Saturday, September 20, 2014

'Fumes: Andy Tauer Discovery Set




Andy Tauer creates truly lovely scents by hand in Zurich, Switzerland. He blogs about his creative process from idea seeds, to mixing, to hand pouring in his self-designed bottles. He offers a few ways to try his perfumes. The Discovery Set is shown here. You pick five scents of your choice to sample for $35 shipped. There is also an Explorer set where you can choose 3 scents in 15 mL each for a varying price (some scents are more costly than others due to ingredients used). This is my second Discovery Set. He has such a nice collection, I want to sample as many as I can before I decide what I wish to include in my Explorer Set. I love his hand written note "with fragrant greetings, enjoy!" I shall Andy! I shall.


The tin that houses the samples is pretty sweet. The top slides open to reveal cards with information on each scent you chose. These fragrances are exotic. Very evocative of strange places and beautiful ideas. I find the tin to be very travel friendly.


Le Maroc Pour Elle: A complex beauty that starts out herbal and bright, then mellows into a sweet jasmine with a touch of woody rose. The sweetness might be a tad cloying for a summer evening but I bet will be gorgeous on a biting winter day.

Incense Rose': Green citrus, rose buds, powdery incense and dry, sharp vetiver. I beautiful scent for a hot, muggy day, but one I would still wear year-round. It feels dry and green like fresh cut hay in a clover field.

Une Rose Chypree: The first spritz releases bright and clear notes of cinnamon and citrus, morphing into a bouquet of rare and prized rose cuttings. The drydown settles into a comforting and gorgeous sweet vanilla oak and labdanum essence that I could not stop pushing my nose into, where it lied on my wrist. This is an Explorer bottle scent for me.

Carillon Pour Un Ange exudes spring time. Lilacs, lilies, ylang, a smidge of jasmine. If you have ever had big, fat blooming lilies in a bouquet, you know what this smells like. Sweet, slightly green and a touch over ripe. In its final stage, the lilies are dried with age, powdery and woody. I enjoy this final transformation the most. The pungent, headstrong lily in the beginning can be alarmingly realistic.



 
Sotto La Luna Gardenia is a beautiful and much more lighter and delicate version of gardenia than some other gardenia perfumes I have worn. Some have a heaviness, some a bleu cheese component or even a rotting  or indolic suggestion. Tauer's version of gardenia very much reflects its name. This gardenia is hazy and pale under a full moon, cast in blues and greys, creating a fragile and gentle bloom. This fragrance begs to be chosen for a larger version as well.

After sampling many Tauers, I still would like to sniff a few more before I make my final top three that will become 15mL versions in the Explorer Set. Contenders include: L'Air duDesert Marocain, Incense Rose', Un Rose Chypree, and Sotto La Luna Gardenia.


What types of scents do you like to wear? Any niche perfumers that you have discovered and fallen in love with?

4 comments:

  1. Are you sure you live in Polk County? j/k. :)
    This is fancy pants, sophistication with a surprisingly grounded price tag. I loved reading the descriptions and admiring the photos.
    My problem is that I can't do the headiness of most niche perfumes --yet. I'm determined and I have my eye on a few. One of them is Gypsy Water by Byredo. I rarely find myself in a shop where I can sample them so most of the time I buy them based on their scent description alone and end up not liking them so much. Thank goodness for samples that can be ordered.
    My biggest fail in ordering scent un-smelt was Robert Piguet's Fracas. I thought that was the one for me, until I spritzed it on myself. Nope. :(

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You are absolutely correct! Most niche perfumes are very heady. The only ones my husband likes on me are a couple of Sonoma Scent Studios. By and far he would rather me wear DKNY Be Delicious, but that is just not my thing.

      Blind buying is so dangerous yet fun :-) I do buy samples first in general. Fracas is one I have been dying to smell, but I can only imagine how out if hand a tuberose can get!

      Thankfully these were not anything drastic. A few weren't for me but a couple I adore and think can transition into normal everyday wear. I have an oud I only wear at home so I don't offend others.

      Delete
  2. I adore Posset Perfumes. I prefer more unique fruity scents than heady scents. My newest obsessions are cranberry and amber.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Jackie! I will look into Posset. I am a huge amber fan as well. Sonoma Scent Studio Ambre Noir is a great one. The only Tauer I think of as fruity is Une Rose Vermeille. It has sweet raspberry notes. I can't say I have ever worn a cranberry! I need to try some! Thank you for stopping by :-)

      Delete