Enveloping, warm, evoking an oriental atmosphere, I amber perfume they are the cornerstone of the universe of fragrances, the protagonists of autumn and winter, when they go hand in hand with the onset of the cold season. more pleasant olfactory notes they become privileged interpreters of the need for certainty.
Amber perfume: favorites of Madame du Barry
However, the aromas of amber also intrigue and seduce. Marie-Jeanne Becoux knew this well. Countess du Barry went down in history as one of the favorites of Louis XV, the main character of the last film with Johnny Depp, Jeanne DuBarry – The King’s Favorite arrived in cinemas. And that’s exactly what it was erotic potential of amber to charm an eighteenth-century noblewoman who, after the usual aromatic baths, sprinkled her private parts with a prepared ointment with opoponax gumgeranium, cinnamon and rose; baptism amber, she called it Madame, or “amber baptism.” Retrieved from Commiphora, Opoponax resin has a very sweet smell, and in ancient times it was considered a kind of panacea for every possible evil, so much so that it was also used in exorcisms. Who knows if Countess DuBarry thought the same; What is certain is that for her he was an indispensable ally in seduction.
Labdanum, benzoin and vanilla: three notes of amber.
Today, as yesterday, when we speak of amber, we refer to a series of ingredients that together give life to the unmistakable aroma that characterizes it; agreement, therefore, and not a separate element. Among the olfactory notes most often used to create amber perfumes are, for example, the resin extracted from cistus labdanum, an evergreen shrub used in perfumery for over 3,000 years and characterized by a strong aroma. Cistus and labdanum essential oils, which have warm and enveloping aromas, are obtained from the plant. Labdanum is usually combined with benzoinanother resin belonging to the oriental amber family, extracted from two different plants, Siamese benzonium (Styrax tonkinese) and Sumatran benzonium (Styrax Benjoin). The first is more vanilla, the second is more spicy, they are usually reserved for the base notes of the aroma, which are often remembered in the head vanilla, the note is almost always present when talking about amber.