Browsing by tag: amber

Aroma M Geisha Amber Rouge & Atelier Cologne Ambre Nue ~ fragrance reviews

We’ve seen a few amber-focused fragrances surfacing amongst the new releases of late 2011 and early 2012, and that’s fine with me: I’m tired of oud being the “it” note, since I don’t care for it at all, and I usually enjoy some amber in my floral fragrances. Two of the recent arrivals are Aroma M Geisha Amber Rouge, a sister fragrance to the line’s Geisha Rouge, and Atelier Cologne Amber Nue.

Aroma M’s Geisha Amber Rouge (shown below right) perfume oil is packaged in a roll-on dispenser wrapped in the line’s signature Japanese paper, and the notes of its composition include amber, cinnamon, clove, star anise, resins, and incense. It’s much less peppery-clovey than the original Geisha Rouge…

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Laura Mercier Ambre Passion Velvet & Ambre Passion Elixir ~ fragrance review

Laura Mercier Ambre Passion Velvet Eau de Parfum & Ambre Passion Elixir

Amber fragrances can pose a conundrum. On one hand, amber is warm, easy, and seductive — a crowd pleaser. When it’s cold out, a spritz of an amber-based perfume or burning an amber-scented candle are almost as good as pulling up a thickly knit blanket. When I wear amber, I get compliments. Everyone should have an amber in his fragrance collection.

On the other hand, amber is sweet and can cloy, making for suffocating, cilia-searing juice. After a few hours of wearing some ambers I feel like I’m clamped in a trap in a cheap candle shop and the ventilation has shut down. I have to gnaw off my arm to escape. Plus, amber can be boring. (Vanilla fragrances can have these same advantages and drawbacks.)

In my opinion, with Ambre Passion Velvet Eau de Parfum (shown above right) and Ambre Passion Elixir (shown above left), Laura Mercier does a great job highlighting the best parts of an amber-based perfume while minimizing potential shortcomings…

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Annick Goutal Les Orientalistes (Ambre Fetiche, Myrrhe Ardente and Encens Flamboyant) ~ fragrance review

Annick Goutal Ambre Fetiche, Myrrhe Ardente and Encens Flamboyant perfumes

Isabelle Doyen and Camille Goutal were inspired by beauty rituals of the harem to create Annick Goutal Les Orientalistes — a trio of scents (Ambre Fétiche, Myrrhe Ardente and Encens Flamboyant) released at the end of 2007. I think it’s time to enact a moratorium on evoking the past in perfume advertising and promotion, since most ad executives and copywriters apparently skipped history classes. Perhaps the young women of the harem enjoyed their beauty rituals; I sincerely hope, in some small way, the costly items in their toiletry cases and incense boxes made up for the fact they had (most likely) been kidnapped, enslaved and separated from their families forever. Oh yes, there were also those pesky eunuchs and the sultan’s controlling mother to contend with, not to mention stress-inducing rivalries between concubines that sometimes led to murder — or banishment from the harem (which usually resulted in a life of poverty).

I’m wiping all thoughts of “the harem” from my mind and enjoying Les Orientalistes as fragrances that pay homage to the art of perfumery in the Middle East…

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Anne Pliska ~ perfume review

Anne Pliska perfumeAnné Pliska’s eponymous perfume, launched in 1987, has long been a cult favorite among perfumistas. About Anné Pliska herself, I know virtually nothing except that she is based in California, and is apparently very good at maintaining her privacy in the internet age.

I tried Anné Pliska some years ago and didn’t love it: it was too cold and amber-y to suit my tastes. Alyssa over at Perfume Smellin’ Things suggested I ought to give it another try, figuring that if I loved Fendi Theorema, surely Anné Pliska ought to have a second chance. Her description: “Pliska is like Theorema’s chic, stern Aunt, one with a scandalous past that her niece knows nothing about…”

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Prada Eau de Parfum & Prada Intense: perfume review

Prada Amber

Prada released Prada Eau de Parfum, their first mainstream perfume offering, in 2004. It was developed by Carlos Benaim, Max Gavarry and Clement Gavarry, and the notes include bergamot, orange, bitter orange, mandarin flower, mimosa, rose absolute, schinus molle, peru balsam, patchouli, raspberry flower, labdanum, tonka bean, vanilla, musk and sandalwood. Prada won a Fifi award for the fragrance in 2005.

Prada Eau de Parfum was meant as a…

…modern take on essential oils, said the company. It is an amber scent built around four time-honoured essences, each meant to reflect one of four dimensions: sandalwood oil from India is pure; patchouli leaves from indonesia are addictive; labdanum resin from France is precious: benzoin from Siam is profound. (via Cosmetics International, 6/1/2004)

Prada Eau de Parfum is all about amber; other notes come and go, but the amber is prominent from the first spray. Citrus decorates the top notes, a whisper of florals the middle, and a dry, earthy patchouli with vanilla accents the base, but the amber is the star here. It is, as advertised, a modern sort of amber; it is warm but not rich or heavy, and smells nothing like its hard-hitting oriental forebears…

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