Le Chocolat Ambre
L'Antichambre

Le Chocolat Ambre notes are: Lemon, jasmine, chocolate, amber, vanilla. This chocolate gourmand smells at first like rich and deep chocolate with a subtle touch of earthiness of jasmine in doles wafting through the chocolate syrup. However the mix becomes sticky sweet with an overuse of vanilla and amber and turns it into a scrubber on me. I am admittedly averse to gourmand and sweet fragrances, but I can't help it. I feel an insulin reaction coming on. If you like chocolate sweetness on your skin you may like this, but for me, not so much!

Le Chocolat Ambre opens with a sweet natural smelling milk chocolate accord with just the faintest hint of an amber undertone. As it moves to the early heart phase the milk chocolate remains but the sweetness dies down just a hair as a boozy vanilla extract emerges and grows in strength until it overshadows the the milk chocolate, but only just. During the late dry-down the vanilla extract dissipates as slightly sweet amber from the base reveals itself to meld with the remnants of the milk chocolate. Projection is slightly below average to average and longevity is average at about 8 hours on skin.

Le Chocolat Ambre broadcasts two of its starring ingredients in its name but they could have easily added vanille in there too, as during the heart phase the fragrance is just as much about vanilla extract as it is milk chocolate. The fragrance is highly minimalist and linear (something that seems to be a hallmark of most of the releases from L'Antichambre), with the milk chocolate arriving at the open before a milk chocolate and vanilla extract middle and finally milk chocolate and amber late. Other than those three notes I am hard-pressed to detect anything else going on as published notes of lemon and jasmine are completely MIA. The bottom line is that while gourmands are not really my thing, it does seem like L'Antichambre has a real knack for putting out superior smelling ones and Le Chocolat Ambre is no exception. If you are looking for a high quality chocolate vanilla and amber gourmand fragrance this release is definitely for you, earning an "excellent" rating of 4 stars out of 5.