Fin Comme L’Ambre

A Genuinely wonderful amber. The opening consists of a camphoraceous and animalic labdanum with a warm, boozy texture. It feels like rhere is a touch of pine in here. It smells warm, deep and incensey, like every good amber should. But after an hour or two, there is a huuuuge wave benzoin that hits you which departs from the animalic aspects of labdanum and focuses on balsam, sweetness, warmth and... amberiness. Yes, it is very easy to describe this perfume! It is just a vintage amber, with no floral touches and no thinness. It has a heft, an air of authority... without being too complicated or layered. The opening is indeed quite different from the drydown but that is the case for a lot of ambers. This is not a bad thing at all to me, a perfume does not have to be something shocking or genre defining to be good. This is like THE perfect vintage amber without any bells or whistles. You get what you pay for through long lasting and strong realistic resinous notes, with no unserious synthetic screechiness. Still, i think it is quite expensive... reminds me a lot of honore payans ambre which retails for 48 euros. Same labdanum opening with vanilla resin drydown. Its still a wonderful scent, definitely a 9/10.

A beautifully refined, powdery vintage amber scent.

This is one of the best ambers I have ever tried, frankly I stopped in my tracks at the first sniff. Absolute stunner. I see someone rated this as being similar to Ambra Aurea and I totally DISagree. Both are huge ambers but their character is dramatically opposed: Ambra Aurea is the quintessential labdanum powerhouse - a rugged, no holds barred creation (but still very wearable and gorgeous in its own wild way). Fin comme l'Ambre is supremely refined and doesn't like to watch Underworld, go camping or run marathons. In fact, this is the most elegant and enveloping, powdery-warm, gooey amber imaginable. It NEEDS so much more attention than it seems to be getting. I think the wonderful softness and powderiness in here is the combined impression of the musks + cinnamon + sandalwood, which have been exquisitely paired with the resins and balsams. If anything, it might get somewhat closer to Dior's Mitzah because of the warm cinnamon, except Mitzah is less powdery and musky. Fin comme l'Ambre is also creamy and sweet, but not distractingly so - perhaps related to the vanilla listed here, but if so, it is added with self-control and the overall result doesn't scream 'vanilla' and it certainly doesn't come across gourmand. Unlike the previous reviewer, I find this to be 100% worth the money. I'd even go so far as to say if you wanted 1 cornerstone amber that is gloriously elevated in a way that immediately conveys deep heritage (rather than some trendy, cutesy toy-amber), get this one. Nothing in this formula smells cheap or synthetic, it's not clumsy in any way and also doesn't come across like it's trying too hard. It's sublime. A true gem. PS. I also realised there is a subtle nod to Muscs Kublai Khan here - the animalic musks in that have some echoes in here. But I do mean ECHOES. Nothing abrupt or overtly dirty at all. Get a sample and revel in how glorious this is.