Reserve Collection: Amber Absolute

I fell in love with ambers after picking up the new Givenchy Society Ambree. I did what any normal fragrance junkie does and seeks out decants of the highest rated ambers in existence. TF AA landed on top of my list, and I decided to give it a run first once the leaves started to fall. This juice is thick! My cheap 5ml decant atomizer refused to atomize it. The first pump dispensed a large puddle on my wrist. I decided to dap my other wrist on it. I proceeded to shoot one shot on my neck and that was plenty. This stuff is potent. I was projecting far for several hours at work. This is the performance that I seek from all of my favorites so we arrive at a 10/10 on performance with this fragrance. The smell is absolutely divine! Its well balanced with the sweetness, vanilla, insense, and amber. Its a rather simple fragrance and easy to pick out the limited amount of notes used in the recipe which is refreshing being somewhat new to experiencing perfumery. 9/10. If the Amber classification was my favorite, id probably go 10/10, but I am more of a fougere and freshie kind of man. I highly respect the fragrance and will gladly cherish the evening spent with it when I choose to wear it.

Utterly gorgeous. One of the best ambers ever. Tom Ford's website notes the supposed mystical powers of amber and that's exactly what he's gone for here. As much church or temple as hot Moroccan desert. The focus is on frankincense and amber - the former all lemony and coniferous as well as smoky, burnt-wood, medicinal. The vanilla/amber is more a burnt caramel than an over-sweet dessert/gourmand. Importantly, this does without the bouquet garni of its predecessor, Ambre Sultan. It is not a casserole/tagine. Amber Absolute might not be as subtle or finely balanced as AS but so what? AA is big and powerful instead; regal and godlike. AA isn't as dry and dusty as AS either so seems a shade sweeter. It does have the illusion of spice (but not herbs) - and some animalics - even though neither are listed, which seem to give it a little edge. AA is fairly linear though, but the fact that it seems so simple and minimalist, like many TFs, is a sign of its genius.

I'm also a late comer to Amber Absolute. From what I've tried of it so far it's not a very in your face kind of smell. I think some Tom Ford fragrances can be very overpowering such as the old Tobacco Vanille. The new version of Amber Absolute is very sweet, thick and smoky and if it were stronger I would probably have to apologise to people for wearing it. One spray to my wrist and I got subdued whiffs of it while I was sitting down. It doesn't attack your nose, rather it lingers to remind you of it's sweet incense and bit of spice. The amber and vanilla sweeten out incense almost like a 50/50 split down the middle. It kind of reminds of a honeycomb hot chocolate. There would be limited occassions to wear this, but when you do, it'll be worth your time and money. Unfortunately the bottles are very expensive though. Had they not been the asking price I would easily rate this an 8 or 9.

I arrived late to the party with this one. When I discovered that it had a "cult status" within the community, I was intrigued to try it, but was not willing to pay the exorbitant amount of money that was being asked for it. Now that the new edition is available, I finally tried it and was amazed. It is an incredible fragance, not for everyone, but for the lovers of complex/challenging smells. The longevity is around 12 hours, with great sillage. Definitively a must buy for collectors.

A tamed down version of the beast that was discontinued. Initially get that blast of incense which never quite goes away, but takes a back seat after about the one hour mark to a sweet and foody amber/vanilla. A good (not great) cold weather scent, I don’t quite understand the crazy hype this has received over the years. IMO, I don’t think the price for the reserve or the vintage are justified in the slightest.