u/him101001

Been following the Pure Amber release for a while now and got to chat with Montagne a bit about how they approached it. Honestly this might be one of the more interesting formulas they've worked on.

And unless I'm forgetting something, this might genuinely be one of the first times I've seen a clone/inspired-by company (even non-niche company) use a proper high quality natural ambergris material like this. At least I can't think of many examples where a company in this space is openly using something like Biolandes Ambergris Infusion rather than just Ambroxan or an ambergris accord.

One of the big things they mentioned is Paradisone, which is apparently used in the original LV formula. It's a DSM-Firmenich captive, so even though batches sometimes leak onto the open market, it's extremely expensive and more importantly you can't really rely on being able to buy it again once that batch is gone, as it is rarely available for regular companies (meaning if you aren't LVMH).

So instead of building the whole fragrance around something they might not be able to source again, they went with Hedione HC directly from DSM-Firmenich. And they made a point that it's actually their material, not just some random generic methyl dihydrojasmonate HC.

But the part I find more interesting is the ambergris.

They're using Ambergris Infusion F0048 from Biolandes in France.

I've been interested in perfumery for quite a while and have worked with raw materials a bit in the past, so this part caught my attention straight away. Real ambergris materials are not exactly the kind of thing you normally see thrown into cheap clone formulas.

The Biolandes material is basically a proper natural ambergris tincture used in fine perfumery. The ambergris itself is collected in New Caledonia and then processed by Biolandes in France. It's a 2% ambergris infusion in alcohol, which might sound low if you're not familiar with perfumery materials, but that's completely normal for something like this.

And natural ambergris is expensive for a reason. It's rare, the quality varies massively depending on the material, age, oxidation etc, and it has a much more complex salty/musky/animalic/ambery character than just dumping Ambroxan into a formula and calling it ambergris.

That's also apparently why this release took forever.

Montagne got a batch from Biolandes, didn't like the quality, rejected it completely and waited for them to make another one.

That's probably the part I respect most about the whole thing. They could've just used the first batch and 99% of people buying it would never know. Instead they delayed the fragrance and waited until they got something they were actually happy with.

The pics attached are the actual Biolandes Ambergris Infusion F0048 they received.

I've redacted a few of the shipment/internal details from the photos before posting them. Montagne seem to prefer keeping that side of the company pretty private and there's no reason for me to put any of their internal information out there.

They basically told me they're now really happy with where Pure Amber is and feel confident releasing it.

And apparently the raw material cost is much higher than most of their other formulas, so they expect it to be somewhere toward the higher end of their pricing. Nothing final yet though.

I also think the Paradisone decision makes sense. Sure, they could've hunted down some random expensive batch and said "look, we used the same captive as LV", but what happens when it's gone? Then you either reformulate it or the next batches smell different.

Using something they can actually keep sourcing directly from DSM-Firmenich probably makes a lot more sense long term.

Obviously that also means this isn't some exact ingredient-for-ingredient clone of Pur Ambre, so the real question is still gonna be how close does it actually smell?

I'm buying the real LV Pur Ambre as well, so once Pure Amber drops and I have both in hand I'll do a proper side by side.

And just to put the whole thing into perspective, the actual LV is around $1,000 for 100ml and it's also not something you normally just walk into any LV store and find sitting there. It's a pretty rare release with limited availability, which makes this comparison even more interesting.

That's the part I'm most curious about.

Because if Montagne actually gets close to something in that price range while using proper Biolandes ambergris and keeping the formula reproducible, this could be a pretty interesting release.

I went down a bit of a rabbit hole trying to figure out where Montagne actually makes their fragrances, and I think I found the place.

📍 101-01 95th Avenue, Ozone Park, Queens, NY

And no, this isn't just an address pulled from some random business-directory website.

This building is the GMDC Ozone Park Industrial Center, basically a space for small manufacturers in NYC. GMDC itself has previously referred to Montagne Parfums as a tenant at this exact building.

Years ago, GMDC posted/reposted a Montagne video on their official Facebook page and literally described them as:

“Montagne Parfums — tenant at GMDC’s 101-01 95th Avenue building.”

Then the rabbit hole gets more interesting.

There are also past employment records placing Montagne's batch production, measuring, blending and bottling in Ozone Park — so we're not just talking about an office or mailbox here.

And probably the coolest piece of evidence: 101-01 95th Ave used to be the return address printed on Montagne packages. That's where you could return the products in the past.

You won't really see that anymore because Montagne's current policy is essentially no returns, so that little clue has disappeared from newer packages.

Their LLC is officially registered to a separate address in Valley Stream, but that looks much more like a legal/mailing address. The trail leading to the actual fragrance operation keeps coming back to this building in Queens.

So, unless Montagne has quietly moved...

this pretty ordinary-looking industrial building may be where Imaginary, Pineapple Royale, Tigris, Afternoon Dive, Torino 2021, La Nuit 2011 and basically everything else gets compounded, blended, bottled and packed.

