Ambre Dore

I bought Ambre Dore blind based on its notes description and reviews on it and other fragrances by Maître Parfumeur et Gantier. I had Ambre Dore on 12 hours ago and can still smell the beautifully soft and warm dry down of it. The fragrance opened very strong of Oud and Black Ambergris over hints of Styrax and floral notes on my cooler skin. After about 20 minutes when the Oud and Ambergris softened a bit, the heart became a very smooth, warm, rich and slightly sweet amber scent with more noticeable woody floral notes. The scent then to me was similar to many other amber fragrances but with more animalic, almost musky, Ambergris and Saffron undertone. To those who already have a few amber type of fragrances might find it a bit boring but to me it says quality especially due to its Ambergris note. I would say Ambre Dore is more towards the Middle Eastern type of fragrances and the scent, especially the challenging opening, might need a more trained or open minded nose to appreciate.

In a world of ubiquitous ambers this one kind of stands out. It's not very vanilla or sweet as many ambers go so it's not gourmand. It really stays truly amber and I think that that is because of the way the notes play together. As others have said ambergris is at the forefront followed by some fresh spices with woods following. It's a deep, dark, lovely and rich amber which is perfectly balanced between the sweet and the dry. The oud, if there is any keeps it more somber and reflective and herbs keep it lighter and dryer, whereas the ambergris allows for a salty sweet effect. It has amazing longevity and pretty good silage. I think this comes very close to my perfect amber or the way I like to wear them. Often they turn into caramel or sugar. This one doesn't; it has a sticky dark toffee and wood-thick quality. Really recommend, and I don't get the skank some people do.

The funkiest of MPG’s Ambers, but also the most alluring. Fecal oud pungency dies down after only a minute or two, a small price to pay for what might be the best amber musk ever. Ambre Dore is 85% similar to Ambre Precieux, but contains a salty-savory innovation that takes things a step away from caramel sweetness into earthy, carnal, abstract territory. It’s easy to see how this would please a partner-- it really feels like part of your skin, plausibly a natural smell and subtly delicious. The question this elicits isn't "what perfume are you wearing?" but "is that a perfume?" Dry-down is herbal and slightly green, aromatic dry where Ambre Precieux is a more powdery, lavender dry. The animalic touch makes me hesitate on the full bottle-- as my collection is still small and in need of versatile scents-- but it easily goes on my “want” list.

Many of ambergris as well as oud fans will love this scent! Ambre Doré will give you a new perspective on these notes. Ambergris plays unmistakably the main role in this scent. But it emerges after the slightly animalic opening which is caused by oud. Moreover, geranium, clary sage and coriander make the opening spicy and a little bit fresh. Oud smells very natural in this fragrance and gives the scent a pleasant depth. Besides, it prevents the excessive sweetness of the whole composition. Ambergris has a soft, classy and enjoyable quality. This feeling of comfort is awesome. Ambre Doré is very long lasting on my skin. Perfect for the colder days!

IMHO, if you like Ambers in general, you will like this. Be aware, however, if you're used to Ambers with a little added interest (I.e. spices, etc.) you may find this nice but a little boring. My favs in the 'not boring' category, for reference, include Tom Ford's Amber Absolute, Ambre Sultan, Annick Goutal's Amber Fetishe. I'll use Ambre Dore as a base, then add a spritz of something spicy or skanky. For instance, I can't imagine wearing Montale!s Full Incense alone. But start with an uncomplicated Amber and add the Montale, and it's great! (True of many Montales, come to think of it).

ambrato, caldo, avvolgente, legnoso... un meraviglioso oud per l'inverno

Brace yourselves. Oof! It's a bit faecal, that opening! Some oud filth going on at the start here. But not for long. A lovely rich amber comes through, smoothing and calming things. There's faint sandalwood powderiness and airy coriander but they're quiet in comparison. And the resins bubble under as it dries to the main accord taking it in a safer direction: a super-soft, golden amber. A great, dramatic evening scent for colder months. Just give yourself enough time for it to settle before going out

I should've known I wouldn't love this one. Clary Sage strikes again! I mean, I actually love the smell (and taste!) of sage, but it has a knack for creeping into fragrances and making them smell like medicine to me, sadly. I definitely prefer Ambre Mythique to this one, but I'm going to try Précieux tomorrow, and I have a hunch that that's going to be the one for me...

Definitely for trained noses who can handle skankier animalic ouds. Reminds me a little of Le Labo's Oud 27 and a touch of Guerlain Bois Mysterieux (its the sage and myrrh) at first. Later it becomes more refined as the Saffron comes into play. Good but not one for me, I prefer my scents less on the animalic side than the strong direction this goes but I can see why some people who dig that style can really enjoy this, its certainly well blended and interesting.

