Ambrarem

I had purchased a bunch of HdP samples earlier in the year, and was immediately drawn to three of them, one being Ambrarem. I remember finding it to have an opulent and privileged air about it; rich with velvety amber, the astringent animalic notes balancing the sweetness and enhancing that stench of wealth. And yet it was also paradoxically soft and powdery, innocent, and sparkling clean. It was like something I had smelled before but could not put my finger on; something old school but also modern and clever. Despite a fleeting sour opening on my skin, I liked it so much that I went ahead and bought a full bottle (along with full bottles of the other two I’d really liked). I wore Ambrarem all through the summer. Despite being an amber fragrance, I find it to be a cooling and invigorating scent, as opposed to something warm, heavy, and saccharine. Just today, bored at home on a cold wet day, I thought I’d try a few of my fragrances on my skin. For the first time, Ambrarem opened on my skin like a mix of fresh and pickled cucumbers; watery, fresh, sour, and salty. It was quite horrifying. After around 5-10 minutes, the dry, powdery iris began to bloom, accompanied by aromatic and bitter saffron. And then that dryness starts to moisten up and smell a bit like wet earth and leather before everything warms up altogether with the woodiness of the agarwood and a dominant buttery, violet-like sweetness. It is still just as strong on both my clothes and skin over 12 hours later. However, I can now distinctly notice an aquatic / ozonic saltiness that is ever present in the background of this fragrance. Maybe that’s what gives it the cooling and fresh, invigorating feel, I’m not sure. Ambrarem is definitely unique, but it is such a gorgeous, seductive, and addictive scent.

I'm so excited being the first one to review this magnificent perfume. This is indeed a jewel of the perfume world! A pure niche perfume!!! The smell starts with some ambery vanillic notes with spices/oud and then the castoreum dominates the game. This one deserves some attention, worth checking out! It has a leathery animalic sweetness which is indeed great. The first thing that crossed my mind when I first smelled it was Strictly Private by Baldessarini. Another one very nice winter perfume at an acceptable price which reminds Ambrarem without the animalic feel and oud. I suggest this to everyone who needs quality/uniqueness/personality in their perfumes. For me although is consider shared, I see this more acceptable for a man. The Castoreum with the oud and spices is somehow more suited for a man. The vanilla/iris etc are those that make this perfume also wearable by women. Worth Checking out! Beyond that, there is a refined petroleum touch in the perfume that bring also in mind previous best sellers like fahreneit. The fragrance was made in such a way that has little bit of evetything, sweetness, woodyness, leather, vanilla, spice, resins, amber and the final result is outstading. Excellent longevity and Sillage! Price from Histoires de parfum for Europe is EUR 125 for 60ml bottle, concentration 21% pure perfume! The delivery is free of charge and you get also 6 samples of their other perfumes! Excellent! The guys there are very professional. They send you also a hand written card with regards and the perfume is wrapped like a gift to yourself.

I’ve had to change my mind on this. I find this strangely addictive and comforting because as much as I try to refrain from cliches I am compelled to write in fact that this smells like a fresh ashed cigarette in sugar with Iris wafting over the top. As a former smoker that in part gave up because of the stench this ironically reminds me of that period but puts a pleasant soft welcoming note over the top. Whilst the note table is relevant I am confident that a lot of people would at first think my clothes have been around a smoker. The soft sweet slightly syrupy top (effectively a tiny touch of caramel or chocolate - coming from the iris, vanilla and spice) softens the ride between the layers of smoke, ambery resin, spices and vanilla. It does evolve into something a little sweeter after a few hours but can not stop smelling where I applied it meanwhile. All in all a curiosity. Well crafted and as such an experience in itself. Not for professional use but interesting as a personal scent. There must be other reasons as to why but for now I’m not entirely sure why a scent that very much reminds me of cigarettes could be appealing!? I know that I enjoy it becasue it is 1) amazingly constructed 2) satiates my desire to smoke. Beyond that my brain says I shouldn’t like it but I just had to buy a full bottle!!!!

I once ate sea cucumber in a Chinese restaurant. It tasted nothing like an actual cucumber but when I think of Ambrarem I think 'sea cucumber.' Imagine a freshly-cut cucumber dipped in the water of a busy harbour so that it collects not only the salt water but the slick of diesel on the surface. Introduce a soft, vanilla-toned amber and a dark smear of castoreum and that's Ambrarem. From the opening, which is genuinely astringent and challenging, it doesn't progress so much as settle down. The roughness mellows to reveal different layers that are all present in the beginning but obscured by the astringency. Quite far into the process, one of these layers - is it the cucumber? - turns out to be a soft, almost powdery oud that drifts around a light caramel amber. It sounds awful but it is one of the most appealing things I have ever worn. It is completely paradoxical. All the edges that should be sharp and ugly turn out to be welcoming. It's a concoction of jarring notes that come together beautifully to make something that is utterly 'other' - nothing else smells anything like this - and at the same time feels like home. Absolutely beautiful.

