Ambery Cherry Review: A+ (for smell, A- overall)
Tom Ford’s Lost Cherry is my favorite of all smells: rich, rich, liquid cherry — so sweet and so sexy, the smell of a burst fruit — incredible. The only thing wrong with it is its price, which is $405 for 50 ml. If you have it, spend it.
If you don’t, enter Dossier’s Ambery Cherry. A very, very, very good dupe.
Dossier’s built its business on highly successful dupes of expensive perfumes, like Maison Francois Kurkdjian’s Baccarat Rouge 540 (Ambery Saffron, quite good) and Le Labo’s Santal 33 (Woody Sandalwood, which I find very average and actually not that dupe-y for Santal 33).
Ambery Cherry Review
Ambery Cherry is the best of those I’ve smelled — a decision likely enhanced by how much I love Lost Cherry, and how much I would like to smell like it all the time. It is not precisely the same, but it is very close. There is something animalian in Lost Cherry that Ambery Cherry can’t quite replicate — something weirdly alive in it.
The almond top note is also much more prominent in Ambery Cherry. Ultimately, Lost Cherry makes me think of the best ripe cherry on the most beautiful day of June, while Ambery Cherry makes me think of cherry candies — maybe a cherry macaron, or something else with almond flour or almond paste. The cherry stays predominant, but it’s sitting right next to the almond, which flattens it out a bit.
Ambery Cherry Review: Longevity
Beyond the smell, Ambery Cherry performs well. It is extremely long-lasting for me: Two sprays and I was set for a full eight hours away from home. It also clings to clothing, which I personally love. Ambery Cherry actually has considerably better longevity than Lost Cherry, which is gone from my skin in 3-4 hours.
Aesthetics
A B+, max, for the packaging, and probably more like a B. The bottle design is very simple — minimalist and restrained. The glass is nice and heavy, and the metal cap closes with a satisfying magnetic click, but it reminds me of Le Labo (cylindrical shape, metallic cap) without that brand’s beauty and elegance. I would rather than try something that felt new and different than replicate another brand’s packaging DNA — like you can dupe the smell without duping the brand’s look. A beautiful label costs the same to print as a boring one, and this one…could be more beautiful. It’s also begun to pucker on the bottom edge after a few months of moderate use, in a climate-controlled environment. Tom Ford would never.
