ELLA K
AMBER K

2025

PERFUMER
Sonia Constant

pink pepper
spidar lily
cigar

iris
Cocoa
cedarwood
patchouli

frankincense
amber
skin accord
tonka bean
Vanilla

‘AMBER K was born from a wild and obsessive dream: to capture his scent, an elixir of skin. I sought to capture every nuance so that it would live within me forever. This fragrance is blended with the gentle nuances of tobacco smoke, the bold notes of cocoa, and the powerful scents of tropical spider lilies’ – Sonia Constant

I’ve been a big fan of Ella K as a house, although ‘this group’ of K releases (Musk K, Camelia K and now Amber K) haven’t left me as impressed. Amber K is okay to be sure, but still a slightly underwhelming release for me.

It is a more substantial fragrance than I figured: I’d smelled it in stores, on paper, several times and felt it was airy, hairspray-like. I found it hard to gauge. However, on skin, it’s definitely a lot more dense and heavy than I anticipated. And so is the scent profile.

I feel like I’ve smelled Amber K numerous times before. Not 100% of course, but it has a super familiar ‘sweet tobacco’ vibe, reminding me of the myriad of (more affordable) heavier tobacco variations out there, especially those with an emphasis on spices. A bit more dry and floral at first, but leaning quite far into the dry, earthy, spicy (pink pepper) tobacco side. And a lot of amber in the base.

Tobacco, patchouli, and growing hints of amber / vanilla are most prominent to my nose. Making for a pleasant, but rather redundant, scent profile. As it dries down more, I mostly get muddy, peppery earthiness and a lot of a custardy, dense sweetness (labdanum, vanilla). There are times where that custardy sweetness starts feeling a bit buttery. Amber K is a much heavier scent, with the spicy earthiness dominating, but I can sense a hint of something more beautiful and delicate underneath (making me think back to the opening of a Frassai Blondine for example). Not as leathery as I figured it would become; Sonia Constant does a lot of (great) work with leather, but I think it’s only subtle tinges here.

What I miss in Amber K, is the clarity that was the signature of Ella K for me. Ingredients felt clear, clean, crisp, making for vibrant, precise fragrances, that didn’t wear me down, even if they were heavier or less to my taste. Unfortunately, that’s not really the aesthetic that I get from Amber K. I find it more generic, mushy and at times, even a little bit suffocating. There are several sweet, relatively heavier scents in the Ella K collection, with Melodie D’Altai, Ghibli, Khamsim, Lettre de Pushkar etc. and I’d rate Amber K a notch or two below them.

Not a bad fragrance, but not a stand out, neither as tobacco, amber or patchouli scent, nor within the Ella K range.