New York Amber by Bond No. 9, 2011

The first few hours of New York Amber are just wonderful. It's a perfect balance of interesting smells and textures. There are minty champagne aldehydes and a pinch of black pepper for lift, a fuzzy peachskin smell for texture, a shot of frankincense for woodiness, a smear of ambrox and a touch of creamy pink pepper for richness, a touch of smoke, and a hint of saffron to give a subtle leathery oud flavor that adds the perfect darkness for contrast. And all this is perfectly matched. It's slightly feminine but also vaguely masculine. It's interesting and "niche-smelling" without being too weird. Simultaneously, the aldehydes and pink pepper give it a touch of Coco-esque familiarity, but the smoky woods keep it in the realm of art. Sadly, this brilliance slowly unravels over the course of the day, as a textbook synthetic "woody amber" base comes in (you know, that mainstream aquatic bleachy rubbing alcohol smell). It's subtle and kind of nice at first, but eventually, it swallows everything and leaves New York Amber smelling like a generic mainstream masculine. It's especially sad, because the frankincense and ambrox in the topnotes had me expecting a deep, rich incense base ala Tauer, but no. It's just a generic "Bleu" smell laced with sad tendrils of the brilliant topnotes.