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.

Was very reluctant to buy this but finally pulled the trigger & omg am I glad i did. This is a very warm slice of amber heaven. There are no words to describe this fragrance... Just go out & get your nose on it asap! It lasts for 24 hours on my clothes... i couldn't stop smelling this, just couldn't get enough of it so I started wearing it to bed. No other amber frag I've ever sampled comes close to this one.

I never got to experience the OG 2007 release but this is a beast in its own right. The benchmark amber fragrance.

Beautiful! Sweet and warm. It's a sure get for me.

I am so happy to see this stunning fragrance being re-released from the house of Tom Ford, but I am not happy about the exorbitant price tag. In my opinion, this fragrance should be sold within a similar price bracket to the rest of the Private Collection line. Reserve Collection: Amber Absolute is a beautiful, subdued amber fragrance. It's sweet and syrupy without being overwhelming and is incredibly sexy on the skin. I would most likely wear this fragrance on a cold Winter's evening with a few generous sprays on my coat and scarf. I hear that this re-release is nowhere near as strong as the original. Perhaps it was the overpowering sillage that had it pulled from the shelves in the first place, hence the reason why the composition remains unchanged but the sillage has been altered. The longevity is still as good as it once was. I get approximately ten hours out of Amber Absolute and that's really impressive seeing that my skin is quite dry and struggles to hold scent at the best of times. I've been on a bit of an amber kick lately, so it's of no surprise that I sprayed this fragrance with abandon whilst visiting the Tom Ford counter. Despite being way out of my budget, I am still adding this fragrance to my wishlist even if a large decant is all I can afford.

Expected so much and was let down by the fact that it’s so smoky. The amber took the background role while the smoky incense and the woody notes went full front.

A nice enough smokey amber vanilla, pretty sweet but doesn't get too cloying from the darker notes. Lasts over 12h but not a projection monster by any means. Would be interesting to try out the vintage.

Big Tom Ford fan here with several bottles from his Private Collection line, but this gets a big thumbs down for me. I'm not really picky about fragrances as a whole, but something about how the amber and vanilla play off each other here does not work for me. Smells almost exactly like Oriental Pearl Shanghai Tang, a scent I do not like at all either. This is too sweet and ventures into gourmand territory, which are two big negatives for me. Final nail in the coffin is the potency, its off the charts STRONG. Long story short: Pass.

This stuff is really weak. Like not even in comparison to Vintage, but just in comparison to all fragrances in general. So yea, I agree with another comment, It's about 65% weaker than the 2015. I can't believe TF is selling this at normal private blend prices. He is, and will continue to burn bridges with this product. It's too bad, I really like most of his older/ other fragrances, but the run seems to be ending. Shame.

This was an elusive grail I chased for years before I finally did a trade deal to get this. I got it blind, other than reading reviews. I really didn’t know what to expect. It’s definitely one of my favorite Tom Fords, and it has that original Tom Ford sort of DNA that they’ve pretty much lost on all newer releases and most reformulations. It’s very potent as well. I was very surprised to see how similar it smells to Plum Japonais and Tobacco Oud, especially the former of those two. This takes PJ in a more niche direction and feels a bit more cold weather than even PJ, which I generally also classify as “cold—but questionable.” It’s almost redundant to have PJ and this. I don’t get anyone claiming similarity to Bois Marocain. It smells very expensive and rich. However, it’s not going to get a lot of compliments. It’s slightly mature as well. I don’t think I’d want to part with this one ever, but if I ever ran out, I would NEVER pay $450-$500+ for a bottle of this like some are. It’s nice, but it’s not THAT nice. For me, it’s tied with Velvet Gardenia for the best of the Private Reserve collection, which I now own all of. Overall, it’s a great fragrance with awesome longevity and decent sillage. It’s not the best in the business, but if I were parting my collection down by 90%, this one would make the cut to keep.

This is a very unpopular opinion in this community, but this fragrance is so overhyped. It's a basic amber oriental fragrance that smells like an overpowering spice closet and nothing more. It has such an awkward and hard to understand profile. I think of this as the sloppy rough draft that preceded Tobacco Oud and Tobacco Oud Intense, two masterpieces that are much more thought out and much less foody than Amber Absolute. It is quite obvious to anyone observing this fragrance's hype from the outside of this community that this fragrance is only legendary due to its rarity, its big gold plaque, and the use of "absolute" in its name. I had the opportunity to buy this fragrance directly from Tom Ford when it was re-released, I had the money to do so, but I had no reason to get this because to me it really is a rough draft. It feels incomplete, awkward, and headache inducing. Hopefully now that Tobacco Oud and Tobacco Oud Intense are discontinued they will start to take the limelight away from Amber Absolute. Please do not think that Amber Absolute is worth your time just because it is no longer made. The Ford Pinto and Chevy Chevette are also no longer made. Does that make them worthy of your time and money? No way in a million years. Don't blindly jump on a hype train.

I still have my bottle from the original release of Amber Absolute that i use sparingly in winter - both because I have been making it last as long as I can since it was discontinued but also because it works so majestically in really cold days so I save it for those. I was so excited when i saw it was being re-released as finally, FINALLY i can get another bottle and start using it more freely. Then i tested this version. And it has NOTHING on the original - it is a very faint version of the original to my nose at least barely smells like the original. And has none of the strength and staying power of it either. I was wearing the original today when i tested this new version and even though i had put it on 9 hours earlier the original still far outperformed the new version. A few hours later the new version has disappeared but i can still smell wafts of the sweet amber of the original coming from my wrist. This version has none of the village or staying power of the original and to my nose at least smells only barely similar. Very disappointed why call something a re-release when it seems to have been tinkered with so much??

Just received my bottle, certainly authentic, perhaps it’s less intensely saw-dusty woody and smoky as the original but it still smells like AA. I’m not going to say it hasn’t been tinkered with, I do recall the first version, and I had a bottle of the second release. To me this one seems to have a more dominant olibanum up front which can smell almost like a bitter citrus, then it all fades into the dense wood syrup AA is known for. I’m giving it a full wear to determine if I will keep this version. It is still incredibly potent, scent cloud all around me with three sprays....even if this is not 100% the same as the original, it still is AA fundamentally and is one of the most massive ambers still

I have been trying to compare this to 2015 version and yes very similar but as others say older version feels deeper richer and longer lasting. The fragrance is still great and I love wearing it. This is great amber ideal for fall and winter. I had asked in the London boutiques and sales team have always stated there was no change in the formulation . It’s hard to tell as they do smell the same but slightly different. I ended up settling for Sandal Amber (parfums vintage) which is very close and better price ml for ml. It a real shame that new version from Tom Ford is only available in 50ml and not larger bottles. Why it was originally discontinued who knows.

I have the 2015 and the new, and it is definitely true that the new is weaker. 2015 is a fkn monster, to the point it makes you feel queasy and light headed. Ideally, you would want to combine the two and meet somewhere in the middle. 2015 is what you would wear for a minus 40c trip to Lapland at Christmas. 2019 is for a frosty November walk on the Bois De Boulogne. Well, it is Tom Ford, so im allowed to use a little subtle innuendo right?

If anybody wants to try this, I found it on the top floor of Harrods. I only ever had a decant of the original, but the 2019 formulation seems weaker sadly. Will try again though.