Ambrettolide (more accurately Iso Ambrettolide) is incredibly popular owing, in large part, to its astonishing ability to soften the edges of alcohol. In traces it has powerful fixative properties and in overdose it contributes a lovely soft red fruit nuance (though some people may have difficulty smelling it due to the size of the molecules). If you could only ever possess two musks, they would be Exaltolide® (from Firmenich) and Ambrettolide (from IFF). This IFF quality possesses a sweeter and more pronounced musk note to the Givaudan type making it our preferred version. According to Arctander: “[Ambrettolide] is one of the finest fixatives among the distinguished group of those showing a synergistic and amplifying effect upon perfumes and flavors. At the same time it increases the diffusiveness of fragrances in which it is incorporated. Its fixative effect is easily recognized by the fact that solutions of 0.01% Ambrettolide (or even less) in slightly diluted alcohol show practically no odor of alcohol, only a faint, floral-musky, sweet and pleasant odor of the lactone. Ambrettolide is particularly useful in fragrance types of delicately floral, mildly animal or Ambre-like type.”