The perfume world goes bonkers over ambergris because of what an amazing exalting fixative is. That’s the sole purpose people pay $45,000+ per kilo for decent raw ambergris, and why you see news headlines when some fisherman comes across a fragrant ‘rock’ worth millions of dollars.
In perfume, it’s not about smelling the amber itself, but rather how the ambergris transmutes other ingredients and then ties the scent pyramid together and naturally boosts the brew’s projection.
Holding raw ambergris in your hand, crushing it so that it forms a sticky paste, infusing it – the neat smell of pure ambergris… that’s not a marketable product.
There’s not nearly enough raw ambergris in the world to supply even an average-sized duty-free shop with pure tinctures or raw pieces. Compare that to all the duty free shops of the world and all the boatloads of perfumes they contain.
That’s why so few have actually smelled a proper whiff of ambergris. Worse, most ‘amber’ perfumes have nothing at all to do with ambergris. As you may know, ‘amber’ as a scent category refers to labdanum-like smells, while most of the ‘amber’ compounds used in mainstream perfumes are synthetic.
Enter Jamaican Ambergris.
This pure parfum showcases the smell of raw ambergris and how it transforms its co-stars. And check out this cast:
Pinoy LTD (Oriscent Oud)
SQ Aoudh al Azraq (Blue Oud)
SQ Grey Amber
Jambu Oleoresin
Jasmine Sambac
Georgian Rose
Plumeria
Bourbon Vanilla
Haitian Vetiver
Massoia Bark
Peru Balsam
80s Mysore
Oakmoss
The cornerstone of Jamaican Ambergris is the exquisite grey ambergris stowed away in our Royal patron’s personal collection for decades. These stones, plus an extra precious batch of the Sultan’s own amber-infused Oud……
Perfumers would like to have their ambergris tinctures be at least a few months old. If the infusion sat for a year – great!
Now, imagine what would happen if your ambergris went into an attar at the dawn of the Reagan administration, sat in the dark through the days of Clinton, both Bushes, Obama, Trump, and emerged a good way into Biden’s run…… and you turn the attar into a perfume using ambergris as the carrier!
The oceanic, sandy ambergris veneer is present all the time. If you jump right into smelling a fresh spritz, you’ll probably smell only ambergris; it’s that dense. A split second later, the rest of the aromatics catch up and the show kicks off.
I love what ambergris does to jasmine. In perfumes, jasmine is often quite a dense heart note, beautiful but not one that jumps at you. But here it’s like the spotlight brings the jasmine to life, invigorated by the oaky, sagey, sweetness of jambu resin, frangipani and vanilla.
I must say, this is a hard fragrance to note-pick. The scent is tightly wound, and while the ambergris element is palpable, the composition is so unusual you’re experiencing a unique scent afresh.
While replete with the Sultan’s rare ambergris, this is also an oud perfume like no other.
Which other perfume contains incense-grade artisanal Filipino oud? Not just that, this is the first recorded Filipino oud distillation I’m aware of, distilled thirteen years ago – years before others began to venture into the Philippines.
“Positively mind-bending.” – Mike, USA
I chose my only Oriscent Filipino oud, the crown of my collection, because of how this oceanic, blue kinamic beauty goes right into character next to the ambergris. Pinoy LTD adds the narcotic blast of resin, toned by the sandy dry beach tone of olde grey amber.
“Pinoy LTD is a bitter medicinal Oriscent tornado…” – Naveed, Canada
A delicacy of a pure oud hovering over your hand with an aura of ambergris glowing around it, and waves of jambu frangi-jasmine sweetness oozing all over. All with a splash of fine Georgian rose otto to add its diffusive lift and lend an air of elegance to Jamaican Ambergris’ boozy Caribbean, rum-sweet profile.
There’s 1.2gr of Pinoy LTD in here, alone worth $1,000. So, when it comes down to numbers, you’re basically paying only for this 13-years-aged Oriscent legend.
“My respect for the phenomenal mastery involved in creating this Oud has skyrocketed! This is the Nha Trang LTD of Philippines Ouds, the crème de la crème.” – Hank, USA
The rest… all the top-notch natural ingredients, the bottling, labeling, DHL Express shipping – the tons of SQ ambergris! – all of it is on EO’s account, not yours.
*Only a limited amount of bottles will be made, and each bottle will be numbered and signed by Ensar.
Customer Reviews:
Another killer from EO.
Okay, so this one is something else. I’ll try and keep this breif, but I could go on and on. There are two worlds in this fragrance. There is a beautiful surface scent that is very very nice, obvious, and projects. However, there is extreme depth and complexity to this one. People who pass by will smell it and love it, but the closer they get the more of the beautiful complex composition they will get. It keeps drawing them in.