Which is funny because with how secretive Montagne is about almost everything, I half expected their lab to be hidden underneath Manhattan with armed guards protecting the Ambroxan!

Instead, you could probably walk past this place every day and have absolutely no idea that thousands of bottles discussed endlessly on fragrance Reddit are being made somewhere inside.

Also makes some of their comments about freshly compounding fragrances and waiting for specific raw materials instead of substituting them a little more interesting when you realize there seems to be an actual small-scale manufacturing operation behind the brand.

So yeah… apparently this is where the magic happens. 🧪🧴

Now the real question:

What do you think it smells like inside that building?

Honestly I really hope Montagne makes a clone of YSL 6 Place Saint Sulpice.

Its such an underrated fragrance and I barely see anyone talk about it. The mix of labdanum, tonka, leather, saffron and lavender is just really good. Its warm, ambery, slightly sweet and leathery, but not in that super dark/dirty leather way. The tonka and labdanum make it really smooth and addictive.

I also dont see many good alternatives for this one, especially compared to how many clones there are for the usual popular fragrances.

I feel like this would be a perfect Montagne project. They could probably do a really good job with this DNA and I'd 100% buy it.

Anyone else here who has smelled No. 6 and would want Montagne to make it?

Saw the post the other day asking what people are actually basing the whole “Montagne uses better ingredients” thing on.

I’ve been in contact with Montagne, mostly discussing pretty specific questions about Imaginary, performance, materials, etc.

For context, when I asked about Imaginary before, they didn’t just give me the usual “we use premium ingredients” answer. They actually told me some of the materials they use in it:

• Hedione HC from Firmenich
• Ambroxan from KAO
• Ambrettolide HC Supreme from ACS
• Natural materials sourced globally
• Production in compliance with IFRA standards
• and they told me Imaginary is around 20–21% Ambroxan

They use GC-MS and GC-FID, chromatographic fingerprinting, chemometric analysis and trace-marker analysis on natural materials/essential oils. What caught my attention is that they specifically said they’re not just checking one main molecule and calling it good, they look at the broader chemical fingerprint and use that to detect things like adulteration or inconsistencies between batches.

They also said incoming raw materials have to meet their own QC specifications, and finished batches are compared against reference standards.

I’m not saying this suddenly proves Montagne uses “better ingredients” than every other clone house. That’s almost impossible to prove from the outside anyway, and two companies can technically buy from the same supplier while still using completely different materials/grades/formulas.

But I thought this was interesting because there’s at least a little more substance here than the usual:

“Montagne smells smoother, therefore the ingredients must be better.”

From the conversations I’ve had with them, they’ve been surprisingly open when I ask technical questions. They’ve given me actual supplier names, specific aroma chemicals, percentages in some cases, and now a pretty detailed explanation of how they test incoming naturals.

I also went back and looked up the specific materials they've mentioned to me before, because honestly I didn't know whether the names meant much.

Turns out there's actually some interesting stuff there. Hedione HC isn't just regular Hedione — it's Firmenich's high-cis version, which Firmenich themselves describe as substantially stronger than regular Hedione and designed for more impact/diffusion in fine fragrance.

The Ambroxan they told me they're using isn't some unspecified generic ambroxide either. It's KAO's actual branded AMBROXAN®. KAO calls it their original Ambroxan material and lists it for use all the way up to luxury fine fragrance. They also told me Imaginary contains roughly 20–21% of it, which caught my attention because KAO's own normal usage range is listed at 0.1–10%. I don't know whether those percentages are being calculated on exactly the same basis, so I won't pretend it's a direct comparison, but it's still a pretty huge number.

And Ambrettolide HC Suprême turned out to be more interesting than I expected too. It's a specialty macrocyclic musk from ACS International, developed specifically for fine fragrance and produced through biotechnology from renewable sugars. There is even an ACS/C&EN article discussing its development as an alternative to the ambrettolide found in extremely expensive natural ambrette seed oil.

None of this proves that every Montagne raw material is “better” than what every other clone house uses. But I think there's a difference between a company vaguely saying “premium ingredients” and a company actually telling you which manufacturer's version of Hedione, Ambroxan and Ambrettolide they're using, then explaining how their lab tests incoming natural materials.

That's really the part I found interesting.

So for the guy who made the original post asking if there was any actual evidence behind the ingredient-quality claims — this is probably the closest answer I’ve been able to get directly from them so far.

And as always, none of this would be interesting if they didn't pass the "nose test", so that's my biggest evidence so far, after testing nearly every ME brand and having many niches in my collection.

For anyone who didn’t see the video, Neeb recently criticized Mykonos and Velixir and called out influencers who take money to hype up fragrances. On the surface, fair enough. That is exactly the kind of thing people in this community have been complaining about for years.

But let’s not pretend he’s somehow completely different from the influencers he’s calling out.

He was one of the people who normalized this whole clone-hype culture. Every “clone war” video was basically free advertising for French Avenue, and by his own admission, they rewarded him with a Rolex (as he said himself).

