Ambraliquida

COMFORTABLY NUMB AMBRALIQUIDA BY L'ERBOLARIO Amber can best be defined as fossilised resin from a tree trunk part of a plant that lived long ago. Trees normally release resin to make their trunks fight off attacks from parasites, insects and blows. The resins also heal other internal damage, keeping the tree healthy and safe. Over (a lot) of time, the resin evolves into an organic fossil we call "amber". Where do we use "amber" and what does it really smell like? Fossilised amber is mainly used in jewellery and has absolutely no use in creating flavourings or fragrance oils. When we apply an amber-scented perfume, what we smell is a combination of various essential oils that are intended to mimic what any human being might expect from a very comforting amber scent, such as a slight sweetness, a certain oriental warmth, resin emanations, and so on. An "amber" perfume can also derive from ambergris, a waxy substance produced inside the intestines of sperm whales. Despite its unusual nature, ambergris has been sought after since ancient times for use in rare and quality perfumery. It has a unique musky, sweet and earthy odour with facets of marine and animalistic elements. Like fossilized resin, ambergris is also not used directly in fragrances. Modern perfumes avoid using their derivatives due to their cost, difficulty of sourcing and ecological awareness. Instead, most formulations use synthetic ingredients that mimic the desirable scent of ambergris. However, amber and ambergris are distinct olfactory notes. Each has its own aromatic profile and is used independently. As ambergris is not an issue in this review, I will only dwell on "normal" amber. As primary or main ingredients, this has vanilla, benzoin, labdanum and resins. Some blends may also include patchouli, tonka bean, balsam and other oils with aromatic profiles that are complementary. L'Erbolario Ambraliquida (ambraliquida = liquid amber): This perfume has a few more ingredients to offer than those listed by the producer. As an example, I point out the Musk note, important during evolution. According to L'Erbolario, the top phase uses notes of bergamot, geranium, bourbon and centifolia roses. In the heart, we find cedarwood, patchouli, sandalwood and guaiac wood. At the base, we find liquidambar (actually a natural oriental extract similar to styrax resin), labdanum and vanilla. Now we know where the name of this fragrance comes from. After a half hour, the fragrance reaches the base phase and accomplishes its task: our brain assumes it smells a lot like amber! Strong amber hovers in our nose, complemented by patchouli, and then rounded off with warm, slightly sweet vanilla. For perfume lovers, I can also report that Ambraliquida opens exactly like Montale's Blue Amber. We are not dealing with a particularly exciting fragrance. it is a non-complex amber fragrance, which although simple, is very pleasant. Nothing bothers me about this perfume. It develops excellently on both skin and clothes. For me, it can be worn at any time, even if the autumn leaves featured on the packaging suggest an autumn use. The durability is also commendable. The simple, brown satin bottle is a pure understatement and suits this fragrance perfectly. My notes for this amber elixir: ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ Opening: 7.0 (Citrus with hints of herbs, rose and woods) Perfume Drying: 9.0 (An amber aura with resins, some vanilla and an earthy touch) Longevity: 8.0 (Up to 8 hours with three sprays) Sillage: 6.5 (Only 4~5 feet with three sprays, projecting 1.5~2 hours) Usability: 8.5 (A natural delight with no detractors; It's an excellent scent for almost any situation, though not a top star in any of them) Versatility: 10.0 (All year round, both day and night) Praise: 8.0 (It will please almost everyone, but it will not arouse outlandish passions) Uniqueness: 8.5 (It is not inspired by any other fragrance although it shows similarities with several of them namely Ambre Reminiscence, Montale Blue Amber or even a less concentrated Nishane Nanshe) Quality: 9.0 (It has a higher quality than expected, considering the average price of the perfume. The ingredients seem quite natural. Only the Sillage turned out to be lower than expected) Presentation: 7.0 (A bit spartan but functional, even almost appealing) Price: 8.5 (average price of £32.00 for the 100ml bottle) ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ Average: 8.18/10.0 between 8 and 9 => recommended; My opinion: There are many perfumes that please many people, but there are few that please almost everyone. This is an excellent amber "dumb reach" and a good candidate for a blind purchase. It is less expensive than some very similar perfumes. Music: Pink Floyd - "Comfortably Numb

