Profumum Ambra Aurea Perfume Review
Profumum Roma Ambra Aurea Eau de Parfum is a rich, resinous, salty-sweet amber-driven fragrance that is complemented by lightly spiced woods and incense. It has a more linear progression with the drydown having some deeper, richer sweetness, that still felt like it derived from the amber, as it wasn’t really vanillic to me at all–too blended with a pinch of salt, a touch of musk, in a haze of smoke and spice. The notes are listed as “grey amber, incense, [and] myrrh.”
It opened with a salty-sweet, almost nutty caramel syrup that drenched my skin with the illusion of a warm, cozy blanket. The composition had more depth as there was a sweet, lightly spiced woody undercurrent that blended beautifully with the salty-sweet amber. Closer to my skin, the incense is more notable, while sitting up, the scent wafting up from my wrist was sweeter, more ambery with only a teasing of smoke and spice.
Ambra Aurea was a beautiful blend of its three listed notes– amber, incense, and myrrh–that became warmer, woodsy, and slightly musky over the next hour of wear. It became drier, spicier, and woodier in the base, almost like cedar wood, with the richer, slightly sweet amber like a warm blanket on top. The progression was linear from this point, even after five hours of wear, it was still the same mix, though it grew warmer, richer, and sweeter with less drier woods. Throughout the progression from opening to drydown, there was still a faint saltiness that really brought everything into balance for me.
For testing, I used half of a 0.7ml sample vial dabbed to the underside and topside of my wrist area on my left arm. I used an unscented moisturizer prior to applying the scent as this is also my swatching arm (aka, incredibly parched at any given moment) as I found scent did not hold well here otherwise. It was very long-wearing–lasting noticeably on my skin over 16 hours–and I got soft trails of the fragrance for the first four hours of wear whenever I raised my arm (like eating).
Subjectively, it was absolutely my kind of scent. It reminded me of a lot of Tom Ford’s Amber Absolute, which has been a long-time favorite and go-to scents, but Ambra Aurea is on the sweeter, softer (but not really that much less intense, just not as bombastic) side with less smokiness overall. I’m in the process of sampling other Profumum scents, so I haven’t decided on whether this will be something I add a full-size bottle of to my collection. I have plenty of Amber Absolute on hand, so even though I can differentiate between the two, it may make more sense to allocate budget toward another Profumum scent instead (at least for now!). I totally bought a bottle by the time this review went live.
Available Sizes
- 100ml for $275
- 18ml for $93 (harder to find size in the US)
- 0.7ml sample for $6
I think I already have something like this in my perfume stash. When my family moved it with us, I had to put all of my ‘good’ perfumes away and this was one of them. It is beautiful and I love it.
Warm blankets, cedar wood chests, sounds delicious! Perfect for if I ever get back home to New Jersey… 🧣
Well, holy smokes this sounds divine!!!
It is a winner!
As a dedicated perfumista, I am loving your fragrance reviews! I don’t get out to sniff anything much lately, and these are valuable to those of us that want to know about niche lines.
Thank you, Sadra! What are some of your favorite lines?
This sounds like a bit of a throwback to the ambers of the 80s and 90s, though then some were more brash with amber in the mid and base, at least to me. Cote Bastide was simple, with the amber being ‘powdery’ not sweet. They had a box of resinous room ambiance ‘rocks’ that were lovely. Still have some of the dusting powder. Their newer Amber Maquis pleases me less…maybe it’s the sandalwood. My reaction to many modern scents is ‘too sweet, too gourmand.’ The amber I prefer is warmer, more in-your-face amber than one that leans vanilla. I do like Juliette Not a Perfume. Comptoir Sud lost me when it turned vanilla. Scent is totally personal and I don’t GAS if I’m out of step.
I don’t wear perfume at all because I have an extremely sensitive sense of smell and can’t tolerate much (everything makes me nauseous), but I love reading about perfume and imaging that I would love to wear something if I could. I love the way you describe scents; I actually feel like I’m being transported away to someplace exotic. This sounds absolutely divine. My mom wears perfume daily and often gravitates towards scents with some warmth and amber in it, but she doesn’t like it to be too bold. I can see myself picking up a sample or small bottle for her to try.
How do you handle your mom wearing perfume daily, Christina, given it’s hard for you to tolerate most smells?
I’m delighted that you reviewed a Profumum Roma scent. They don’t get much column space in the USA but they have some lovely fragrances. I own Acqua Viva, their most popular scent in America and Sabbia Bianca, a white flower beast, which I adore. I’ll be in Rome in May and will definitely check out Ambra Aurea.
I’ve enjoyed a lot of their scents so far! I have not heard of Sabbia Bianca before!
I love Profumum Roma! Vanitas is amazing, it smells like raspberry and licorice to me, very special 🙂
I just tested that one recently! It is a little too sweet for me overall, but I can see where you are getting raspberry from!
I can’t decide how I feel about amber. I think if it’s handled subtly I can wear it, otherwise it’s just too “LOUDLY FEMME” on my skin and that isn’t an enjoyable sensory experience for me. Musks are even dicier with most going old lady soap within minutes. But the way you sum up this perfume…..My list of things to sample grows ever longer.
I’m picky about musks in my fragrances, too!
As an aside, I definitely feel we should rethink about classifying something as “old lady” since that comes across as ageist and insulting vs. simply describing it with something more specific!
This sounds like it’s right up my ally. Amber is my favorite in scents and my grandmother’s name is Aurea. I am taking this as I sign! Ordering a bottle today. Thanks for the review!
I hope you love it, JEssica!