Spicy, resinous, not overly sweet amber with an animalic twist to it. Opens up with a spicy kick (on my skin mainly lots of saffron and a hint of pink pepper). Quite oriental, I can't deny. Then it changes after 10 minutes into completely different, balmy, resinous scent with some powdery touch to it. This last up to 3 hours and then the drydown comes. In fact, drydown is a star of the show here. Loads of resinous, sticky and animalic ambergris (I'd say it's ambergris, not mineral amber) with even more animalic and greasy castoreum. Yes, it is animalic and it's rather not for the faint hearted. However, it's not on that animalic level as some fragrances containing civet (e.g. Leather Oud from Dior) or castoreum (e.g. old Dior Jules). It's animalic just to make it "niche enough" let's say. Longevity - 10 hours or so. Sillage - above average. Suitable for winter (possibly late fall), rather night than daily use, rather casual than formal. One of the best (if not the best) ambers out there.

This is a gorgeous perfume. I can't use beautiful because it's just too striking for that. It hits like an explosion up the nose that settles into the brain like shakti rising and bliss ensues. The first scent is a nasal clearing pepper followed by a beach at low tide and the definite smell of a diesel engine. After a few minutes the scents calm down and no longer fight one another, but blend and feel calm followed the scent of soft flowers and something like lake water comes into play. The dry down is magnificent, spicy and sweet with hints of sandalwood, water, and that wonderfull pepper that never really leaves all comingled within a delicate flower. This scent is both strong and soft, but neither at the same the same time. An amazing feat to be able to convey the complexity of womanhood itself.

ambrarem is proper balls-to-the -wall perfumery and chapeau to ghislain for this trio in general. a completely original and convincing take on what is now a boring cliché: amber oud (speaking of which: nicolai.... no amber, no oud, lotsa wtf!) ambrarem carries most of the editions rare dna plus a whiff of the sea (a strange organic umami kelp vibe), a genuinely dramatic presence of oud wood (rather than oil) and crusty, salty ambregris that has not been made pretty or presentable but is compelling all the same. go ahead & dislike it, but remember lotsa folks think hairless cats are cute... ;) ps. i LOVE the preceding review, very evocative - thanks for the good laugh :D

I'm surprised there's so many dislikes attached to it smelling like Black Orchid. Admittedly, I did not get that association until I noticed others noticed a similarity, and now it's all I can smell. This smells like 80% Black Orchid, after the smoky/leathery Castoreum calms down. I was literally about to buy a bottle until this realization dawned on me, now I feel like I can just buy Black Orchid and save some money to get a VERY similar feel. Unfortunately there's not much else to say, if you love Black Orchid like I do, you'll undoubtedly love this, but is it really worth it to own both? I personally don't believe so.

I don’t consider Ambrarem as challenging as Petroleum (which is my personal favourite among the trio) but does it deliver the goods? Yes, it does, plenty of them - the amber is decently warm and indecently animalic, the rose is juicy and spicy, both swimming naked in an imaginary aquatic accord, while the oud is obviously enjoying the direction the story is going in. Yet again HdP are showing the “niche” newcomers how it’s done. Beautiful. *****

This is similar to Histoires petroleum, but even better. This ditches some of the petrol accord and instead goes for a briny maritime feel. This is a weird combo of animalic, aquatic, petrol, resin, woods, and spice that has no business being as great as it is. A stormy sea and a ship dashed against the rocks - spices, fur shawls, and yes, oil, spilling out across the turbulent surface. 9/10

My signature Scent!!! Histoires de Parfums is one of my favorite Houses!!! ambrarem together with petroleum, rosam, 1740, ambre 114, tubereuse 3 animale, 1725, 1969 are all masterpieces. One thing that I can not understand is why a House with so many wonderful scents is so underrated.

Exceptionally beautiful Balmy, resinous, slightly thick and mildly sweetened (not too much). Mr. Gerald Ghislain has put his heart and soul into this fragrance and it wears like that. Emotionally very seductive in a natural way. 10/10

A warm, sirupy semi gourmand Amber with Oud and a slight touch of animalic note blended to perfection.This is a real masterpiece fragrance for winter. Will I buy another bottle of this juice? Yes most definitely.

animalic and earthy I was looking for smth a bit putrescent evoking moss, wet fur, rotten flowers ; melancholic and almost morbid : that's ambrarem perfect for a date @ the graveyard imo

The masterpiece of the 3 "editions rare". Simply addictive, assuming you like bold and creative fragrances. Nuclear projection. Try before you buy. Fall/Winter evenings, 30+

I miss this so much! A true masterpiece!

