Ambergris

[holborne]

...Our ambergris accord is lightly balsamic, slightly woody, almost tobacco-like marine musk, and possesses a distinct salty animalic note that borders on sweet. The scent is extraordinarily versatile, and adds depth and complexity to a wide swath of fragrance families.

On me, this was just straight up salty aquatic. I don't really care for aquatics, and I couldn't resist the urge to scrub it off. Not a winner for me.

[zankoku_zen]

I have to say that this is a gorgeous single note - in the same way that Sweet Alyssum and Red Spanish Carnation have been.

 

Clean, musky, slightly tobacco-ey, aquatic. Slightly masculine. It's warm, and comforting, and hard to pin point exactly what it smells like.

 

GORGEOUS.

[doomsday_disco]

When I first got into BPAL, I passed on French Tobacco single note, and then Ambergris, because my noob self didn't think I'd like to smell like tobacco or like something that's supposed to be reminiscent of something from a whale's digestive system. Then I discovered that I appreciate those notes and regretted passing up those single notes.

 

A friend kindly sent me a decant of Ambergris this year, which I loved and thought I would have to use sparingly, but I lucked out and was able to get a bottle of this recently. It's kind of like an aquatic (but not in a soapy or dryer sheets sort of way), musky, slightly salty, ambery scent. It's wonderful and would be great on its own, for layering with those fragrances that you wish had a little more ambergris, and for other layering experiments (I want to try it layered with some french lavender absolute as a bedtime scent.)

 

So happy to have a bottle of this one after I passed it up years ago.