What makes it even harder to take seriously is how he is now criticizing French Avenue products that have already failed and disappeared from the conversation.

Look at Essence de Blanc. Nobody talks about it anymore. A few months ago, he was presenting it as the closest clone of Louis Vuitton Imagination and the winner of the clone war. Now he says it smells like fish. Once the fragrance is already dead and nobody cares about it anymore, there is no real risk in trashing it. Instead, it makes him look honest.

People think, “Wow, Neeb really tells it like it is.” Then the next French Avenue release comes along, he gives it a glowing review, and suddenly that review carries more credibility because he has already shown that he is supposedly willing to criticize the brand.

To me, this looks like playing the long game.

You don’t need to praise every single fragrance. In fact, that would make the marketing too obvious. You trash a few bottles here and there, just enough for people to start thinking you are unbiased and willing to tell the truth.

Then, when the next big French Avenue release drops, you go all in. You call it a masterpiece, the new clone-war winner, better than the original or whatever the phrase of the week is. And now people are more likely to believe you because they remember the times you criticized something.

That trust can then be used to generate even more hype and sell even more bottles.

Remember guys, don’t blind-buy because someone calls the latest release a masterpiece, nuclear or better than the original. Get a decant, wear it yourself and let your own nose decide.

For anyone who has been following the new Louis Vuitton fragrances, Rain Tea has officially been renamed to Tea Storm on Louis Vuitton's international website. The product code is still the same (LP0455), so this appears to be a name change only, not a reformulation.

This likely confirms that Tea Storm is the name that will be used for the worldwide release, which is expected to arrive in the US on September 10.

RIP to anyone hoping to own a bottle that actually says Rain Tea.

Time to list them as "Rare pre-name-change batch" for 3× retail.

I think this is a trend we're going to see many other Middle Eastern fragrance houses follow over the next few years. As these brands continue to gain popularity and demand keeps increasing, lower prices probably won't be sustainable forever.

That said, I do appreciate that they're being upfront and transparent about the reasons behind the price increases instead of pretending nothing changed. That's a lot more respectable than what brands like Bujairami did, where prices seemed to double almost overnight simply because they became popular.

It honestly feels like the golden era of getting amazing fragrances at bargain prices is slowly coming to an end. There will probably still be some great value out there, but I don't think we're going to see the kind of absurd quality-to-price ratio we've been spoiled with over the last few years.

Guys, is this the best price ever for a brand new in box Bvlgari Tygar EDP?

$222 for a 125ML feels like a steal.

Scam or you just have to wait 1 year until you get it?

The discounter is The Parfums

In his recent YouTube video, Gents Scents ranked the major Middle Eastern clone houses. I thought it would be interesting to see how the rankings compare to the opinions of people here who have actually spent time with multiple brands.

Do you think the list is accurate overall, or would you move some houses up or down? Which brands are rated too highly, and which deserve more credit?

I'm especially interested in hearing from people who have compared several houses side-by-side rather than relying on community hype.

I emailed them asking when Tigris Cologne would be back, and they explained that the restock is delayed because they’re currently out of Nootkatone 98%, which is also why Afternoon Dive is unavailable.

For anyone unfamiliar with it, nootkatone is an aroma material closely associated with the distinctive smell of grapefruit. It gives that realistic, slightly bitter, juicy grapefruit character, with some woody depth underneath. The 98% refers to a highly purified grade of the material, rather than simply using a generic grapefruit accord or a lower-purity substitute.

That honestly made me respect Montagne even more. They could probably replace it with something similar, make a small adjustment to the formula and restock both fragrances sooner. Most customers might not even notice. Instead, they’re apparently willing to keep two popular fragrances unavailable until they can source the specific material they use.

I would much rather wait another few weeks and receive Tigris Cologne the way it was intended than get a rushed or slightly compromised batch.

A lot of brands talk about quality and transparency, but things like this are what actually make me trust a house.

Vanille Planifolia, Tonka Sarrapia and Bergamote Fantastico would be perfect for Montagne.

There are plenty of clone houses out there, but honestly, Montagne is probably the only one I would trust with fragrances like these. They need good raw materials and careful blending, otherwise they could easily end up smelling cheap, overly sweet or just flat.

The originals are beautiful, but the prices are ridiculous. Even one of these would be an amazing release, but getting all three would be insane.

Montagne, please make it happen.

Po pyes specifikisht per produktin zero caffeine, per neve qe jem hipersensitiv ndaj kafeines, a e keni pa dikund kete produkt ne Kosove?

Nese po, ne cilin market/vend?

Albi Market e ka reklamu neper rrjete sociale, po nuk gjindet ne ndonje pike sa kom mujt me pa.

Faleminderit.

Creed really woke up one morning and decided some people don't own enough Absolu Aventus.

New 490ml Absolu Aventus flacon.

Who's actually buying this, and how long would it take you to finish it?