Alien Sunessence Edition Limitee 2011 Or d'Ambre

Non-collectors perfume lovers may at a some point come through a “stage of consciousness” after realizing the actual chances of finishing half of their fragrances in less than five years, and consequentially they swear to themselves - and to their significant other - they won’t be buying the tiniest bottle until at least one gets to an end, also trying to distract their crave for perfumes by considering there are many more useful things one could buy instead of a fragrance.. all these good and rational intentions are sometimes followed – ironically enough - by the encounter with a really amazing scent to which you just cannot say no, usually a limited edition which you’re sure you won’t be finding anymore, especially for half of the price tag.. what one’s supposed to do in such a circumstance? Get immediately the thing, of course! :D That’s about what happened between me and this Alien’s flanker, my official jump into the House of Thierry Mugler and probably one of the most gorgeous fragrances I’ll ever have in my collection! For a while I’d been fancying the idea of getting Alien, enchanted by its cold and exotic beauty, so I took it as a sign from destiny when I saw this Alien Sunessence Edition Or d’Ambre in a perfume shop last August, thinking it was just one of the many summer versions of a successful fragrance but nonetheless worth of a try.. of course it was! An unexpected love was just born... The opening is all about the almost harsh and vitaminic juiciness of kiwi, masterfully rendered to create one of the most exciting, refined and captivating fruity top note I’ve ever smelled, whose intensity and liveliness always surprises me a bit... As the kiwi gets softer and much sweeter the glorious white flower takes the stage: here's a flashy but still smooth jasmine, close enough to that of Alien to know they’re close relatives but different enough to make it a distinct fragrance, at least in its personality. Forget the usual creaminess and sultry quality of white florals, as the heart of Or d’Ambre is - at least to me - a powdery-juicy combo one should just experience, not describe. I also get hints of milky mimosa here and there (Kenzo Summer comes to my mind in this regard), providing the fragrance an unexpected innocence’s aura. I find the “solar” element to be wonderfully represented here, somehow recalling the warmth of a summer day, the humidity of seaside, the luscious aroma coming from a tropical garden. Or d’Ambre cuddles the wearer for many hours, despite being an “Eau de Toilette Legere” as stated on the box, leaving on skin a delicious - almost gourmand - trace of amber and vanilla, with the faintest memory of jasmine and kiwi. Sillage is not impressive as is in Alien, but I got some compliments while wearing it so I guess it doesn’t get unnoticed at all. I'd consider it a seductive scent, although not typically sensual. Beyond beautiful creation by Thierry Mugler, I’m usually a disenchanted kind of person but this is a fragrance made for dreaming and feeling special, other than of exquisite taste. I only wished the bottle had the pretty rosy-golden shades it seems to have in the pictures, but it’s nonetheless a jewel. Definitely buy it while you can.

Upon the first spray I was thinking: oh ow! Aquatic fruits! But after a minute or so the kiwi started to smell more and more lifelike. Not yet like the real, juicy thing, but it is close and really, kiwis don't have a very strong smell anyway. The juice of a kiwi does something wonderful with ones tongue and you can not possibly expect that to be present in a perfume. Even in a perfume from the same team that made the delicious LE GOÛT DU PARFUM series. In the heart, the kiwi mingles with soft, powdery vanilla and orchid. It is powdery, but the kiwi keeps it from getting too powdery. I can really smell the orchid, and for me, being an orchid lover, that makes up for the distinct lack of jasmine in this "ALIEN". The kiwi, vanilla and orchid melt together in a delicious creamy, powdery but vibrant tropical scent. As Bebette mentioned, it really smells like some delicious desert with vanilla cream with wonderful tart pieces of kiwi in it. That may sound heavy, but, though it is quite sweet, in truth it is very light and fluffy. As the fragrance develops it becomes more and more creamy and powdery and the kiwi slowly disappears. The orchids become more prominent now and I get something green as well. Not fresh green, but wet, musty, suffocating rainforest green. That may sound rather weird, but it just fits. And then there's amber. Golden, liquid amber. Strangely, I do get my lovely jasmine here, finally! But mostly it's all about the amber, which gets more and more woody with time. ALIEN SUNNESSENCE OR D'AMBRE has a surprising sillage for an EDT légère and quite a good longevity, I got six hours or something. I like OR D'AMBRE, I really do. And I also understand why a lot of people who dislike the original ALIEN do like this one. It bears absolutely no resemblance to the original. Maybe it has something of that mysterious vibe. But this really is a fragrance that stands on it's own, rather than being a flanker. It just SCREAMS summer to me, tropical, rainforest summer, but I do think it might be a little heavy on very hot days. Last but not least, I really do not understand why all the pictures of the bottle of OR D'AMBRE show a salmon pink and golden bottle. Even the discription of the fragrance above says it has pink shades! It does'nt. It's gold. Not "plain gold", there is gradation in it, from opaque to transparant gold, but no pink. If the juice would have been pink, it would be like in the pictures, but it isn't. At least not in my version.

