Per Fumum: Ambra Luminosa
Annette Neuffer

I was wearing this and trying to think what it reminded me of. Suddenly it struck me that the different elements here add up to the scent I smelled in church the last time I was in a Catholic mass. The incense. There’s also something in the spice mix that’s a little too redolent of my kitchen cupboard for me. Sweetness, too. It's very nice, but I wasn't rapturous about it. The price is very steep.

Ambra Luminosa strikes me as being a stone’s throw away from Maroquin, and it’s not hard to see why. Shared notes include bergamot, bitter orange, black pepper, tamala, rosewood, frankincense, elemi, tobacco, orris, orange blossom, Persian rose, Bourbon vanilla, beeswax, Indian sandalwood, cedar, myrrh, Peru balsam, and Siam benzoin.

Where Ambra Luminosa departs is in weight and focus. Gone are Maroquin’s leather and patchouli in the base along with the saffron and spicy carnation, and the tobacco is pushed further into the background. In their place, we get more frankincense, along with other resins—labdanum, fossilized amber, opoponax—making this lighter and somewhat more liturgical, though still not what Turin calls “high mass.”

So, Ambra Luminosa is most certainly an amber, but thankfully not of the caramel candy variety, even if slightly more vanillic than I prefer. I’m not sure I’d credit it with luminosity, but certainly with a lightness that serves it well. That’s not to say it lacks for presence or longevity: those are assured. It just doesn’t have the earthy heft of Maroquin.

It’s interesting to see how Neuffer bends similar compositions to different ends. Which you prefer could be down to mood more than taste. I‘ve gone back and forth myself. Either could merit a bottle, but I’ll likely table the decision until a second order, as I’ve quite enough in the queue for my first, and still more to try.