I’ve been a subscriber to the monthly fragrance subscription, Scentbird, for many years now, but I haven’t gotten a sample every month for ages. I have set my subscription to every 3 months at this point. I’ve had more misses than hits with Scentbird, but in spite of that I have discovered some fragrances I love, that I’ve eventually bought full size bottles of.
I tend to like amber scents. What does amber smell like? Here’s a definition from my favorite fragrance info source, Fragrantica.com: “The term “amber” is loosely used to describe a scent that is warm, musky, rich and honey-like, and also somewhat oriental and earthy. It can be synthetically created or derived from natural resins. When derived from natural resins it is most often created out of labdanum. Benzoin is usually part of the recipe.”
I’m telling you about amber because, this month, I received a 30 day sample of Ambre Nomade by Elisire. A while ago, I added this fragrance to my queue because it had several notes that I favor, i.e. amber, spice, musk. Yes, it’s another gender-neutral oriental fragrance. Hey, that’s what I like!
The main accords are: fresh spicy, aromatic, balsamic, woody, fruity, musky.
Here’s the evocative description of the scent: “A fragrance in eruption. Glorious and promising like the sunset. Empowering like a solar eclipse. Golden Amber in fusion. A lustful blend of warm Olibanum, luscious Vanilla, mysterious Patchouli and Musks, surrounded by exotic Ylang Ylang from Madagascar, Cedarwood and Cistus. Illuminated by a radiant combination of Apple, Apricot, Ginger and natural Aromatics, Rosemary, Lavender, Sage. A powerful elixir of seduction.”
Ambre Nomade was launched in 2015. It was created by Pierre Negrin and Franck Salzwedel. Top notes are apricot, ginger, sage, apple, rosemary and lavender; middle notes are cedar, labdanum and madagascar ylang-ylang; base notes are patchouli, olibanum, vanilla and musk.
On the fragrance website Fragrantica, only 26 people had rated Ambre Nomade. They tended to love it, think it was perfect for winter and fall, and it was considered appropriate for both day and night wear.
The raters differed on longevity and on sillage (projection). I find it to be a strong scent, at least initially. Just about everything fades on me these days, and I can’t figure out why. Nevertheless, this powerhouse with its strong opening is generally what I was looking for. I wish it lasted even longer, but frankly, I think it’s me, not the fragrance.
I like Ambre Nomade, though I don’t find the scent to be as complex as I expected it to be based on the number of accords and notes in the formulation. The scent is spicy and the opening and middle smells like incense IMHO. It is somewhat exotic and somewhat sexy. The dry down when the vanilla and musk notes make their presence known is lovely.
I’ve been using Ambre Nomade for several days, and though I am enjoying it, I am not sure it’s different enough from scents that I already own to make me purchase a full size bottle. In fact, it’s similar to Grand Soir from Maison Francis Kurkdjian (reviewed here). (BTW, Grand Soir is now 25% off a Nordstrom). But who knows, if it ends up lasting longer on me, I could change my mind. At any rate, I am glad I tried this. Scentbird’s key benefit is providing enough scent in the spray bottle to last about a month. I think that’s the right amount of time to determine if the scent works or not. The Scentbird month supply costs $16.95 delivered.
Ambre Nomade by Elisire is sold as extract de parfum, the strongest formulation with the most “perfume” and least alcohol. That was one of the key reasons I was interested, because I thought it would last longer on me. As always, I hope that the scent will “take hold” after I’ve worn it a while.
Ambre Nomade by Elisire is sold at Macy’s in 1 ounce and 1.7 ounce bottles, priced at $125 and $225 respectively (before Macy’s discounts and Rakuten). The larger size bottle with the beautiful crystal top is quite eye-catching.
My favorite scent is Patchouli. I love earthy scents with sandalwood and musk. Many perfumes claim to be earthy but are way too sweet for me. I do not like a heavy sweet scent although light is okay. You are right about scents not lasting as long on skin. Same thing happens to me. Ahhh, the perils of growing older!
I’m a patchouli fan, too, Mary. I was happy to see that patchouli was one of the notes in Ambre Nomade. I like your description “earthy” – I have a hard time describing scents, so I may need to borrow that description if appropriate in the future 😉 Thanks for telling me that you’re having trouble with scents lasting too. I thought it was just me! I hadn’t thought about it being age-related. Some people have suggested that as one gets older, we can’t smell as well, and that maybe I just can’t smell the scents on myself – but I know that I’m not there yet. I have no trouble smelling. It’s a longevity problem! I’m going to try spraying over a carrier oil and see if that helps.
I think that Scentbird is one of the best subscriptions available. Try for a minimal price, skip months when you want, put things in your queue that sound good. Can’t get better than that.
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Coming from a non-fragrance person, that is high praise for Scentbird indeed. And I agree with you, Marcia!
I didn’t know that you can change how often Scentbird was delivered, you learn something new everyday! As for the long lastingness of the perfume and whether it’s or the perfume depends on both you and the perfume. Certain perfume types last longer than others for example an Eau Fraiche is only 1% fragrance and therefore will probably only last a few hours (these are typically your B&BW fragrances) while an Eau de Parfum is usually at least 15% fragrance and therefore should last double that of a Fraiche. However, you’re skin’s pH also plays a part in how long those last for you individually. For example, a fraiche might last for 2 hours on you but on me it only lasts 30 minutes lol
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I like that you can change shipping frequency!
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