Ambre Impérial Van Cleef & Arpels 2015

Ambre Imperial - a majestic amber then. With fragrance notes like tonka, vanilla, wood - nothing can really go wrong for the amber enthusiast. To get straight to the point: nothing goes wrong here, but those hoping for a real knockout or THE amber fragrance par excellence will likely be disappointed.
AI starts with a promising top note: powdery-sweet amber, underlaid with fruity accents, scattered citrus snippets, full-bodied vanilla. Those who prefer sweet amber scents like, for example, Ambre Narguilé will find this to be quite satisfying.
However, after just about 10 minutes, the rather strong, enchanting amber-vanilla-fruit scent mixture runs out of steam. Both the sweetness and the sillage noticeably recede, while woody accents timidly step in. It still smells quite pleasant, but at the same time also somewhat arbitrary, inconsequential … nice, really.
Until the end, not much happens in terms of fragrance development. AI remains a friendly, warm-soft, rather sweet scent that comes across to me as more vanilla than amber. A fragrance that doesn’t make me recoil with a wrinkled nose, but also lacks any significant recognizability. A scent from the category of “luring you into an impulsive purchase with a great top note,” only to morph shortly after leaving the perfumery into the rather faceless “I-am-nice-and-don’t-hurt-anyone fragrance” with limited sillage. Surely, there are worse fates, but with the ambitious name and the not insignificant acquisition costs, a bit more is expected.