AMBER CLASSICO MODERN

Fine Fragrance

This is such a graceful and chic composition based around gentian, a note rare in perfume. Corday’s Possession in 1937 has been one of the new notable perfumes that used gentian as an identifiable material, rather than just mingled to anonymity. Like vetiver and iris, it is the roots that yield the scent, and it’s used more often in the drinks industry, flavouring, for example, Suze and Aperol, the weird orange-red concoction that tastes like it might have been manufactured by Dr Bunsen in his Muppet lab. Both drinks are an acquired taste with a bitter unfathomable ambience that could conjure up monastery and monkish brewing in the carefully guarded aperitif recipes.

Amber Classic Modern's gentian keynote is noticeable and well-formed. One of Christophe Laudamiel's great skills as a Master Perfumer is arranging notes with the precision of a colourist painter, allowing us to see the individual hues and then the overall effect as the colours marry together giving us further unique perspectives.

It may sound a little superlative to discuss fragrance in terms of 3D, but many of us at one time or another have sampled perfumes that are flat, unstructured and poorly built. At the same time, discovering olfaction that invites us inside, beautifully arranged naturals and molecular materials that a perfumer had taken careful time to arrange, so we can experience something special.

Gentian roots have a sweet brassica aroma, tilted by pepper notes and a sense of clean green mulch. It smells fizzy in Amber Classico Modern, not unlike a homemade, vegetal wine, elevated beautifully by a sun-warmed mandarin note. Christophe has used the word cosy to describe Amber Classico Modern, and this is true of this addictive scent and other unique amber perfumes, the very nature of the materials exuding a be-near-me allure. The nuzzling vibe is suggested by a bed of fresh white lilies decorated in white musks, resins like Peru balsam, benzoin and a lick of labdanum to ground the musky florals.

The blushing rosaceous charm of geranium and plainspoken patchouli are finishing touches to an amber character that has sashayed out of the past into a dynamic and sexy future. Christophe has designed a scent that demands revisiting, in order to scrutinise further his bravado and imagination and our curiosity for strange beauty.

Composition:

• Sicilian Mandarin, Egyptian Geranium For Life® LMR, French Gentian Absolute LMR
• Amber, Cambodian Laotian Benzoin Tears
• El Salvadorian Peru Balsam Fairwild® LMR, Indonesian Patchouli For Life® LMR, Spanish Labdanum Absolute

Perfumer: Christophe Laudamiel, 2021

inci list: Alcohol Denat., Fragrance, Limonene, Benzyl Benzoate, Coumarin, Benzyl Cinnamate, alpha-Isomethyl Ionone, Citronellol, Linalool, Geraniol, Benzyl Alcohol, Citral