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Ambre Russe : A well put together amber or ruined by clutter ?

post #1 of 20
10/5/10 at 5:29pm
Thread Starter 
So I have been sampling Parfum D'Empire Ambre Russe as of late. The first scent from this house I have sampled. But not my first amber. Amber Sultan is great, but somewhat hard to wear during the daytime. Blue Amber is a bit on the powdery side. As well, kind of linear.

With Ambre Russe, my first sampling went quite well. After the top notes of vodka ( ?), champagne and whatever else had me unsettled, I seemed to find the fragrance interesting overall. It changes during the day. I noticed its nuances. A leather note that actually did not repel me. The fragrance also seemed to feel "right".

The next 2 samplings...well, not the best. I just find myself puzzled. I don't find AR to be as interesting as it was in the first sampling. As well, I find it overal more boozy. Other negatives are me finding the amber accord and leather are seemingly not as present. I mean, I can still smell the amber, but overall the scent seems too boozy.....I hope you get the idea of how I feel now.

I want to try this in cooler weather. Perhaps I should wait until temperature become cooler ?

I also would like to read your thoughts on the scent and some constructive replies as well. Whether that be towards the fragrance, Ambre Russe, or my post.

Thanks for reading and I look forward to reading your replies.
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post #2 of 20
10/5/10 at 6:14pm
Ambre Russe is an all time favorite. It will differ each and every time. One day the tea is there. The next it's all amber. Then cinnamon, then boozy, then dusty, then dried fruits, then austere. I love it. It's a layered and mosaic scent. Constantly shape-shifting it's impressions.
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post #3 of 20
10/5/10 at 6:18pm
Ambre Russe is a complicated scent that absolutely must be tested before buying. You have to really enjoy the combination of booze and amber as this is dominant in the early stages. Later on it settles into a leather. This is also a much better scent in the winter because all the notes are kind of bold and hot and need some tempering by cooler weather. I like Ambre Russe but I can not wear it myself and I tried - and so I recommend you test it carefully.

Some other excellent amber scents are: Annick Goutal Ambre Fetische, Sonoma Scent Studio Ambre Noir and my new favoirte amber fragrance - just released is Halston Man Amber. All of these are scintillating amber scents with various degrees of woods and darker tar like notes to add masculine character. You can not go wrong with any of these.
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post #4 of 20
10/5/10 at 7:35pm
I've said this before, but if you want something that's a lot like Ambre Russe but a little less crazy, source some Balenciaga PH for yourself. It's a little smokier, a little woodier, and less boozy. It's a little less adventurous than Ambre Russe, too, but if you're finding Ambre Russe what you like but just too too, it's my number one recommendation.

I personally love Ambre Russe but find it a sometime scent at its best when I'm wanting something warm and comforting. Definitely a cold-weather favorite for me; I just don't reach for this when things are warm outside.

It's a hot mess, in the best possible way, but subtlety ain't its forte. I reach for it when I want something grand.
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post #5 of 20
10/5/10 at 8:37pm
I agree with almost all of the above statements. I love amber but I have yet to fall 'in love' with Amber Russe.
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post #6 of 20
10/5/10 at 9:11pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by neal View Post

Ambre Russe is an all time favorite. It will differ each and every time. One day the tea is there. The next it's all amber. Then cinnamon, then boozy, then dusty, then dried fruits, then austere. I love it. It's a layered and mosaic scent. Constantly shape-shifting it's impressions.

Neal, you hit the nail on the head with your description. I think I wore it a few times, got scared of it and had to hide under the covers. It is quite mesmerizing though.
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post #7 of 20
10/5/10 at 9:47pm
I am currently engaged in studying amber fragrances. I have, over the last couple of months, tried dozens of them. And Ambre Russe has emerged as one of my top few favorites.

It is a very dynamic fragrance. I also find that the tea note is fickle, sometimes dominate and sometimes barely noticable.

The leather note is one of the best I've experienced. I have not yet made a study of leather fragrances so my experience here is limted, but I have found that many so-called leather notes don't smell much like leather to me but, instead, smell dirty. The leather in Ambre Russe smells very much like clean, high-quality leather to me. The leather, however, is also variable.

And the Amber is good, never overpowering, but sometimes not as present as I would like.

The incense note is consistently weak for me, always in the distant background.

Overall, Ambre Russe is one of my personal favorites.