This is a strange one. In some sense it's just Styrax (the resin from Liquidambar) but it's an embellished, brightened and sweetened example making it richer and more intricate to beat the powdery thickness yet never straying far at all from the scent of crushed Liquidambar leaves as the colours take over. It's sweet yet mournful, warm yet somehow distant and comforting but full of loss.... which I know sounds somewhat negative but in these last days of Autumn as the final leaves fall and winter's rich and spiced embrace takes over it fits an olfactory gap that I've found hard to fill. While different from my expectations a happy blind buy. Not as impressive overall as their other powerhouse of Meharées which is a completely different beast, but a worthy addition if you want something sweet/sad without the cold austerity of some of the more typical entries. Prada LR Black and L'Homme OG also have their place in this vein but are in turn more funereal and smart formal by comparison, when the more straight up wintery ambers or spicy scents are exuberant instead. Summer is gone, the colour is fading - the lights await. Get out the warm coat and remember.

Opens with creamy patchuli and flowers. Then 20 minutes its opens and the butiful Geranium with the smokey amber and vanilla Every thing blends masterfully The quality is superb. the woods here i can detect a little cinamon here ...to me the amber note is like in armaf nich oud and ambre sultan by serge lutens and in my case this is a master blend and very butifull scent Not synthetic for a second ..amzing scent Not to powdery it has that burning candle effect that gives a bit waxi fill very little this to me is a master piece ..for amber lovers...and it is unisex . 10 hours and more..project 3 hours nice trail for few more hours. The skin scent is not weak . Enjoy. Enjoy

I believe that you become a next-stage perfume lover and real (still amateur) connoisseur when you start appreciating also those 'not designer-not niche frangrances' that you would never considered in your collection. This is the case with L'Erbolario, Italian maison based in Lodi, with attention to environment and natural products (7 metals tested to minimise allergic skin rash), only sold in natural organic stores. Some of their (many) perfumes are hidden and inexpensive gems, like Ambraliquida, sweet, spicy, powdery, comforting like a blanket in front of the fireplace. Good performance. Unmissable for amber and oriental lovers. 4.5/5

At first spray it's very strong and musky for my taste. Then it soften in a powdery, old fashoned - with a glamourous restyling! -, musky vanilla incense very feminine. The first two times I tried it I didn't liked it, then in the right mood I appreciated it. It is still a little too much sweet for me but it's a really nice frag and has had a lot of success here in Italy, because of its complexity at a little price, its exotic glamour and feminity. It's a really good scent, I've to admit it, even if i'm not sure I'd buy it for myself. Projection is "wow!" And the sillage too, very distinctive and long lasting.

I bought it last week, and can't wait it's more cold to test it...I tried a sample and falling in love! On me this is more vanilla-amber than musky, very warm and feminine. I discovered that exist also the body oil, I've to buy it! In my taste Erbolario's gourmand ones are the best, expecially this one and Dolcelisir! Sadly here in Italy is summer and very hot, so i've to weit some months to wear them, in summer I prefer Fiore dell'onda and white musk. In general I can tell that Erbolario's fragrances have great stain power and a lovely price (20€ for 50 ml, 25,5€ for 100 ml)!

Ambraliquida interacts with my skin and changes the first ambery dark and powdery spray into a soft powdery aura of fresh (green) amber. I thought it was strong, but my husband said: did you put some talc cream on? Beautiful smell in the line of other big ambers such as Obsession, Youth Dew Amber Nude, Tabu, only not that strong and with a distinct sweetness. The musk and vanilla create the powdery effect, which is to last in a soft manner on skin all day long. I also love the bathline products, which I recommend to try before buying the scent itself.

Gosh, well, it was love at first sniff. So warm and resinous. Yes it has a sweetness but it's very natural. It does smell like maple leaves. Resinous, vanilla and lots of powder. It's a delicious, warm cosy big cloud of loveliness. It smells natural. Nothing nasty and synthetic to my nose. After a while I can just about make out the styrax, sandalwood and guaiac wood at the back. I think this will join my top 10 of vanilla/resin fragrances. Move aside Mona do Orio there's another joining your ranks. Great longevity and above average sillage.

