The only thing that makes me happier than a surprise package from Andy Tauer with a sample of his new scent is a surprise package with two new scents. So today we’re having a Tauerfest, because he sent me their five-sample set. Look at that image at left, it’s adorable, no? People can order any five samples, they come in a little metal box, here’s a link to the page on his website. I’m reviewing the two new ones, Eau d’Epices and Une Rose Vermeille, with some random Tauer-perfume asides.
First up, the new Eau d’Epices, with notes that made my heart go pittypat the first time I saw them in Patty’s post. Here, I’ll crib from the website: “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.”
In general, Andy’s scents have a lot of presence; they are not shy little things. L’Air du Désert Marocain? Lonestar Memories? Orris? Rose Chyprée? If you spray them on unsniffed I hope you love them, because otherwise you are going.to.die. Before sniffing, I’d placed Eau d’Epices in my mind near Desert Marocain – it’s got a similar spicy/resin-y thing going on in the notes list. However, the spices in Epices, at least on my skin, are sheer and subtle. The fragrance starts out sweet and citrusy, with lots of juicy mandarin, and just a touch of spices, very well-blended. At this point it seems almost closer to Orange Star than to Marocain. The orange blossom and jasmine add to the scent’s rich, waxy sweetness. The flowers fade and then the fragrance shifts toward the incense and resins, and the vetiver, like the orange blossom and jasmine, is clean rather than indolic. There’s a hint of the orris from his Orris scent, and that ambergris base of Andy’s, and that’s essentially the story.
Epices was a fragrance that didn’t wow me at first, mostly due to its quiet opening. There’s something seamless and rounded about the fragrance, although it’s not exactly unobtrusive. Like most Tauers it lasts forever on me, and the soft woody/spicy/incense drydown lingered for days on a sweater. My 14-year-old (who isn’t wild about a lot of my perfume) told me twice how very much she liked it, probably to encourage me to wear it more often. Over the course of five days, two other people also mentioned how pretty they thought it was – and, given that I was wearing a single spray on all those occasions, you can draw your own conclusions about its sillage. The drydown falls between the cool incense/earthiness of Marocain and the warm, sweet woodiness of Donna Karan Chaos. If you can get yourself past the fact that Eau d’Epices not going to perform any wild gymnastic gyrations before becoming the perfect comfort scent, it’s worth checking out. I’m looking forward to wearing it in our cooler weather.
Tauer’s Une Rose Vermeille manages a miracle a third time – a rose fragrance that I, not much of a rose-lover, can embrace. (His earlier scents, Une Rose Chyprée and Incense Rosé, manage to fold the rose into a chypre and a balsamy-woody incense, respectively.) Notes for Vermeille are: “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.”
And … LOL, Andy Tauer. In Vermeille, he throws the rose under the berry bus. The resulting mash-up is worth slowing down for, so you can do some serious rubbernecking. There is a lot of rose. And yet it’s been macerated and turned into something quasi-edible, like raspberry trifle, heavy on the clouds of vanilla cream and topped with rose-water-scented jam and maybe some orange marmalade – the tartness of the berries and the lemon keep things from getting too sweet. I have long suspected Andy Tauer of possessing a sly sense of humor, and there’s something very playful going on here. Its rose-liquor-fruit-green effect calls to mind a vintage bottle of YSL Paris EDT Also, while wearing Vermeille I got the full backaway (sillage alert!) from a woman in the elevator at Trader Joe’s, an effect you can reproduce with Paris. Two spays of Vermeille was apparently one spray too many, at least on me. Une Rose Vermeille dries down into the spicy/sandalwood/vanilla goodness of something rather like Organza Indecence, one of my all-time favorite comfort scents, only this is the luxe version – a parfum, maybe, and made with better ingredients. (He’s using essential oil from Fiji sandalwood, btw.)
Finally:
1) Test driving five of these together (I also received Orange Star and Rose Chyprée) reminded me that Andy’s scents often smell great together – not layered necessarily, but if I had a little bit of one of these on my left arm and the other on my right, all combinations were pleasing to the nose. (Wearing Orange Star at the same time as Eau d’Epices was particularly nice.)
