[perfume] Tauer's Phi

[kaberett]

rydra_wong said:

I'd also like to nod to [Tauer's] Phi: Une Rose de Kandahar, which does not fall within the remit of this post (deep almond/apricot/rose), but which does a rare thing with perfumery's obsession with "foreign" lands, namely actually representing some benefit to people in those countries: it's based round a specific rose oil produced in Nangarhar in Afghanistan -- where roses are one of the few viable alternatives to growing opium poppies for small farmers -- and is only available in limited quantities depending on the availability of its raw materials.

Tauer's website says:

HEAD NOTES: Phi starts with a rich fruity line of apricot. An all natural apricot extract with its surprising richness enchants and blends into a cinnamon line and hints of bitter almond, softened by bergamot essential oil.

HEART NOTES: These spices lead over to voluptuous roses in the fragrance heart: Extremely rare rose essential oil with its unique scent of spices, plums and flower petals blends into rose absolute from Bulgaria and hints of Bourbon geranium. The rose petals melt on the skin into a dark tobacco fond, built around an amazing absolute of dried tobacco leaves.

BODY NOTES: The animalic, leathery and woody tobacco opens the ground for a generously dosed layer of patchouli in the base of Phi. Here, woody and gourmand notes melt into hints of animalic lines. Vetiver, vanilla and tonka add richness and brilliance. A generous dose of exclusive musk and amber gris round the body of the fragrance and encircle the roses.

It's currently out of stock until at least the third quarter of the year, but rydra_wong very, very kindly sent me a sample - because "apricot" is Alex-bait, and almond and bergamot are Alex-bait, and plum is Alex-bait, and leather/wood/vetiver/vanilla are all, very much, Alex-bait.

Oddly spiky & green powdery floral in the vial, and when first on the skin, but the vanilla-apricot shows up very rapidly - and the apricot really does smell like perfectly ripe fruit. The apricot swlls out & is just - gloriously juicy; followed - again, almost immediately, this is how much it's morphing in the first five minutes - by cinnamon.

I really, really hope I don't amp the cinnamon in this to the point of drowning everything else out, as I so often do.

-- aaand, several hours later, it hasn't - it's a very musky yet sweet-from-vanilla leather with just a hint of fruit/florals over the top, and some sharpness from the vetiver. I was really hoping for lots of apricot and I am still not decided on this, I think, which means I will get to wear it lots. ;) This post to be updated as and when; as it stands my views are probably only helpful to my skin-twins...

Comments

[rydra_wong]

*beams*

I'm so glad you're finding it interesting! Permission to link?

[kaberett]

By all means! Not that I feel I am much value-added at this point, but hey.

[metaphortunate]

Oh my god, that sounds delicious.

[rydra_wong]

It really is (on/to me, at least); it's not "me" enough that I'd use up my sample by myself, I think, which is why I was happy to split it with kaberett, but it's a beautiful thing.

Mysteriously, the drydown keeps convincing my nose it has oud in it, which the internet tells me isn't true. Got to be some sort of illusion from the vetiver-patchouli-tobacco woodiness.

Btw, for anyone else who's interested, Surrender to Chance have samples:

http://surrendertochance.com/tauer-perfumes-phi-une-rose-de-kandahar/

[cyprinella]

You had to link that, didn't you? I seem to have slipped and paypal-ed them money in exchange for an array of goods.

[rydra_wong]

I seem to have slipped and paypal-ed them money in exchange for an array of goods.

It's shocking how easily accidents like that can happen. Fancy gratifying my curiosity and telling me what else you ordered? *g*