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Does ciste labdanum and ambergris (from whales) smell the same?

post #1 of 7
7/15/10 at 3:34am
Thread Starter 
maybe you even smelled real ambergris?
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post #2 of 7
7/15/10 at 3:49am
Ambergris is rich, sealike, proteinaceous, creamy, salty, slightly sweet, and ultrasmooth.

Cistus labdanum is sweet woody with smoky/leathery aspects.
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post #3 of 7
7/15/10 at 4:00am
Yes quite different. Real ambergris has a slightly sickly, powerful but not dense, sea-like animalic, sweet, smell which is (in my opinion) not great on its own but has a fantistic unifying and smoothing effect on other notes, even in quantities so small you can hardly smell it on its own.
Cistus Labdanum is very sweet, strong, dense, woody leathery which smells good on its own. It is very powerful and a few drops can dominate a mixture. If you have smelled penhaligons Duoro/Eau de Portugal, that has a dominant cistus note. Vintage C&S 88 has significant real ambergris in the base.
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post #4 of 7
7/15/10 at 7:32am
Thread Starter 
ok , now it's clear
I smelled labdanum, but not real ambergris

I've read somewhere that the closest thing to real ambergris is Hermes Eau de marveilles. Is it correct?
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post #5 of 7
7/15/10 at 7:47am
NO - I have real ambergris used in perfumery and they are NOTHING alike.

Quote:
Originally Posted by DreamerII View Post


I've read somewhere that the closest thing to real ambergris is Hermes Eau de marveilles. Is it correct?
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post #6 of 7
7/15/10 at 8:23am
Thread Starter 
Hermes launched Eau des Merveilles in 2004. The fragrance was created by perfumers Ralf Schwieger and Nathalie Feisthauer, and has notes of elemi, bitter orange, Italian lemon, Indonesian pepper, pink pepper, ambergris accord, oak, cedar, vetiver, balsam of Peru and tears of Siam. Eau des Merveilles, or Water of Wonders, was said to have been inspired by ambergris:

“For me, ambergris is a magical material,” said Givaudan’s perfumer Ralf Schwieger…He explained that it reminds him of the biblical tale of Jonah and the whale, where the prophet was swallowed alive.

“Ambergris has so many facets — ambery, woody, dark, a salty-sweet concoction with [notes of] ink and tobacco. My idea was to re-create it in my way,” he said. (Women’s Wear Daily, 12/12/2003)

http://www.nstperfume.com/2006/09/07...es-fragrances/
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post #7 of 7
7/15/10 at 9:50am
As everyone has stated, no they are very very different.
Labdanum is like resinous-incense/sweet-spices/very-sweet type smell
Properly aged Ambergris is salty/waxy/smooth/lightly-sweet type.

Interesting about the inspiration of Eau De Merveilles
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Basenotes › Basenotes Forums › Fragrance Discussion › Male Fragrance Discussion › MFD Archive › Does ciste labdanum and ambergris (from whales) smell the same?