You may not have known it, but a century ago, the basis of oriental perfume was animal.
Indeed, ambergris (or sea amber) was collected from sperm whale discharge which, upon contact with the sea and the sun, took on the scent.
so delicately spiced that the great ladies of this world bought it at a high price!
In order to be able to synthetically reproduce this mythical raw material,
many chemists worked on synthetic amber notes and then produced the famous amberin.
Perfumer François Coty used amberin from the chemist Samuelson to release one of the first great oriental perfumes: Ambre Antique in 1908.
Building on his success, the perfumer created other perfumes of the same type such as Emeraude in 1921.
However, the first great undeniable success of oriental perfume was signed by the famous Shalimar by Guerlain in 1925.
From then on, the seductive, captivating and exotic fragrances of oriental perfumes have never left us.
Oriental or amber perfumes are one of the seven major families of fragrances used in perfumery.
Known since the dawn of time for the captivating virtues of ambergris of animal origin, oriental perfumes only conquered the hearts of the French in the 20th century with the great perfumes
by François Coty based on amberin.
Since then, oriental perfumes have never ceased to move our senses by developing in multiple facets, each one as intriguing and original as the next.
Today, perfumes with oriental or amber notes represent 40% of sales in perfumery, which shows that our love for these spicy and sweet fragrances is unconditional!
The great family of oriental fragrances in perfumery.
The family of oriental or amber scents now has numerous variations, of which vanilla or spicy orientals are the most venerable members.
Then arrived in the 1980s the woody orientals, very masculine.
Finally the “latest” would be the floral orientals and the gourmand orientals which have conquered hearts in recent years with original and personalized perfumes.
The oriental-vanilla family is considered the figurehead of oriental notes thanks to the success of the recipe inaugurated by Shalimar, which has not been denied since.
Then by adding hints of hot spices such as ginger, cinnamon, pepper (...) to these oriental mixtures we obtain the spicy orientals used by great perfumers
for beautiful fragrances such as Opium by Yves Saint-Laurent.
The 80s and the desire for natural and invigorating scents gave creators the idea of a new variation of the oriental note by adding notes of precious wood.
(sandalwood, cedar…).
These woody orientals, with a marked personality, will become the favorites of men.
They are associated with many big names in perfume including the famous Égoïste by Chanel.
Finally, the oriental-florals and the oriental-gourmands are the soft and powdery variations of the exotic and sensual trail left by the first perfumes of the Orient.
More modern than their ancestors, they combine the typically oriental note with the sweetness or indulgence of lighter notes while being more distinct.
For men or women, amber perfumes have enjoyed dazzling success since their first appearances at the beginning of the 20th century.
Thanks to the multiple facets and possible variations of these notes with a taste elsewhere, the perfumes created present many different scents, thus being able to match the
tastes of everyone.
It is very possible, given the French enthusiasm for these captivating fragrances, that perfumers will in the future develop many new ways of
to exhale the notes of the Orient to our noses passionate about unknown lands...