2) Orange Star really needs to be sprayed on, so give up right now on dabbing your sample. And man, I wish that astonishing mandarin-clementine opening could go on forever, it’s the juciest, zestiest, most realistic squeeze of orange note I’ve ever smelled in a perfume.
3) I am a big fan of incense and Andy’s esthetic, but I might as well admit: I never really understood all the raves over Marocain. It seemed a little too herbaceous and masculine for me to want to want to wear. Well, this time I got more incense plus this huge, long smoky note in the middle – like a distant bonfire burning in the desert – and promptly fell in love.
4) For those of you who’ve read this far, here’s a reward – Andy’s offered me another giveaway, a bottle of either Eau d’Epices or Rose Vermeille, you don’t need to specify which one you want now, just leave a comment saying you want in, and I’ll use random.org to choose a winner. Drawing is now closed, winner of the draw is Melauriga, hope I spelled that right, I’ll email you. Congratulations.
Sample source: Tauer Perfumes
Me! me!
I’m still struggling with the opening of marocain, but i looooove the drydown….
Please enter me in the drawing. Thanks!
Oh gosh, I SO do want! Please enter me in the drawing!
Roses under the berry bush! Made me laugh so hard. Please enter me in the drawing; I’d love to try Mr. Tauer’s new scents. Thanks.
That was bus, not bush. . .Be well.
Yay! another chance,please count me in! I have to admit I’m lagging behind with the Tauer scents, the orange sounds divine *drooling* :d
Please enter me in the drawing! Thanks for your generosity, Mr. Tauer!
Please enter me into the draw. Thanks so much for the reviews and opportunity!
I love Andy Tauer fragrances. Please enter me! Thanks!
I have wanted to fall in love with a Tauer frag for quite some time now. Maybe one of these will be the one? Please enter me in the draw and THANK YOU!
Would love to win one of these.
You know, I thought I was all about the Epices, because the base notes stimulate the WANT! centre in my brain, but you make it sound a little less interesting than the Rose, and now I don’t know which one I would want (or WANT!).
I suppose I have to order samples, right?
(P.S. As with the commenter who had trouble with Opera, I couldn’t submit this comment with Chrome on the Mac: I had to resort to Safari. Weird.)
Oh my god! Want. In. Now. Pleeeeease! In desperate need of sampling these. The new mini sample packs look so cute, he’s done a great job of bringing the packaging up to level with the fragrances while keeping it all affordable.
I’ve never tried any of Andy’s perfumes but they sound amazing! I want in! :)
I’m begging, literally BEGGING, for an in, and while I’m down on my knees I’d also like to fulsomely thank everyone involved in giving away another bottle :d
(Oh, for some reason, today I cannot submit comments when using Opera 10.62. I keep getting an “Your comment failed to be submitted” error. Anyone else getting this error? I’m having to use IE 8 for submissions.)
These just sound better and better! Please enter me in the drawing.
I love me some Tauer scents, and these sound right up my alley. I’ve got my fingers crossed for the drawing!
well me too! I want in! :)
please count me in as well! epices sounds gorgeous. :)
Oh Yumm-0!
Man, perfume has to be intolerable for me to back away. I’m sure you smelled juuuust fine :)
Thanks March and Thank Andy too :)
Oh, yes, count me in.
I want in! Huge Tauer fan, and love me some Epices!
I would like to be included in the drawing please! Roses and berry bus. Yum!
I want in too, please!
I would love either one of these — please include me in the draw!
I want in! Thanks so much.
I would like to entered. thank you!
Oh, please oh please oh please!
Andy Tauer is so generous – even if his fragrances weren’t so absolutely wonderful, I would still want to love them just because he seems like such a nice person.
I would love to be included in the draw! Thank you. :x
Do I want in? Oh yeah! That Rose Vermeille is calling my name….Thanks so much and thanks to Andy too! :x
I would LOVE a bottle of anything of his!
Please enter me! Thanks!
