Une Rose Chypree by Tauer Perfumes: fragrance review & draw

When I was testing Une rose chyprée for the first time, I was eating creamy Greek yoghurt sprinkled with shredded Valhrona 72% dark chocolate on top (an indulgence of my own imagining, highly recommended btw) and releafing through A History of Architecture: Settings and Rituals by Spiro Kostof.

The first impression as the drops of scent hit my skin was that I was actually tasting a bright mandarin-jam-filled chocolate nugget~a fun and intriguing experience which I would suggest you try at some point! Subsequent testing confirmed that the bright halo of clementine (and some linalyl acetate?) which was so unexpected and so deliriously juicy in Incense Rosé as well as in Mandarins Ambrées (the homemade soap Andy makes for the holidays) is making its appearence again. In the memorable words of Luca Turin on the former "The combination of rose, cardamom, and mandarin is so warm, so welcoming, you feel as if you’ve just heard a piece of good news you cannot quite remember."
Same goes for the affectionately called "Tauerade", a chord comprised of orris root/irone alpha and woody ambergris, which seems to weave through his work, the signature trait of an artist who has his own distinct style. That style has been loved by many fragrance aficionados starting with his masterful L'air du desert marocain and has progressed into a genuine cult, catapulting Tauer into the pantheon of independent perfumers worth of intently watching today.

But where is the rose?, you might be asking. The rose is there, but forget everything you have ever heard about your grandma's sour flower water, the toilet refresher that has you pinch your nose with its citral and geraniol intensity and the dusty pot-pourri that has been sitting on the mantelpiece begging for mercy into being thrown in the dust-bin already! None of those impressions is here and may I say it loud: "Thank God!". The diffuculty of working with rose is exactly the cultural associations with hygiene products that smell like sour wine and mouldy, crumbled pot-pouri bought by people who randomly heard about home fragrancing circa the early 1980s. Very few compositions get away with smelling like rose yet avoiding the miasma of the above, either by accenting the powdery violet ionones aspects ~such as Paris by Yves Saint Laurent and Creed's Fleurs de Thé Rose Bulgare~ or highlighting the jamminess of the fruitier facets of rose ~like in Liaisons Dangereuses by Kilian. Alternatively they can go the more covert chypre way, resulting in Cabaret (Grès), Aromatics Elixir (Clinique), Rose de Nuit (Serge Lutens), Diabolo Rose and Un Zéphir de Rose (parfums de Rosine). Andy has successfully solved the problem of working with rose and none of his fragrances evoke unpleasant images; only opulence.

The chypre accord of Une rose chyprée is built around oakmoss, patchouli, labdanum, and bergamot, while Tauer also uses treemoss in a balanced ratio resulting in a composition that is obviously chypre. The clearly perceptible vanillic undercurrent with a drop of Tolu balsam on the other hand gives an oriental nod, providing a soft, thick, envelopping mantle fitting both genders in its velvety embrace. A lightly "clean" effect is surfacing along with gentle spiciness like clothes clean, starched and pressed with a hot iron, a nod to his Vetiver Dance and the unreleased Eau d’épices. I asked Andy about the interesting effect, thinking that it could be the Lilial (which is very obvious in Vetiver Dance), but he told me that it might be the Givaudan aroma-chemical Okoumal, also present in some detergents: "It adds a vibrant undertone and is extremely lifting, especially to otherwise dark and stuffy woody resins".
The overall feeling of the fragrance is of a "thick" scent although it doesn't become stuffy. The lasting power is way beyond average, the fragrance stayed vibrant on my skin for a good 8 hours.


According to Andy Tauer

"Une rose chyprée is an oriental rose on a chypre base. It is built around two natural extracts from rosa damascena, the absolute and the steam distilled essential oil. Its heart is lifted by spices (Bay and cinnamon) and a fresh accord built around bergamot, lemon and clementine. Green Bourbon geranium oil lets the rose petals shine and contrasts with the dark resinous accord in the base, built around labdanum, oakmoss, patchouli, vetiver and vanilla".

Une rose chyprée is the first scent of a series of things to come, namely the special line Tauer Perfumes "mémorables" (please note it's Tauer Perfumes and mémorables; not "perfumes mémorables" which would mix the two languages!). The aim is to present small size fragrances (0.5oz/15ml) like a sweet praline to be savoured. All of them will either be eau de parfum or parfum concentration (Une Rose Chyprée comes as an eau de parfum), none of them limited editions. The funny little bottles, resembling nail treatments, are practical and come packaged and tied with deep yellow ribbon, finished entirely by hand. I like Tauer's philosophy by which he doesn't put the emphasis on the outside or the details of fancy names and such but on the inside; namely the juice!

Andy had been working on this scent for a year and you can read his thoughts and problematics following his blog. Une rose chyprée will launch officially on July 1st, available through Tauer Perfumes (price 65 CHF and 20CHF shipping worldwide), Aedes, First in Fragrance and Luckyscent.

I have two samples to send to two lucky readers. State your interest in the comments!

In the interests of disclosure I was sent the small 15ml bottle by Tauer himself this time. If my previous dedication is any indication, you know my tastes have not been swayed.

Photo of Yoghurt and Valhrona Shreds © by Perfumeshrine. Kirsten Dunst from Miu Miu 08 via IamFashion.blogspot.com Bottle via Tauer.

