Six Scents Amber: Somewhere in Time + Favorite Hour Draw

 

 

 

When I received the bottle of Six Scents Amber the top of the box had a reversed clock face on it. When you go to the website dedicated to this fragrance the first image is the same clock face with a second hand ticking backward. It conveys an idea that this particular perfume is something from a time in the past. This is particularly surprising coming from Six Scents the fragrance line by Joseph Quartana.

 

 

Six Scents has been known for their three series of six fragrances matching emerging fashion designers with perfumers to create signature scents. The latest one of these, Six Scents Series Three, just won a 2011 FiFi Award for Best Indie Perfume. Those fragrances all have a very modern feel to them. Amber was made for the Arnhem Mode Biennale 2011 and was exclusively debuted there. The Arnhem Mode Biennale is a contemporary exhibition of fashion and the theme for this year was, Amber.  Based on these two influences I expected Amber to be something forward thinking. Instead Six Scents Amber feels like a fragrance that could have come from decades ago.

 

 

 

 

The perfumer behind Amber is Darryl Do of Delbia Do and Mr. Do chose an interesting group of notes; sandalwood, leather, amber, and violet leaf. Mr. Do chooses to turn loose all of those notes and allow them to combine with no restraints. This unfettered style of composition feels like an artifact of a different time. Just like a fine pocket watch Amber shows off every facet of its composition to allow a wearer to truly enjoy it.

 

 

Mr. Do opens Amber up with a strong birch tar-like leather note. For those of you who enjoy a clearly delineated leather accord you will enjoy the opening moments of Amber. After a bit of time, a fully rounded sandalwood arrives and the sweetness of that note rounds off some of the rougher edges of the leather. Violet leaf adds a metallic vein through the middle of these two powerful notes and it adds a contrast that feels appropriate.

Finally the titular note arrives in the base and it is an amber which glows with warmth and power. It really finishes Amber in the right place. One final note if you look at the press release there is supposedly a green melon note here. I’ve worn this quite a few times and it never showed up on my skin. I often have a problem with melon in my fragrance and, thankfully for me, it doesn’t show up here.

Amber has excellent longevity and above average sillage.

If you are someone for who their fragrance should be an unobtrusive accessory, Amber will most likely not be something you will be excited about. If you are someone, like me, who enjoy older powerhouse fragrances Amber is something that should very much appeal to you. By making a contemporary perfume which feels like something from the past ,Six Scents and Darryl Do have created something special.

Disclosure: This review was based on a bottle provided by Six Scents.

Thanks to Joseph Quartana and Six Scents we have a  100ml bottle of Amber to giveaway to one commenter. To be eligible leave a comment telling us what your favorite hour of the day is or if you could go back  or forward to a  different time period when would it be . Draw closes on July 18, 2011.

Mark Behnke, Managing Editor   

Art direction: Michelyn Camen Editor-In Chief

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42 comments

  • angie Cox says:

    I would go back to 1630 to watch the marriage of King Charles 1st and Henrietta Maria . She should have a scent , she was beautiful and brave .

  • Steven Turnbull says:

    I’d probably go back to the 1830’s so I could witness Franz Liszt play live.

  • My favorite hour of the day is before I fall asleep.

    I wouldn’t want to move in time in any direction: I’m not curious enough to want to see anything in the past and I’m not courageous enough to want to see anything in the future.

  • My favourite hour of the day is when it’s still midnight and the dawn hasn’t broken yet. That time is really quiet and peaceful and you can actually count on all the blessings of the Almighty upon you. At that time I like to stand by the window that faces the west and there are main roads you can look at, which are so quiet as if no vehicle had ever run on their broad chests. I look in the sky and the twinkling stars and feel complete peace and silence then.

    I absolutely admire amber. It has a special feel to it which is warm like a soft hug.

  • I’d go back to 1920 to Paris – so many great scents to try that are gone for good now..

  • 7 a.m. is my favourite hour of the day. I was born at this hour and I am highly efficient in anything I do this early in the day

  • Hmm…my fav hour is 5-6 am when I can get up, drink coffee and read email in silence. I don’t get quiet very often. To go back in time, I would love to see Princess Diana (no specific time, just to meet her as I have always admired her).

