Adam Michael has this to say “In the world of natural aromatics musky scents are said to be practically impossible to obtain. Well, no longer! We have now sourced a mind blowing natural ambrettolide, obtained from fractionation of the already super precious (and pricey) ambrette absolute. The result is pure luxury in a bottle.
All the most beautiful musky notes found in ambrette seed have been perfectly captured, very soft and well rounded, with none of the sharp edges found in angelica seed and to a lesser extent in ambrette absolute. This natural ambrettolide is so soft it’s almost sweet, yet full bodied and with a very long-lasting fragrance and with extra fineness and beauty compared to the synthetically obtained ambrettolide commonly available to perfumers.
Although some people find ambrettolide quite delicate because it doesn’t really have top notes, its power should not be underestimated: it is a very tenacious scent with tremendous fixative and exalting properties, and a little goes a long way. In perfume blends it imparts unparalleled radiance and smoothness to the composition, making an invaluable and very refined base note.
For the natural perfumer this is indeed a game changer material, adding to the perfumer’s palette an all-natural, non-animal derived most enchanting white musk scent. A very special material, very rare to find, only retailed by Hermitage at the time of writing (June 2018).”
Arctander has this to say “….one of the finest fixatives among the distinguished group of those showing a synergistic and amplifying effect upon perfumes and flavors. At the same time it increases the diffusiveness of fragrances in which it is incorporated. Its fixative effect is easily recognized by the fact that solutions of 0.01% Ambrettolide (or even less) in slightly diluted alcohol show practically no odor of alcohol, only a faint, floral-musky, sweet and pleasant odor of the lactone. Ambrettolide is particularly useful in fragrance types of delicately floral, mildly animal or Ambre-like type.”