Well, of course I want in on this one! I smelled an earlier version of Eau d’Epices way back and really liked it. But I think my wife would LOVE the Rose Vermeille!
I too smelled a clear similarity between Orange Star and Eau d’Epices. I think they have the same base. Unexpectedly, I loves Rose Vermeille – it was so yummy, something I didn’t expect to love since I’m not a huge rose fan.
Please do include me in the draw, would love to have a bottle of either one!
Oh, please add me to the giveaway!!!! :-)
The Rose Vermeille sounds good – definitely put me in the draw please. I also don’t do well with perfumes focused on rose but Annick Goutal’s Quel Amour is an exception and it is also in the “rose run over by the berry bus” category. So maybe Rose Vermeille will work for me too.
I’m in!!! And of course thanks to Andy for being so cool…
Who wouldn’t want in? Me too! Both scents sound delightful (but I’d expect nothing less from Andy!)
Sounds great, I want in!
Oh, please, pick meeee! Thanks to all for the opportunity.
I want in!!!
come on, god of random selection!
I will be very pleased to give a set a good home. They sound very interesting. :)
These reviews make me want to try the new scents more than ever (and believe me, I was excited before, too). I’m also now wondering if maybe the reason why I haven’t fallen in love with Orange Star is the fact that I only have a dabbing sample. I usually love orange in a perfume, so I should probably try to acquire an atomizer sample ASAP. ;)
Another Tauer giveaway? He is so generous. Please include me!
I would love to be entered, please! I have not had a chance to explore the Tauer line yet.
I want one :)
I must be crazy … I just tried URV for the first time last week (from a sample) and thought, for a Tauer at least, it was quite light and sheer! I sprayed several times. I don’t remember getting any dirty looks, but maybe my coworkers are kind. I loved the raspberry note and found it very realistic. I’d love a bottle of it.
I agree with your assessment of EdE too — I was surprised how light the spices are. To me it’s as much about citrus as spice.
love to try it count me in
I really want to try the Epices so much!
I would love to be entered into this contest. Thanks.
sounds wonderful! please enter me in the contest!
P.S. Oh yes, sure I want in on the contest…
AT seems to be speeding up on the releases, although the Epices one was being worked on since at least last Christmas.
Please enter me in the drawing, I hope I can get one of the eau d’Epices it sounds really amazing!
Please enter me in the drawing. The rose/berry combo sounds amazing!!!!
OOOOOO!! Pick me! Pick me! Be your best fri–eeend!
Sorry. The possibility of a free bottle of anything Tauer reduced me to momentary adolescence. Pleas enter me in the draw. And affectionate greetings to the lovely M. Tauer.
I want in! Boy, do I want in!
ROTFL!! “The full backaway” deserves to be a classic in the perfumista’s lexicon.
Hmmm…. you and I seem to share a rose aversion. I only own two -Nahema and SSS Cameo and neither are my most worn scents. Neither do I love violet and I hate raspberry in perfume – at least every one I’ve tried so far has become violently plastic on my skin. But if March says so… I know that that could one day land me in BIG trouble!
Great reviews, though. You seem to be back to full perfume mode today!
These sound wonderful. Please enter me in the draw. Thank you, and Andy!
I cannot wait for RV. Please enter me in the draw.
Thanks for this contest. Please enter me. :d
Thanks to Andy for being so generous, please include my name in the draw.
Me, me, me!!!! heehee How very generous of Andy and thanks to you for facilitating…please enter me in the draw.
Thanks to you and Andy for the great opportunity. Please enter me in the draw.
I’d love to be in the draw. Marocain was my gateway drug into perfume-obsession.
I thought Epices would be the one I’d want from the two, but now you’ve really made me want to sample the Rose Vermeille is sounding quite interesting.
Dude I want in. Love it!
Looking forward to trying these — Please enter me in the draw!
Spices? Rose? Anything by Andy Tauer?
Yep, love ’em. I’d love to be included. Thanks
Great and tempting reviews March !
