Cobalt Amber

I've been meaning to add an Amber to my collection for ages, and finally chose this stunning beauty from Abel to be the first one to join my collection. I've only come to love amber in the past few years (funny too, given it's my namesake) - I like to think my nose has matured enough to truly appreciate the deep, ancient resinousness a great Amber can offer. Cobalt Amber is super cozy and comforting, like wearing a warm, chunky sweater; it perfectly encapsulates the smell of Autumn and it is just so, so pretty and well blended. It has a nice sweetness level from the tonka and wafts gently but beautifully for a good few hours. I was able to buy this at a discount, as ABEL has just re-done their bottles and upscaled their formulas -- many of which I'm dying to try at the increased concentration. Out of all the original lineup, Cobalt Amber seemed the most decent performer to justify buying at the original concentration. Still, once I can get my nose on the new version, I sure will, as she's one of my favorite Amber's!

If you let this dry down completely, like the day after – what remains is a very nice and warm amber. It is a bit dry in the opening. I'm a bit undecided if it's perhaps a bit too dry. It's genderless, but the dryness and the soft spicy pepper-cardamom may perhaps make this seem leaning masculine. When wearing it again, I got this aromatic green in the opening. It doesn't last for long, but it is very nice. And now the 'dryness' doesn't bother me as much. Instead, I almost get this slight gourmand-impression of the pepper? And the cacao as well, of course contributes to this gourmand-feeling. I like it way better now. I have rarely changed my mind so much back and forth about a perfume. It comes as a reminder that depending on what season, time and day, the mood you are in, your impression will vary greatly. I used to not like pepper very much, but now it has apparently become an acquired taste. A dry, warm, soft spicy and gentle amber leaning ever so slightly gourmand. For winter-time only.

This perfume is spicy chocolate amber fragrance that is very sophisticated yet comfortable at the same time. You can wear this at a dinner party, a night on the town or at home curled up in your favorite sweater and leggings sipping on hot chocolate. I have 3 fragrances from this house, Cobalt Amber, Pink Iris and Cyan Nori. They are all very different from each other. My husband really loves for himself their Green Cedar. My niece wears their White Vert. This house is amazing. The quality of the fragrances along w/ the fact that they are all natural is a real game changer in my opinion. As more of us want to ditch unsafe chemicals yet still have sophistication in our perfumes Abel really gets it right.

I thought I had posted a review on this, but I'll try again. This is clean, smooth, with a touch of warming sweetness... also this might not make sense but I felt there was a deep blue note. I feel it projects well, but not obnoxiously. On my skin it lasts quite a while. It will fade if I go dancing, so heat may burn it off. It lasts about 4 hours if I'm active and much longer if not. For me this was an instant wow! I received compliments from ladies that were sitting near to me or dancing with me. Other scents of this type seem to go wrong on my skin after an hour or two, so for me the consistency of this is a big plus. Interestingly there are dislikes, but no negative reviews...

I love this. Cobalt Amber is one of those perfumes that don’t do much for any nose when tried on a paper strip, it really needs to sit on the skin for a little while for it to be properly appreciated. On a strip and at first spray, this brings to my mind the way certain kids’ toys smell when taken out of their box. As it warms on the skin it becomes a spicy, beautiful amber, with a hint of gourmand from the cocoa and tonka notes that is just right; the pink pepper and cardamom add zing and interest. Sadly, it doesn’t have a great sillage (this one is almost a skin scent), but it does have good longevity.

I tend to go for woody rather than amber perfumes, but couldn't resist trying this one after experiencing the exquisite rendering of Abel's 'green cedar'. It is really growing on me + very much enjoying the warm powdery notes. I find it quite complex (in a very good way) with the dry cocoa and resinous peru balsam creating dry almost spicy waves. There's also an alluring cool woody edge - almost inky - which balances so well with the warmth of the ambery notes. Almost a hint of the vanillary spice of coca-cola?? (in the very best way!!) Beautiful, intriguing - enjoying the ride...

Opens with a strongly cacao/chocolate note, which is quickly joined by the peru balsam coniferous note and the pink pepper zing. No cardamom or juniper on my skin, but the amber and tonka warm up the base. I applied 4 sprays of this in the morning then in the evening went out for an icy walk around some Christmas illuminations and my friend commented how amazing I smell, and that it was perfect for the frosty, dark night. Lasts around 8h and projects around 6ft.

This is a very interesting scent. On my skin, lots of cacao and tonka, with something spicy and dry: very gourmand. I almost bought it instead of Nurture (which I came for), but fortunately I remembered that as a mother of a baby it will be years before I need a nightclub perfume. This is definitely a nighttime perfume, ideally for winter.

Very nice spicy amber perfume; warm and at the same time with a slightly fresh aromatic touch. It really develops beautifully on the skin. For me it is perfectly unisex, although it does remind me of a specific men’s perfume (and I hate that I can’t recall which) from the 80s or 90s.

