Pentachords White Tauer

Desirability: Decant

Source: Fragrantica

In a nutshell, this smells like a rich vanilla cake with a thick frosting of buttercream and decorated with crystallized violets. The initial part truly does smell gourmand but after some time, a powdery sweet iris emerges from all this richness, in a delicate posy with fresh violets. In the drydown, the powder drifts away to be replaced by warm woody notes backing the suede-like iris and sweet violets.

This is comfort in a bottle, be it stuffing your face with decadent treats or nestling in a rocking chair before a warm fireplace with the smell of an approaching Spring in the cool air. Average projection with good longevity, I get at least eight hours wear. A much more approachable take on iris than Lutens' Iris Silver Mist which I enjoy smelling but not wearing. 

PHI Une Rose de Kandahar Tauer

Source: Luckyscent

I can now spray my Tauer PHI without worrying that I will run out anytime soon, when I noticed that it was back on the market and labelled a "limited release" I broke my no-buy rule and snapped one up, having been a miser with my 15 ml from an explorer set purchased in 2013. 

I love how my perspective of scents have changed from when I first got into my perfume obsession. I put it down to experience, having smelt more and learning to identify notes and their variations/combinations and still getting them wrong, re-discovering old loves and ending/starting relationships when I find a different side to them that I didn't notice/understand before. 

When I first wore PHI a year ago, I could only appreciate it as a salty musky rose, a beautiful one at that but I missed out on the rest of PHI until recently when we got re-acquainted. The opening is sour and sparkling citrus that does a quick pirouette and exits, making way for a fuzzy complex rose, made up of powdery notes, a soft and demure fruity non-screechy rose, salty musk and a light bitter almond which is similar to the almond in loukoum scents like Serge Lutens' Rahat Loukoum but it does not turn PHI into a gourmand. Fuzzy like a long-haired cat is the vibe I get from PHI. Further along the day, I smell incense and spices but at a muted volume, not like in previous Tauer creations. 

Andy Tauer wrote in his blog that the formula for PHI remains unchanged and I would agree that both my bottles smell the same. A rose like no other. 

02 L`Air du Desert Marocain Tauer

Source: www.tauerperfumes.com

This smells like a sibling to one of Lutens' oriental scents like Ambre Sultan. A potent dry and spicy wind. POTENT, you have been warned, I've heard humorous stories on how people have cleared gym locker rooms and crèche facilities from overapplication.

For me, L`Air du Desert Marocain is more of a desert wind than Serge Lutens' Chergui, Chergui being a rich honeyed tobacco on me whereas L`Air du Desert Marocain conveys the dry and dusty vibe of a desert. Instead of being desiccatingly hot like the Sharqi, L`Air du Desert Marocain's warmth comes from its rich spices( the cumin stands out for me), the incense smoke, the sweet amber and resins, woody notes and a bit of animal. The different parts of the scent swirl lazily around each other, initially the dry spices are more obvious and later on the smoky resins and woody notes are more apparent, but throughout its lifetime the scent keeps whirling to show you a different face each time you inhale.

Well-crafted, deep and mysterious, L`Air du Desert Marocain takes you on a journey like Aladdin's magic carpet through familiar notes but in a unique formula. Fantastic sillage and longevity, if you love oriental scents, you must try this.