Win an A.Tauer Bottle of Your Choice! (and reviews on Une Rose Vermeille & Eau d'Epices)

Andy Tauer has been at the Pitti Fragranze exhibition in Florence, but his generosity to the perfume community is well documented and knows no territorial bounds. Therefore, he offered a contest for Perfume Shrine readers with a brand new bottle of perfume as prize and the winner gets to choose between his two upcoming launches: ROSE VERMEILLE or EAU D’ÉPICES.
So what should you do to enter the contest? Simple: State which is your favourite Andy Tauer scent & why in the comments; or if you haven't tried any, why you would want to sample an A. Tauer fragrance and maybe which catches your fance.
I will pick the best entry (to my discretion) and forward the winner's data to Tauer, so he can send them the fragrance. Contest is open till the end of the week, Sunday midnight, so you have plenty of time to participate.

In the above context and to help you a bit, I have sampled both fragrances and they're predictably very good. Of course all spicy fragrances by Tauer are awesome and the characteristic "Tauerade" (the house's beloved mix of labdanum, Tonka and the ambergis note) in the base is echoing through both. The spicy bouquet on top of L’eau d’épices is comforting and cozy. I don't know if it's the approaching cool of autumn and the longing for evenings spent by the fire, wrapped with a fluffy blanket and holding a mug of muled wine, but there's something immediately appealing about this scent which I am sure will find many fans. The cardamom is especially nice and coupled with the labdanum at the base created a sweet, resinous feeling. Tauer likens it to a walk through a pineta and I wouldn't disagree. The other spices are more of a familiar clove-y mix which recalls pomanders, the juicy citrus peel festooning the spicy prongs.
Une Rose Vermeille is a fruity rose, but fruity in the way that natural rose essence has a tangy, sometimes honeyed-hesperidic quality: the rose pairs with the mandarin and the framboise very well. After all, Tauer does love his roses and treats them like princesses. Andy here used Bulgarian rose absolute, which is very costly, and bypassed the powdery aspects into highlighting the liqueur-like tones so it reads "modern" and almost edible, like the rose jams we used to make around here, rather than "retro". Succulent!
Both fragrances project clean somehow, they feel "fresh" and bright and could be worn by either sex, but they're a far cry from the laundered & bleached "clean" fragrances that flood the market and recall functional products rather than fine fragrance. This is ascertaindly fine fragrance and is proud of it!

By the way, Andy intimated that he's introducing a smaller 30ml flacon for two of the Homage scents, Une Rose Chyprée (you can read a review here) and Une Rose Vermeille. Good news for those with tighter budgets!


Notes on the two new scents from Tauer Perfumes:
Scent N0. 12-EAU D’ÉPICES (eau de parfum, in the classic blue Tauer 50 ml flacon).
HEAD NOTES An Indian basket of spices with cinnamon, cardamom, clove and coriander with red mandarines.
HEART NOTES An opulent heart of orange blossom, jasmine, orris root and incense.
BODY NOTES A woody cistus ladaniferus resin, softened with ambergris, Tonka beans and vetiver.
Available worldwide end of September, about 120 $US

Scent No. 10-UNE ROSE VERMEILLE (eau de parfum, in a new 30 ml flacon, presented for the first time in Florence, September 10).
HEAD NOTES A citrus chord with lemon and bergamot with a whisper of lavender.
HEART NOTES Sumptuous bouquets of roses and violets, kissed by luscious raspberries.
BODY NOTES The richness of vanilla, sandalwood and Tonka beans, touched by the elegance of ambergris.
Available worldwide end of September, about 130 $US

Disclosure: samples vials of the scents were sent me by the perfumer