  • sonia garcia says:

    I’d say my favorite hour is around 6pm when I get back from work and I see my little granddaughter jumping with joy and running to hug me and kiss me, it is the perfect way to end my day.

  • What a cool bottle and packaging. My favorite hour is Fridays between 4 and 5pm, end of the work week and the beginning of the weekend most of the time. If i could go back and forth in time i would go back to the early 1500’s during the time of Henry VIII of England as i was always fascinated by that part of history. Awesome draw…thank you

  • My favorite time of day is usually dusk. The change from light to dark can be either comforting and quiet or tinged with excitement and anticipation, depending on the setting and the expectations for the evening.

  • 4:00 a.m., drinking coffee out of doors. The birds are beginning to change shifts, night to day. It’s cool and damp, even during drought, and I can smell plants, soil, everything. No cars, no people, no electric lights.

  • ElizabethN says:

    Favorite hour: when the kids finally fall asleep, and then when they wake up. Both are blessed!

  • My favorite hour of the day is the first hour after I wake up in the morning. The early day has so many mysteries and unanswered questions!

  • First thanks Joseph this is a bewitching scent and the amber leather combo sublime. For me it evokes couture perfumes of the late 50s with all the now regulated raw materials so I would go back to the very late 50s early 60s yet it isn’t vintage !
    The glamour of the time was unsurpassed and everyone dressed for dinner and for an evening out!
    My favorite hour would be cocktail hour 7pm

  • Oooh, I love the question (and the description of the perfume).
    I have 2 perfumes from series 1 because I was lucky to be in Paris when they came out but afterwards, I haven’t smelled anything from other series.
    My favourite hour of the day is between 11 and 12 p.m when everyone is asleep and I can peacefully enjoy my book.
    And if I could choose a time to go back, I’d go to the court of Louis XIV. I was always fascinated by it (and it just happens to be in Versailles). 🙂

  • sara levy says:

    My favorite time of day is what the French calle L’heure exquise–that time right around dusk. this was a fascinating article and I would love to try this scent. please enter me in the drawing. thanks!

  • Michellle Hunt says:

    I love the magic of the twilight hour, the moment of change where everything seems to also stand still.

  • This scent sounds wonderful – birch-tar opening? yes, please.

    I love 10:00 a.m. – it’s when I finally become conscious, but I also really love midnight. Unfortunately for a working stiff like me, it seems to be when my creative brain comes to life and I can finally loosen up. When I don’t work I am easily up until the wee hours.

    Hmmm, maybe I should have said l’Heure Bleue, since it’s one of my favorite perfumes!

  • taffynfontana says:

    I would love to go back to 2003 so I could see my mom again. I miss her smell, her smile, her touch my heart still aches from her loss.

  • Mika Elli says:

    My favourite hour of the day is around 11 pm, sipping evening tea and just having some time for myself. I would like to go forward in time about a year: hopefully at that time I’ll have made it through the spring and passed the entrance exam for my future studies. Thanks for the awesome draw!

  • Every hour in the day has unique attraction – when you feel enchanted by the moment, when you feel inspired and driven, the hours flow, never too slow, always ahead, in all the variety of shapes, colors and flavors…We cannot go back in time, but we can try and recreate the atmosphere, and that’s when the force of time, force of memories come back to us – the interplay of all the dimensions…Can philosophize for hours on time 🙂 I’ve always been fascinated by the turn of the century epoch, early 20th century – Art Nouveau, Jugenstil, Diaghilev, Stravinsky, Rachmaninoff, Mahler, new discoveries in the East by the West, beginning of major world fusion…The potent concoction of sandalawood, violet leaf and amber does seem to appeal a lot, by this somewhat turn-of-the time quality 🙂

  • My favorite hour of the day is rather at night: I love 1 a.m. when everything is quiet & peaceful. I’m a nightowl, that’s why *lol*

    If I could go back in time, it would be to the roaring 1920s to meet F. Scott Fitzgerald (& to smell all the amazing perfumes that were around back then!).

