I suppose I sometimes think of amber as my scent, I feel a certain territorial quality for the note, I suspect it is because it is a note that from a young age has been a part of my life, a note that is always in the background. A note that I know blends well with my skin which is why it was so sad for me a few years ago to realize that chemistry of skin with amber had changed making my ambered fragrances take on overly sweet tarry note, but with time I have found some new loves in the amber category. So out of curiosity I decided to see all the amber fragrances I have and how I would categorize them and came to the conclusion that I am total amber nut:
Ambre Narguile by Hermessence- The ultimate amber pastry, completely defines the idea of amber being a pastry note.
Ambre Russe by Parfum d'Empire- A spicy narcotic decadent amber with a little bit of growling fur going through it.
Ambre Sultan by Serge Lutens- An herbal narcotic amber, very cool and hot at the same time.
Baltic Amber candle by Voluspa- I beautiful smoky creamy amber with hints of pine and vanilla, one of the few candles I have repeatedly bought.
Blackberry Amber by Bath and Body Works- A juicy blackberrry amber patchouli combo, very intense.
Must de Cartier- What I like to call gingerbread amber with smoke and beautiful green notes.
Sensual Amber by Bath and Body Works- A chewy dried apricot amber that has a nice resinous vanilla drydown.
With Love by Hilary Duff- a coffeed piney creamy amber. Bizarrely good.
As you can see I am no perfume snob, I can appreciate high and low end.
image provided by artnet.com
image: Venice Amber Vine Trio by Julie Lazarus
Bois des Iles
Vanille Fleurie de Tahiti
Ambre Russe
Ever had one of those days where you just wanted to smell dramatic? Well today I do but actually this desire started yesterday when I found the image above done by one of favorite illustrators, George Barbier, which heavily evoked Ambre Russe to me this feeling then continued as I looked for pieces by Ravel and found Tzigane which continued the insistence that I wear Ambre Russe. I had been tempted to wear Ambre Russe on Thanksgiving but that just doesn't seem appropiate; I will most likely choose Burberry Brit Red.
Overall I will say that last night our country won back its soul and did it with the sort of aplomb that we should be proud of, but I am most definately disappointed in California but sadly not fully shocked. I am a California native, my father is gay and a California native too, and in the US, California is viewed as the "liberal" state. Being the California native I am though I know that this is a large and diverse state is much more conservative than others would think, we have small noticiable enclaves of our "liberalism" , but I am afraid for the most part that title is undeserved. I will not give up though, we have seen the fruitition of a African American president, and we will see Gays attain the right to marry those that they love. Let us not forget Bayard Rustin.
So Ambre Russe won out as the most worn in September, I consider it a response to me really being sick of summer, and suddenly having my love for amber come back. I just can't get over this decadently gorgeous amber.
Today I am going with the wonderfully sensual Ambre Russe by Parfum d'Empire. It has been a long time since I fell really hard for an amber fragrance, it was my first love, and sadly over the years it has fallen out of favor with my skin becoming drier, and the ambers that I adored ending up getting a strange overly sweet tar note in the dry down that I hated. In fact within the last months I swapped those ambers out (Anne Pliska, L'Occitane Amber, Sage Machado Amber) and the irony is I have once again found an amber to love which actually features a note that usually turns into pure curry sweat on me: cumin. I can't get over just how gorgeous this scent is while being incredibley rich, sensual, and extravagent it is also wonderfully wearable. I suspect I really need a bottle of this.
