Know that amber is a fantasy note in perfumery, and is in fact a glorious accord that generally consists of benzoin, vanilla, and labdanum. It’s what is added to this fundamental accord that defines the character of amber fragrances. Moreover, ambergris (grey amber) adds a warm and salty ambery spine to many compositions, so popular and effective that it spawned many powerful amber molecules used in perfumery today. In Histoires de Parfums’ Ambre 114, perfumer Gerald Ghislain acknowledges this fact and builds a complex amber accord with 114 ingredients – it is undoubtedly a complex simplicity, an image of parts fulfilling a sumptuous whole, until it starts to overflow, true to the indulgent fantasy of amber. Ghislain is never profligate, as this composition is a melting meld of thyme, nutmeg, sandalwood, rose, patchouli, tonka bean, and so much more. Ambre 114 demonstrates that precious amber needn’t be dissected, but felt as it works along warm sensual skin.
Ambre Russe (Parfum d’Empire) centres the amber fantasy once more, with a distinctive dryness and leathery backbone. It is festive and luminous, charged with unmistakable flashes of effervescent Champagne, oily and icy vodka, and smoked black tea - all working around the exquisite brilliance of ambergris. Byzantine Amber (Francesca Bianchi) is dark and obscure, shimmering with gold, dramatic and decadent. This styrax-forward resinous amber has a mineral facet washed in smoke, which marries brilliantly with the soft spicy hum of cinnamon, and the pulpy floral tones of geranium. A magical unfurling, this amber feels to have come from an ancient time, a lost potion stored away in dust-covered jars once used to anoint and venerate.
Au Coeur du Desert (Tauer) is a desert-themed amber, which relies on an amber-wood composition dominated by rich and velvety aged patchouli. It is the dark and leathery heart of the Maghreb. This is Tauer’s famous olfactory artwork – a landscape oil painting perfectly rendered in scent – zoomed-in to reveal the richness and all the detail of its patina. Out from its balsamic surface comes coriander seed, cumin, and the gently soaring notes of petitgrain and jasmine. 1969 (Histoires de Parfums) studies patchouli and brings it to the unmistakable light of the smiling sun, expressing not its woody side, but its affinity for spicy-floral-fruity notes. Married with rose, it is a textbook expression of a rose-patchouli accord. It makes upright a sweet nectar of soft and velvety peach that bursts in the opening and is sustained along 1969’s progression. The warmth of patchouli is repeated with coffee, white chocolate, as well as cardamom and clove – its disposition is friendly and generous, and what is often dense and compressed breathes amongst a great plenitude of space.
Concluding this collection is Sticky Fingers from Francesca Bianchi, described as a rock-and-roll hedonism, patchouli is front and centre with all of its glorious effects. The best features of the note’s earthiness is emphasised with the help of tobacco, leather, and honey - all infused with a melting plush iris note that never detracts from the ravenous energy of this sensual delight.