    Please include me in the draw, thank you!

  • My favorite hour of the day is 5:40isham… although I’m not often awake enough to enjoy it but that is when the sun rises during the summer times. When I am awake to enjoy it I was able to get a different perspective on things.

    I’d like to fast forward time and see where we’re at in 200 years~

  • My favorite hour is tied between two specific times of day. First, there’s that hour after having awoken, when no one else is up and all is peaceful and still. It’s only me, and I can quietly do as I please. I do cherish those times, as they are few and far between. Then, there’s the hour during mid-morning when I put the babe in her stroller and away we go, walking first along the bay and then up and down tree-lined streets. Sometimes I push the stroller quietly and walk quickly, only to mention when I see a bunny rabbit or if there’s a particularly fragrant flower bush that catches my attention. Other times, I talk in dreams of what we might do in the far off future, the trip to Milan we’ll take together when she turns 16 or maybe 18. Yes, thinking about it now, the second choice is definitely my favorite hour of the day!

  • My favorite hour is 6:00 pm when I get home from work. My dog is happy to see me, I get to hug my husband and we can chat wbout our day.

    Thanks for the great draw!

  • Hanging around Paris at Monmatre with the impressionist painters, writers and dancers would have been quite something, therefore the hour will be a wee one, lets say 5.00. getting home as the sun comes up after a fabulous night out!

  • I’d love to go back to 1966 – 67 and see the Beatles at the peak of their creative and most fascinating period: The Psychedelic One…

  • ololiuqui says:

    My favorite time of the day is early in the morning when I wake up and drink my coffe.The sun is rising the city is waking up.Taking a walk at that time especialy in the biginning of the summer is very nice.Feeling the scent of blooming linden trees and roses along them.The air is full of beautiful scents of spring flowers.

  • This time of year, I love about 9:30 in the morning, when it is still cool enough to be ambitious and to believe that the whole rest of the day won’t feel and smell hot and sticky…

  • I love evening time, 7pm, after my work and swimming pool routine. Ideal timing to chill-out with some glass of white wine. Also, I admire Cartier’s non-existent hour:
    La Treizième Heure, wonderful abstract.

  • i really like the time about 9.00 am until 10.00 am specially when the sky is clear, the sun shines, the air is fresh.
    if i could go back , i’d go back to the 90’s when i was a child, and the world seems not so big.

  • d3m0lici0n says:

    My favorite hour is when I go to work around 4:30 am, the streets are so empty and the freeways too, I love that! There’s also this weird vibe when you look around the emptiness of the streets, everything looks so different at that time of the day.

  • I also love the 5am hour, the time of the morning when all is quiet and i can drink a nice cup of coffee in peace and watch the morning news. If i could travel back in time i would love to take a trip back to 1970’s when i was a young girl…….i miss those times sometime.

  • Tourbillion says:

    I prefer the peacefulness of dawn most. Unfortunately I don’t get up early enough these days to experience it much.

  • 11 pm-12pm. I’m relaxed, watching TV or reading, or surfing the internet… All the housework is done and I can do whatever I want to 🙂

    Thank you for the drawing!

  • Hmm, favorite hour of the day? That would have to be early on a summer morning, when it’s going to be a beautiful sunny day. Say 7:00 AM. It’s still dewy, fresh, and not too hot, and the day is full of possibilities.

  • kastehelmi says:

    My favorite hour of the day? Probably dawn with the dewdrops, when it’s quiet and fresh–though I am not a morning person at all. Like Patty said–the feeling of possibilities. I have to say time travel sounds interesting, but I don’t want to go back in time, nor jump into the future. As Ovid said “Let others praise ancient times I’m glad I am born in these”. And we all know the doomsday predictions of the economy, the environment, the population explosion just as happened many times already, even the new regulations on perfumes! I prefer soft yet warm feminine perfumes to ambery powerhouse ones, but I am sure this will suit another well!

  • My favorite hour of the day seems to be different every day, but I love the time when I am already in bed and not yet asleep. So does Undina, and I could just sign my name under what she said about going back in time.