After months of craving sheer floral scents, I found myself this week craving things like amber and musk. I have no idea as to why. The weather has been mild and drizzly, actually reminding me of Seattle winter/spring. I suppose this is what has me craving the sort of scents that I wore while living in the Pacific Northwest.

Ramón Béjar is a Spanish luxury perfume house that I’ve reviewed on EauMG before. The brand’s strength is that they create “simple” scents that are superb. As cliché as it must sound, they really do smell luxurious. And to add to the cliché, they smell like they use the “best ingredients”. So, it shouldn’t be that hard to create a rose, jasmine or iris perfume if you aren’t concerned at all about cost, right? When it comes to niche perfumes, I usually start with their ambers because an amber is like the perfumer’s signature. They add a bit of themselves to it since ambers are a combination of notes (every amber varies, or at least it should). With this line, I was so content with the florals that I didn’t try Deep Amber. This is a shame, because I feel this perfume shows that the Ramón Béjar is more than just “quality ingredients”, it’s a creative line as well.

Deep Amber opens as a slightly fruity, raspberry-like violet with sparkling aldehydes. The resins in Deep Amber are like citrus with a hint of green leaves. This opening is like fruits and citrus but it’s still really “ambery”. To my surprise, the violet is prevalent. It’s powdery and almost like French cosmetics. This mixes with resins that remind me of leather, like a very soft handbag. The heart wears like powdery, cosmetic-ish violets and suede with an incense haze and a glass of brandy. It dries down to a balsamic, resinous amber incense with a booziness. There’s a bit of an animalic quality to the base but it isn’t overwhelming. It smells like warm, salty skin. This gives the perfume a “lived in” quality, which once again, reminds me of luxury leather goods.

What I love about Deep Amber is that it leans leathery (actually more like suede). It has this tactile feel to it that reminds me of the sort of “it bags” that I’ll never be cool enough to buy (or afford). The violet adds a powderiness to this amber without making it sweet.

Notes listed include ambrette, elemi, violet, styrax, ambergris, labdanum and benzoin. Launched in 2014. PERFUMER – Ramón Béjar

Give Deep Amber a try if you like amber perfumes, suede scents or even violet scents. Or if you like perfumes like Byredo 1996, Atelier Cologne Oud Saphir, Heeley Cuir Pleine Fleur, Serge Lutens Daim Blond, Bottega Veneta and/or Naomi Goodsir Cuir Velours.

Projection and longevity are above average.

The 2.55 oz bottle retails for $295 at Osswald. 

Victoria’s Final EauPINION – “French lipstick and luxury leather goods” amber. It’s a really good (and pricey) perfume from a brand that has mastered “effortless luxury”.

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*Sample obtained by me. Product pic from Fragrantica. Maureen O’Sullivan applying lipstick from www.fanpix.net.