Bortnikoff Amber Cologne, Take Me To The Beach

I was not familiar with Bortnikoff when I tried their Amber Cologne. Because of the name,  Amber, I had certain expectations of what it would smell like; a shaker of citrus flavored juice melting down to an amber syrup, perhaps with a touch of leather. I couldn't have been more wrong.

The opening spritz of Bortnikoff Amber Cologne bursts with a slightly tart, lightly sweet citrus opening with sweet orange, grapefruit, bergamot, and lemon.  What captures my attention is a beautiful creamy note of frangipani! The frangipani flower is not that often used in perfume, and here I find its scent is very distinctive and life like. When I lived in Singapore I walked every day in the Botanic Garden which featured a grove of frangipani trees so I am very familiar with its buttery tropical scent and this perfume gives a beautiful olfactory snapshot. It is at this point that I begin to wonder why this cologne is called Amber Cologne, when nary a hint of that note has appeared.

The frangipani is supported by a light presence of jasmine sambac and vanilla. Frangipani always reminds me a little of vanilla because of its richness, so I find that the vanilla is just slightly amplifying this creamy aspect of the frangipani. At this point the perfume smells more like a floral cologne than a citrus, but if you're a man (or woman) who doesn't want to smell like a flower garden, never fear. These floral notes are subtle and wafting, and in my opinion, delightful!

Dmitry Bortnikoff got his fragrant beginnings as a distiller of rare ouds in Southeast Asia, and became one of the best known distillers of this art. He added sandalwood to his offerings and then went on to explore other rare ingredients. He eventually turned to making scents but prides himself as a distiller of one-of-a-kind elements that can not be recreated once used, thus his production for each perfume is limited to 50 bottles (if I am interpreting his website correctly). The next batch may not smell the same because he says each piece of wood smells slightly different, depending upon the conditions it grew under. Thus the Bortnikoff  brand can be construed as extremely boutique.

I think a nose that's had a little exposure to perfumes can easily pick out natural and fine ingredients. This is not to say that cheaper perfumes are bad; there are many amazing ones out there. It's just to say that the nose can sense quality and I sensed an extremely natural smell experience when I was wearing Bortnikoff Amber Cologne. 

Would it be too much hyperbole if I said that the floral notes and the frangipani in particular are transcendent? I could smell the frangipani, whipped with some of the citrus notes, for the whole life of the cologne. If the word Amber was a bit misleading, the word Cologne is not. This scent stayed fairly close to my skin. It projected a little more than a skin scent, but someone would have had to move in pretty close, I think, to get much of the scent.

I found the base notes of grey and brown ambergris and his own oud distillation from Sri Lanka to be very quiet. In fact, the oud must just be used like a pinch of seasoning because I can't honestly say I picked it out. The ambergris however is what begins to meld with the frangipani to give that beachy, ocean vibe. The ambergris note is subtle and sexy. It translates to skin dipped in the salty ocean and dried by the warm sun, the nearby trees wafting a scent of frangipani, jasmine, and the odd citrus tree. The marine scented sea breezes gently caress the skin and carry you away to an island break, at least in your mind. I believe it is because of Mr. Bortnikoff's pride in his distillations, in this case the ambergris, that led him to name this Amber Cologne. If you think of the scent as an overall experience--warm skin and ocean breeze--and the frangipani as a note that adds to this ambience, then the name begins to make sense.

I only had a sample of this perfume as it was in my Luckyscent sample pack that I reviewed yesterday, but this is really a scent that deserves to be sprayed with (pricey) abandon. I loved my first exposure to the house of Bortnikoff.

Top photo: https://www.123rf.com/photo_75590591_frangipani-flower-on-the-sand-coast-of-the-ocean.html. Bottle photo from Bortnikoff website. I purchased my own sample.