Amber

Amber in perfumery is not the fossilised tree resin you wear as jewellery. It is an accord, a blend, usually built from labdanum (sticky Mediterranean rockrose resin), benzoin, and vanilla. Spanish and Moroccan labdanum supplies most of the natural material, while modern amber accords use synthetic captives to extend their warmth and longevity. The smell is golden, dense, sweet, leathery, slightly powdery, and infinitely wearable. By planetary-correspondence tradition, amber is Sun and Saturn: Sun in its golden warmth, its glow, its association with abundance, Saturn in its density, its labdanum darkness, its slow-developing depth. Amber is the most universally appealing base in perfumery. It reads as luxury, warmth, embrace. On skin it can range from sweet powdery to dark resinous depending on what surrounds it. Wear it in winter. Pairs with oud, rose, vanilla, and sandalwood.