Mona Lisa by Profumo.it: fragrance review

If Mona Lisa were Parisian and one hell of a sexy lady she would have worn Mona Lisa, the all natural perfume by Abdes Salaam/ Dominique Dubrana. Mona Lisa is a bespoke fragrance composed for a certain lady in the all too real life of Aspen, Colorado and Dubrana interacted with Laura Donna on mapping out the preferences of the lady in question.

She settled on a trio of natural civet, tuberose absolute and mandarin which Dubrana garlanded with other precious essences. The client, an entrepreneur and owner of Main Street Reprographics, a digital graphics company, named Mona, had asked for something "subtle but killer" - because for her, wearing fragrance is a social act as well as a personal pleasure.

The result? An Ava Gardner of a scent with the feel of Sarah-Moon-does-Seurat, laden with mystery and mock innocence. The real Mona was elated! "“I got it!! I just got my perfume. It is like nothing I have ever smelled before. It is a little bit musky, powdery. It is very light, like a feather. It is not an old scent, it is not a young scent, it seems very natural. As soon as I can I would like to create another. What fun having my own scent. I feel sooo special.” (through the Laura Donna blog)

Mona Lisa by La Via del Profumo doesn't really segregate into billows and notes, but has an amalgamated feel about it, very smooth, very soft, very feminine; the civet-animalic feel is so powdery velvet it gives a soft-focus effect to all the other notes and the florals especially. You can't pinpoint it as a tuberose scent for sure and that's a plus sometimes as too often tuberose scents are so focused on the glorious tuberose they become like a stage performance where only the central diva is noteworthy and all the others are in attendance. Here one has trouble seeing it predominate and it blends seamlessly and delicately. I would think that there was actually a tinctured alcohol with tuberose and civet in use for the composition and the rest of the ingredients are married to it through osmosis. Hardly recognisable as the intense floral of other compositions, it emits a slight hint of coconut. The animalic civet is giving such a powdery, plush feel, I am immediately seduced by my own arm! Mandarin remains succulent and juicy, especially lingering on clothes, a surprising effect given that after the initial outlay Mona Lisa stays very close to the skin. The background has an almondy, tonka bean ambience about it with the individual muskiness of ambrette seeds.

Mona Lisa smells enticing, like a proper French perfume of old instead of a random mix of natural essences and yet retains a vibrancy that instantly makes you feel good, reassuring, leaning to smell the scent on your arms again and again and again in all stages...
How does Dubrana do it? He doesn't say. It should remain thus: the enigmatic, sphinx-like smile of Da Vinci's Mona Lisa.

You can buy a batch of Mona Lisa on the Profumo.it/Via del Profumo site. (The incensy Persona and the heavenly neroli-ladden Morning Blossom are also highly recommended while you're at it!)

Photo Metro by Kees Terberg via les-leves.com, Photo by Sarah Moon via jessnewyork.blogspot.com

Jean-Paul Guerlain in conversation with Thierry Wasser on Wallpaper

"When Wasser studied perfumery he was made to deconstruct and copy Guerlain’s iconic fragrances. Now he is the envy of the profession, learning from the master not only the creative signature of the company, but also those bits of the profession that are wiped from the duties of the modern perfumer - the inspirational travel and first hand sourcing of materials which has always been the job of the Guerlain perfumer.".

Read the interview with Thierry Wasser, in-house perfumer at Guerlain, paying his respects to his mentors and Jean Paul Guerlain here on Wallpaper.

Alerted through Basenotes forum.

A Chanel Exclusive Now Widely Available

As we had discussed the other day while focusing on changes on the Chanel USA site, the latest Les Exclusifs addition (2008), Beige by Jacques Polge, is joining the line-up of fragrances available online. It's my pleasure to be the first to announce that the information is now official, sent to me by the good people at Chanel, and in view of Beige making the FiFi 2009 finalists there is an exclusive pre-launch offering on Chanel.com.

Beige is described as "An intense powdery floral of natural elegance and grace - eponymous for Mademoiselle’s Chanel’s favorite colour. New white petals and yellow gold flowers blend are highlighted by hints of honey that reveal its discreet sensuality."
Click this link to view the page and order. (NB: this is the only link that will land you on the Exclusifs page, as the site is not yet officially carrying them for those who are not in the know)

200ml of Eau de Toilette for 200$.


Related reading on Perfume Shrine: Chanel news and articles, Les Exclusifs reviews

More Hermes and Jean Claude Ellena

For those who can read Italian there is an interview in Italian Marie Claire Belleza no.7 (May 2009 issue) of Jean Claude Ellena ~whom we also interviewed on this venue~ to journalist Cristina Torlaschi. The interview is focusing on the latest Hermès Colognes and is to be found on pages 38-39.

There is also an article on the National Post called "Jean Claude Ellena: Return to Scenter" by Nathalie Atkinson. The article is witty, elegantly written and highlighting the respect with which Ellena is treated for his vision. "In a world where our senses are under attack all the time," says Sadd, "Ellena creates this quiet little exercise that sneaks up on you, and hides the mechanics of it and makes you feel something, for a split second." And "When a man waiting for his latte at Starbucks walks across the room to smell you, it's probably Jean-Claude Ellena. [...]it was the dry, dusty Bois d'Iris from Ellena's own former perfume brand The Different Company that stopped the man at Starbucks in his tracks. "

Alerted on Italian article through Extrait.it