Ambre Sultan was born in 1993 at Serge Lutens, from a piece of amber wax bought in the souks of Marrakech and forgotten for years in a thuja-wood box. Christopher Sheldrake composed the formula: dry herbs, coriander, oregano, laurel and myrtle, over an amber of cistus, benzoin and vanilla, backed by patchouli and sandalwood. The house places it in its Collection noire.
A very warm reception: Elena Vosnaki (Perfume Shrine) sees an iconoclastic amber, Victoria Frolova (Bois de Jasmin) the benchmark amber, Kevin (Now Smell This) a rough amber with an old-world charm, Stephan Matthews a bold, indomitable fragrance.
Olfastory’s review
Perfume Shrine, March 2011
Elena Vosnaki sees an iconoclastic amber, far from the safe, powdery ambers: a highly aromatic opening of herbs roasting in the sun, an amber heart rounded out by resins and creamy woods. She admires its craftsmanship, creamy without ever turning powdery, but finds it too masculine on her to wear often.
Bois de Jasmin, October 2011
For Victoria Frolova, Ambre Sultan became the benchmark amber within a decade and one of the most imitated. She praises the pairing of a sweet, unctuous amber with the camphorous brightness of herbs, somewhere between caramel ganache and tomatoes à la provençale, and advises a careful hand, or it smothers.
Now Smell This, September 2012
Kevin’s first Lutens, and for more than ten years his only amber. He describes it as two-sided, syrupy with sticky resins yet severe and bitter with dry oregano and laurel, brash rather than polite, rough rather than smooth, with an old, faraway air that he loves.
Stephan Matthews, March 2018
Stephan Matthews describes an opening laden with labdanum, with hints of church incense, where laurel and oregano push the patchouli to the fore. As the green notes fade come sandalwood, vanilla and a finish like spiced cognac. He judges the fragrance bold, uncompromising, indomitable.