Ambre Chromatique

A very nice modern take on a classic amber fragrance. Where many older classic amber scents can turn more balsamic due to resins, this is nicely smoothed out. The vanilla works really well here. It isn’t heavy gourmand vanilla, but it makes this more wearable than many other ambers I’ve tried. The incense note is very noticeable, so keep that in mind if you dislike incense notes. The overall scent in the beginning does remind me of sniffing straight unlit amber incense sticks from a quality manufacturer. It dries down and looses a bit of smoke and gets a bit more vanilla heavy and sweeter, with a very nice spice. Though not a smell-alike at all, this gives me vibes of CK Obsession for women, only more unisex (I haven’t smelled the mens obsession in 20+ years so I don’t remember it well). The scent would have probably been considered a feminine perfume if it were released in the 80s or 90s, but alas todays crop of young women will hate this as it doesn’t smell like a vanilla gourmand, which seems to be the only type of scent that doesn’t utterly offend and outrage them. I’d consider Ambre Chromatique more unisex by modern standards. As a woman in my 30s I really like this. I’m not sure I’ll be adding it to my collection at this time as I have way too many perfumes already, and this scent feels better suited to colder weather and I live in a warm sunny desert. There’s something classic and addictive to this though. It’s comforting and nostalgic. I collect vintage perfumes but sometimes the quality of them and notes change slightly with age. This reminds me of what I’d smell if I found a bottle that was still true to the original formula. I feel like this scent is a warm hug. I tried a couple of Quentin Bisch’s other older amber scents and this blows all them out of the water. Overall a great quality fragrance. It isn’t as offensive-strong in terms of performance as others may have you believe. This has a very classic good quality performance, arms reach silage, and it lasts somewhere between “many hours” to “all day” to “my clothes and hair from yesterday still smell faintly of this” depending on climate, body chemistry, and how much you spray. Those who consider this “too strong” likely have distorted senses from only sampling whisper soft, short lived, trendy airy/sheer watered down fragrances and don’t understand the concept that true perfumes only need a few sprays and require a bit of time to dry down and develop their true fragrance. Overall I’m very impressed with everything from the Crivelli line I’ve sampled so far. Even the fragrances that weren’t “me” surprised me by being better than I imagined to the extent that I’d be happy to buy a FB of each one. The prices really aren’t too bad, considering every mainstream designer scent nowadays starts at $150-200 per bottle and requires overspraying if you want to smell them more than 1 hr or expect others to smell you too. Many niche scents seem to be just as bad if not worse, yet seem to cost $200-400+ nowadays. Maison Crivellis are at least strong and lasting so my bottles barely have a dent in them despite multiple wears, they last me forever! Just took another sniff and man this is good. Definitely recommend.

Amber Chromatique starts very green, a resinous fruity green. Almost like turpentine. It’s like what you’d smell after drilling holes in a healthy pine tree. It’s pretty intense and may drive some people away from this. But as the fragrance mellows, the volume gets turned down on the green resin and starts to slowly turn up on the amber. This is beautiful amber, featuring a lot of vanilla, that doesn’t depend on an overload of the newer amber fixative chemicals. Rather it’s made from labdanum and vanilla in the classic manner. If there’s ambroxan etc it’s kept to the bare minimum. The amber feels real, it feels natural, it feels genuine and so delicious. It is fruity and lightly spicy and one of the best ambers I’ve smelled in a perfume of the past few years. Add to this pink pepper which has featured throughout the life of this on the skin but shows itself more during the amber part than it did in the resiny opening and gives just the right amount of heat and pop to the cooler amber. Amber Chromatique lasts a very long time on skin, changing to a fruity vanilla after the first 7-8 hours or so. This stage is luscious but more of a skin scent. For the first several hours on the skin though it projects a lot. A whole lot. Despite this intense sillage, I think this one was made for the wearer, not anyone that might be smelling them. It’s pretty weird, it’s pretty wonderful, and it’s definitely not what you’d expect. Not what I expected, anyway. I find this to be really successful, unlike another Quentin Bisch creation, Guidance, that shares some notes with this and comes to mind when smelling it. In my opinion Amber Chromatique is better.

so many sentimental feelings towards this one... one of those indescribable scents, a true work of art, and the first full bottle of niche perfume I ever got! brings back memories of visiting Zgo in San Francisco before I got deeply invested in fragrance and being shown a thousand different perfumes trying to wrap my head around their alienlike qualities, what I enjoyed and what I didn’t. still happen to be in love with my purchase too! I’ve had my doubts at different points but have always come back around to loving it. it has an intimidating zingy or tart quality about it, I can’t tell if citrus is a phantom note I’m getting or if the color of the bottle is tricking my senses every time I wear it, but I picture there being a deep blood orange in this. I get lots of incense and pink pepper for sure, and I do get davana and amber, though those notes don’t really dominate in my opinion; they have equal presence, you can smell them if you try, but they’re not going to jump out at you and demand attention on their own. I get no vanilla, I wouldn’t doubt that it IS used, it's just that this is far too fruity, green, smoky and peppery for any real sweetness to radiate. still, it’s also not bitter or too overwhelming; it’s directly in the middle. it doesn't lean too far in any one direction, expertly blended. it’s warm but you still would not want to mess with a person who wears this, just a beautiful femme fatale kind of fragrance. I feel like warm and intimidating is a sensory combination I would love to evoke in a painting or something one day. note: do one spray, two sprays max. this shit is so, so strong and Will choke you out

This scent at first did not entirely convince me. A smoky opening for this kind of comfort fragrance seemed too far-fetched. Frankincense and pink pepper, an odd pairing to open the dances. Yet, over time, wearing Ambre Cromatique in various situations I began to love it, eventually becoming my favorite amber, ousting Serge Lutens' legendary Ambre Sultan. What was it that made this magic? Osmanthus, a flower with an incredible scent, creamy, fruity, with hints of apricot and milk, sweet and vaguely acidic, surprising protagonist of the heart of this creation that I do not refrain from calling a true masterpiece by the master Quentin Bisch, in an obvious state of grace. Its complex evolution slowly leads towards a sweet and resinous dryness, where benzoin marries with a stupendous vanilla. The balance of elements and passages are fluid, linked by a congruent and flowing narrative; the experience is delicate and enveloping, intimate, meditative and consoling. Compared to other creations of the Maison it has a lower projection capacity, which nevertheless lasts excellently. In cooler times it can be enjoyed at its best, perfectly unisex.

Around a year and a half ago, I bought the Chocs Olfactifs Discovery Set, and it came with a 1.5ml sample of Ambre Chromatique. It was one of the Maison Crivelli perfumes I hadn’t really heard much about at the time (I mainly bought the set to try the three ouds). On first sniff, I liked it, but I wouldn’t say I loved it. That changed around six months ago when I came back to it and was completely blown away by the dry down. Previously, I’d only really focused on the opening, but wow, that dry down was truly something special. Now, another six months later, I genuinely can’t get enough of it. I have to stop myself from buying a full bottle every day. Somehow, this tiny sample still hasn’t run out despite me constantly spraying a bit on my arm lol. Not only do I still love the dry down, but I now love every single phase of this fragrance. Even the opening, which I can understand some people finding a little harsh at first, has completely won me over. Truly a masterpiece of a scent. I’d highly recommend getting a decant and giving it a try.