Ambre Eau de Parfum

Oh wow. This is AWESOME!! To my nose, it's sweet n spicy in a non-gourmand way. It's powdery n dry. It's got all my faves: cloves, incense, lavender and I can smell all 3. Will update on longevity n village. This is a keeper. It smells a lot like Mercier Ambre Passion.

Wow. This has instantly become a favorite; this is why I love incense and benzoin. Ambre is refined, smoky and spicy. The performance is A+ producing wafts lasting over 8hrs and unapologetic sillage.

It's funny that there is no amber among the notes listed as at first spray I find this fragrance to be one of the most beautiful, warmest and smokiest amber fragrance. On the other hand, after it dries down it reminds me on Shalimar edt on my skin and I truly thought something is wrong with my nose until I came here and checked the notes and now i understand that Ambre and Shalimar share just enough of their dominant notes to make an impression of resemblance.... truly addictive and a warm, cozy scent from autumn to winter in my wardrobe.

tl;dr version of my review: i hope Fragrantica can make a new page for this because Molinard Ambre 2020 is definitely its own thing — and that’s a good thing. i’m no expert, but — i detect no citrus or lavender, there’s mild spice here but it’s definitely not cloves, and the camphor-like wallop of the myrtle slapped me hard (in the best possible way!) right off the bat. also, i high-key smell labdanum. i used to put powdered rockrose resin in my hair back in my hippy days, and you don’t forget that smell. ;) anyway, here goes nothing… a hit of myrtle to wake up your nose, followed by the soft, gentle spice of coriander. the aromatic notes somehow highlight the slight leather of the labdanum, a gradual introduction to the star of the show. the longevity doesn’t seem to be great, so not too clear on what happens next. i assume it’s all about the blend from here on out. this takes me back to the late 90s, back to my days of hennaed hair and long cotton skirts, and i love it. i hope to discover more of the frankincense heart and the sandalwood base the next time. apparently, there are two different versions of Molinard Ambre. they have flipped and flopped over the years. we’ll call the first the citrus-cloves-benzoin version, and the other, the myrtle-labdanum-wood version. i definitely ended up with the latter. here are the official notes for the current incarnation of Ambre: myrtle, coriander, thyme amber, (frank)incense, labdanum sandalwood, musk, tonka bean i might be talking through my hat, but it’s difficult to imagine this smelling like the notes listed on this page. i most certainly prefer what i got. musical accompaniment: “Oil of Angels” by Cocteau Twins /current edp, 2020ish, purple bottle with a clear label

I LOVE this one, and it's such a hidden gem...and very affordable! Although it is named "Ambre" I don't get much amber until the dry down. On me this starts out warm, spicy, and resinous. The most prominent notes to my nose are benzoin, incense (myrrh and a bit of frankincense), and cloves. I thought this was going to go in a deeper direction, but the resins stay relatively soft and muted, and then a delicious vanilla emerges. It's mostly a vanilla, incense, and clove fragrance on me, and is a bit muted and powdery. The dry down reminds me a lot of the dry down of Kalimantan by Chantecaille, but this has less emphasis on the patchouli. I would say this is unisex, perhaps leaning very slightly feminine. Such a great discovery!