Armani Prive Sable Fume and Sable or are two of those perfumes that have all traits that make perfumistas want to strangle someone, while at the same time Googling to figure out how hard and expensive it will be to get –
- limited edition of 1,000 bottles
- hard to find – in London or the occasional Armani boutique, you know, until they run out of the 1,000 bottles
- expensive – $650 for 100 mls. Not the worst price point they’ve done, but somewhat far up the annoying price point meter
- Really amazingly great fragrances.
I get these things and try them so you can decide if you want to chase this particular perfume unicorn or obsess about it or just curse instead and ignore the thing.
Armani Prive Sable Fume and Sable Or are inspired by the Mediterranean
Sand.
Armani Prive Sable Fume is a very posh incense fragrance. 2015 has been a banner year for superb incense fragrances so far. Armani Prive Sable Fume adds to that. Armani has done some great incenses, from the much beloved Bois d’Encens to Encens Satin. Sable Fume has notes of suede, orris, incense, ambroxan, benzoin and resins. It’s lush leathered resinous and gorgeous. Softer in places than Bois d’Encens, it is more resinous, opening with an almost salty (?) note, it has warmth where Bois d’Encens is a tidge colder. The salty note is incredibly charming and unexpected. A stunningly beautiful incense fragrance with an interesting twist and a warmth it is hard to resist falling in love with. So I stopped resisting.
Armani Prive Sable Or has notes of vanilla, violet, sandalwood, iris, benzoin and tonka bean. It doesn’t shout “lovemeloveme” as loudly as Sable Fume. It just whispers it with the soft, silky iris/violet smoothness laid over a very light vanilla/tonka base. Sable Or creeps up on you. It’s a soft kiss on your neck that you didn’t expect. The Orris is just a touch earthy and so buttery, you almost want to eat it. The perfume isn’t sweet at all, though, so you anti-gourmandy people are clear to keep obsessing. In keeping with the sand theme, this puts off a slightly salted skin aroma that is intoxicating and addictive.
Two beautiful creations that deserve a spot in the permanent line. Please, Mr. Armani? Until then, you have to chase the limited edition unicorn or sit this one out on the sidelines and hope.
I have winners from last week’s drawings for the Tom Ford Fleur de Portofino samples – rincoglionita, foxbins and Caroline. Just click on Drop Us a Note at the top of the blog, send me your name and address and remind me what you’ve won. I’ll send you a quick “got it” e-mail so you know it didn’t drop into my spam filter and then get it sent to you.
So, wanting to try these or gonna sit it out, no unicorns for you? To make it more interesting, I’ll do a drawing for a sample set of the two – Armani Prive Sable Fume and Sable Or – for four lucky commenters drawn at random.
I’d love to try these. I haven’t smelt anything from the Prive line and haven’t really felt curious about them, but these two do intrigue me. This is the incense I’ve been looking for…
I have sat out a lot of the Armani Prives but these ones sound hard to resist…
I’d sample them if I came across them but I probably won’t go chasing them even though the Sable Or sounds stunning
What the heck, these both sound amazing. I would love to try these, and then dream about them forever more 🙂 Thank you!
The Sable Fume sounds fabulous. At $650 a bottle it kinda needs to be. Heh. As envious as I am about this “unicorn” limited edition, I’d be curious what the actual return on investment is for Armani. Maybe it’s just to stir things up though?
I am such a sucker for Armani Prive…the incense scents are amazing. And Cuir Amethyste. I would love to try these latest offerings. And weep.
These sound great, and I would love to try. Still, stupid unicorns! Nothing like “limited edition” or “discontinued” for making me really, really want something!!
Total instant unicorn territory… Great review! Thanks for the draw! Fingers crossed… Tina G x
I am not opposed to chasing unicorns at all, so I’d love to try both of these! Sable Fume sounds like more my thing, but that sift kiss on the neck has me very, very curious about Or!
I’m curious about Sable Fume. But I have to admit, I really, really, really need to chase the unicorn for Sable Or. “Sable Or creeps up on you. It’s a soft kiss on your neck that you didn’t expect.” Sounds EXACTLY like my type of fragrance.
These sound so lovely! I would love to try them. It’s so frustrating with all of the limited edition high price point stuff. I love the Babylone Vetiver from the private collection. Thanks so much for the chance to try these!
These sound wonderful. The 1,000 bottle limit is just cruel… I fell hard for La Femme Bleue and I do have a decant but there is almost no chance I’ll ever see any more of it! Would love to try these, though.
