exceedingly well on my skin - with insane longevity, lasting 24hrs+ on me and for days on my clothes (i don't even spray on clothes - this is just from wearing my clothes over perfumed skin). It can be supremely cloying on a hot day but works like magic on really cold days. It just surrounds you with a gorgeous vanillic-ambery aura that follows you everywhere. I feel lucky to have bought a few decants when this wasn't yet discontinued. It is perfumes like this that remind me why I love perfumery so much! It's absolutely magical.
10/10
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