Le Maroc pour Elle
by Tauer

I'm afraid this one wasn't to my liking and the experience wasn't a very pleasant one. All I got was this overpowering cornstarch accord. No thanks!

Loved this one. Rich, deep, spicy, creamy, sweet. I adore fragrances of this genre. Mandarin and jasmine, patchouli, and spices, all laid on a base that simply glows and ends up smelling like vanilla creme soda or sassaparilla. Luscious.

Le Maroc was not at all what I expected. Before I tried it and Reverie au jardin, I thought Tauer's signature was dryness and transparency, but those two scents are polar opposites to his other creations: dense and muddy and and musty-sweet, in the style of "natural perfumery", which I personally can't stand. I'm flummoxed to see Le Maroc compared to L'air du desert marocain or called "dry". To me, it's anything but dry - it's creamy, powdery, musty, dense and sweet.... Actually, I have one word for it: headshop. It smells exactly like that stale, musty-sweet mixed incense smell clinging to everything. Now, I love the dry, crisp, fresh, woody/spicy incense note in fine perfumes (such as Tauer's own lovely incense fragrances!), but that is something quite different from the smell of actual, unlit incense, which I don't particularly like. Le Maroc smells exactly like real, cheap hippie incense, not incense perfume. It doesn't even smell floral to me - floral incense, yes, but not fresh flowers. If I was to pick out one floral note I would say it was a creamy, warm, sweet, heavy jasmine - the rose is nowhere in sight, at least not any kind of rose I recognize from nature or perfumery. (Not that I mind, I'm not a fan of rose.) With my nose glued to my wrist, I sometimes get a whiff of something resembling sticking my nose in an actual flower, but it's like its buried under that headshop sillage. The scent is strong too - one tiny spray from the vial and I can smell it on the air all day long! It doesn't change much either, though perhaps the hint of real flower is replaced by an aldehydic powderiness by the end of the day. Not a favourite at all, but not downright unpleasant (like Reverie au jardin) so it gets a neutral thumb for me. At least I can see how someone might like this fragrance. Someone who wears a lot of tie-dye and smokes a lot of pot.

Maroc Pour Elle starts off with an unidentifiable spicy top note that seemed very mysterious. It definitely evoked thoughts of the medina I went to in Marrakech a long time ago. As the scent opened up, I then caught notes of incense, orange blossom and verbena. I am not an incense gal and so would not want to wear this myself but I certainly appreciate the artistry and effort it took to make such an unusual perfume. Andy Tauer is a very talented man!

I bought this based on Luca Turin's rave review (which likened it to a less brassy Bal a Versailles) and was surprised at how unlike BaV this is. It is an utterly distinctive dry exotic floral, but with an insistent, sweet and indefinably herbal joss-stick-like note that persists throughout the drydown. Another reviewer referred to "tasting" this fragrance, and that was how I experienced it, too; it permeates the nose and mouth. It took some getting used to, and I still have to be in a very particular, bohemian frame of mind to wear it. I prefer L'Air, and look forward to trying Orris.

Maroc pour Elle: I was a bit puzzled by it on first try, given that it had been described by Tauer and by reviewers as a rose scent, which to my nose it's not. The rose sweetens the JASMINE, citruses and cedar, leaving a very sultry, indolic impression ... nothing like what we think of when we think of rose. I get distinct cravings for this one, and when I wear it I can taste it not only on first application but for many hours. It serves a similar role for me as SL Fleurs d'Oranger, only Le Maroc is a bit more strange and exotic - and sometimes only that will do!

I think that our noses are not accustomed to such a heavy concentration of naturals as Andy uses. It takes a little getting used to, but what a beautiful education!