Amber Teutonic
D.S. & Durga (2018)

It's a mentholy/piney lanolin bomb. Strangely, the notes combine to smell variously of coconut and bubblegum -- but the verdance prevents these accords from any cloying sweetness.

Magic factor: 0.6

D.S. & Durga Amber Teutonic was released in 2018 alongside Amber Kiso and, like Amber Kiso, is dominated by resins and is therefore true to its name. Unlike Amber Kiso, Amber Teutonic is not a heavy-handed smoky amber/leather mix, but rather an herbal, green, semi-spicy amber, still very satisfying, and slightly sweeter than Amber Kiso. Amber Teutonic is more for everyone, I'd say, than Amber Kiso.

The main notes I detect are, of course, the resins–definitely leaning toward the sweet rather than the smoky or animalic–as well as some spices (cardamom and geranium seem applicable) and a greenness (via the pine, I imagine). The result is a balanced, pleasant resinous fragrances that even those who usually aren't fan of resinous fragrances might enjoy.

It's not as bold or dense as Amber Kiso but it's not too far off, in fairness. Even a small Luckyscent dabber proved to be a reasonable way to enjoy the fragrance on wrists and neck, so I'll need to retry it some more. Overall, I quite like it, though I wouldn't quite yet say that I love it. Maybe that'll change.

The retail pricing for Amber Teutonic is the current standard D.S. & Durga pricing of $260 for 100ml, $175 for 50ml, available at not only the house website but also boutiques like Luckyscent and Twisted Lily as well as department stores like Nordstrom. I've not yet specifically seen Amber Teutonic available on the secondary market.

7 out of 10

Amber Teutonic is a fascinating scent from Brooklyn niche house, D.S. & Durga, especially for amber lovers. With Amber Kiso, it forms an Amber Duet, one colored deep golden brown and one colored green. It's the strange Amber, of the two, because it's also a strange woody scent. There's a bit of pine, a lot of pencil-cedar in the top notes.

This scent seems to be about contrast. It starts cool and damp, like a dark forest in a fairy tale but it warms on the skin– I think Helena Fitzgerald of the drydown said it was like a cabin in the woods, adding a fire, after nightfall; I'd agree with her– and, as it warms, the familiar amber facets show themselves.

Initially I loved the sample that they gave me so much that I bought a bottle. Then I sprayed it all over and had a totally different experience: it didn't seem like an amber at all. Instead it had musk, geranium, cedar and incense. It bugged me.

Now I've learned to go light and the affable character of the sample comes back to me. I think notes reach a critical mass at some point, where the difficult, indolic fragrances gang up on the ambers and push the whole scent into the ground.

Good stuff, nice ingredients, interesting concept and packaging(as always from dS) but I'd say sample before you buy.

I'm stuck in the middle on this. I love a lot of scents from D S and Durga. The whole Hylnds line is on my Mt. Rushmore of niche fragrance. But this one...I'm just not yet sold on. I think I may have to come back to it in a few weeks and see if my thoughts change.

I don't understand the note pyramid at all -- it bears no resemblance to the fragrance, which smells of amber, a slight hint of lemongrass and a big shot of coconut.

Oddly, it is also quite sweet and simultaneously fresh.

The performance is outstanding and I like the smell very much.

Well...I'm sorry to say that Amber Teutonic was not what I was hoping it would be, which was a coniferous fragrance heavy with fir, spruce and pine. But, it's not the "fir" coat I was hoping for. It doesn't "spruce" up my wardrobe, and I'm not "pine"ing for it, unfortunately.

This opens with a tang from the "green mandarin" and an overall sweetness that lends itself much more to the "amber" side of the name than the "Teutonic" side of the name, again...unfortunately for me. I blind bought this and was under the impression that it would be a very conifer heavy fragrance, but I've worn it four times now and I'm just not getting that. There is also an almost "coconuty" vibe. No cedar for me and no coriander. I also pick up a minty quality right after application. In the mid's I still smell the amber sweetness along with a melange of green, but it's an undefined greenness to my nose. The base goes along pretty much the same for me and that's about it. If pressed I'd say I get more of a musk vibe in the base than the other listed notes. I'm sad because I was hoping this would be a bright and vibrant fir and pine fragrance. Ah well, I bought a full bottle so I'm gonna try and let it grow on me as I generally love David Seth Moltz work and this is by no means a bad fragrance. It's very interesting actually...just not what I was hoping for and so it's a neutral so far for me.