This is such a refined, dry, powdery and almost mystical smell: balsamic, ancient yet timeless. It has an austere vibe that makes it perfect for layering it with lighter or sweet fragrances that need to be anchored and deepened. Perfectly unisex, almost extraterrestrial while still dirt-like. Think of balsam, face powder, dirt and gold – and I mean it in the most luxurious way possible. Such a complex, timeless gem! Not for everyone, but a specific audience (goth/romantic/lover of the bizarre and ancient) will love it.

Fabulous stuff. One of my best blind buys ever. A couple of quick sprays and it went to the top of my substantial collection of amber fragrances. It's dark and heady and not at all sweet. The price is absolutely right, but you'd drop $300+ on this juice if it was in a Tom Ford bottle. Very unisex, and not at all femmie. Love it. 4+ hours into it, it starts to smell somewhat like La Sultane de Saba's Voyage Sur la Route des Épices, another great woody amber scent, but one that's harder to find and more expensive.

Art-shop smell, equal patchouli overdose along with amber, guaiac and styrax to start with. It has slightly medicinal-dusty opening, very distinctive first five minutes indeed. Further it reminds me of mastic and has really boozy vanilla, rum-alike. Overall, - strange and esoteric, but extremely pleasant to my senses. It is similar with Jacomo Art 2 and Fragonard Grain De Soleil, - not by notes, but by strange feeling, when you comfortable with something unusually powerful, yet linear.

the woody notes in the drydown remind me of the house where I spent my childhood. they evoke the noctural and nostalgic ambient of my old bedroom, where, wrapped in heavy, cozy and embroidered blankets, i listened to the stories my mother used to read me before wishing me goodnight and kissing me on the forehead, a kiss as warm and comforting as this fragrance.

What a beautiful scent! A delicate oriental fragrance that lingers intimately close for a long time. It reminds me of the charms of Turkey, with joy, pleasure, and carefreeness. It's sweet, with hints of the East. One of the most beautiful creations by L'erbolario.

Is a warm and cozy fragrance, a pretty safe blind buy. It does have a vintage vibe as some have mentioned before, I like it a lot. I wear it by itself or I layered it with something fresher, greener and aromatic and IT IS GORGEOUS. Niche kind of gorgeousness.

It starts very floral , ambery and powdery and doesn’t change too much. It reminds me of NISHANE NANSHE. I would say 85-90% close to it. Very good performance also. For me it’s unisex but leaning to a bit feminine side.

Blind bought off of amazon. This is a beautiful ambery powdery fragrance. Very comforting. Sillage is good. It’s very affordable. If you like amber and vanilla it’s a must try.

Unique scent with subtle, not too heavy powdery scent. It is silky, leathery, woody and honeyied. It is awesome when layered with other L'Erbolario perfumes.

This is the most beautiful amber I've ever smelled. Highly recommend for amber lovers, but very soft to my nose, sits close to the skin.

Powdery dry and very natural smelling. I love it. Longevity over 7h, soft projection. Vanilla does give way a bit too quickly

Great autumn, winter fragrance. Dense, sweet, powdery. Use with caution!

This is a scent I regularly go back to test and never finishes to convince me. It's very nice, it's true that it smells quite expensive, but it requires the right chemistry. I know a girl who wears it in a great way and on her it becomes a very intense yet soft amber-powdery scent. On my cold skin most of the times it sticks without blooming into that soft cloud (I smell that girl everytime I meet her :-). It stays quite bitter and masculin on me. Amberliquid, as said before, it's not "amber" itself (not ambergris) but the resin of this tree gives a smell that goes quite close. It may seem quite a simple scent, but I recently noticed that the typical flatness and almost one single note-accord coming out from expensive trendy perfumes in recent years open the way to try less high end perfumes with something to say. The old style complexity and multi-faceted outcome of old perfumes seems lost. I'm not a fan of L'Erbolario's fragrances, but as happened for many other cheaper houses they make quite an effort to give better fragrances, while big names are often doing disasters. If you like amber I suggest to give it a try and see if it works for you. You may find your new winter "amber" for an affordable price.

when i had my first sniff at this perfume, i hated it. that was a mid-summer day and i was very warm and sweating. months after and a few days ago i tried on its shower foam, i fell in love with it. today i went back to the local l'erbolario store and bought it. apparently it's a winter scent for me. i always feel dizzy whenever sniffing a strong, sweet, amberish perfume with my empty stomach (especially after my yoga practice) but strangely (in a pleasant way) this one doesn't disappoint me. i used to hate this type of perfume when i was younger but now i've begun to like it, so i guess i'm getting old LOL

