PremaNature – Amber Deluxe

I received this pack from PremaNature as a sample at the beginning of 2025.
The main article about PremaNature you can find here.

A pack of PremaNature incense sticks contains 12 sticks of 8″ length; each burns for 45-55 minutes.
Unlike the other boxes, this one does not yet carry a batch number or date.

Bought directly from the PremaNature website, the sticks cost 5€ per pack, that makes about 0,42€ per stick. In Germany, they’re so far only sold by Indiaroma, where a pack costs 5,90€ (about 0,49€ per stick).

Ingredients: Theertham (energized water), Ailanthus triphysa resin, Santalum album essential oil, Essential oil mix, Tree resin, High-quality & pure charcoal powder, Tectona grandis and Litsea glutinosa.

Amber Deluxe have a quite classic amber fragrance of moderate strength. It’s sweet and balsamic-soft, with a touch of florality and a delicate freshness.
Occasionally, the fragrance of the sandalwood oil comes through somewhat stronger; it probably plays a key role in the softness of the composition.

There’s a subtle, earthy note that brings some depth into the composition; I also smell it vividly on the raw sticks. I guess that this comes from the halmaddi (Ailanthus triphysa resin) used in this recipe.
It’s an almost legendary substance that’s used in Indian incense sticks as a binding agent and fixative. It’s said that the viscous resin has the ability to emphasise floral fragrances in particular, and bring them out especially well. Others consider it an ingredient that smells paradisiacal in itself, and yet others say: that’s all just humbug and essentially a marketing gag that’s got out of hand.

As with Forest Dew (the brand’s patchouli fragrance), I notice an unpleasant note in Amber Deluxe, which I find scratchy; it occurs the most pronounced shortly after lighting. This even manifests occasionally as an itch in my throat that makes me cough a little. When the stick burns longer, however, the irritation diminishes. I can quite easily let a whole stick burn down, which is curious because the scratchiness appears again each time I light a stick.

Although I like the fragrance of Amber Deluxe and find the after-smell lovely as well, I unfortunately seem not to get on well with one of the ingredients.

A while ago, I spotted Amber Deluxe in a haul u/Ecstatic_Molasses_20 posted on Reddit, so we can look forward to a review by him as well.

Last-minute edit: The day before this article was published, u/Ecstatic_Molasses_20 aka Vid published his review of Amber Deluxe on his blog Ratnagandh.