Ambrette 9 (2006)
by Le Labo

Fruity musk. Ambrette 9 is a thin and synthetic concoction of slightly acidic, sort of fresh, fruit and musks. The fragrance is so subtle that initially I couldn't detect anything but a light (non-sweet) fruityness but as it started to react with the skin, synthetic musks made their presence clearer turning Ambrette 9 into a transparent, inoffensive but overall pleasant "clean-fragrance" Nice but unremarkable.

Lovers of the "Jardins" serie by Hermes should dig this.

2nd January, 2012.

I can barely smell anything here... just an incredibly light baby powder experience with some insipid musks.

This is an all-round embarrassment from a great fragrance company... and the final insult is they're still asking a ridiculously inflated price for it. An expensive joke indeed.

27th June, 2011.

This is a great example of a "skin scent" to borrow a term used by Dawn Spencer Hurwitz. In fact, she has a line of several skin scents, and these are great for those (again, to quote/paraphrase from the DSH site) who want to try out fragrances without smelling too "perfumey."

Ambrette 9 (for bebe) smells very, very similar to DSH's Formula X (their best -seller in Japan.)

It is also very similar to White Musk Accord from The Perfumer's Assistant.

Perhaps since I am accustomed to this type of fragrance, I get alot more out of it than some other bn'ers, it would seem. Yes, it is subtle and close to the skin. It's supposed to be. Know this before you buy/wear/critique it.

If you do have the "osmotic receptors" to appreciate Ambrette 9's quiet muskiness, you may find it as intimate, special and, in its own way, thrilling, as I do! (BTW the longevity on my skin was 9+ hours.)

5th June, 2011.

The opening with a distinct note of apples that lingers all the while is nice, but soon the powdery smell of (I assume) the amberette dominates. It's a smell I could tolerate in others, but would not necessarily use on my own. I could imagine using it in solidarity with a baby powdered up to the ears, though I'd more likely try to find unflavored powder.
I bought this with lots of other Le Labo samples, admittedly without realising the intended use - then again I'm all against reading and assigning labels anyway, trying to become androgny incarnate ;-)

23rd May, 2011.

It's a pleasant, although short-lived, musky fragrance. The musk here have a soft-cotton aroma and seem proper for a baby fragrance. I thought that the pear i was getting at the opening was something from my mind, but now that i see it listed as one of the notes i know that i'm not getting crazy. The pear is the first note that i get it upon application, but you have to see that it's not the smell of a fresh pear at nature, it's the synthetic that they use to emulate the pear smell, which is not so similar to pear and that reminds me a little of those products to iron clothes easier. It's the same note used in byredo blanche; blanche and Ambrette 9 are similar, both have a cotton-synthetic aura, with byredo being worser, more synthetic, with a soapy aroma that i truly hate. Ambrette 9 has the fruity side, the muskier, and a light ambrette aroma that seems delicious. The problem is that it's short-lived and overpriced, but if it weren't would be a undemanding fragrance for those days that you only something light and barely fragrant.

31st December, 2010.

A light scent- I did not perceive any fruit !!! -unlike the other reviewers. I found it musky and milky,slightly sweet but most of all just ...'light'. More a subtle skin scent if anything. The white opaque version is for babies and children . It's Ok but for the price of Le Labo, I think I'd go for one of the other scents with better staying power and more personality .

22nd September, 2010.