As probably most of us in this group, I have moved past much of the compliment fishing reasons for wearing a scent. I want something that moves me, or transports me away, speaks or yells to me, simply centers me, or connects me with that intangible place far in the past. Yesterday I put a spray on my hand just to test out the scent. It was an instant love, so I put a few more sprays on for an event I had to go to that I wasn’t really looking forward to. To my surprise, not only did it last all evening and through the night, I received 2 completely random compliments. It is easily liked by others as more simple fragrances usually are but also has the complexity and extreme depth that keeps me interested throughout the wearing.
I’m not sure if I’ve ever been as instantly impressed with a fragrance as I am with Jamaican Ambergris. This is unlike anything in my collection and it’s simply amazing. So thankful to call #14/72 mine. Thank you Ensar as well as the entire team for this and for the gifts sent along side.
David Y. • USA
Loving it! I get your EO1/Homeros vibes and this is certainly a pleasing one like EO3 and Oud Yusuf to me. Adaptable to all seasons as well (I believe…).
4 sprays today while getting some stuff from the nurseries. Whifs galore 🥰🥰. Going to wear it tomorrow again to see what else I can get from it. 🙂
Note from a Customer
Day one impressions: On initial spray the Ambergris is present and potent, and for me the jasmine shows itself immediately. The blend of lavender, orris, Vetiver, and oakmoss do give it a likeness that compares to other EO releases, especially Tonkin Musk, and the ambergris here is so thick and potent it almost comes off as musky. While I understand the comparisons, I do find this to be unique and incredibly pleasant. Performance is exceptional for me as well, not quite nuclear like some releases have been, but definitely well above average. I put one spray on my forearm yesterday after a shower about 16 hours ago and it’s still projecting lightly.
The biggest surprise with this composition also happens to be a landmark occasion for me. A first since my foray into natural and artisanal perfumery. Over my many years of fragrance collecting I’ve found a small handful of fragrances that my wife has enjoyed enough to want to wear herself (funny enough Josh, one happens to be a Tom Ford 🤣), but since getting into naturals and specifically Ensar Oud as a brand, we’ve yet to find one. Even finding compositions that she truly enjoys on me has been quite challenging.
When arriving home last night and smelling it immediately as she walked in the door, she asked me if I had lit a candle or was burning some me incense. She was in love with the scent. So much so that she was smelling my arm all night last night, and to my shock actually asked to wear it this morning!
So congratulations Ensar and team, we finally have an EO Parfum (and natural composition in general) that we can both wear and enjoy together. Here’s to looking forward to more to come! 🍻
😍😍
—Ryan S. / USA
I can’t be the only one that loves the labels: the embossing, the design, the hand-written numbering and signature. I just think they are amazing looking and prefer the signed paper editions to the leatherwork even…
Initial Impression: Jamaican Ambergris opening is very familiar, instantly reminded me of the leathery accord from an earlier edition of EO1 and Homeros, the Pinoy LTD is quite pronounced in the beginning, with that dry, woody bitterness kick, molasses, and thick soy sauce type texture, playing along with the grey ambergris with a touch of animalic undertone.
The floral accord is being kept on the leash, at least in the beginning, and it’s being overshadowed by both the Ambergris and Oud in the first 30 to 60min, but you can still tell there’s a bouquet of flowers waiting to shine, it smells somewhat similar to that of the Tonkin Musk PP’s floral accord. The Musk serves as a supporting and minor role in this composition, it’s probably the 4th or 5thplayer down the list, in a similar fashion as the C&P and Iris Ghalia, at least on me, the musk here isn’t a dominant note.
Once the Oud and Ambergris settled down a little bit, at around 1 ½ to 2hr mark, the floral accord drove mainly by the Jasmine, Lavender, and Orris butter came forward and made themselves known, carrying with them a bit of sweetness, caramelized vanilla beans, some resins, sandalwood, and hay-like earthiness in the background, a lot of familiar notes….like an old friend, a similar tune playing a different song if that make any sense.
Initially, the Ambergris was giving me a bit of a nose blind issue, and playing peekaboo on me, especially when I kept sniffing my arm. I can perceive the Ambergris a lot clearer and louder when I applied two sprays to the middle of the chest further away from my nose, to smell the aura and scent bubble instead of constantly sniffing at the application site, only then, I was getting some additional sea salts on top of the animalic undertone. Ambergris strength-wise, I would say it’s somewhere in between the EO1 series and Tigerwood PP, it’s prominent and distinctive, but definitely not overpowering.
