What Is Ambergris: The Rarest Ingredient In Luxury Perfume

The ocean leaves its secrets behind. Somewhere, something pale drifts ashore from New Zealand’s waters. It smells of salt and sun, faintly animalic, faintly mineral. It is Ambergris, the rarest ingredient in luxury perfume. Tales of Amber, Goldfield & Banks’ new Extrait de Parfum 2025 reimagines that rarity through an Australian perspective, pairing New Zealand Ambergris with native Agarwood to create a scent that feels like it is carved from the landscape itself. But people still don’t know the true origin of where the marine material comes from. To find out more about Ambergris in all its mystery, read: What is Ambergris; The Rarest Ingredient in Luxury Perfume.

What is Ambergris?

Ambergris, simply put, is sperm whale excrement. But how is it formed? There is still so much mystery tied to how ambergris is made, but it is one of the most sought-after perfume ingredients. All throughout history, there have been stories that describe Ambergris as the ocean’s “Gold” and that the ingredient brings good fortune.

History of Ingredients

In One Thousand and One Nights (The Arabian Nights), Ambergris drifts through stories as the ocean’s offering. In the Arab world, the substance known as ‘Anbar’ (Ambergris), was long prized not just in perfumery but as incense, medicine and luxury. Always found, never taken, it was the sea’s most precious gift. In one tale, one fisherman hauls in a mass of Ambergris instead of fish and becomes instantly wealthy. That association between scent and seduction endured long after the tales were told.

King Charles II

Centuries later, King Charles II was said to eat Ambergris with his eggs; breakfast perfumed with animal warmth and ocean memory. In an age that equated rarity with pleasure, it became both indulgence and aphrodisiac, the taste of luxury itself.

Ambergris, Sun Bleached

Sun Bleaching

These are all fun stories relating to the perfume ingredient, but how is it actually formed? As a result of floating in waves containing oxygen and bleaching from sunlight, often for decades, Ambergris goes through an ageing process. During this, the ‘dead fish’ smell disappears, the dark colour of the Ambergris fades and the waxy consistency is gone. The finest and most valuable Ambergris is a pale grey/chalk-white colour, and is the type most commonly used in luxury perfume to make Extrait de Parfum.

New Perfume 2025

Goldfield & Banks’ newest Extrait de Parfum for 2025, Tales of Amber, offers an Antipodean reinterpretation of luxury. Built around the elusive New Zealand Ambergris, this most rare and precious ingredient, which makes a fragrance shaped by time and transformation, pairing Australian Agarwood with the sea’s rarest relic. It’s the story of how scarcity becomes beauty, and how the ocean meets land on skin.

Tales of Amber, Extrait de Parfum 2025, Goldfield & Banks

Perfume Top Notes

Tales of Amber opens with the mineral brightness of dewy Moss and the soft bloom of Orange Blossom, a restrained freshness that feels like light on wet stone. The Heart moves inward, blending earthy powdery Orris and resinous Labdanum Oil for a dry warmth, deepened by Musk and a flicker of Cinnamon that adds gentle heat beneath the powder.

Ambergris Perfume

In the base, Ambergris brings marine depth, dry and faintly animal, as Australian Agarwood and Oud accord add smoke and shadow, grounded by leathery Labdanum and softened with a trace of Vanillin. The result is a fragrance that balances sea and land, mineral and resin, restraint and warmth; a scent that lingers like sun on skin and salt in air.

Tales of Amber Perfume Bottle

Perfumery Nose

Today, Tales of Amber translates those centuries of myth into something distinctly modern. Goldfield & Banks uses Ambergris as geography, a material where sea and land converge. Perfumer Suzy Le Helley describes the new fragrance;

“It’s a fragrance born from elemental tension: where softness meets strength, and time becomes scent”

Suzy Le Helley

Sea and Land

In combining Australian Agarwood with New Zealand Ambergris, Tales of Amber becomes a southern hemisphere story; a fragrance that belongs to both sea and soil. It’s a reminder that luxury lies in patience, in what the sea gives slowly and the land chooses to keep. A beautiful, elegant, faceted scent from this house that champions its homeland

If you enjoyed this article, why not try Kate Evans: Strong Scent, Memory and an Artistic Mother-Daughter Legacy.

.Cent Magazine, London; Luxury Mindset