Ambre Dore is exceedingly gorgeous and achieves on the highest level of what fragrances can do. That is, the accord is unique, mysterious but natural, radiant, and sensual. And by sensual I mean it communicates with with the senses and gives the wearer pure aura. The accord actually *pulses* and it really has an effect on people around me. Folks without fragrance vocabulary and without prompting have described it as "animal." Also golden, medicinal, magical, balmy, and mysterious. When I've arrived to the pub or restaurant and sat next to friends, there's always an instant "Unnnh!" response of pleasure. And my partner is always caught off guard and always says roughly the same thing: "Well, THAT'S a good one." Then I say, "You say that every time I wear this." Then they say, "No way, you've NEVER worn THAT before." As if I didn't know when I wear it. I can only assume Ambre Dore is not widely known, because I never see it mentioned on the forums etc. when people are begging for the best oud recommendations. Ambre Dore has a very very good oud note which lasts the whole life of the perfume (with one caveat; see below). It's a mega pricey oud smell which I think is Hindi or Laotian. I've smelled something similar in some Hindi oils, in Phoenicia's RealOud, in Oudh Infini, and Sonnet XVII and Tropic of Capricorn. The oud is on the cheesy/medicinal axis (not woody/scratchy/dry/smoky) and gives off a ripe round mouthwatering fungal pungency, braided with a Carmex lipbalm-like medicinal aura, which may itself come from the ambergris. This is what makes it "throb," gives it a warm and living breath-of-the-gods quality. Like the way fungal and warm cheesy smells can pulse and, I don't know, rub your appetite just to the border of repulsion. Put that together with the radiant, auric quality of a medicinal or magical ointment or rub which is comforting and addicting, wafting and camphoraceous, at the same time that it is somehow penetrating and invasive. The other major player is the amber, which is buttery and toffee-like. It's an accord that is equally amber in the resins-vanilla sense and the saline animal ambergris sense. Buttery salty sweet, like salted caramel. I did not understand for a long time how this could be considered Ambre-Precieux-with-an-oud-accord (which anyway just sounds to me like saying amazing-plus-bitchin-ultra-amazing). But after a couple years with AD, I can say that sometimes something happens, usually in intense dry heat, or I don't know, when my sniffer is sorta whack which happens some days, and the mysterious magic pulsing slither that I've described just somehow... falls apart. It's like 10% of the time I wear it someone unplugs the buttery neon and it just doesn't light up. (When I sniff the bottle on these days, same thing, I can't smell it, so the issue is clearly in my ol-faculties because the next morning it's back on both spray nozzle and skin alike.) When this breakdown happens, when the oud-ambergris accord has burnt out, then all I smell is Ambre Precieux. But I mean, come on, that's nothing like saying sometimes all you get is cheap synthetics or cypriol or ambrox or ISO Super or whatever. Anyway, I wonder from reading some of these reviews, without wanting to impose any assumptions about anyone else's perceptivity or experiences, if maybe some people are anosmic to what is, IMO, the most scrumptiously silkily skanky and mouthwatering, repulsively delicious accord of, like, all time. From what I've read here, I think SmellMyCheese, Shibor, and DR521 get what I get. I would never, ever call this powdery, or spicy per se, masc or fem, fruity, woody, green, herbal, or even sweet. It's balmy and apothecary. I understand that oud, being what it is, is technically woody. But to me only certain ouds are "woody" and this is not one of them. (It is not, for example, like Oud Wood, Leather Oud, Songe un Bois D'Ete, Dark Aoud, Afrika Olifant, or L'Aigle de la Victoire, which are all somehow similar to me, and definitely woody/smoky/dry/scratchy). I don't even think it's leather, or boozy. Along with Sonnet XVII, Oudh Infini, maybe Ambilux, it's something I could imagine an Egyptian queen or prince, or a god, smelling like. Because it smells like something made from the rarest natural material, either ripened and spat-up by the sea or cultured in bubbling heartwood, or both. It's a Grail for me, very not cheap, but if I see a bottle for sale I have to buy it. One of a few fragrances that I've backed-up. Amazing, a dream come true. And though I don't wear it nearly every day or as a signature, if the house was burning down or I had to suddenly atone for my terrible addiction by choosing only one bottle of one fragrance to keep for the rest of my life... yeah I'm going to say it. I'd pick Ambre Dore.

"Ambre Doré" is a strange fragrance. I ordered it blind, after reading reviews calling it "sex in a bottle" and referencing its exotic vibe. My first spray revolted me. Instantly, I regretted my purchase as the blast of scent was vile. I don't know if it is fecal or rot, but it's gross. Thankfully, that lasts but a moment and "Ambre Doré" becomes a soft, leathery amber. Oud is a player, but fortunately in the background as I am not an oud fan. The leather is subtle and just peeks out from the amber veil occasionally. "Ambre Doré" becomes a skin scent very quickly and doesn't really stay on either my long hair or my sweaters like I am used to with other ambers. It is very much an everyday kind of perfume for me, as it just lacks projection and longevity. It doesn't completely dissapear, as in the morning after a wearing, I can pick up the faintest hint of amberiness. Not a bad offering, but I am glad I found this online at a rock bottom price (in a gift set). I asked my husband about the "sex in a bottle" description and he just laughed. "It's a perfume", he said..."that's not going to turn me on". So, I apparently didn't become a "Femme Fatale" spritzing on "Ambre Doré" but it's nice enough to keep in my arsenal of amber fragrances.

