What is ambergris perfume

Much was made, not long ago, of the discovery on a British beach of a whacking great lump of greyish-beige waxy material — which turned out to be worth thousands of pounds. Usually, the whale vomits these sharp bits. If not, they travel further down the gut and are covered in ambergris: a sticky, gelatinous material which dries to a lump with a resinous texture and then floats on the surface, ending up on beaches in places like South Africa, the East Indies, China, Japan, New Zealand — even Dorset.

As it ages, the smell matures and develops beautifully, and before it can be used perfumery, it must be diluted with alcohol. Others comment that it can smell a bit like the wood in old churches, or Brazil nuts. At Harrods.

It's a range that celebrates the art of perfume-making by reinterpreting its quintessentially Italian, signature scent, Colonia, marrying it off with a complementary note leather and oud are two examples to give it a completely new and more progressive identity. The golden-fruit of Colonia forms the starting point for this Ambra elixir, contrasted against the supporting act of ambergris.

Housed in a black glass deco-inspired bottle, symbolic of its intensive and assertive composition, it opens with orange essential oil, bergamot, petitgrain, followed by an abundance of woods like cedar and sandalwood, with delicate rose trailing off to a headier cocktail of patchouli, ambergris, musk and vanilla.

Fast-forward to today and the formula has been given a make-under, in the guise of one of the reformulations of its classic masculine scents; part of the new, brighter, lighter, fresher parfum cologne concentration.

Aromatic lemon, lavender and tarragon are present at first spritz, with jasmine, violet and lily of the valley at its floral-based centre. Sensual aphrodisiacs ambergris was considered an aphrodisiac when introduced to nobility by Marco Polo lurk in the shadows; headed up by Ambergris, combined with vanilla, cedarwood, leather, tonka bean and patchouli.

Very aromatic in personality, Montabaco celebrates the hot, steamy, passionate flava of Latin America, with its abundance of leather, wood, suede and tobacco leaf. Opening with orange absolute, bergamot, juniper, cardamom and clary sage, a heart of jasmine, magnolia, hedione, rose, violet and tea notes, this wonderfully decadent scent, created by perfumer Geza Schoen, it drys down softly on a bed of tobacco leaf, suede, sandalwood, moss, tonka and ambergris.

Created by perfumer Shyamala Maisondeau, it opens with salty, marine, aromatic and balsamic highlights, including seaweed, sea salt and pink pepper, followed by notes of agarwood oud , styrax, balsam fir, ambergris and pepperwood. Like a cosy evening with friends under the stars and around a fire pit on the beach. This fragrance can be best described as a big bold clout of alpha-masculinity. An intensely virile scent for the urban woodsman! When it comes to sense of occasion, this is a great all-rounder.

Originally launched back in as a collaborative project between Maison Francis Kurkdjian and Baccarat, and limited to only bottles in numbered ruby coloured crystal bottles, this fragrance has now made its way into the MFK stable of permanent fixtures… all be it and less fancy flagons.

Expect as the name would suggest a wealth of jasmine, combined with radiant saffron, ambergris mineral notes, fir balsam and freshly cut cedar. Animalistic musks are used in combination with aldehydes, mandarin orange, bergamot and a dash of pink peppercorn.

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These are two very different things. One is a fossil resin with orange-yellow highlights secreted by conifers and formed millions of years ago. The other, ambergris, is a matter of animal origin very popular in perfumery.

But what connection can there be between this marine animal and perfume? Ambergris is an animal raw material, just like musk. It is actually a concretion from the sperm whale. To feed, the cetacean eats large calamari whose beaks injure its intestinal walls. This causes lesions that the sperm whale will heal by secreting a substance that is then expelled naturally: this is the first form of ambergris.

At the first glimpse, and the first smell, grey amber is far away from the subtle and delicate scent of your fragrance. It releases a rather unpleasant odour and has a blackish appearance with a soft consistency. Floating at the mercy of the currents, ambergris will begin to lighten to become silver gray or almost white.

In the vastness of the oceans, thanks to the effect of sea salt, it hardens little by little and its smell evolves, it refines. Without this flotation step, the scent of concretion would not be bearable. To recover this precious substance, sperm whales are therefore neither hunted nor abused. Driven by the flows, grey amber stones, which at this point look like big blocks, end up stranded on the shores of the beaches.