What Is Amber?

# What Is Amber? Luxury Activist | The Notebook LA (Luxury Activist) 3 Nov 2026 https://luxuryactivist.com/carnets/what-is-amber/ ## In brief The amber in a string of beads began as resin from a tree. On a perfume box, the same word often points to the warmth a perfumer can get by blending labdanum, benzoin and vanilla. Ambergris has a different origin. It forms in sperm whales. The natural material is scarce. A perfumer can get some of its woody character from ambroxide. ## The bead Pick up a chunky amber bead and you may be surprised by how little it weighs. Turn it towards a window. You might see a cloudy patch, a bubble or a tiny insect. If the insect was trapped in the original resin, it was there while the resin was still sticky enough to catch it. The tree was alive then. I like the colour of honey, especially at the thin edge of a piece where the light can still get through. A fly in the middle would tempt me to buy it. I’d have to remind myself how easily a fly can be set in plastic. A pressed bead, for instance, can be made from pieces of genuine amber joined together. ## The perfume Labdanum is the ingredient I’d smell first to get a feel for an amber accord. There’s something of worn leather in labdanum, the resin from rockrose. Benzoin comes from Styrax trees and smells sweet in a softer way. Add vanilla and I think of a pod split open on a wooden board. Give labdanum room and the smell can turn dry enough to remind me of incense. I’d leave two amber perfumes on paper while I went about my day. By evening, I might have forgotten which smelled sweeter at first. I’d still be able to tell you which strip I kept picking up. ## Ambergris A piece of ambergris on a beach may have drifted for a long time before it reached the shore. It first formed in the digestive tract of a sperm whale and was expelled naturally. Time at sea changes its smell. Aged ambergris can suggest wood, a little salt and the warmth of skin. If you find something on a beach that you think might be ambergris, check the local rules before taking it home. I read ambergris on a perfume box as a clue to how it might smell. The perfumer may have used ambroxide, which also goes by Ambroxan, to get some of that dry, woody warmth. You might notice it when you pull on the same jacket later and catch the scent at the cuff. ## Sources & references - GIA, Amber: https://www.gia.edu/amber