Reviews of L'Air du Desert Marocain
by Tauer

L'air begins with a pungent (to say the very least) opening of camphorous honey, herbs and spice. After a while, it begins to show its heart of hot sand, sweet, sun kissed dust and spicy cedar. This, for me, is very nice. It is reminiscent of Terre D'hermes - although denser, darker and sweeter. However, while it is well-blended, as no one has argued to the contrary on that, it seems to just barely miss the mark. I mean that the dusty, spicy cedar with hints of amber in the back could have been beautiful - masculine, rich, deep but sharp. Even though the vetiver is present, it just doesn't overcome that hurdle and plateaus into a fleeting, rather mediocre skin scent that I honestly liken to sweet cardboard - which smells aromatic yet stale. I prefer the benzoin in Terre's base because although the cedar in this one is more rich and almost more likeable, the pungency that keeps Terre afloat on my skin is simply not there. And if you want to compare this to Ambre Sultan, just quit. While the two are similar only in unique composition and amber, Ambre Sultan is far more exotic and sensual - and for me, much more addicting and refreshing. But given all of L'air's positive reviews and fragrance blog praise, let Mr. Tauer send you a sample and try for yourself.

Isn't the experience of scent subjective? This was to me an instant flashback to visiting the Honda Motorcycle Dealership on Van Ness Avenue in San Francisco, in 1984 when my roommate worked there. The thick miasma was rubbery, oily, smoky, nasty, mysterious, high testosterone and quite intimidating.

Nice weird little memory of a long forgotten place but I can't imagine wanting to smell like that unless I was faking it to infiltrate Dykes on Bikes so I could be in the Gay Freedom Day Parade.

TPG gave this 5 stars, so it's me who is wrong, clearly!

A modern surrealist work of art wherein a beehive falls from the sky into a tar pit and the bees not only manage to survive but convert the tar into honey.

In other words, I have to agree with Sir Slarty's assesment. This is one weird mother of a scent and I find it quite interesting, but hard to wear.

I have been informed that it is dry. Not only by so many of you who have reviewed it here, but by a certain female acquaintance who pronounced it so, after a mere ten minutes on her skin. I was astounded as I found the predominant note creamy vanilla , despite the counter-notes. She replied that she found the scent on her skin to be primaraly smoky, with only a hint of sweetness.

Perhaps I should have waited and tested Ruggles' statement that this contains the driest sandalwood drydown on the planet. However, so far I've been waiting for 24 hours, and the drydown is nowhere in sight. No one can fault this one for longevity.

At present, I simply feel an urge to go out to my favorite Moroccan restaurant, flirt shamelessly with the belly dancers, enjoy the exotic main courses, but skip my favorite finale: the delicious kaab el ghzal

It would be redundant.
For me, L'air du Desert Marocain is much more about dessert than desert.

at times i do get dry desert air.this spicey scent is nice.im not one of the bigger fans of spices.its ok just not my style.tested it at home for awhile.test drove it in public one day and a compliment came with it.

Does anyone remember Flex Balsam & Protein hair shampoo and conditioner from the 70's? Strangely, this L'Air du Desert Marocain reminds me of Flex! From Tauer's lovely creation I smell incense, and balsam, and vanilla. Dry woods in the base. I can understand the wonder of this gem, but for my own taste ~ it is not particularly wearable. I do find it leans more toward the masculine. If it's incense I'm craving, I'm more likely to reach for Juozas Statkvicius that offers up some jasmine in the mix.

Well I agree with purplebird, this is an atmospheric scent.
It really recalls the mix of dust, cold stone, shady zouk, cologne and male skin that reminds me so vividly on my moroccan times... but for my dear who is homesick, it is exactly what I will buy to make him feel better

This joins the growing list of what I consider to be "atmospheric" fragrances designed to evoke a place or setting. I like to smell them, but I don't want to smell like them. Apparently there is a demand for environmental aromas in hotels and stores to strengthen memory and feelings of loyalty among customers. People are starting to enjoy man-made fragrances which create a hyper-reality, like smoky bonfires or old libraries. L'Air du Desert Morocain is a clever composition that uses a host of ingredients to deftly imitate lemony frankincense ground to a dusty powder and laid upon polished black leather. It is dry, citrusy, and bittersweet. I could experience a similar aroma by donning a leather jacket and putting my nose into a bag of olibanum. Both are equally enjoyable, but they fall short of constituting an entire perfume. As a point of reference, Messe de Minuit is deeper, more complex, and accomplishes a greater range of contrasts, although it also can be difficult to wear. For use on the skin, I still prefer softer, sweeter, more traditional, skin-compatible scents.

In trying to conjure up an image for this fragrance, it struck me that if I took a potato skin, rubbed some spices on it, sprayed it with some sort of scented cleaning fluid, then let it dry out in the sun for a week or so, this is what would result. It's interesting, but I can't say it's pleasant. I prefer something like Witness instead, which is a lavender/cinnamon with a dusty quality, if I'm looking for something along these lines. It's well done, no doubt, but I can't help comparing to others, and while I'm wearing this, wishing I was wearing something else.

a little too heavy for me so a 3/5 - would be a 4/5 if it were lighter.
spicy. like the air above the desert is so filled up with melange (see Frank Herbert's Dune).
the air does not move. it is the centre of the world, under the sun.
not a scent I would wear to work. but maybe a scent I would use to seduce, If I wished to do so...

A light dry and airy incense and sage. Also vanilla and cedar. Too exotic for my taste but very interesting.

I was suprised by L'Air du Desert Marocain - it really did not smell at all like what I was expecting. In fact, I halfway wondered if I somehow erroneously had received a sample of Andy Tauer's Lonestar Memories instead given the notes that I caught.

It started out smelling like spicy amber incense and then in the same fashion as Tauer's Reverie au Jardin, L'Air du Desert Marocain did a 180 and started emitting notes of smoke, cedar and old leather. Other than the intial incense note, it did not remind me of Morocco at all (which I've visited). Rather, L'Air du Desert Marocain evoked thoughts of a taciturn, weather beaten cowboy pulling off his burnished leather boots by a crackling cedar bonfire.

Top: petitgrain, lemon, bergamot
Mid: coriander, cumin, jasmine, geranium, cistus (labdanum)
Base: bourbon vetiver, cedarwood, vetiver, vanilla, patchouli, amber
L’Air du Desert Marocain – what a beautiful name! The scent too is lovely, yet I only give it the sideways thumb rating. It may be a bit churlish for me to complain that this lovely oriental is exactly that, namely a scent with exotic spices on a sweet amber base. Vanilla and amber are present at every stage, and surround everything in a velvety brown cloud. Vanilla is a deal-breaker for me, unfortunately. This has superb resinous notes, excellent cedar and vetiver, and good dry spices. If you don’t mind vanilla then give this a try!

A peculiar one, and the first niche fragrance I ever tried. First impression out of the tester: how can a perfume smell so *dry*? Smelling it was not completely unlike inhaling dust or sand. Desert indeed! And yet, at the same time, there was this smooth, warm, sweet presence. Honey? Incense? Sweetness was what it eventually dried down to as well. A comfortable experience so far, but nothing overwhelming. Time will tell.

The opening does make you think of hot shimmering air and sand but as it progresses what I maily get is the signature dry-paper notes of L’Artisan. A complex and interesting “clean” scent, but getting dangerously close in my opinion to the fakeness of L’Artisan.