Ambre Sultan

More than a fragrance, Serge Lutens offers a journey. A journey into his Morocco, that of his escapes, the one he carried like a burden on his face, until he discovered it as a gift…which he offers us with Ambre Sultan!

Between Ambre Sultan and Serge Lutens, a story of memories and reflections

Ambre Sultan is one of those fragrances that reveal themselves sparingly, arrive without loud advertising, but leave an intense mark on the olfactory landscape with its delicate and languid touch. To create this magnificent fragrance that Serge Lutens describes as Arab before being oriental, he drew from the depths of his memories of Morocco, from its scents of spices and incense, and of course from that divine amber that perfumes the souks. The poet-perfumer dreams of this Morocco in which he loves to find himself again and which he once had to confront, long ago.

For Ambre Sultan, Serge Lutens states that he made peace with his Moroccan features, which as a child brought him so much trouble while the Algerian war was living through its most dramatic hours. One day, an adult had turned other children against me. I went home and looked at myself in a mirror. What does the child think? Nothing at all… but more than thirty years later, I begin this perfumery. Ambre Sultan is a reconciliation with an image of myself, Serge Lutens recounted about the creation of Ambre Sultan. It should not be forgotten that within this fragrance by Serge Lutens burns a scent of the man himself, a haunting olfactory memory.

Far removed from the fresh, calone-driven fragrances of the era, Serge Lutens thus set himself apart from the major olfactory families to offer a piece of his beloved Morocco. To spare himself what he scornfully calls the Adam and Eve of marketing?

There is no need to look for grandiloquent advertising here; Ambre Sultan is quite rightly represented by nothing more than two skillfully adorned sultans for its visual. And nothing else. What would be the point, after all?

Ambre Sultan, an Arab fragrance above all, a leader among oriental fragrances

There is no need to look for any sophistication in the Ambre Sultan bottle. The beauty lies in the juice, or rather in the amber color of this unique fragrance, which reveals itself to our eyes like a treasure of Morocco.

Ambre Sultan is said to have been born from the blend of a piece of amber from Lutens’s first trip to Marrakech and thuya wood, in which he kept it for years. Thus spices, aromatics, woods and stones adorn this perfumed masterpiece.

From the top notes of laurel and myrtle, we are already propelled into a distant journey that will carry us to the heart of this fragrance through a precious spicy and aromatic blend of cinnamon, coriander, cumin and angelica. Finally, the deep sillage of this sensual journey lingers with precious woods of patchouli and sandalwood, to unfold further into tree moss and styrax. Benzoin and Tolu balsam thus wrap the wild animalic facets offered by ambergris and labdanum in a suave intensity. Vanilla adds its touch of gourmand character to this intoxicating cocktail, further entangling us in the thousand arms of this amber sultan!

Ambre Sultan is therefore a fragrance created by Serge Lutens for admirers of Serge Lutens. But it goes well beyond that and bewitches all those who dare venture onto this intense and rare olfactory path that defines great fragrances. Hesitating as always between softness and violence, purity and darkness, Ambre Sultan was the origin of many other oriental fragrances that attempted to reproduce this remarkable composition. Without ever equaling it. Because Ambre Sultan does not blend in, it is unique.