drseid's Review of Embers by Teone Reinthal Natural Perfume

*Note: This is a review of the 2012 version of Embers.

Embers opens with a dash of benzoin enhanced moderately sweet, smooth vanilla before gradually transitioning to its heart. As the composition enters its early heart, it stays highly linear as the vanilla remains, now joined by faint dull rose and a warm spiced woody-amber accord. During the late dry-down the linearity continues, as the rose vacates, leaving the diminished though still remaining vanilla to couple with the warm spiced woody amber accord through the finish. Projection is above average and longevity average at around 8 hours on skin.

Well, I knew it had to eventually happen... Even the strongest perfumers and/or houses with enough releases have to have a couple that really don't impress, and finally I have sniffed one from TRNP. Embers (2012) is a relatively simplistic warm spiced woody amber perfume at its core. The spice is blended enough to make picking out individual notes difficult, but if the result is as mundane as found here, it really doesn't matter and I gave up trying. While Mysore sandalwood is found in the official note list (at a 7.5% concentration, no less), I'll be darned if I sniffed any. Really the vanilla and spiced woody amber accord are the stars here, and they really are pretty much all there is to it. The perfume actually *does* smell good, but spiced woody-amber perfumes are so abundant that one ponders why they should purchase yet another. The bottom line is the $220 per 30ml bottle Embers is a pleasant but unimpressive addition to the all too crowded woody-amber field, earning a "good" 3 stars out of 5 rating, but an avoid recommendation unless you are planning on layering it with a real Mysore sandalwood soliflore perfume like Mysore Santal by Ethos Grooming Essentials (which I tried doing briefly and enjoyed).

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