Les Indemodables Ambre Supreme courtesy of  the brand©

If you’ve never smelled real ambergris – and chances are good that unless you are a fan of vintage, you haven’t – it is among the hardest notes to describe because it is such a chameleon. Depending on what it is mixed with, ambergris can smell saline, animalic, ambery, mineral, fresh/ozonic, sweet, musky, earthy, … well, you get the picture. For this reason, and due to its prohibitive cost, ambergris is usually used as a background material to amplify its partners or replaced with a synthetic version. But not in Les Indemodables’ latest perfume, Ambre Supreme. Created by master perfumer Antoine Lie, Ambre Supreme contains a walloping 10% dosage of the real deal, specially sourced and tinctured for the brand. The resulting fragrance glows like a topaz in candlelight; incandescent, warm, refractory and very elegant.

courtesy of the brand©

Les Indemodables, whose name means “the timeless,” is just that: a collection of beautifully crafted that could have been made today or 100 years ago. The brand’s fragrances riff on the classic olfactive families of fragrances, and the recipes do not stint on high-end ingredients, many of which of are classified as “grand cru.” With its kaleidoscopic beauty, that seems to shift every few minutes, and intense ambergris backdrop, Les Indemodables Ambre Supreme fits neatly with its fellows. The first spray brings a crash of surf and the glitter of sunlight on the wave’s crest via bubbles of aldehydes and the salty tang of the ambergris, accompanied by a sharp crackle of peppercorn. Soon, a flinty mineral notes washes in, and it takes me to stony cove on a faraway shore where the gulls call forlornly to each other and there is no human sound but the quiet beat of my heart. Alongside the seaside smells, fluffy orange blossoms shake loose on the breeze and citrusy-sweet neroli beckons the sun from behind a few puffy clouds.

Antoine Lie courtesy of the perfumer

The temperate beach sensations continue for some time, but I gradually start becoming aware of other facets to Ambre Supreme emerging. It is almost as if two perfumes are developing in parallel to each other: one that centers the flinty, ozonic side of the ambergris; the other, a vintage-y, animalic, spicy floral. The ambergris acts as both a bridge to these two seemingly divergent trajectories as well as their conductor. Its musky, bodily qualities come out more fully as this second movement to Ambre Supreme starts to come forward, amping indoles in the lovely jasmine absolute that sings in the center of the composition. The ambergris may be the star attraction of Ambre Supreme, but this creamy, sweet-saucy jasmine almost steals the show.

Deserted Beach NZ by Nancy Nunes via Pixels

Late to the party is immortelle, which adds its characteristic molasses aroma to Ambre Supreme’s later stages, lending a darker, more opaque quality to the composition. The sage, pepper and cardamom act as a chorus rather than taking solos, adding earthier tones that harmonize with the fresh soil patchouli in the base. At some point in the mid-section, Ambre Supreme’s two personalities, which hitherto harmonized with each other, being to merge into a single melody. The deserted rocky beach gives way to somewhere on the Riviera where sea and champagne foam, orange blossoms stir by the grand promenade, and flowering jasmine tumbles down the stone walls of the café across the way. The waves lap and play a game of catch with the spray, sunglasses are lowered, and somewhere, a phonograph is playing Trenet. Les Indemodables Ambre Supreme smells like all of that.

Notes: Aldehydes, clary sage oil Switzerland grand cru, pink pepper CO2 Madagascar, cardamom oil from India, orange flower grand cru, neroli oil from Morocco, jasmine absolute from India, patchouli oil grand cru, ambergris tincture grand cru, immortelle extract from France grand cru (from the brand’s private field).

Disclaimer: Sample of Les Indemodables Ambre Supreme kindly provided by Indigo Perfumery. My opinions, as always, are my own.

Lauryn Beer, Senior Editor

 

Photo via Indigo Perfumery©

Thanks to the generosity of Indigo Perfumery, we have a 50 ml bottle Les Indemodables Ambre Supreme for one registered reader in the U.S. To be eligible, please leave a comment saying what strikes you about Ambre Supreme based on Lauryn’s review and whether you have tried any Les Indemodables fragrances. Draw closes 1/19/2022.

Please read Lauryn’s review of Havane Vanille here  Cuir de Chine here and Iris Perle Here

Former Editor Dana Sandu Three you should be wearing Musc de Sable, Rose de Jamal and Fougere Emeraude

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