2010's: Decade of Ambroxide. Who actually used it best?

[otterlake]

My favorite use of ambroxan is in Feisthauer's 2004 minor masterpiece, Hermés Eau des Merveilles, which, unlike many (all?) post-2010 scents, proves that ambroxan can be used in unusual and intriguing ways.

Eau des Merveilles is all about that "ambergris" feel and gracefully mingles radiant citrus with a peculiar minerality and woodiness in a way that's quite unlike anything I've smelled elsewhere.

It is fun, if futile, to speculate what might have happened if it had been marketed as a masculine instead of a feminine (it is wholly unisex) and had set the trajectory for Hermés' masculines instead of TdH.

(P.S. Bleu de Chanel is a snoozefest and seemed that way even in 2010. Sauvage is a chemical nightmare and blight on the landscape of designer fragrances.)

 

[Diddy]

It's not about who did it first, it's about who popularized using it in heavy quantities as a base note in this case, and BdC was that gateway drug for the rest of the industry. You'd be making a bad-faith statement by trying to ignore the fact that prior to 2010, anything in the mainstream containing it did so in much more minute amounts, like the 2000's woodyambers such as YSL L'Homme.

Plus just like Bigsly's first post above, you came in here trying to "prove me wrong" by debating the semantics of my introduction, although you didn't waffle completely on the question, so I'll give you an E for effort.

???

I’m sorry. I see the way my post was perceived but I actually had no intent of combat with you in my mind and heart. Thanks for the E though.

Thanks! :beer:

You make a great point, and I think it really boils down to BdC EdT being the most famous early example of a kind of perfumery STYLE rather than ambrox usage per se - a style that ODs ambrox(whatever) as "base-forward freshness" using the fresh facet of what is normally more of a base note. I think this was not as nicely or cleanly done prior to that time, with certain other fragrances with big woody ambers.

At least that is how I reckon it! :cheesy:

Thanks, Red! I was tired and got lost in mentally trying to figure out an example of who used it best instead of who did the modern style best. I can’t argue BdC being the starting point for that really. Even though some may have done the style just a year or two prior, I think BdC made it most widespread and popular.

Now that I’m mentally in line we where the thread was trying to go, I’ll say that I feel Chanel did it best. Are there fragrances that I feel are better than BdC? Yes. SOPFM is an example. Or the even more simplified Not A Perfume by Juliette Has A Gun, which came out the same year as BdC (or their Lady Vengeance which came out 4 years prior). But Chanel took the note/style and popularized it in such a massive way to world that anything else seems like it is a take or twist on what Chanel did. Kinda like... no matter how well a rock star sings Sound of Silence, it’s still Simon and Garfunkel’s.

 

[cameron]

Easy answer: Sauvage

 

[ToughCool]

Zealot I won’t give you anything but what you asked for. Right now my favorite scent with this note is

Bleu de Chanel EDP. I smell it and like how it blends in nicely. As someone said about another scent..it’s rounder and smoother

Ones like Sauvage over do it to me where I like the scent but feel like I’m swimming in an ocean of it. Cloud of ambro

Invictus is in between but not my style.

Dylan Blie confounds me because I enjoy smelling it but I sometimes feel it’s like Sauvage and other times like a puzzle of pieces of all these others

This thread makes me want to try Explorer though

I like these topics because for me this board is at its best when you can get “food for thought” on ones to try

 

[Rüssel]

Re: 2010's: Decade of Ambroxan. Who actually used it best?

Only having smelled Bleu de Chanel and Aventus, Aventus. Looking at other scents that used it, Eau Duelle.

 

[Scarce]

Some fragrances that I smell ambrox in

Sauvage EDT
Sauvage EDP
Bleu de Chanel
Creed Aventus
Eros
Wanted
Y EDP
Luna Rossa Carbon
Baccarat Rouge 540
Grand Soir
Code Colonia
Code Profumo
Dylan Blue
Invictus
Invictus Aqua
Invictus Intense
Choo Man Blue
Choo Man Intense
Prada l'homme
Legend Night
Molecule 02
Ultra Male
CH Men
Momentum Intense
Momentum Unlimited

Ambroxan seems to be one of those deal breakers for me. If I detect it, I'm probably going to reject the perfume out of hand. I recently checked out some newer Juliette Has A Gun perfumes and all them seemed to be loaded with it ('Not A Perfume' lists only ambroxan). That was enough to dismiss the entire line.