Un achat compulsif sur internet et le seul des trois parfums choisis (avec Sandalo, trop pin, encens et Patchouli, trop fleuri, mais vrai patchouli hippie de bazar en dilution homéopatique), qui me plait vraiment. Il tient assez bien, ne diffuse pas du tout et laisse sur la peau un fond agréable assez proche de ce qu'a été Tocade. Ceci confirme qu'un parfum entièrement naturel n'est bel et bien qu'un "sent bon". Toutefois, il fera un très joli doudou pour les jours "sans parfum".

Doing some researches, it seems that the main note shouldn't be the Amber, but the Styrax instead. The Liquidambar is, in fact, a tree that produces a resin called "Levant Styrax". The leaves and fruits represented on the box belong to the tree I mentioned. I found out about the main ingredient reading a small paper included in the box with the fragrance. This might explain the resinous (and a little bit masculine) smell that this fragrance has on my skin.

Amazing, inexpensive blind buy from Italy.It's on the powdery, sweeter side, but not cheap powder. The amber, styrax scent lingers and is easy on the nose, but has good sillage. You won't smell like anyone else...this is a scent you've smelled before but cannot place. It's a clean, smokey amber-y almost incense-y, but NOT hippy patchouli at all. I love that it is all plant derived by an ethically grounded smaller company. Couldn't find in the States.

Smelled yesterday and bought it! It's summer here, so I can't wait to use it as soon as the weather gets colder. It has my favorite notes. It's warm and powdery, like talc cream, as sistertricked already said. I don't find it too sweet, instead, the drydown it's mostly "unisex" on me, musky. I could still smell it on my wrist after taking a shower. I'll write more about it when I'll start wearing it on a regular basis. Good price: 19 euros for 50ml.

I'm not easily pleased. Really - I'm not. But this is one of the most inexpensive blind buys which has truly made my heart sing. Ambraliquida is a rich perfume, the price of which belies its true value. If you love amber - please - invest in a bottle of this. If you hate it, I will take the bottle off your hands (assuming you live in the UK). It is absolutely worth a blind buy.

Tried this two two days ago, after trying it about a year or two ago as well. I love it! This is what Laboratorio Olfattivo's Alambar should have smelled like! It smelled so similar, the only difference with Alambar is the lack of metallic note, which to me is a very good thing! It even performed slightly better than Alambar, so I really want to get a big bottle of this! :-D

Feels very balmy, warm, aromatic and balsamic. It's definitely sensual and a pleasure to wear! It slightly reminds me of vintage Hypnotic Poison Parfum version, so I'm sure there are also licorice and star anise in Ambraliquida. It is introspective and poetic in a way. I love Chergui by Serge Lutens, these two share a similar melancholic vibe.

One week later... The longevity on clothes is very good, the projection is better than expected or first impression is corrected. And it surrounds you with that ambery and powdery atmosphere that I just love even in the spring/summer. Very promissing for layering too.

It smells like my mom's eyeshadow palettes from my childhood, very specific. Even though this juice is not my type and is too sweet for my taste, I will surely get a bottle very soon -- just for the sake of nostalgia. I think this could make a great fall scent.

It's a warm, but very powdery amber. I don't get much vanilla, just a warm, woody composition. It's very cozy and warm, nice for winter, just don't expect a syrupy amber smell.

At first spray heavy spice musk note. Then it relaxes to a warm, cozy, honey amber.Dry lightly sweet. Long lasting. Great for cool nights.

Espectacular...cálido,sensual,polvoroso,denso muy oriental,muy ambar dulce.

A warm cozy amber. Unisex. Oriental. And woody.

Impressed me more than any other fragrance recently,amber blended with vanilla, with a hint of leather, could be like any perfume of Balmain or even Caron. Although unisex works nice on female skin. If you are looking for sexy Ambre as L'Occitane's, you may be disappointed, but the surprise will not fail. Serious, a bit sharp at first smell, but indescribably unique, good artwork.