I had a blotter with Montblanc Legend in my pocket from this morning. After spraying some Ambrarem on my wrist, I took out the blotter and realized that Ambrarem is niche at its finest. Why? Because in comparison to a mainstream scent, Ambrarem is very very difficult to enjoy. Give it to your average Wal Mart shopper, and they will recoil in horror, yet the perfume community is raving about it. What not to like? It is truly marine in a way that only a beach can smell after a storm subsides, and the tide goes out, leaving marine life to rot under the sunlight. May not sound pleasant, but the only people who would not feel a sense awe at this natural beauty, are those who have never seen the sea. Once the ocean calms down, the oud comes out. It is smoky, resinous, and acts to put the marine accord on solid ground. The scene which comes to mind involves camping somewhere along the Pacific Northwest Coast, getting stranded in a heavy downpour, and then trying to start a fire to warm yourself and dry your clothes. This scent has a strong masculine element to it. I am having a hard time figuring it out, but it is something which reminds you of an old toolshed, complete with gasoline and greasy, oil soaked rags. While not exactly pleasant, it is complex, evocative, and very original. It was love at first sniff, but after buying a bottle, I realized that I have a very hard time wearing it as it is overbearing regardless of how much you apply. I give it an 8/10 for everything except wearability, which I give it a 2/10 for. Veteverian.wordpress.com

To this nose, “Ambrarem” is the most intriguing and challenging perfume from Histoires de Parfums to date. This is supposed to an animalic interpretation of “oud” due to the use of castoreum which announces its presence rather forcefully from the very beginning. This vigorous introduction could put many wearers off. It shouldn't because under the heavy lid lies a mellow heart and a seductive base. Throughout its development it is apparent that you're dealing with a unique niche fragrance composed of ingredients of the highest quality. “Ambrarem” may not be perceived as a particularly versatile perfume. It's not meant to be. Yet it is its off-kilter nature that reminds me why I adore niche perfumery. It's not a fragrance that sucks up to its wearers. Far from it! “Ambrarem” commands its wearers to get accustomed to it. Most of them won't, but for a small group of true connoisseurs it'll undoubtedly become a source of ultimate olfactory pleasure. To conclude, in order to remain consistent with its animalic character, I'll resort to the following simile: at first, “Ambrarem” roars like a tiger, both terrifying and awe-inspiring, which gradually transforms into a kitten. Albeit sweet and cuddly, this kitten can still put its claws to very effective (and painful!) use.

I was surprised by the opening coming from a scent called Ambrarem. Right off the bat, I actually get a quite ozonic, slightly salty, fresh cucumber but it is tainted and polluted by petroleum. (Looking at the notes after writing this review, I suppose this comes from the mix of oud and powdery iris). Underneath the petroleum/cucumber accord, there's leathery, lightly smoky castoreum with a hint of spices. After some time the notes and accords preeminent in the opening are still there, but then also I get a subtle resinous, woody sweetish amber/vanilla sandalwood combo. To describe it roughly, so of course it is not exactly that, but to help you imagining what it smells like based on my experience with it and while using more common fragrances: Imagine the top, the beginning of Dior Fahrenheit and Lauren's Polo Blue intertwined together. Add powdery iris and put that on top of the current, tamer Chanel Antaeus at the base, keeping the ozonic vibe a bit dirtier and more leathery. Later on, coming in is a vanilla/amber-y sandalwood to make it rounder. You can now guess what Ambrarem is like.

I like this for sure, not as adventurous as others have pointed out. It is rather easy to wear and smells smooth/refined, nothing repulsive or strictly difficult to pull off. I suppose the initial blast can smell a bit like burning plastic/rubber however that does not last long. For me personally this is a unique blend, however I will do my best to describe it or compare to other frags out there. This is essentially what happens when you combine a fragrance like Tuscan leather with an amber/animalic fragrance such as Ambre Loup. The leather note is the same as TFTL minus the raspberries, the Amber is deep, smooth and a little dirty. There is an odd fresh note that stays in the background, not sure if I like it however it does add some contrast to the deep resinous bulk of the scent. Amber Tuscan Leather to me personally, very addictive and one of those who collect fragrances. Worth the money, one spray goes a long way and leaves a scent trail wherever you go. If you can, try before you buy as some people may not understand the artistry at work here. A solid 8/10.