Ambra

I’m not in the habit of revising my reviews, but I am redoing my review of this one, as I don’t think my initial one did it any justice. Anyway. This is a simple but beautiful amber and bergamot. While those notes sound like they could clash, they don’t! This fragrance has an unexpected but very pretty bright and fresh bergamot opening, and the cozy sweet amber slowly takes over as it dries down, with the bergamot in the background providing just that touch of lightness and freshness. It honestly took me a few times of wearing this to identify that, but it really does add a twist of uniqueness to Ambra that I can appreciate. As with other SMNs, even the EDPs, this wears close to the skin. I can detect it occasionally but it is not overpowering or loud at all. I get probably about 5 hours of wear.

I’d like to start by saying that this brand has some of the most beautiful packaging I’ve ever seen. I love how it invokes its history and the imagery associated is absolutely divine. I walked into their shop looking for a lotion, and I walked out with this. This is the most warm, sunny amber, with almost a cinnamon aspect to it. I find it to be the perfect base if I want to warm up a fresh fruity scent I already have, or great to wear when I’m just lounging around the house. This is quite elegant, and would pair very well with the other scents in this line.

somewhat sweet with a bright, refined opening -- every note plays its role in coming together as one perfect smell that is my favorite amber ive ever tried <3 at least to me, however, it's more EDT performance than an EDP so i do wish it was less expensive (or at least came in a travel size) but i managed to find decants of both this and incenso on etsy after savoring my free samples from the SMN site -- to me, it's the amberiest amber to ever amber

Didn't expect such a deep & rich amber with multifaceted & natural-smelling labdanum...Bravo!

Mature, refined, well dressed, clean, unoffensive, well-off, down to earth, reliable, trustworthy, verified, approachable and kind. I really like this - just not for me. I think it leans a little too masculine for my taste for myself. But, this would make a great daily fragrance for someone!

Amber with bergamot, quite masculine on my skin.

An extremely sharp, clean amber with 0 warmth and 0 resinous aspects. Instead of spicy it is herbal, instead of sweet it is bitter, instead of deep it is flat. It is almost like they created the opposite of an amber. Which is actually kind of cool ! But does it smell good? No. It smells like a rather cheap room spray. Its not moving and it doesnt transport you to another place. There is little amberiness in this. That would be okay if the scent itself made up for the mismatched name, but it doesn’t. Feels poorly blended and generic. Its not gross or bad, its pleasant enough i suppose. It has the same screechy hair spray note as their iris which i also disliked. I dont know if this is their DNA and it just doesn’t translate well to my nose, but i think it’s rather crass and excessive. Cleaning product levels of sharp. Edit: okay so after a few more tries the sharpness is less present after the first hour... the middle stage of this perfume is actually alright. Still not a warm amber but i guess its okay as a myrrh scent. Yet it still feels weak and poorly blended. And the drydown is as bad as the opening... its not sharp, but it smells like dried up spit. In an extremely weird way. Its not animalic, just genuinely spit like. Never before have i tried a perfume where only the middle stage was pleasant and the rest was horrible, but here you go. A crass metallic fresh opening, a myrrh focused middle with touches of aromatics like basil and rosemary, and a saliva drydown. Unpleasant

Deep and dusky with a hint of round sweetness. Smelled incredible on the skin at first, but quickly wore into a blunter, huskier scent. Sweat-like, even. A pass.

Heavily concentrated ambroxan and sandalwood hand soap. I’m unsure why this is getting so much praise in the votes. I love many Santa Maria Novella products — I use their fabulous soaps every day — but to me Ambra feels too artificial, smothering and simple. Perhaps others respond to its sheer thickness and depth, these are what first struck me, but it packs a blanketing, synthetic-smelling honey-amber punch and I wouldn't want to spend any length of time up close with it. Protect your throat-lining!

They really ruined this, imo! The original, which began production in 1828, was the perfect amber: rich, deep, resinous, yet interesting and somewhat fresh. The bergamot and bitter orange balanced the benzoin, sandalwood, and smokey birch in the base perfectly. The mid had the most beautifully done aromatics...lavender and rosemary, along with some heady jasmine. Layered, nuanced, timeless, perfect. A far cry from this iteration and I’m so sad. 196 years, down the drain. I will cherish my original bottle even more now!!! Since this is supposed to be a review on the current version, here it is: harsh, dry, boring, flat. Like bergamot hairspray with a ton of patchouli and not nearly enough of anything rich or warm enough to warrant its namesake.

This is so beautiful, I'll be seeking a full bottle. Ambra opens with a slightly bitter but smooth bergamot, like a touch of peel and a bright citrus with a warm ambery base. As it dries down the bergamot fades and you feel the most sensual lavender start to come through, just a touch soapy, unexpected. The lavender, resins, and sandalwood last from there- as a patchouli lover I don't really sense patchouli yet there is something so grounding to this perfume as it dries down, you just know it's there. Patchouli haters don't be scared! I am usually not a fan of lavender in perfume but this so incredibly stunning, what a beautifully blended surprise. Just incredible. I love SMN for the history and art of their perfumes but this one is so wearable and special. Well done!

The most Italian amber I’ve encountered this far. This is gorgeous. A very citrus-infused amber. The bergamot is very present from the opening, shining through the powdery sweetness. Almost like an Italian pastry. It’s surprisingly light and very elegant. Almost fresh, which is very pleasant. It gives a similar impression as Ambre nuit in terms of lightness and freshness, but otherwise they are not related. Does not feel ’oriental’ at all. It’s without doubt Italian. Definitely unisex. Lovely.

A spicy,bright, aromatic take on amber. It has a very comforting and soapy quality to it. Has a certain ‘rough’ organic quality to it that reminds me of handmade organic oatmeal soaps you get at the organic grocery store, with patchouli lending its hand. This isn’t the deep or powdery amber you are used to smelling, this is more of a comforting and carefree take that you can smell is crafted from high quality materials. Unmistakably Santa Maria novella, their brand has such a unique signature.

I smelled this for the first time yesterday and bought a full bottle today. I cannot believe more people don’t talk about this perfume It is absolutely beautiful.. It is an amber done so right, with the citrus notes and the, keeping it light, but still cozy and slightly gourmand at the same time. In some way it kind of reminds me of love and crime, sweet and citrusy with the depth and resins of Amber. It’s a comfortable welcoming and familiar scent that I am so glad I discovered.

Yuck. Scrubbed it off after 10 minutes. Was expecting a more natural nice warm resiny musky thing to blanket me before bed and instead I got this gross dirty artificial perfumery thing. Like you used a dirty rag with a citrus cleaner to filter the amber resin absolute and added a dash of some expired generic mature woman perfume to a base and called it a day. It is hard to mess up with these notes but this one somehow managed to do it.

I liked the opening but it develops an off putting, cloying floral note in the middle, bolstered by a fair amount of ambroxan methinks, that ruins it for me. Once you smell it you can’t unsmell and it gains momentum as time passes.

Bright super powdery amber with some light sherbet citrus. Clean and timeless. I can imagine this perfume bottle sitting on a tiny vanity next to silk scarfs in a beautiful wood sailboat.

This is literally cozy spicy cinnamon roll, with little bit of sun screen vibe. Really good one for someone who likes warm spicy makeup scents. Nice try