My husband got this for me for my birthday. He got if off of ebay (from a seller with good reviews) bottle and batch code all look legit. But at the end of the day, i have no way to confirm the authenticity of this, or how they stored it. I've never smelled this before, nor do i have a sample to compare it to. So keep all that in mind as I describe my experience with this fragrance: So I was expecting like 80% Alien with 20% tropical florals and kiwi. Nope. This perfume does its own thing, but gives a slight nod to Alien as it unfolds. In fact, I almost panicked when I first smelled this because it was so unrecognizable from Alien. I actually didn't like it at first. The kiwi was really strong and it smelled really soapy / shampooy. My husband (sitting 3 feet away when i spritzed) immediately remarked that he loved it. It smells different depending how far away your nose is. I kept forcing my nose into the crook of my arm to 'check again' and make sure i was smelling the right thing. Eventually it transformed. The Alien notes are there, but it's as if they are 'arranged' in a different way. There is actually a slight green note in there. It reminds me of a cocktail. Like a gin and tonic with lime... or even a bit of a vegetal asparagus smell. Maybe that's the soapiness I smelled, but it became less astringent and more 'fresh.' You would think this is a horrible combination, but no- I get a unique cozy experience of laying in a hammock on a hot summer evening, beneath fruity / flowering trees and a pitcher of lemonade, or iced tea near by. If I had to give this fragrance a color, it is definitely a warm, ruby grapefruity-sunsetty gold with light green wisps, but with copper colored glitter on the breeze. I'm thrilled to have it in my collection and I cannot wait until the weather warms up a bit. It doesn't last TERRIBLY long, but i'd say it's decent for an EDT. It lasts long enough for me to believe this is a legit fragrance. If it was a fake, I feel like it would have evaporated quickly. I've been getting more into floral summer fragrances and I would say this gives me the fruity solar punch similar to Dolce Gabbana Shine but the same cozy bottom as Armani Sun di Gioia.

I have a feeling I will come back to edit this review... I'm having a hard time forming an opinion on Alien Sunessence Or d'Ambre, but I've had it for a few weeks now, so I think it's time to write a review. The reviews here are so wonderful and descriptive that I was kind of expecting to love this at first sniff. I was a little disappointed when I didn't. Or d'Ambre reminds me of the original Alien a lot, but at the same time Or d'Ambre smells warm where Alien has something cold and standoffish, almost clinical about her. In that sense I can understand why this might be considered 'a wearable Alien for people who don't like Alien'. I however, am of the opinion that this is not a safe buy for people who dislike Alien, since it is very recognizably a flanker of that. I keep thinking I'm smelling tiare flower, and I absolutely recognize that dryness that others have noted. I kept having this bizarre thought 'this smells like fabric', not literally a new/clean/dirty fabric, but like the feeling I get from smelling a dry piece of fabric. I wouldn't have thought 'kiwi' if I hadn't seen it in the note pyramid, which is really too bad. One odd issue I have with Or d'Ambre is that it just feels like a signature fragrance, and it somehow feels strange only wearing this every now and then (which I am wont to do with my perfumes; I can't commit to just one perfume). I've never had that with any other perfume, but this one just screams 'signature scent'! I will keep wearing this regularly to see if I can fall in love with Or d'Ambre.

I recently blind-bought this off eBay. This is a year past its expiry date, and I believe it has lost its top notes, as I'm not experiencing the opening most have described. That said, this is such an outstanding fragrance I have utterly fallen in love. It's light enough to wear in summer but it's also a good all-season. It's a cozy cloud of soft floral amber with decent silage, and still bearing the Alien mark. Office-safe, yet still feels like you're treating yourself when you wear it. I have noticed many comparing this to elements of Britney Spears' Fantasy - I own nearly all its flankers, but not the original (again, no kiwi for me, LOL!). I am a huge fan. There's almost an effect of white chocolate in Or D'Ambre that mimics much of the Fantasy line, in addition to the jasmine. The Aliens and Fantasies are the fragrances I cherish most! As I can't speak to how this was stored for the six years since manufacture before I purchased it, this bottle could be close to the end of its life - so I will be wearing this often, and will prioritize using this bottle to completion, not to waste a drop, and to cherish each time I have the gorgeous experience of wearing it. It makes me feel very special; cozy and grounded yet energized. Very grateful to have had the opportunity to meet this divine scent.