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Post by Portia

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Hi there Independent Niche Nerds,

Andy Tauer became known on the frag scene through blogging about his fragrance creation adventures. He was the first perfumer to engage the world in such a way and he and his style of perfumery are loved even though his scents can be polarising. Many people have problems with his Tauer-ade: a sweet citrus/honey/amber baseline to my nose that can last days on skin and indefinitely in fabrics. Personally I really like his style and I purchased a decant of his newest offering from Surrender To Chance which has just arrived. Scott was over and we decided to trial it first on paper and then on skin. It’s even more fun testing fragrances with a mate because different people pick up different nuance.

Sotto La Luna Tuberose by Tauer Perfumes 2015

Sotto La Luna Tuberose by Andy Tauer

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Cinnamon, cloves, geranium, galbanum
Heart: Tuberose, ylang-ylang, jasmine
Base: Tuberose, patchouli, amber

I can’t tell you what I was expecting from Sotto La Luna Tuberose but I was surprised by what I got. The green and oily, petrochemical reminiscent opening still manages to be smooth and is offset by sweet bubblegum. It’s an engaging dichotomy that keeps my nose glued to my wrist. Tuberose, imagine a bunch of tuberose on a table in an air conditioned office, Sotto La Luna Tuberose. Tuberose with that unreal, artificial coolness. We get a lovely sappiness of whitest green, like cutting hydrangeas and their sap.

There are also herbal, tropical, balmy and resinous notes flowing through and both Scott and I were convinced (without looking at notes) that there is a honey that is cleaned of most of its animalics but leaving a thick, glutinous sweetness that has nothing to do with the 21st century craze for confectionery. Maybe this is Andy’s amber.

Photo Stolen Flickr

After about 30-40 minutes we couldn’t decide how to describe the smell and came up with three similar but all just wide of the mark: smoky caramel, lightly burnt vanilla or sun pinked skin after a day at the beach. It’s an undercurrent running beneath the tuberose which stays right to the end of the fragrance. For anyone who has ever been upset by the longevity of the tuberose ferociousness in Versace Blonde, SL Tubereuse Criminale, L’Artisan Nuit de Tubereuse, Piguet Fracas or Ava Luxe Tubereuse Diabolique then here is a tuberose for you. Ferocious at the start and maintaining a fun level of outrageous throughout its lengthy lifespan. NSFW people unless you are in a very cool workplace where they like people to be fully fragrant.

How is Sotto La Luna Tuberose different? Longevity, tuberose staying power, opening oily green and bubblegum together and the patchouli/amber is different, unpickable for us as exactly a thing to reference we spent ages trying to find good and easily understandable correlations. Scott said he will now buy a decant to see if he loves it as much as he thinks, being a bit of a BWF hater. Different enough? Definitely.

Photo Stolen Flickr

Further reading: Now Smell This and Perfume Posse
IndieScents has $145/50ml
Surrender To Chance has samples from $3.45/.5ml

What is your Tauer favourite?
Portia xxx