(I also like Parfum D'Empire's bottle design very much. It's very simple and very elegant. Just be aware, however, that it is a rather tall bottle, upwards of seven inches tall for the 100ml. So, if you have short shelves or something, this might be a problem.)
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post #8 of 20
10/5/10 at 10:26pm
Yes, it's a well put together, cluttered mess. Boozey top notes are always too associative for me; the first sniff of this one begs me to an Al-Anon meeting. Cheers!
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post #9 of 20
10/5/10 at 11:19pm
I love its excesses I could not wear it in warmer weather and therefore haven't reached for it for probably more than a half year. I have now come to the conclusion that I want to spray it on my skin and let it dry before putting my clothes on as I find it disgustingly sweet and off on fabric.
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post #10 of 20
10/6/10 at 4:29am
I find the scent to be very hard to wear as people think I have a drink problem if they keep smelling the fragrance on me. And I find the boozy aspect to this frag to be to jarring on my senses. Good construction though if you like this type of scent.
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post #11 of 20
10/6/10 at 5:48am
There is a lot going on in Ambre Russe. I enjoyed it, but can't see buying it for myself.
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post #12 of 20
10/6/10 at 7:11am
Boozy? Definitely but I don't find it all that overwhelming and that's probably why I like it! The boozy leather aspect seems more prominent than the amber to my nose - that's why I don't classify it as an amber-centric fragrance. This is one complex fragrance that will show a different profile depending on no. of applications, ambient temperature, humidity etc. With some experimentation on application you can probably get the exact effect you want. On my skin it usually smells raunchy!
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post #13 of 20
10/6/10 at 7:23am
I do love it top to bottom , but ultimately its just got too much going on and its not something I could carry off confidently
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post #14 of 20
10/6/10 at 7:36am
I agree that the amber in Ambre Russe can feel a bit buried. I wish the amber and leather would show through a little more, because I find the boozy notes bitter and almost stale (compared to, say, Yohji Homme, in which the booze positively glimmers), and the tea/spice notes feel a bit astringent and thin to me. These components kind of ruin the underlying structure of the scent, IMO.
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post #15 of 20
10/6/10 at 8:59am
I remember thinking when I wore this, "how did they put so many smells in one scent?" I know that is silly, but that is what went through my mind.
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post #16 of 20
10/6/10 at 9:25am
This fragrance left me puzzeled. I don't understand it. It smells so weird. I don't want to be seen with that one. And where's the amber basically?
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post #17 of 20
10/6/10 at 10:28am
AR is a HUGE amber. I lost my amber virginity with Ambre Russe. The first time I tried Ambre Sultan I thought it was very similar to AR. Big mistake, of course, they are very different scents as I found out later. AS topnotes are more herbal but the scent evolves very nicely. AR is much more linear to my nose, the booze stays there all the time.

AR is very nice (very, very nice) outdoor in chilly weather, so so in summer. AS is amazing in hot weather.
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post #18 of 20
10/6/10 at 11:34am
Ambre Russe is among my favourite amber scents. It perfectly re-creates the time and history of the location it tries to emulate. On top of that the scent is fantastic. To me its a cross between Xerjoff Homme and Amber Absolute by Tom Ford, two scents I absolutely love.

By the way if anyone is interested I'm trading my Montale-Blue Amber for a bottle of Ambre Russe. Its roughly 70% full (100ml bottle)-PM me.
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post #19 of 20
10/6/10 at 11:58am
Thread Starter 
I'm very pleased with the response to this thread, thanks guys Keep them comming.

For the gentleman who recommended Balenciaga PH, I will track down a sample. I had read a review for Balenciaga pour Homme in the past, but I may have dismissed it. But, I am into amber now. And as well, "older" fragrances. Thanks for the recommendation.
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post #20 of 20
11/29/10 at 1:08pm
So I gave this scent one more shot today, from a sample I found lying around in my pile of samples.

I like how it starts out all boozy and resinous, I do. And I smell the amber, very prominently when I first spray it on - so I'm puzzled by some of the above statements (...'where's the amber?').

However the scent falls flat on its face very quickly. Mostly due to how it reels itself in and then behaves quietly with notes that IMO should be turned up a notch. Of course, the natural thing to do at this point would be to re-apply some more juice - but this doesn't solve the problem. Newer sprays behave the same way: shy, turned down to a low hum.

There is a whiff of paint thinner (or something equally industrial/chemical) that I smell when it dries that is oddly comforting. But even this note is buried under all of the other flat notes of amber, woods, booze and resins.

I believe Ambre Russe would appeal to someone who likes boozy scents, much more than it would to someone who's looking for a good amber scent. But then if you just wanted a good boozy scent, one could easily get Michael Kors Cologne for Men for about 1/5 of the price of this one.
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Basenotes › Basenotes Forums › Fragrance Discussion › Male Fragrance Discussion › MFD Archive › Ambre Russe : A well put together amber or ruined by clutter ?