Ambrette 9 by Le Labo, 2006

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.

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.

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.)

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 ;-)

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.

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 .

Very subtle. Perhaps if a parent or parents wish to perfume a baby, this would be a way to do it, except that baby shampoo or baby oil and certainly baby powder have more presence and personality than Ambrette 9 has. I think if one wishes to smell this on a baby s(he) would have to pick up the baby and press it to his/her nose, and Im not entirely convinced of the whole prospect. Ambrette 9 presents a delicate / pleasant / clean ambr(ette) accord with a discernible pear note very, very weak, but so is the very idea of its existence which to me is random and insipid.

Notes: Subtle floral notes, pear, apple, ambrette seeds (from luckyscent.com)

Ambrette 9 starts vegetal and green, with rooty notes evocative of carrot or iris, violet leaf, and something sweet and fruity. The "something sweet and fruity" turns out to be a note which, simply put, smells like Kool Aid in a generic "red" flavor. Within minutes, the lovely green notes are gone, and the "red" (cherry? strawberry?) persists in a one-note linear composition. A rapid development (under two hours) left me with hardly anything to smell except a very light and soapy white musk skin-scent. I have smelled shampoos with more personality and tenacity.

This came as a complimentary sample from Luckyscent. Maybe that's why i like it so much. I didn't have to pay for it. Yes it's close to the skin and longevity is poor but it is one of those pick-me-up scents that make you feel clean and fresh and happy, like riding on a silver cloud. It has this friuty-floral-tart vibe that is a little feminine but makes you feel cool and easy. I got that vibe from Les Nereides Fleur Poudree de Musc also. Lovely stuff.

I really appreciate the interesting ambrette note in Chanel no 18 - a "grown-up" musky and comforting skin scent - but combined with the sweet, slightly "watery", fruit note of pear in this "baby fragrance" I find it downright sickening. And I don't think babies should be perfumed anyway!