# Floris — Amber Oud

> Amber Oud is a limited, "By Request" oriental-woody EDP that Floris of London released in 2014, an outlier for a roughly 285-year-old British house far better known for transparent florals, citrus col

## Essence
Amber Oud is a limited, "By Request" oriental-woody EDP that Floris of London released in 2014, an outlier for a roughly 285-year-old British house far better known for transparent florals, citrus colognes and barbershop staples. It belongs to the same 2014 wave of Floris ouds as Honey Oud and Leather Oud, but it carries a genuine archival origin story: family perfumer Edward Bodenham built it around an old amber-dominant bottle he found in a trunk of papers dated to the reign of King George V. The result is an amber-forward, incense-laced rose-oud that reads as English in its restraint rather than Middle-Eastern in intensity, and it is now discontinued.
## Scent Profile
The opening leads with bergamot lifted by olibanum (frankincense), giving a bright-but-resinous, slightly churchy entry rather than a purely citric one. It signals early that this is a resin-and-incense composition wearing a thin citrus veil.
The heart settles into the classic rose-patchouli-oud triad, but in a restrained idiom. The oud here is smoothed of barnyard or medicinal facets, present more as a woody-smoky shading than a feral note, with rose lending freshness and patchouli adding earthy depth.
The drydown is where the name earns out: a warm, sweet amber-vanilla-labdanum base, with myrrh adding a cool, slightly bitter resinous edge that distinguishes it from the gourmand honeyed warmth of Honey Oud. The fragrance reads as largely linear after the first hour and amber-dominant throughout, a warm resinous amber with rose and incense rather than a transformational scent.
## Performance
Amber Oud reads as a moderate, refined performer rather than a powerhouse, with above-average longevity and a measured projection consistent with the broader Floris reputation for elegant-but-quiet wear. By analogy to its better-documented siblings, which are widely reported at six to eight-plus hours, expect solid but not aggressive performance, best in cool weather. A couple of generous sprays suit it; it is built for proximity rather than for filling a room.
## Wearing Context
This is a cool-weather scent, most at home in autumn and winter, leaning evening and dressy but wearable casually given its moderate projection. The incense-and-myrrh facet skews it slightly contemplative and formal, while the amber sweetness keeps it comforting rather than austere. It is fully unisex and would feel wrong in heat or in any context wanting a fresh or sporty signature.
## Comparisons & DNA
The most direct comparisons are its own siblings. Floris Honey Oud (2014) shares the identical amber-oud-labdanum-vanilla base but adds a dominant English-honey gourmand sweetness, making it the cozier, sweeter cousin. Floris Leather Oud (2014) uses a related base under a semi-animalic leather and geranium-carnation top, and is the more characterful of the trio. Against the broader rose-oud field, Amber Oud sits in a smoother, sweeter, less smoky lane than the dirtier niche ouds such as Montale Black Aoud, landing as an amber-forward English rose-oud rather than the Middle-Eastern intensity its name implies.
## Reception
Documented coverage of Amber Oud is genuinely sparse, with few-to-no full written reviews and little beyond a note that the production was discontinued and that it was a limited edition. The most telling signal is scarcity-driven longing, with wearers asking where the fragrance can still be found. No named critic published a dedicated verdict on Amber Oud, and because it is effectively unobtainable at retail there is no settled blind-buy consensus. It holds the most interest for Floris completists and amber-incense devotees who can locate a bottle.
## Versions & Reformulation
A single composition with no known reformulations. It was released in 2014 as a limited "By Request" Private Collection fragrance and subsequently discontinued, and it is not part of the ongoing Honey Oud line that Floris has since expanded into bath and body products.
## Acquisition Notes
Discontinued and rare. It was originally sold as a 100 ml EDP in the Private Collection tier, with its siblings retailing around the low-to-mid hundreds of US dollars at launch. It now surfaces only sporadically on the secondhand market, where pricing is seller-dependent and inconsistent given low supply, and a scarcity premium is the norm. Counterfeiting is not a notable concern for a low-profile discontinued release; availability is the real obstacle.
## Notable Facts & Lore
- Family perfumer Edward Bodenham built it around an amber-dominant bottle found in a trunk of papers dated to the reign of King George V.
- It was released as a limited "By Request" Private Collection fragrance and is now discontinued.
- It sits alongside Honey Oud and Leather Oud in Floris's 2014 wave of oud-based compositions.
- The archival framing places it in the lineage of historic-recreation perfumery rather than conventional new-fragrance development.
- Floris received the first of its many Royal Warrants in 1820, and its historical clientele famously included Winston Churchill, Marilyn Monroe and Ian Fleming.