This is my first exploration of ambergris-based compositions with 1 oud blend, developed over seven months of collecting and refining various ambergris tinctures and macerations. Throughout this process, I experimented with different roses, florals, and complementary notes, pushing ambergris in multiple directions—gourmand, floral, earthy, woody, and fruity—to uncover its full expressive range.
This was Ambergris Shades.
Nectar Thai by Elkhaldi Studios. What is there to say? Well ever since smelling Borneo Day I’ve always wanted a bottle of anything Elkhaldi. Then I got an amazing opportunity to grab this and I didn’t hestitate. A 15ml was secured and now the wait for it to arrive had begun.
Needless to say I was super excited when this arrived and luckily it didn’t dissapoint: From the first whiff I got I knew this was going to be good.
In that pretty heavy opening you get sweet peaches backed by a rounded oud and some animalics. What this really reminds me of is the color orange: from the osmanthus to the peach and sandalwood, it all comes together to make a truly orange feeling. Maybe a bit like a beautifull sunset, except there’s oud and civet.
At the base the florals really start to shine and the peach is slowly fading away. I don’t think this fragrance really changes much over time, however during the base more woods really come through. Also, the animalic mix that consists of civet, castoreum and hyraceum becomes more prominent.
Finally, this scent concludes itself by becoming even more woody, and it’s at this stage that the peach has completely dissappeared.
If there would be one thing I could change from this scent however, it would be adding a bit more depth somehow. This is probably what you get in the parfum I’m guessing, so I’m excited to try that.
What a journey this has been, sweet and dark, light and heavy. Projection and longevity are above-average. And to wrap this review up I want to give a special thank-you to Elkhaldi Studios themselves, I had an amazing experience with him and he’s always super helpfull. Thank you!!
This is the last ghazali composition and Maher went all out on the musk, oud and rose. If you have smelt his previous ghazali composition, this one is quite different.
The oud and musk take centre stage, nice deep animalic smell with no barnyard smell from the nagaland oud, no fecal or urine smell from the musk either. It’s rich and has a really old school vibe to it. It’s like walking into a vintage library. The roses here is on the spicy side, as he focused more on rose de mai and Turkish rose to be the main players. With the extra musk and oud, the spicy rose complements the heavy musks and oud, where it calms everything down, without it burning your nostrils. Lastly, the sandalwood does add a creamy note to tame the animalics, where it becomes an enjoyable scent to smell that is balanced.
Longevity is 10 hours plus, with the first 4-6 hours being really strong and the next 4 plus hours being a skin scent. Projection is loud enough for someone next to you to smell.
Overall it’s a good finale to the series that is different from the rest.
As the name suggests, it’s a beautiful musk forward composition with 3 kings of musk. Kashmiri, Siberian and Tibetan. The musk here is high quality, as you don’t get any fecal or urine smell. Instead you smell beautiful floral notes with chocolate nuances and a smooth and well blended musk note. The roses here are perfectly married with the musk. You get more of a jammy scent that is not super sweet, which I love. The roses goes right through the scent profile, which I extremely love. The truffle note is the smartest thing Mahir added. It adds an extra layer of earthiness, creaminess and muskiness. The dry down is a beautiful musk that lingers for 12 hours plus. The projection is perfect, not too loud for a headache and loud enough for someone near you to smell. The oud and ambergris aren’t the main players, instead they are enhancing the musk and rose elements.
This is definitely one musk rose compositions to have in your collection.
Very smooth civet. Easy grab and pleasing. Not challenging at all to wear! Another great creation and looking forward to the next release. Highly recommend!
0 comments