At 3rd to 4th hour, I’m getting a bit of powdery or dusty type deal, along with a hint of soapiness, nothing offensive, they are weaving in and out in between all other notes, the oakmoss also came off a little bit on the damp and mossy side, probably due to the Pinot LTD bitterness and a combination of other notes. So far, I’m getting the impression that some of these notes are still clashing and fighting for dominance, I’m pretty sure they would settle the score after a few weeks, the composition should mellow out and calm down. Or, my perception would have changed by then.
As always, perception is subjective and your mileage may vary, the jury is still out so far. I’ll have to give it more time and a few more wearing to see a clearer picture, it is a very interesting composition for sure, even with some savory quality to it.
The funny thing is, I got #4 on both the Cambodi Cologne AND the Jamaican Ambergris. 🤣😆
Ben W. • USA
Reply to post: Same here! She said it smells like a mainstream luxury perfume. Purple kinam is the other one I’ve found that my better half also appreciated!
Note from a Customer
First full wear review: Jamaican ambergris starts with a heavy blast of salty, fresh ambergris paired with a beautiful bouquet of flowers which gave me Tibetan/Tonkin Musk vibes.
You get slight boozy accords but they don’t smell like rum or alcoholic. I don’t know how to describe it in a proper way but it’s very smooth.
Wafts of oud and musky cola notes join the party as well together with a well known orris note (which I’ll describe later).
After a while something really weird happened with the smell of this fragrance…
But in a positive way 😉.
The ambergris note stays over the whole time but after the fragrance dries down it’s like you’re getting a EO all stars remix.
The rose and the ambergris paired with the Oud notes reminded me of the opening smell from EO1 but in a slightly different way. You don’t have this leathery vibe it’s more like a fresh EO 1 ambergris Rose accord. Absolutely amazing, and if that’s not enough I also got very strong Iris Ghalia vibes from the orris as well together with this peach ice tea note which is super potent in Iris Ghalia and it’s also in this fragrance.
When it comes to oud I have to admit that I’ve haven’t smelled Pinoy or the blue oud so I’m not really able to tell you how big the role of these two ingredients is. You have very smooth oud notes over the whole time but in a very special way. You need to smell it for yourself to understand that..
Just another few words on the ambergris, it’s definitely the main player of this whole composition and I’ve never experienced ambergris in this way. If you read what Ensar says about this grey ambergris in the description on the website you can be sure that there’s no better way to describe this ingredient. It’s a carrier but also a super intense note which makes beautiful ingredients like jasmine even more beautiful.
So how would I describe the smell in a few sentences?
I’d say take the best out of Tibetan Musk, EO1 and Iris Ghalia… Add a few sprinkles of Tonkin musk and a proper dose of oud and stir it up with probably one of the best ambergris notes ever and you get Jamaican ambergris 🤩.
Of course there are a lot more precious ingredients in it which lead to this beautiful smell but to make it easier for you guys to understand what I’m thinking about this perfume I’ve decided to describe it like this.
And keep in mind this is just the first impression from wearing it over the day.
I usually let my EO fragrances untouched after the first 2-3 testings to let them expand their full potential. This might take a few weeks but it’s absolutely worth it.
And just a few personal thoughts regarding to the decision of buying or not buying.
Jamaican ambergris was a blind buy and I was really struggling if I should pull the trigger and spend 1k on a perfume which I could not like. But I’m not regretting the decision. This is a fresh, flowery, oudy and super luxurious scent and I don’t know if there will be even one single person who doesn’t like it. Especially for warmer days, it’s an absolute banger.
BUT if you ask me if you should go for it I can only tell you that you have to make this decision for yourself. It’s not always about having every new release because people hype it. Try to get decants if you’re not that sure about pulling the trigger or not and only buy what you can afford without having a bad conscience. Just because someone likes it, it doesn’t mean that you’re liking it automatically.
It’s so different compared to everything else from EO but one thing is sure. This is a baller perfume 😎. Absolutely exotic 🌊🏄♂️🏝.
I also really like the bottle, even though it’s a paper label it looks really beautiful and brings some fresh vibes to my collection of gold plaque/ leather case bottles.
And I just need to say it again, as usual this is my 100% honest impression of this perfume, no one pays me for creating hype and I’m not on a hunt for likes. I just love to share my personal opinion on these beautiful smells with you guys 😊 (If there are any grammatical mistakes please blame the German autocorrect and a decent lack of sleep for it 🤪).
—Chr Is. / Germany
Reply: I can’t be the only one that loves the labels: the embossing, the design, the hand-written numbering and signature. I just think they are amazing looking and prefer the signed paper editions to the leatherwork even…