Both these scents sound lovely; you’ve got me even more curious now…
I just received samples of carillon pour un ange and incense rose and would love to discover these new offerings… Please enter me in the draw and thankyou so much! :)
I’m especially intrigued by the description of Eau d’Epices and I’d love to be entered in this generous draw\:d/
Well, this is worth coming out of my hiatus. AT is the most generous and sexiest and creative man. Thank you Andy Tauer!!
OMG – would be so hard to pick if I win. Count me in!
Of course I want in!
Thank you for hosting! I’d love to be in the draw!
i want in ! :)
Please,please,please, enter me for the draw. I love Andy’s fragrances and his generosity in sharing his talent.
Ohhh how fun! :-) I’m so intrigued by Andy’s latest offerings – both sound like “must-smells” to me! Thanks for the drawing opportunity – please include me too? :-D
YES, oh YES! I want in for the Rose. I think Andy Tauer is genius and thank you for giving us this opportunity.
Please include me too!!!
Oh yes! Please enter me!
Yes, please enter me. Thank you and Andy!
I want in!
Wow, ANOTHER giveaway? Andy’s generosity is quite remarkable. Oh yeah, I want in.
Great reviews…until now, I was thinking that Eau d’Epice would be my thing that Une Rose Vermeille would be too over the top. Now I’m intrigued by that one too. Damn. Yes please! I would love to be entered.
Hooray — new Andy Tauers! I want in on the draw, of course! Thanks so much for hosting.
Super! I do want in and thank you. WOW! I’d love to be the “spice girl” :-)
I’d love to be included, both sound amazing.
Please enter me into the draw. Thanks for the lovely reviews.
I’m in – would love to try Rose Vermeille!
I’d love a chance at round 2! Please count me in…
Please enter me in the draw! Thanks!
I may get to flip a coin if I win – both scenta sound lush in their own way! Thank you for entering my name in the hat!! :-)
Please enter me, too. You are all so nice to do this!
What a wonderful offer, thank you so much. Please do enter me as well.
He really does seem like the nicest guy in the world, doesn’t he? Can’t wait to try Epices – please enter me in the draw.
I love hearing about his work. One thing I’ve noticed his creations seem to be consistent over people..you don’t often hear folks saying a certain note went strange on their skin, but is fine on another skin….I think maybe because of the selection of quality components?
Yes..would love to try one.
Cheryl
Yes, please.
I love spicy scents and would love to try this. Thanks for including me in the draw.
Please include me in the draw. The rose vermeille sounds especially nice.
OH, please sign me up too! And here I was thinking that it was shaping up to be a pretty boring week.
I now know on what I’ll be spending some of my perfume budget; one of the sample tins. It reminded me that I love the looks I get at the PO when I receive a package from Switzerland!
(sigh) Andy does lovely packaging…
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Andy is the nicest, most generous guy in the perfume biz. I love him! Please count me in!
Eau d’ epices, please. Thanks.
Count me in – Andy’s scents are always interesting, to say the least!
Three cheers for Andy! I’d love in, especially after your review of Epices.
I want in! Heading now to check Andy’s website to order the sample set.
I want in (please)!
I was charmed by the sample box, too – earlier in the summer, I won a drawing at Andy’s blog for a sample of Une Rose Vermeille, and was expecting just that sample… but my little box came with Orange Star, Le Maroc PE, Une Rose Chypree, and Incense Rose. How’s that for generous? Isn’t Andy great?
I already knew URC is gorgeous (my other sample is dab – how on earth do you spray URC and not die?? I haven’t even tried spraying it). I didn’t get on with OS, which I also expected since org bloss and I are not BFF, and the Tang Dust Effect just kills me as in most orange-focused scents, although the spices in that are wonderful. The Tang dust thing gets to me with Incense Rose, too.
I too found URV very nearly edible, and charming and witty. It reminded me of orange marmalade, and then slid into Raspberry Pavlova (baked meringue with nuts, whipped cream, raspberries, a little heavenly fruit cloud), and it was so darn much fun that I would love a bottle.
Orange Marmalade and Raspberry Pavlova — great description! It is edible, charming and witty, yes? And FUN. I was impressed that for all that, I wasn’t gagging. It’s not nauseatingly sweet.
