Question:
So a lot of my time here is spent lurking... just randomly reading threads, wandering through the stacks on the Directory side almost at random - the 'people who like X also like Y' links at the bottom get me into a lot of trouble! Well, along with things I knew I liked (Terre d'Hermes), there was this fragrance, so I went and had a look at it. Well... it's spicy. Check. It's got sillage. Check. So it seemed right about up my alley, so I ordered a sample (actually 6 different samples, but more about those later!) from Luckyscent, and wore it today.
L'Air du Desert Marocain - Andy Tauer
Now, I've never been to Mid-East, but what this scent brings to mind is just amazing. First off, it's a papery dry, fairly straight forward clove and cinnamon scent. Well, not quite. I mean, I smelled clove and cinnamon, but at the same time, I had a vivid image of traders unloading burlap bags full of raw spices like cinnamon and cloves into a mud brick warehouse somewhere in the desert. That papery-dry smell isn't like L'Artisan's Passage d'Enfer where it's pencil shaving dry, but it's a hot sand and spicy burlap note that's just intoxicating. At the same time, there's a layer underneath that seems dark and rather poisonous. Licorice root (again, dry, dusty), that rich sweet black note from Hamartan Noir by Parfumerie General, and a heavy, sweet flower make up the heart of this picture. It almost wants to be jasmine or honeysuckle, but it's also got a soapy/tuberose weight to it. After about 30 minutes of those things, well, it gets interesting! The spicy, flowery things move to the side, and out comes, of all things, bergamot and cream and honey and amber, so that this is like a good cup of Earl Grey tea, or a hypothetical mix of Antico Caruso and Fiore d'Ambra from Profumum.
Now here's the thing: Sillage is huge, as is longevity. I put some on at about 10:30 this morning, and after about half an hour, it was into the mid-phase of things. Once it gets into the base, it just hangs out. For a long time. I washed a rack of glasses (soap, rinse, sanitizer) today, and I could still smell this from a foot away on my wrist. It's so powerful, it's almost cloying.
Thanks,
Zachary

Answer:
Wow! Nice, vivid description! You may have a future here!

I, too, am impressed with L'Air du Desert Marocain. I missed out on a bottle from the source, but I've got a decant on the way. The image that this scent evokes for me is that of my many travels through Northern New Mexico. The high desert country, with both cedar and mesquite, with some of both being burned in Kiva fireplaces, and traditional Mexican and Indian cultures mixing their respective spices and incenses. The intoxicating, almost ephemerous sillage of L'Air is both intriguing and comforting to me. I need to wear it some more, but I'm thinking that it may trump Avignon, also an incensey favorite of mine.

Jeff

Answer:
Jeff,
Yeah, some of the other things I got were Avignon, Heeley's Fine Leather, Brulure de Rose and Bois de Copaiba from PG, and something else I can't remember. More notes to come on those.
You know, since my background is wine, descriptors come easy to me. And I'm starting to get the hang of scent X is like scent Y as I've had more things. My big issue is that unlike wine, where I can go to the grocery store and smell and taste apples and blood oranges, I can't very well go out and smell civet and cistum and rockrose and labdanum and tonka bean. What I'd kill for is a 'Fragrance Component Encyclopedia' - people who have smelled these things giving the people who haven't an idea of what these things smell like. It'd be a great learning tool.
Thanks,
Zachary

Answer:
Originally Posted by Zachary It's so powerful, it's almost cloying... Wow - great review Zachary! You go into a lot of details, and nsome of this hasn't been written before. I followed you thru the end, and that's where my problem is: I cannot really enjoy L'Air du Dessert because I find it too cloying. I love most elements like cedar, jasmine and incense (hate tuberose in masculine frags though). But the whole of it gets a bit much for me after about 20 - 30 minutes. I rather be sentenced to wearing Avignon every day.

Not that this would be decisive, but quite in contrast to its incredible price, the packaging of L'Air du Dessert is a bit cheap. I'll accept a label sticker on Aqua Velva any time. However, for a bottle that aspires to hold more precious juice, Tauers standard off the rack spray bottles with their name glued on look rather unattractive to me. Compare this to the packaging of 'L'Air du Temps' or 'Tabac Original' which are very affordable. Anything historic, like label stickers of 4711 or Farina are something different, of course.

Answer:
You might find these useful:
http://boisdejasmin.typepad.com/_/ar...als/index.html
http://www.iff.com/Ingredients.nsf/F...ients!OpenForm
http://www.aromaweb.com/essentialoils/default.asp
http://www.bojensen.net/index.html
Originally Posted by Zachary What I'd kill for is a 'Fragrance Component Encyclopedia' - people who have smelled these things giving the people who haven't an idea of what these things smell like. It'd be a great learning tool.
Thanks,
Zachary

Answer:
Originally Posted by narcus Not that this would be decisive, but quite in contrast to its incredible price, the packaging of L'Air du Dessert is a bit cheap. I'll accept a label sticker on Aqua Velva any time. However, for a bottle that aspires to hold more precious juice, Tauers standard off the rack spray bottles with their name glued on look rather unattractive to me. Compare this to the packaging of 'L'Air du Temps' or 'Tabac Original' which are very affordable. Anything historic, like label stickers of 4711 or Farina are something different, of course. The picture on the white box is even more fragile. Don't ever get a drop of liquid on those glued stickers - they will start a life of their own.
LOL!
There's an ingredient sticker on the bottom of the box that I recommend not to even touch.
Once I did the area turned purple and messy in a second ....

Answer:
Originally Posted by dr.creed The picture on the white box is even more fragile. Don't ever get a drop of liquid on those glued stickers - they will start a life of their own. LOL!
There's an ingredient sticker on the bottom of the box that I recommend not to even touch.
Once I did the area turned violet and messy in a second .... Thanks for the warning! Ink laser, I suppose. And now selling for more €/$ than the luxurious bottles of the Divine company cost .

Answer:
This just reinforces my desire to try this.
Nice review!

Answer:
Great review.
Tauer's LDDM and LM are absolutely on target for their stated "scent-image" (scimage? )
I like LDDM more than LM for me, but I'm not yet sold that that is what I'd like to smell like.

Answer:
I agree with the praise, and just wish that the price hadn't more than doubled since it's debut. Originally, the bigger bottle on luckyscent was $60. Now the small bottle is $80 or $85. It seems to rise in price every month. I wouldn't doubt that it will be over $100 by late summer.