Tableau de Parfums Snapshots "Dark Passage" by A.Tauer: fragrance review & draw

"It was a hot afternoon, and I can still remember the smell of honeysuckle all along that street. How could I have known that murder can sometimes smell like honeysuckle?"
~Double Indemnity, 1944


Dark Passage is a limited edition, g-o-r-g-e-o-u-s perfume by Swiss genius Andy Tauer which doesn't smell of honeysuckle. It does smell of film noirs and danger though like there's no tomorrow. Last time Tauer issued a limited edition it was the legendary Orris. If this hasn't had your ears perked up, I don't know what will. Perhaps that Dark Passage is a dark alleyway of a scent, full of spilled booze, contraband and dangerous women with luring tentacles the size of Barbara Stanwyck's evil quota in classics of the genre. I can only say I was very honoured to be among the extremely few people who got to try this amazing perfume.

Dark Passage is also rebellious; as Tauer says about the creation: "For me this first SNAPSHOT fragrance comes as a relief. Finally, I can do a fragrance that does not need to go through any distribution and sales machinery and EU registration and other investments. It is just here. If you are interested in it: Get it."

Dark Passage is perched on the darkness of natural, dirty, raw patchouli, a note poised between the woody and the camphorous. "Patchouli coeur which means”heart of Patchouli” is basically a patchouli that is rich in patchoulol. I am using a quality that is 66% patchoulol. I use it together with “standard” patchouli.[...]Patchouli coeur is even a bit more on the light, airy, musky side. Yes, there is a musky aspect that is stronger and underlined in Patchouli Coeur. I got mine from Ventos, but the description on Robertet‘s internet site is wonderful. It is in French and thus even more mysterious: “Odeur : le cœur de patchouli présente un aspect olfactif très propre, ambré, terreux, patchoulol, oriental.” Thus, it smells clean, of ambergris, earth, patchoulol, and oriental", clarifies Tauer.

But that's not all, nor is it the whole truth: Dark Passage is a perfume full of patchouli and you can't but like that material to fully enjoy it, but there are other elements to entice and to sway the character. Labdanum I believe, coupled with [no, I was wrong] beeswax musky-animalic notes, giving a sweet, intimate, almost suede aspect; a very prominent cocoa note from natural cocoa absolute, not wrapped in gourmand wiles but rendered bitter, noir, dirty, tobacco-rich...There's also a bit of birch tar, which aids both the bitterness of the chocolate facet and the leathery note, as well as a snippet of vetiver, rendered musty and as black as the night on the swamp where someone is dumping bodies on the hush.


Most importantly: Dark Passage is not bound by IFRA rules!

If you want to compare with something you might have tested already, I can only think of Ayala Moriel's Film Noir, which is another dirty, deeply dark heartless patchouli; that one isn't as cocoa-rich, though as this one.

Packaged in 7ml enamel atomizers and available in limited edition quanities, the Tableau Snapshots are smaller in scale and with a different scope. You can find all about the inspiration, the project (part of Kickstarter to promote the new Brian Pera film "Only Child") and where to buy on this post.

HURRY!! Dark Passage is only available till March 29th!

One small sample available for one lucky reader!
Draw is now closed, winner announced on Home page.

Related reading on Perfume Shrine: The power of "noir" in perfumes (with a film noir titles game included!)

In the interests of disclosure, I was sent a sample by the perfumer. 

Dark Passage: A New Fragrance Inspired by Film Noir

Andy Tauer and Brian Pera have announced another film-inspired fragrance, as part of their kickstarter campaign for the next film in the "Woman's Picture" series, Only Child. I remind you that their collaboration has brought such delightful fruits before such as the great aldehydic floral Miriam from their Tableau de Parfums brand. The new fragrance, Dark Passage, is the first in a new series in the Tableau de Parfums/Woman's Picture project: Snapshots.

The Snapshots fragrances will be packaged in 7 ml enamel atomizers and available as limited editions. Designed to be smaller in scale, this format offers Tauer and Pera the opportunity to experiment with new ideas. Miriam (and Loretta, which will launch later this year) are viewed "as portraits which capture the breadth of a life lived in full. The snapshot fragrances are handheld, and preserve fleeting moments in time."

Dark Passage is inspired by the Film Noir aesthetic, and is composed of bold contrasts that echo the shadowy black-and-white cinematography of these films. Tauer chose a patchouli that is earthy but refined, and which is further moved in interesting directions by the juxtaposition of birch tar and cacao.
The list of notes for Dark Passage includes: patchouli, cocoa, birch tar, vetiver, tobacco, and beeswax, but of course there's more in there that's hush hush like in the best film noirs!
The film, featuring Grace Zabriskie and Amy La Vere has a teaser uploaded on this link.

Designed as a unisex scent—"both femme fatale and private eye"—the fragrance "[evokes] the open road and the small town diner, steaming cups of coffee on a formica countertop, bright sun coming in parallel lines through window blinds, crisscrossing a dim room with their highly-keyed stripes."

The fragrance is available as a limited edition scent and only for the next few weeks, as part of the Kickstarter campaign for Only Child, the next film in the "Woman's Picture" series and a continued exploration of perfume as a central theme. Please visit the evelynavenue.com site for further details of the film. The Dark Passage fragrance is offered in limited quantities in return for a pledge on the pair's Kickstarter page.

In addition to the fragrance, Andy Tauer is also offering one of his handmade soaps (you know how good those are, don't you?) in return for a Kickstarter pledge. The scent of the soap, according to Tauer is floral-fruity with hints of his popular ambergris background: "The notes that I worked with are rose, a clean and almost citrusy geranium, Orange blossom, Tuberose, a hint of ripe fruits (plum), and a clean line of powdery and velvet like fruity ambergris."

Expect a review soon!

info via Andy Tauer