Ambergris in Perfumes
I got another great question today - is real ambergris used in perfumes today? The answer is generally no, for economic and moral reasons. Real ambergris comes from whales. It is basically whale puke. It was once common because hunting whales was a legal economic activity. Today most ambergris is synthetic, but it does wash up on shore from time to time. It is literally worth its weight in gold, so if you see something ugly and smelly on the beach, and it’s not Jimmy Buffett (I kid, I kid), hustle it away if you can bear the smell. It is currently legal to use real whale ambergris in perfumes, although knowing if it was humanely obtained (found) or hunted is hard to tell. It does have a haunting, musky smell that makes a wonderful fixative for perfumes. Hermes Eau de Merveilles (Miracle Water) and Creed supposedly still use real ambergris.
Here is a great article about amber, ambrette, and ambergris.
I hope that answers the question, and please keep them coming! As part of this week’s contest, I asked for readers to submit their questions about perfume and fragrance.
1 opinion for Ambergris in Perfumes
Rinoa
Jul 11, 2008 at 4:47 pm
I have fallen in love with jasmine, but I can’t seem to find many perfumes in which it is obvious.
Is there any reason for this, and if not, do you know of any perfumes that smell strongly of it?
Thanks,
Rin
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