Illuminated Perfume: Aumbre

Serendity came by for a visit resulting in a new member of the illuminated tribe of perfumes. The new fragrance is titled Aumbre alluding to three other words: Amber, the Spanish word Hombre and the mystical Aum. Amber + Hombre + Aum = Aumbre.

Amber is one of many linguistically challenging words in the world of perfume. Most associate it with the fossilized resin often used in Baltic amber. The etymology of the word reaches back to the valuable substance produced by the Sperm whale known as Ambergris called Ambra. In perfume the word Amber refers to rich, balsamic fragrances.

In natural perfume ambergris is utilized most often to convey the Amber note while in botanical perfume we employ only botanical based ingredients such as Labdanum, Cistus, Benzoin, Storax, and Vanilla. There are many variations on botanical Amber accords some of which feature Patchouli, Rose and Oakmoss.

My palette contains many Amber accords which are featured in almost every perfume to a greater or lesser degree. When I first stepped into natural perfume from the domain of aromatherapy Amber was my very favorite note and I often wore a constructed accord as a perfume. Greg, my husband, wore it so often that the accord quickly became known as his signature scent.

On the Valentines Day blog post I made reference to an Amber accord which resulted in Karen, a fabulous patron, requesting it as a solid perfume. This is when Serendipity stepped in. The perfume devoted to the honey bee is an Amber perfume. When Karen made her request I wasn't keen on releasing two Amber perfumes within the same quadrant. However, March 13th was my beloved Greg's birthday and he was all out of his Amber accord.

Thus, off to the land of Serendip I went and have returned with a solid perfume titled Ambre for my hombre who chants Aum in the morning and at night. The fragrance contains a botanical synergy of about twenty different essences. The notes are warm, balsamic and sweet with whispers of tobacco and incense smoke. The feel is nurturing and exotic.