These sound fabulous but jeesh they’re expensive. Maybe if money were of no concern I’d be out chasing these pricey perfumes. Given that money is a concern, I need to stick with things that I can still purchase if I fall in love when the decant is gone. When a scent is this expensive it’s almost as if it’s a limited edition. When it’s gone it’s gone.
I’ll jump smack into the middle of the obsessed must have crowd…….they sound divine!
I don’t think I’ve tried any of the Armani Prive line since the original four (four, five? I remember loving them but not having the budget to indulge) but I’ve been on a bit of an incense kick lately and would love to sample these fabled creatures.
Salt incense, oh my.
Well, I’m really grooving on incense frogs at the moment, but $650, yoinks! This is something I could never justify buying, but I would still love to try them, thanks!
Whoop, don’t know what an incense frog is, but I bet they’re adorable! 😉 Incense frags, however…
Oooh, Patty, so glad you tried these and told us about them. They sound divine! My Neiman’s has the Prive line now but wonder if these are too uber-exclusive to show up there. Anyhoo, thanks for the draw although DNEM.
I don’t believe I have ever tried an Armani scent, limited edition or not. I’d love to rectify that, and I do love incense. Thanks for the draw!
Well, I was going to sit it out until you mentioned a drawing. They do sound good and I do love a soft incense.
When I read this last night, I thought no way am I entering that draw, last thing I need is a stunning, twisted incense that I can’t afford or even find. Yet, here I am. 🙂 Thanks for the draw!
Too rich for my blood, but I would love to smell them 🙂
These two sound wonderful. Thanks for the draw.
Incense with a salty note has got my attention. I don’t think I want to smell it though because at that price point it would really be a disappointment if I loved it and couldn’t have it.
Thanks so much for the opportunity! Since the first Armani Woman is my greatest love among all perfumes, I’m always curious when I hear Armani. Unfortunately I haven’t tried the Prive line so far since they don’t sell it around here…
Not one, but two unicorns! I love this line, with my little decant of La Femme Bleue my pressscious.
Hi, Taffy! Glad to see another La Femme Bleue fan — it is so beautiful, isn’t it?
Oh, both scents sound so wonderful. I love my Bois d’Encense, but these two are too pricey for me. Thank you so much for this draw.
you are the best patty!!: ) these both sound so beautiful…i really want to smell them pronto!! my fingers are crossed and thanks for the draw : )
These sound really interesting! I haven’t found many incense scents that I live, but I’m all about the salt notes these days! Thanks so much for the generous draw!
OMG you have me foaming at the mouth. I finally got to sniff Bois d’encens last week which I’ve been dreaming and scheming over ever since. Now you add a salty note? I’m about to cry 🙂
Love Armani Prive in general and their incense is amongst my favourites along with Commes des Garcons. I like that Armani adds depth and richness to the incense that results in a softer more perfume-like scent. Commes des Garcons is wonderful but very literal. Would love to be in the draw – glad you try these for us 🙂
The bottles are gorgeous, but I’d really love to see 30 ml size… I rarely go even through 50mls nowadays (too much selection…) and a 10ml decant is not enough. I’d really love to try these two but I am a bit worried of falling in love with something that is utterly difficult to find.
I love the Armani prive line. Not only the scents but I also love the bottles. There is something about them that makes me open my wallet way too wide. But somehow it feels justified because I still realy enjoy my Cedre Olympic, Bois d’enscens, Cuir amethyst and Enscense satin. Of the super exclusive line I own half a bottle of Nacre (799) Which I could get very cheap 2nd hand. Like it but would not have payed the full retail price for that one. It’s basically a very soft (beautifully done!) iris. But I am very curious about these two new ones after reading your description.
I’ve been on my best (non) unicorn chasing behavior, but can’t resist wanting to try these. Count me in, please.
Both sound really nice and would love to at least sample them(as visions of Veruca Salt float through my head).
Curious to try these–completely out of the loop on the lastest exclusive exclusives (don’t think I’ve even sampled a regular Armani Prive). Thank goodness that for the most part, I’ve gotten over the wish to try and keep up. The number of recently released uber expensive frags is rather staggering…wonder who typically buys this stuff, aside from Dubai customers.
I love truly incense fragrances and love Bois d’Encens. I would so love to sample these two. they sound fabulous. Thanks for the draw.