Best Embers by TRNP Alternatives & Similar Perfumes

“Hey Bitch! You smell fucking good.” In Perfume World, that’s what we call a result. Hey Bitch! raises eyebrows with its dissonance between buttery, blowsy orange blossom and tough, bitter leather. Tangy rhubarb at the top snaps its fingers in your face, before dissolving into a blur of suedey iris and milky sandalwood. The dance between bitter and sweet keeps you on your toes throughout, conjuring hints of…what? Photocopier ink? Coffee? For sure it conjures ambered black leather, Bitch!

1920’s,  a sepia-toned cruise down Mekong River: a kaleidoscope of ephemeral dawns shrouded in mist and glorious days of radiant sunshine. The dreamy air is humid, balmy and honeyed. 25 Indochine starts where 19 Louanges Profanes ends: in number 19 the balms are fresh and cool and number 25 explores their sweet, spicy and woody aspects.

A sweet, ambery perfume with many shades of sweet packed into a single formula: heliotrope, vanilla, caramel, toffee and benzoin, all interlinked with a soft sandalwood theme.

Bon Parfumeur open olfactive dimensions and invite you to add your own story. Try 402 if you like sophisticated gourmands.

Perfumer for 402: Corinne Cachen. 

Cigar boxes. Camden market bong shops reeking of joss sticks. Old lady soap. Sandalwood sometimes gets a bit of a bad rap. Undaunted, we’ve taken the dependable old fave and turned it on its head.

We’ve tracked down a unique Australian sandalwood versatile enough to handle hints of outlandish but ethically and sustainably sourced banana, cardamom, black pepper with weird and wonderful Labdanum and Benzoin resin. Which all means that this is sandalwood unlike anything you’ve experienced before.

So, unlike the bong shop, it won’t make your hair stink for weeks.

In his Descriptio Montis Fracti sive Montis Pilati from 1555, the famous Swiss naturalist Conrad Gessner chronicles his journey into the caves of the Alps. “At night, the moon shines into the cave so brightly the light itself seems to take form, like a mist. It gathers in the ceiling and makes the limestone stalactites glitter and gleam, dripping tears of white liquid into puddles on the rock floor that never dries. Moonmilk.”

This EdP lives up to that sublime description with a dance between conflicting textures that titillates the nose. The black tea and lime opening establishes an expectation for further crispness to come. The switcheroo comes with the appearance of Mysore sandalwood, its milky incense soft like a lover’s touch on the skin. All the elements resolve in a fresh and tender leather.

January 1618 A Japanese Galleon, the Pacific Ocean

Following a diplomatic mission to the West, a galleon carrying a delegation of samurai charges through dark ocean currents. Loaded with a rare and precious cargo, the ship’s hull is redolent of sweet-smelling tropical woods, heady Spanish leather, frankincense, fine black pepper and other exotic ground spices—the intoxicating spirit of a singular, extraordinary voyage of discovery.

A good perfume to visit if your are in a search for perfect true sandalwood,  smoky and a touch dirty. Arquiste carefully selected the companions for its sandal in this formula: tea and osmanthus, coffee, myrrh and stryrax and others to give it a dark, sensual depth.

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GQ US on Nanban:

"This is my signature scent. I wear it all the time. And let me tell you: I’ve never worn something that has gotten so many compliments—no sunglasses, no sneakers, no full-body rubber suit. People actually turn their heads and ask me what I'm wearing. And then they jot down the product name. Arquiste’s masterpiece introduces itself with Malabar black pepper and Persian saffron, gives way to coffee, sandalwood, myrrh, and Spanish leather, and embraces you all day with a blanket of frankincense, balsam, and cade juniper."

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Financial Times' resident perfume writer Victoria Frolova on Nanban:

"... approach coffee notes creatively. Instead of mimicking nature, a perfumer instead might fashion a blend that hints at coffee’s pleasing bitterness and heady richness. Such is Arquiste’s Nanban (£160 for 100ml EDP). The composition uses a plush backdrop of woods to frame the smoky, spicy notes of myrrh and incense, with an accent of coffee to lend the composition a dark, delicious twist. It teases with its smoky, nutty warmth, but keeps its presence mellow behind layers of sandalwood and leather."

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Olive fruit absolute is an unusual material for an amber perfume, and a surprisingly appealing one. It gives a salty, animalic nuance to this sheer blend of cypress and sandalwood, rubbing up nicely against the cinnamon character of Tasmanian mountain pepper.

A sheer yet sumptuous sandalwood, Sandalo is frisked up with lime and black pepper, and deepened with cypress and patchouli. This eau de toilette has 90% natural ingredients and is part of the Granado Layering Collection, either to be used alone or combined with other fragrances. Free of dyes and animal ingredients.

Santal takes its inspiration from a Sandalwood fragrance originally created in the 1800s which has then been given a distinctive contemporary edge.

This extrait is named for the archipelagic country in the South Pacific Ocean, source of the sandalwood in the base. Vanuatu is a lively, confident blend of spices (black pepper, cardamom, cumin) dappled across characterful woody materials (sandalwood, patchouli, cedar and papyrus). Putting meat on the bones is fig milk, with violet leaves adding sharp sparkle. A fragrance for unexpected adventures.