I probably wouldn't buy any from this list above, but I suppose if I had to pick one I'd say that Aventus was the least objectionable. I can see why Bleu is also popular and think it's executed well, but I wouldn't wear it either.

Overall, this trend makes me less sanguine not more about the future of men's fragrances.

 

[Buysblind]

Baccarat Rouge 540 is the undisputed masterpiece, in my opinion.

Also, if Bleu Parfum is considered part of this group, it is the best fragrance among it. Though I’d argue its success doesn’t lie within its inclusion of ambroxide, as it also contains actual Sandalwood absolute which gives it much of its depth and character. I don’t even know if there’s some variant of ambroxide in the Parfum, though I’m assuming there is, and it certainly smells as if some type had been used.

Baccarat Rouge on the other hand, is a total and complete exercise in this aromachemical and utterly reliant on it. And it uses the chemical masterfully.

 

[Jack103]

As far as the modern overdosed ones, I really like Dylan Blue. It's like Axe showergel rendered in hi-definition and makes me feel really young even though I'm going on 27. However, I think Drakkar Noir and Cool Water have the best uses of ambroxan as supportive bases, and we wouldn't have the overdosed ones without those. And they smell better, IMO.

 

[Buysblind]

Some fragrances that I smell ambrox in

Sauvage EDT
Sauvage EDP
Bleu de Chanel
Creed Aventus
Eros
Wanted
Y EDP
Luna Rossa Carbon
Baccarat Rouge 540
Grand Soir
Code Colonia
Code Profumo
Dylan Blue
Invictus
Invictus Aqua
Invictus Intense
Choo Man Blue
Choo Man Intense
Prada l'homme
Legend Night
Molecule 02
Ultra Male
CH Men
Momentum Intense
Momentum Unlimited

Nice list. If we’re going to talk about this it helps to know at least some of the major fragrances that use it. This should be helpful for a lot of members!

 

[Bigsly]

I must be the odd man out, I never really got ambrox from Bleu (EdT), especially not an overdose of it, and I have had perfumery as a hobby for years and usually think of myself as decent at detecting it and other materials in fragrances, but I do recognise it as a progenitor for the modern fresh-but-not-in-a-classic-citrus-way style of masculines, built more on woods, some aromatics and fresh AC's.

Different noses I guess, I have some things I am anosmic to, but ambrox was never a problem, I have worked with it for years, I even still have a couple of bottles lying around for reference, though I quit the hobby, as my wife has a sensitive nose. Perhaps they use an analog with a similar smell, but one I cannot detect?

I too didn't get much in the way of ambroxan from BdC EdT but I tried it so long ago that I would not trust my memory. However, I can't imagine it being anywhere near Sauvage EdT (the only formulation I've tried of that one).

 

[Bigsly]

My favorite use of ambroxan is in Feisthauer's 2004 minor masterpiece, Hermés Eau des Merveilles, which, unlike many (all?) post-2010 scents, proves that ambroxan can be used in unusual and intriguing ways.

Eau des Merveilles is all about that "ambergris" feel and gracefully mingles radiant citrus with a peculiar minerality and woodiness in a way that's quite unlike anything I've smelled elsewhere.

It is fun, if futile, to speculate what might have happened if it had been marketed as a masculine instead of a feminine (it is wholly unisex) and had set the trajectory for Hermés' masculines instead of TdH.

(P.S. Bleu de Chanel is a snoozefest and seemed that way even in 2010. Sauvage is a chemical nightmare and blight on the landscape of designer fragrances.)

I have some EdM, and at times I have enjoyed it but other times I found it to be irritating so I'm guessing that's mostly due to my sensitivity to ambroxan on a given day.

 

[hednic]

View attachment 101023

One I enjoy also.

 

[ultravisitor]

I'm not sure if I know what ambroxan smells like. Is the similarity I perceive between the drydowns in Himalaya and Ambre Nuit to be credited to ambroxan?

I wore Bois d'Argent yesterday. I don't really get too much similarity between that and the previous two that I mentioned, though apparently ambroxan is present in Bois d'Argent.

