Here’s my deal with ambers. I love them. They were my first fragrance “true loves”. I wanted them all. I wanted to smell them all. I wanted to spray all of them on every visible part of my skin on my body. I couldn’t get enough of them…so I thought. I go through amber-crazed cycles and then I burn myself out and I never want to smell another amber again. And it sucks because I buy all of the ambers and then want nothing else to do with them for 6-10 months. However, I’ll go back to them and fall in love again.
Histoires de Parfums Ambre 114 is one of the ambers that I continue to fall in love with. I’ll smell it and wonder why I forsake the ambers.
Ambre 114 opens as a cool minty geranium and dried herbs like thyme and oregano. There’s a camphoric patchouli over a creamy vanilla amber. The heart is a creamy amber with herbs, cedar shavings and patchouli leaves. It dries down to a rich, warm, boozy vanilla amber. It’s a rather “simple” amber but that’s why I like it. It’s an amber-amber.
Notes listed include thyme, nutmeg, rose, geranium, patchouli, sandalwood, cedar, vetiver, amber, vanilla, tonka bean, benzoin and musk. Launched in 2001. PERFUMER – Gerald Ghislain and Magali Senequier
Give Ambre 114 a try if you like amber. Or if you like perfumes like Opus Oils Heavy Sugar, L’Artisan Parfumeur L’eau d’Ambre Extreme, Montale Blue Amber, Tauer L’Air due Desert Marocain and/or Ramon Monegal Ambra di Luna. This fragrance is unisex.
Projection and longevity are average.
Perfume pal said he wore this to a bar on a Saturday night and got lots of compliments. He’s a bit enamored with this fragrance. On Sunday, I wore this scent to the very glamorous Lowe’s Home & Garden Center and a crazy lady with a cart filled to the brim with some type of rodent killer wearing a t-shirt with wolves howling at the moon (and was serious, none of this hipster irony bullshit) said that I smelled wonderful. Yeah, I’m cool. How you like that hype?
Histoires de Parfums Ambre 114 comes in 2 sizes with prices ranging from $125-$205 at Beautyhabit. A travel size is also available for $36.
Victoria’s Final EauPINION – A really great amber. It’s one for you amber lovers to try.
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Ha! I loved that anecdote about going to Lowes and getting the compliment from rodent-killing, wolf-howling crazy lady.
Great review. I know just what you mean about falling in and out of love with amber perfumes. They’re not really intriguing and unique, but they’re so narcotically delicious.
I mean, these are the people that I attract. Don’t take me out.
Yes, and strangely comforting. They’re so cozy to me but not frumpy. Like if there was ever such a thing as sexy flannel pajamas, amber would be like that.
You had me at travel size…
No, you had me way earlier with creamy amber and herbs but being perpetually broke does not help my perfume addiction.
Rock that three wolf moon shirt, crazy lady with tons of rat poison!
Don’t you love when brands offer travel sizes? This is one of my favorite ambers.
I hope she took care of them…in a mob way.
I really like this amber. I keep telling myself that I don’t need another amber. Really. And so far it’s worked. This is one I would wear in warm weather without wondering if I was clubbing my bus mates over the head. But I already have two that I would put into that category-my ‘personal’ ambers- Omnia’s Ambra and Prada’s L’eau. My favorite though are the big honkin’ ones: Lubin’s Akkad and the grand master Ambre Russe. No problem in smelling those across a crowded room. My lest used is probably Sonoma Scents Ambre Noir. Wow, what a dry dark number that one is. I have to be in a special mood for that. I’ve worked up from the travel spray to the 17 mls size. Just love those smaller sizes! What an excuse to get everyone that I like-“but, gee, they’re so small.’
I’m not one to talk to about this. I KNOW I don’t need all of the ambers but I end up with them. I don’t know how, but I do. Really I feel if people were to have “all” the ambers, they probably need a sheer amber, creamy amber and a resinous amber. Oh, and a skanky one.
One of my favorite “daily” or “wear to work” perfumes is Prada L’eau. It’s enough amber without being too loud. (Prada is probably my favorite designer perfume house for this reason).
And yes, Ambre Russe is my big honkin’ amber too. And now you’ve mentioned 2 other ambers that I need to try…I’ll try to talk myself out of them…
SSS is awesome for offering the small sizes. I wish more indie/niche would figure out that this is what we want! We crave variety.
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