When I moved to the NYC area, I started to take up tapestry weaving as a hobby. I don’t know why I decided to do such a thing while living in such a small space, but I did. I really enjoyed it. I took classes and rented space in a textile center. I would get lost in fibers and colors. When I started grad school, everything was pushed to the back burner. I still have a primitive handloom with an unfinished piece on it, but it just stares me down like the half-finished project that it is¹. Anyway, I love textiles – making and collecting them. It’s one of my favorite crafts. Aftelier Amber Tapestry is an amber-style perfume inspired by weaving and how the perfumer envisions the construction of perfumes like that of weaving. Say no more, I’m already into this.
The opening of Amber Tapestry is like an effervescent cola. It’s balsamic with a mix of warm spices and citrus. It also reminds me of gumdrops. It’s sweet and nostalgic. I started to think Amber Tapestry was going to stay in its gourmand lane. But, it doesn’t. The heart is floral with a heady, humid jasmine. It’s everything I want from a jasmine in perfume. Like a tapestry, the notes in this perfume are woven. Sometimes in the heart I get that heady jasmine. The next minute, I pick up on a bubblegum tuberose. When I least expect it, I get a white floral steeped in green tea leaves and cinnamon. I don’t know how any of this is happening, but I’m fine with it. I don’t have to know. The dry-down is warm and golden. It’s like a cinnamon-y, honeyed amber with a tonka bean meets brown sugar sweetness. It also has a soft, “fuzzy” animalic quality that is almost fur-like. You know how evening light as the sun setting is so flattering to the complexion? This dry-down is like that on the skin. It’s like the golden hour. Everything appears softer and richer than it did before.
With its warmth and fruity-floral notes, I think Amber Tapestry is an excellent “transitional fragrance”. It’s one of those that will easily transition from summer into fall or winter into spring. A tapestry may suggest some thickness, but Amber Tapestry isn’t. It has depth but it isn’t heavy.
Notes listed include heliotrope, yellow mandarin, jasmine, pear, cinnamon, amber, labdanum, benzoin, castoreum, ambergris and coumarin. Launched in 2016. PERFUMER – Mandy Aftel
Give Amber Tapestry a try if you like jasmine or floral ambers. Or perfumes like Aftelier Honey Blossom, Caron Farnesiana or Providence Perfume Co. Hindu Honeysuckle.
Being a natural perfume, Amber Tapestry wears close to the skin. Longevity is average. I also should note that I’ve sampled the perfume and not the EDP. I don’t know how the two compare.
Amber Tapestry is available in a few sizes with the 1 oz EDP retailing for $180 at Aftelier. Samples are also available for purchase.
Victoria’s Final EauPINION – A golden hour jasmine with honeyed amber. Not only is this perfume beautiful, but it’s flattering. It just smells great on my skin. Between Vanilla Smoke and this one, I can’t decide which Aftelier is my favorite.
¹Partially finished projects have the gaze of something that is feral, both mean and afraid. I have since moved the project to a trunk to contain it and to well, make myself feel better.
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*Disclaimer – Sample provided by the brand. I am not financially compensated for my reviews. My opinions are my own. Product pic from the brand. Pat Cleveland in Zandra Rhodes circa 1973 pic from emmapeelpants.blogspot.com.