Mon Ami

What makes Mon Ami work is the deliberate pairing of amber as a top note rather than a base. Gritti places it at the front, and that single structural decision reshapes how the rest of the composition reads. The amber opens with a resinous warmth that feels almost honeyed, a glow rather than a blaze, and it sets an emotional register before the brighter notes arrive. Fig and plum bring the velvety sweetness, their syrupy fleshiness cushioned by a green leafiness from the fig that keeps things from collapsing into jam.

The evolution

The first hour is amber forward, resinous and warm, almost like a candle just blown out. The fig and plum arrive within the first 30 minutes, softening the amber into something milky and edible. Coconut comes in around the 45-minute mark, not tropical but creamy, like coconut milk added to a warm dessert. By hour two, the fruit has receded and the sandalwood-musk base takes over, though a trace of raspberry keeps it from going purely woody. The drydown settles into a close-skin warmth that lasts through the rest of the day, the kind of scent you catch when you pull a scarf over your nose or rest your chin on your hand. On clothing, traces linger into the next morning. The sillage stays moderate throughout, never projecting aggressively but always present in a hug's distance.