Reviews of Ambre Fétiche (2007)
by Annick Goutal

This is an amber that requires some patience. The opening nearly blasts the wearer with frankincense. Some reviewers describe it as sweet and boozy and others describe it as incensey. I agree more with the latter, although some sweetness is certainly present. On this wearing, the middle notes nearly caused me to layer on another fragrance, as I had done on a couple of other occasions. A strong birch tar leather note nearly overwhelms and had I not waited it out, I would have probably given AG a neutral for harshness. But, ten to fifteen minutes later, the edges softened out, leaving a soft, slightly resinous amber with just a hint of leather. The drydown is well worth the wait, placing this fragrance among my favorites in the amber category.

Rather strong on the birch tar (Russian leather) note at first, but then this dries down to reveal a more ambery scent. The incense, labdanum, and styrax in the top combine to give an assertive oriental impression. Though the leather predominates for quite a while, it only finally disappears quite late in the drydown. Powdery benzoin and iris soften, but do not overwhelm it. In fact, for a scent containing such a definite powdery heart, it hardly comes across as powdery at all. I have to say, though, that this fragrance, while quite lovely, is overall a very close approximation of Guerlain Cuir Beluga. This is not very apparent at first, but as the development progresses it becomes unmistakable; so I would say if you have Cuir Beluga, you may not need this one at all.

Ambre Fetiche is an amber that knows not to overdose on the vanilla syrup; instead, there's a liberal dollop of incense resins which lend it a Middle Eastern, spicy quality. A leathery (birch?) note enters the picture an hour or so into the thing, darkening the pitch and smoking up the joint while an earthy, powdered iris root blows kisses from off-stage.

My favorite of the Les Orientalistes series.