 

[otterlake]

I have some EdM, and at times I have enjoyed it but other times I found it to be irritating so I'm guessing that's mostly due to my sensitivity to ambroxan on a given day.

Perhaps so!

I'll add that as much as I adore it, I've found that Eau des Merveilles is one of those fragrances that is highly dependent on optimal weather conditions.

In my experience, it's best worn on sunny, fairly warm days (near or above 75 degrees Fahrenheit) with low-to-moderate humidity. Otherwise, it feels a bit unbalanced in one way or another. This is likely a side effect of its highly unusual structure.

 

[Pauer_Haus]

I think you focused so hard on going "galaxy brain" on my errant title that you missed the point completely, so I fixed the title.

Plus just like Bigsly's first post above, you came in here trying to "prove me wrong" by debating the semantics of my introduction, although you didn't waffle completely on the question, so I'll give you an E for effort.

ZC, there was nothing in either reply that warranted that level of snark and condescension.

I must be the odd man out, I never really got ambrox from Bleu (EdT), especially not an overdose of it, and I have had perfumery as a hobby for years and usually think of myself as decent at detecting it and other materials in fragrances, but I do recognise it as a progenitor for the modern fresh-but-not-in-a-classic-citrus-way style of masculines, built more on woods, some aromatics and fresh AC's.

I'm also consistently surprised to see BdC mentioned as ambrox bomb groundzero; IMO the trend clearly started with Sauvage which is many times more blatant in its use of the aromachemical.

As for the original question I'll throw in Mercedes-Benz Man Private. Ambroxan is listed by name in the marketing materials and it's a great showcase for how the note can be used in a more oriental-woody context. Honestly we will probably see more and more of the note getting dialed back to something closer to its original intent of... y'know, smelling like ambergris. In this way ambroxan is not entirely a "fantasy note" like other era-defining aromachems like calone and dihydromyrcenol, so it may have a more enduring impact.

 

[otterlake]

Bleu de Chanel is not an ambrox bomb, but it is an important reference point here in understanding how ambroxan became part of the designer masculine mainstream.

BdC and Sauvage are not equivalent, but they do exist as part of a broader trajectory.

 

[otterlake]

Honestly we will probably see more and more of the note getting dialed back to something closer to its original intent of... y'know, smelling like ambergris.

This is why I think ambroxan clicks in Eau des Merveilles and is also why I'm excited to see what Tauer does with ambroxan in his upcoming release.

 

[The Bark]

Without a doubt, hands down from Rasasi's expensive Boruzz line: Boruzz - Atheer Cambodia.

Top Notes: Pink pepper, Saffron, Raspberry
Heart Notes: Rose, Leather, Patchouli, Cambodian oud
Base Notes: Cashmeran, Cypriol, Ambroxan

You can smell the Ambroxan straight from the start, but as this fragrance dries down it's just downright classy and opulent. The Oud used is for real, but not as noticeable as some of the other notes as the fragrance itself, as well as the entire Boruzz line, is incredibly well blended, potent and long-lasting.

 

[L'Homme Blanc Individuel]

Bleu is not an ambroxbomb. It's all about Norlimbanol.

We've had ambergris scents for a long time - including synthetic ambergris. To me, that's not even close to being the big trend in this decade's fragrances. This decade was defined by norlimbanol, but since it gets listed as so many different notes in different fragrances, most folks here don't know what it actually smells like. Sometimes it's listed as wood, sometimes incense, sometimes as a billion other notes, especially stupid abstract notes.

Bleu De Chanel was the first scent I smelled using norlimbanol, and then a slew of citrus & spices over norlimbanol followers arrived each year, making that chemical instantly recognizable. Norlimbanol is that harsh fake wood / fake incense smell that's everywhere these days. I can't think of any chemical that made a bigger impact on men's fragrances this decade than norlimbanol. It is the #1 trend of the decade. It's everywhere.

 

[Alex Krycek]

Plus just like Bigsly's first post above, you came in here trying to "prove me wrong" by debating the semantics of my introduction, although you didn't waffle completely on the question, so I'll give you an E for effort.

He explicitly states, "Of course, I’m completely spitballing here and have no real education on the matter. Educate me more and I’ll give you a better rounded opinion."

This isn't something a person says who is out to prove someone wrong. You are beginning to seem excessively argumentative.