Ambergris T Oliffac (IFF)

Even at full strength, this chemical is quite subtle, and remains suavely "transparent" throughout its development. Those looking for an animalic funk will be disappointed: it does not seem civet-like, fecal, urinaceous, cumin-sweaty or "barnyard" to me at all. You'll need to look elsewhere for those qualities. From the bottle, I get an alcohol diffusiveness, with extremely subtle hints of wintergreen (like Lepage's children's paste) and a fleeting near-fruity nuance of cherry cough syrup. It dries down gently and beautifully to reveal a subtle leather-y indolic suaveness (but never as indolic as civet, castoreum or Indolene). In farthest drydown it takes on the quality of a sheer skin musk, smelling like a woman's skin or lips. It is the quality I smell in, say, Guerlain SAMSARA, underneath the jasmine and sandalwood: the tender smell of a healthy young woman's breath or lips. There is no "brine" or "fish" or sea-kelp quality at all. This will be an exquisite, delicately sensual, transparent, tenacious basenote musk for a wide variety of blends. Absolutely gorgeous.

I agree with the other reviewer wholeheartedly. The ethanol gives the initial impression of a powerful oceanic aroma, but once applied to the skin the ethanol quickly wears off and what's left is a subtle impression of something kind of like a vaguely oceanic breathy civet with a lactonic texture - very sensual. This is not bad at all, just very subtle. I can imagine one would have to use a lot to get it to stand out.

This is a mild fixative that's predominantly civet with a slight lactonic / marine aspect. It's well done, and more realistic than other ambergris blends I've smelled, but I'd consider it as something that should be backgrounded and used as support.