Yes, please enter me in the contest to win a bottle of Eau d’Epices. Thank you very much!
Want!%%-
Oh wow! Up until now, I was thinking that Rose Vermeille would be the winner of these two for me, but now I’m thinking that Eau d’Epices may be the one.
So is Rose Vermeille anything like YSL In Love Again without the grapefruit? I love that one. Would love if it went into a comfort drydown. (plus, that freaking bottle of RV is groundbreaking).
I’d say RV is sweeter and richer than In Love Again … I think all Andy’s stuff is called EDT Intense? It’s got a gourmand density to it that the YSL doesn’t have.
I want in, please!
And I love the new website, and the 5 sample box idea!
Loved reading your review. Please enter me in the draw.
Thanks!
Please enter me and thanks for not making me decide on a Monday morning.
BTW – Your Trader Joe’s has an elevator?!?! I can be through mine lickety split!
Heh, funny what the mind focuses on. Our TJs is in one small, tightly packed space, but it’s in the weirdest building ever, with a very small, stacked parking garage next door. Unless you’re lucky (and I usually am) you have to exit the store and use the elevator to another level in the garage.
Me too, please!
Please count me in. They sound great!
I would have sworn that Eau d’Epices was the one for me, at least for the upsomcing (possibly?) cooler weather, but your description of Une Rose Vermeille is scrumptious. Please enter me.
Please enter me in the draw — really looking forward to trying these two!
In, definitely in!
I would love to win one of these! :)
Thanks to you and Mr.Tauer for this opportunity,it’s very generous,please enter me in the draw!!!!Thanks again!!!.
Andy has always done a great job offering samples, but this new presentation of the sample set looks very nice! I’m interested in the draw.
Roses thrown under the berry bus — loved it! Not necessarily my thing, you understand, but boy can you whet a guy’s appetite! :-)
I don’t know if you remember but I once told you that (the first version of) Epices struck me as smelling like Baby Opium (or was it Baby Poison?), so obviously I’m now curious if I was talking out of my a$$. Was I?
Oh and throw me in the draw, please.
I didn’t smell the first version, so I can’t say! This epices was less spicy and more sweet than I’d describe Opium, for sure, maybe closer to Cinnabar?
both sound right up my alley. please put me in the draw
Please count me in! I haven’t explored most of this line yet, and these sound like an excellent place to begin. Thanks for making this opportunity available!
They’re a line very much worth exploring; he’s an independent perfumer doing his own thing in Zurich.
I’m in! Thanks for the entry. :)
I Want in!!:d
Please enter me in the draw! The Rose Vermeille sounds heavenly. Raspberry is one of the few fruit notes that I love, and a drydown similar to Organza Indecence(one of my favorite comfort scents as well)…very tempting. Unfortunately I’m afraid of the mandarin in Eau d’Epices. If it flashes itself and then goes away it would be fine, but if it lingers I don’t think it will work.
The mandarin definitely sticks around, even though it’s subtle, so it might not be your favorite.
Andy and his generosity! Really cool considering his fragrances are that good :) Please enter me as well.
I recently ordered a sample package from Andy. The one I really fell for was Le Maroc pour Elle (and Lonestar Memories.) These 2 hadn’t yet arrived. I love my little metal box.
I would love to be entered in the draw. The Rose Vermeille especially sounds very tempting. Especially if it is like Paris YSL. Thank you and thank you Mr. Tauer!
Your review of Eau d’Épices makes me think of my beloved Eau d’Italie Baume du Doge. I’m sure I would love Eau d’Épices too :)
I’m really taken with Andy’s generosity!
Please, enter me in the draw.
I want in please :) Thank you very much, both generous mr Tauer and the posse!
Of course I want in! :d
Thanks to Andy for his incredible generosity, please enter me in the draw.
please please please enter me! I really like the rose one but can’t afford a full bottle.
Oh, you make them sound sooo good.
I´d love to win one.
Thank you.
I want in. Thanks for the generosity.
Oh Please!