A beautiful, soft, gourmand amber scent. Becomes a skin scent within an hour but it’s so pretty I can’t fault the perfumer. About halfway through my discovery set and I’m interested in several perfumes from Abel. With ingredients made from nature, I’m impressed.

Smells like a man's perfume for a minute but after that it dries down to a stunning scent for a typical woman: spicy and sweet. Wish it didn't have that brief opening but I would buy this anyway because as I said, the opening disappears super quick

LOVE THIS...as an "all natural" amber fragrance this one is perfection...I really can't think of an amber fragrance I enjoy more right now than this one...it's slightly sweet, slightly spicy, perfectly wearable...

Grand Soir Eau Légère. This beautiful fragrance opens up clean, ambery, softly crisp, and a little bit peppery/clove-ish from what could be juniper or cardamom seeds in a warm chia tea. Very quickly, though, all these colourful facets disappear to reveal an incredibly smooth amber base that impeccably matches the modern MFK Grand Soir style. The perfect amount of labdanum, some hints of other sweet resins, and a big dose of Tonka bean. Not as strong or powerful, but stunning anyway. The only clear nuances to me are a distinct floral note (maybe marigold) that smells like natural calendula lotion, and a minute dark chocolate illusion you'll get right before the very last particles evaporate. It's elegant, it's soft, it's 100% natural, it's unisex, it's likeable, and it's masterfully blended. Don't sleep on Cobalt Amber!

I thought this will be a good scent, yet.. it was a surprise. The opening is pepper, fresh green spices and a bit of cacao, after that the next stage is a bit longer, then I expected, this is the,,dry,, stage with cacao, juniper and amber.. and takes hours on my skin to get the final stage, a bit more creamy amber, with a pinch of cocoa and vanilla. Really nice, it was a love from the first spray. Longevity is 8hours, sillage on me is medium-strong. The bottle, box is also very good quality.

Interesting. Straight out of the bottle, this has a slightly savoury aspect, or even a touch of umami about it - puts me in mind of light soy sauce, or some Marmite chocolate truffles I had (and enjoyed) while back. Be interesting to see how it settles down.

It’s different. I like it. The drydown reminds me of Vicks vaporub, but in a good way. Spicy Vicks. The projection is zero though. Too bad. I would buy a bottle if only this projected. I like Vicks and the smell of tigerbalm a lot! 7,5/10

From the 4 from this house I sampled this was my favorite. Spicy chocolate and balsam. It reminded me of a more sophisticated version of Hungry Hungry Hippies by Smell Bent.

Cobalt Amber seems to me to be extremely peppery in the opening. It dries down to a soft, powdery amber. The sillage is extrememly intimate.

If I had to describe this in one word it would be 'dry'. To me this is mainly a really really dry warm spicy wood. And I mean warm literally, as in the way that wood feels extra dry when it’s warmed up. The top notes are spot on for the initial blast. That is exactly what I’m getting. Cardamom, juniper and pink pepper. And it stays that way for quite a while. I started looking at my watch in confusion. In fact, the amber and tonka that I was waiting for to come in and round it out never arrived. I thought this was going to be a predominently ambery scent? If it is so, then this is a form of amber that i haven’t smelled before. I’m used to it being sweet, round, full, oriental and spicy. I’m getting spicy but thats it. I do get waffs of cocoa, but not in a chocolatey way. If you shove your nose in a box of cocoa you will get a pungent bitter dry spicy smell (depending on the cocoa ofcourse). That’s the cocoa that I’m getting. As for the balsam, I don’t have much experience with that note but with a little bit of reading it makes sense. Im guessing that it is responsible for the sharp woodiness that I’m getting. I want to add that this is a lot more masculine than I was expecting. I’ve forced multiple people to try this on their skin so that I could make sure that it wasn’t just my skin messing with the scent (sorry to all my guests). It didn’t differ much person to person and everyone agreed that this is a masculine fragrance. On paper I straight up don’t like it. It just doesn’t smell pleasant, there is just too much dryness and bitterness. But on skin I can see myself finding it pleasant on a man in the right circumstance. It’s giving fire heated cabain. You really need to try it on skin to appreciate it though! I won’t get rid of it until I’ve tried it for every season, because I find that weather can radically change fragrances. If weather changes this I will let you know in an edit!

Middle age male reviewer: I like to start with how the "layperson nose" would likely interpret this, aka the masses... They'd say "a sweet vanilla-ish with an interesting 'zing' and almost freshness to it...but the predominant scent being the amber/tonka." I think part of what people would also catch just a tiny hint of, but wouldn't be able to identify, is the cacao. To be sure, I doubt many people would pick up anything much chocolate about this, just to be clear. Sweet and soft, but with a poppy opening, most westerners would likely say leans fem, but I'd say unisex. It's nice. This brand's "Red Santal" was definitely better, I'd get regular compliments on that one, and having tried most of this brand's frags at this point, RS is the stand-out best in their line... ...but they discontinued it. Smelled too good I guess. This one is a relatively distant second, but a second nonetheless. It's good and worth a sniff. As others have said, this brand does a great job for a natural line, and can compete in the naturals genre with the best of them.