Amber

In ordinary usage, amber means the gemstone formed from hardened tree resin. In perfumery, however, it refers to an “amber note (in Japanese)” created to evoke amber’s golden color and radiance. Rather than actual fossilized resin, it is a sweet, warm composition (in Japanese) made mainly from resins such as labdanum (in Japanese) and benzoin (in Japanese), together with vanillin or natural vanilla (in Japanese).

It is also completely different from ambergris (in Japanese) and unrelated to it, so care is needed because the two are often confused. Some perfumes nevertheless use ambergris and amber almost interchangeably in their fragrance pyramids (in Japanese). Ambergris does not, in fact, smell like an amber accord.

Using synthetic ingredients freed perfumers from the constraints of “nature.” New horizons of creativity opened up. Amber, for example, is one of perfumery’s bases (in Japanese), yet it is a substance with no connection either to yellow amber, which is fossilized resin, or to ambergris, a concretion from the sperm whale’s intestine. It was the first abstract scent, born from the invention of vanillin at the end of the nineteenth century.

Jean-Claude Ellena

What Does It Smell Like in Perfume?

In perfume, “amber” is not the name of a single raw material. It is an accord that layers resins and sweet materials to create warm depth. Natural labdanum resinoid gives a dry, lingering scent reminiscent of amber, wood, and leather, while Siam benzoin adds a vanilla-like balsamic character and powdery softness. Commercial materials such as AMBRANUM, which combines labdanum and olibanum, are also available. Emphasizing the resinous side makes the effect drier; emphasizing the sweetness of benzoin and similar materials makes it softer and more enveloping.