Mi piace come le recensioni dicano "è un'ambra.. " quando in realtà il nome "liquidambar" è lo storace. Ambraliquida è solo italianizzato. Non è ambra. È inutile parlare di un'ambra perche non lo è. L'odore caldo e polveroso che accompagna durante l'autunno e l'inverno creando una sensazione di conforto e meditazione. Storace benzoino vaniglia e note dense. Ma non é un'ambra.

I agree with Cynicalwish: the liquid storax is obtained from the bark of Liquidambar orientalis, which grows wild in Asia Minor; it is viscous, opaque, greenish with a consistency similar to honey and pleasant smell, due to its content in cinnamic acid and vanillin. I tried it yesterday and today I went back to the herbalist's shop to buy it. I love the sillage I leave when I wear it (the same notes wich people staying around me can feel), but if I smell directly my skin it's a bit too monochord and similar to a talcum powder. I think this thing it's due to the lack of citrus or floral notes. Anyway, Ambraliquida is a very enjoyable fragrance made of high quality ingredients: it's warm, deep and sensual, and definitely an unisex scent. I like it very much (I love the bottle, too!), and it can be used alone or as a base for other fragrances.

Middle Eastern scent-powdery without being too sweet. Love the fact it's mostly natural instead of the usual synthetic perfumes women tend to buy. For my taste I wouldn't buy this perfume again..Somehow it depresses me... Perhaps because it is reminiscent of the autumn season. It is definitely a fall/winter scent.

very powdery . . try before buy

This is interesting. I can't say I like it very much but I think it's just not to my taste-- I tend to prefer amber on the sweeter side, and this is not. I'm definitely picking up the geranium and sandalwood, and a strong powdery vibe. The dominant note, to my nose, is the namesake of the fragrance which is styrax, resin from trees of the genus Liquidambar. I think styrax is one of those notes that is interesting, but doesn't usually do best with such a prominent place in a composition. It can add a lot of amber type complexity to a blend but on its own, it needs a little rounding by other notes to really be wearable. But, this fragrance does display a certain refinement of taste, not relying on the usual tropes and tricks to make a woody/amber composition. Performance is good and I actually like the bottle and packaging a lot, it is simple and well designed.

A curious little thing from the Cali-phobic L'Erbolario. Although I don't usually subscribe to gendering in scents, this has an old-school powder feel to it that's unmistakably feminine. It's structured around dry white musk, a touch of styrax, and spiced vanilla—but all three notes sit low and work together to produce a surprisingly clean and unobtrusive skin scent. It's actually quite impressive—sort of a powdery musk version of Geza Schoen's minimalist aesthetics. I couldn't pull this off, but for those who might be interested in a transparent talc-type perfume that won't choke you out, this one might be worth a look. It's a great price, too. Comme des Garcon's Odeur 53 might be a distant relative.

Powdery, warm and golden, patchouli bomb. The classy kind of patchouli, no chewiness in sight, dusted like the dry earth of fall time, with lots of amber to round it out. Superbly blended and great quality for the price. Not what I expected at all, and it’s a shame I don’t love patchouli-forward scents!

@ guest_moi, your version is the same (the smell is the same), but you don't have a perfume version - 'legni profumati' roughly translated means 'perfumed wood' and your version is the one for spraying on incense sticks; you should have got wooden sticks that you put into the bottle with it.

This amber fluid is far too sweet and powdery, Erbolario always goes over the top. But, if you want to be noticed, if you can tolerate heavy sweet perfumes and love an outstanding vanilla-amber combination, wear it!

Love at first sniff!!! Ambery...balsamic...pepper powdery...medium sweetness..and resins...spices... .vanilla...a tad boozy-smokey. Medium/decent projection/longevity. A hidden GEM !!!

Ok, this is a rose perfume. And nobody stressed this enough. Not even a rose-patchouli perfume but a rose perfume. A sexy rose perfume. Like Ana Abiyedh Scarlet.

I find this scent is so similar to Tocade the old version which has a distinctive sharp note. The sillage is moderate and suitable for the Spring!

I smelled it today, and I didn't particularly like it. It felt very powdery, and a bit "in your face". Not bad, but not for me.

can someone let me know how similar this is to the Ambraliquida body oil (which is eye-rolling delicious, btw). Thanks!