OK, first thing you have to know is that when Andy Tauer sent me a sample of Rose Vermeille, after I won a random draw on his blog, he sent it in an adorable little tin with 4 other samples: Incense rosé, Le Maroc pour elle, Une rose chyprée and Orange Star.
I had already tried the others, I actually have Full Bottles (FB) of Incense rosé and Une rose chyprée, so I will be doing posts about them eventually, but Orange Star is new to me, and fairly new to Tauer Perfumes too; it came out earlier this year. Andy Tauer has been busy!
The second thing I want you to know is that today was the hottest day of the year in Toronto so far. If you ever wanted to know what it's like to swim through a vat of warm, wet, woolen mittens, then you should visit TO right about now. So on the way home, in honour of the new perfume I was wearing, I stopped off for a vanilla frozen yogurt with mandarin orange pieces on top. It was divine.
And how did OS stand up to this soupy weather? Really well, actually. I was kind of hoping that it would be refreshing, in the way that citrus colognes often are, but OS is not a cologne. It's a deep, resinous perfume with a rich vanilla and only the barest hint of floral. Still, it wasn't overpowering, even in the heat.
OS starts with a brilliant, tart and juicy clementine/mandarin note (which having just eaten, I can tell you is very realistic), and a woody lemon (the lemon grass). But when I first put it on, I thought I had misread the samples, and put on Incense rosé by mistake. Incense rosé has a juicy clementine opening as well as the eponymous incense.
As the top notes settles down a rich vanilla comes out. But now I think I smell Une rose chyprée! The same clementine top note can be found in the beginning of Une rose chyprée as well as a rich vanilla base.
Take the rose out of Une rose chyprée and put in the incense from Incense rosé and you are close to OS. But why do I smell a resiny incense in OS, when none is listed in the notes from Tauer?
Well, the notes that come with the ad copy of perfumes aren't the end of the story. They're not even really a list of ingredients. They're most like a description of what the perfumer thinks the perfume smells like. Somewhere in OS is some of the same incense or resin as in Incense rosé. But I guess it's not a major note in the perfume, as far as Andy Tauer is concerned.
The orange and vanilla are the main stars in OS. It's an orange creamcicle, my favourite! The orange is tart up top, but not sweet. It's almost a dry perfume. The vanilla is deep and mysterious, not sugary, darkened by the woody incense. This is the most unisex of all the Tauer's I have tried so far, and I'd like to smell it on my husband.
I think the similarities in the three of the perfumes can be explained by the fact that Mr. Tauer is sort of an artisanal perfumer. Tauer perfumes are "handmade in Switzerland" by Mr. Tauer. His creations are direct embodiments of his personal vision and taste. He has a style, so to speak. It's a lovely style, and he does magical things with incense, clementine and vanilla.
House: Tauer Perfumes
Nose: Andy Tauer
Notes: HEAD NOTES: A fresh citrus chord with mandarines and clementines.
HEART NOTES: Juicy lemon grass and clean orange flowers.
BODY NOTES: A rich ambergris base with Tonka beans and hints of vanilla.
Photo: accent on eclectic
Thank you, and cheers from the Andy behind OS. A confirmation: Yes , you are very right, no incense in Orange Star, not even a hint of it. But tons of Boswellia serrata CO2 extract in I. rosé.
ReplyDeleteThank you, I love learning new things! I googled Boswellian serrata and found this:
ReplyDeleteBoswellia serrata Wildcrafted, India, Resin, Hydrodistilled.
The oldest known Frankincense, and most likely the Frankincense mentioned in the Bible, this is the traditional Frankincense used in Ayurvedic medicine.
Read more: http://www.naturesgift.com/essential/descriptione-g.htm#ixzz0svEqlKvy
Frankincense from the bible, how romantic.