Ambre Dore, released in the west 2012 is Soir d'Orient. From Fragrantica: Maître Parfumeur et Gantier Ambre Doré launched for the US & European market June 2012, was initially launched in 2006 exclusively for the Eastern market, as Soir D'Orient, but the current trend of oud in western perfumery has finally made way for MPG to launch Ambre Dore to the west as well as part of the collection “Les Accords Mystères”. Finis. Definitely unisex at the opening the oud is dominant, with hints, to my nose, of sour tamarind, defintely medicinal, as already covered. Thereafter in its mature phase the fragrance veers towards the feminine and many hours later a trace of Imperial Leather loiters artfully. MPG does not get enough love. The only thing that heightened appeal for Soir D'Orient was its scarcity. It has been ignored as Ambre Dore. I would put it up against Arabian Wood by Tom Ford anyday. Same strategy, marketed exclusively to Prince Ali Khan by spin doctors with degrees in advanced elephant washing. Your loss, my gain, I've stocked up.

This is a wonderful amber whose sweetness is tempered by a very silky subtle touch of oud and woods that take it into exotic oriental territory. It is a complex perfume and has a terrific drydown that retains the feeling of the initial amber/oud pairing but seems to smooth and sweeten it with benzoin, and the vetiver gives an almost camphoraceous radiance. Very sophisticated and sexy. I am a fan of Ambre Fetiche and was really excited by this scent. It's not as in-your-face as that composition, whose top notes I absolutely love and wish could have been extended into a more exciting drydown, but it has a lovely opening with the amber and oud coming together and then blending into a wonderful woodsy amber that then takes one along a more sophisticated and long-lasting evolution. By Kilian's Amber Oud is much more strident, the oud there is more like ink and the amber woody; this is softer and more sensual, almost sweet but constantly tempered by the oud. Definitely unisex.

This is lovely. When it first went on, it smelt quite green and herby, but after a couple of minutes, I got a lot of the myrrh and the sandalwood. Combined with the clary sage and the agarwood (which I like ALOT) it’s a lovely combination – all of these notes play so beautifully together. After around four hours wear, it had softened into a cosy, warm, almost creamy amber scent. I don’t believe in allocating perfumes to a particular season or time (I firmly believe that if you like it, and it smells good on you, then you should enjoy it and wear it whenever and wherever you like) but I could see this being a lovely autumn or winter scent – this is so warm and soft, it brings to mind cool, crisp breezes and soft snuggly jumpers. A winner.

Ambre Precieux 2.0. Those of you who like Ambre Precieux will definitely like Ambre Dore as well but if you find the former too simple and classic, you might still want to try and give a chance to this one. Don't get me wrong, the central amber accord here is literally the same but the fragrance have been given an exotic, herbal-leathery twist in the top notes with the addition of a skanky oud note and some herbs. The opening smells animalic, sort of challenging, intense and bold but, unfortunately, the fragrance quickly evolves into what could be just considered a batch variation of Ambre Precieux. Good, very good...but maybe redundant if you already own AP. I stick with the Precieux. Rating: 7/10

Ambre Doré smells “oudy”, but... what predominantly comes to the nose after I squeeze the atomizer is... IFF’s costus oliffac. There might be saffron, styrax and other fixatives and substitutives people have already observed below, but the animalic side of the ambergris accord is there, fair and square. Yet, to me, amongst the ones I’ve tried so far, this is the best flanker to Ambre Precieux MPG has put out. This is a 10/10.

Oud!!!! This is oud indeed! with ambergris. I get a very authentic powdery oud with styrax, coriander, chunks of myrrh, bits of sage, & dozes of saffron. i'm very impressive of how quality oud i am getting in this blend that turns powdery amber and ambergris after few minutes in. Beautiful.

Oud here is neither Hindi nor Laotian but of the famous and hardly rare these days Swiss kind. Namely straight from Givaudan's labs. For me, it's the most disappointing of the MPeG's "Ambre" trio. Unimaginative synthetic oud + dry styrax served on an aromatic-spicy plate.

Does anyone know if this scent is the same as the Pomme d'Ambre scent? The one that is used as little brown blocks to fill the wooden apples with amber scent? Or would that be more the Ambre Precieux? Or none of the above? Please advise. GK.

Dirty amber just wish it projected more. Very much a skin scent.