Wow this is happy news for the beginning of the week. Please enter me in to the drawing.
Thanks Again@};-
Andy just gets more adorable as time goes by, doesn’t he?
Very high on the adorability factor for sure.
Please count me in as well. What a generous offer!
Andy’s generosity is incredible! Please count me in.
PLEASE enter me ! I love Opium and Paris so both Tauer scents sound incredible!
Thanks,Jennifer
Usually I use to like oriental fragrances, but that rose sound so good.
Please enter me in the draw, thank you. :)
Count me in! Thanks to you guys for hosting this competition and Andy for the loot!
oh, yes, please, enter me the draw-I want so much to try EdE
Oooh, I love — loooovvvvvvvve — Orange Star. And I loved Carillon even more.
I’m definitely curious about these as well. I’d love to be in this draw, and I’d have to say that like you, March, I am not the biggest fan of rose. I admire it. I enjoy testing samples of it, but I have trouble wearing it. Still, I’d pick URV if I were to win. I enjoyed the way you describe rose being thrown under the berry bus; could be scary, but doesn’t sound uninteresting, that’s for sure!
Thanks to you PP folks and Andy for doing these great giveaways.
Andy’s such a sweetheart and I love his Tauer-ade. Vermeille totally surprised me.
I do! I do want in!
I am totally putting my hand up for this draw. I really need to get some samples of these.
I would prefer Eau d’Epices because of too many rose scents I own. Thanks for entering me in the drawing.
Love the image of chucking the rose under the berry bus! And yes, please, I would love to be entered in yet another of Andy’s oh-so-generous draws.
Please enter me, as your reviews have made me covet them both, and then the other ones I don’t have, too. Rose and berry kind of freaks me out, but his scents are so interesting that I must try it! thanks to Andy for yet another chance at a bottle. :)
Please enter me in the drawing! I love that way Andy treats roses in Une Rose Chypree and Incense Rose
Count me in please.
I want in! \:d/
Please do enter me in the draw! And Andy — such a sweetie to offer up his lovely scents as giveaways.
i’d love to try either one of these.please enter me in the drawing.thanks!!
A clever & interesting (dare I aay it?) fruity floral? I was only reading academically because roses & I … I admire from afar. But you had me at Organza Indecence. I kinda really need to try this. Please throw my name in the hat?
Well, I wasn’t expecting OI at the end of THAT, you know? I wore it again right after, just to see if I’m nuts. But it really does dry down into this tonka/vanilla/sandalwood. Yummy.
Yes, please. Both sound delicious.
Wonderful writing, March. Count me in.
Me, too, please.
I love Maroc pour elle and would love either.
Of course, I have to enter, even though I have no clue which I would choose. x3
Awesome, count me in! Thank you! :d
Oh baby you know I want in!
Thanks for the review and to Andy for the chance to own one<3
I want URV sooo bad it hurts. ;)
I’d love to try either so count me in on the party. Thanks.
Oooh, count me in! Thank you Andy and Posse.
Oh yeah, I really NEED one!!!
Please enter me in the drawing!!!
Please enter me!
Thanks for the reviews, March. I need to sit down with these sometime for an in depth sampling session. In the mean time, please include me in the draw!
I’ve heard from many how nice Andy is. Just another example! The Eau d’Epices sounds fantastic. Yes, include me please. :-)
Ooh- Please enter me in the draw!!
I love the sound of both- I have been loving roses this summer..I Really liked Amouage Epic- if only it were more affordable..*sigh* Also been loving my stick of Crazylibellule Amoureuse which is such a great cheap thrill!
As for sillage- I always think that I want my perfume to be wafty with sillage- but everytime I wear an extra spray or two, I worry that I am giving somebody a headache..lol
Please enter me– mercy buttercups!!! and donkey shins!
Andy is a very generous guy, no? I’m in like Flynn.
Andy is soooooooo generous. I want in, thanks.
This is very exciting!! Yes, I want in!
I want one!!
I love reading the descriptions of the new scents – seems like I would prefer Eau d’Epices.
Please enter me!