Rêverie au Jardin (2007)
by Tauer

There are five main reasons why I wouldn’t buy a bottle of Rêverie au Jardin:

1) It's too sweet
2) Poor sillage
3) Average longevity (which, by Tauer’s standards, is disappointing)
4) I already own Serge Lutens’ Gris Clair (a far more superior lavender scent)
5) Compared to L'Air du Desert Marocain, this is quite unremarkable

I really admire Andy Tauer, I do, but I just can't stand this fragrance. It sounds so green from the notes - possibly too herbal for my taste (not a fan of lavender) but worth a try. Alas, it is not green, not refreshing, not sparkling, not juicy, not like a garden at all! Instead, it's an odd, dense, muddy scent with a musty, stale, candylike sweetness that makes me wrinkle my nose in disgust. It reminds me of nothing more than Michale Storer's absolutely horrid Il Giardino, but at least that one had some berry notes as excuse for the sickly sweetness. What's Reverie's excuse? The tonka? The ambrette? The rose? The fir, which sometimes turns Wunderbaum-sweet? Where are all the green and woody notes hiding in this composition? The one note I can pick out is an aromatic lavender. Perhaps the drydown is better - I could bring myself to put this on my skin for the sake of research but not to keep it there for very long...

Reverie au Jardin is one of the more interesting fragrances I have smelled in a very long time. The top note is a sparkling green fir scent but that changes in 3-4 minutes. At that point, the scent morphs into a lovely warm, powdery lavender scent that is beautiful and enchanting. Wow! This is FB worthy in my opinion.

Fragrance notes: Lavender (high altitude mountain lavender from France, galbanum, fir balm, bergamot, rose absolute, frankincense, ambrette seeds, orris, vetiver, tonka beans, oakmoss, vanilla, ambergris, sandalwood and cedar wood.
It is interesting that so far it is men who have reviewed this scent. I can’t speak for the others, but my initial interest in Reverie au Jardin ran along the following lines. “Lavender, fir/pine, frankincense, moss, wood tones... sounds promising.” I hoped that the florals, vanilla and amber would be in the background. Alas, everything I wanted is absent and everything else is too prominent for my taste. Yes, this is sweet and powdery from beginning to end. The green note was far too short. Equally brief was the incense. Powdery florals (especially the orris/iris) kept popping up and gave a note that I find annoying when it is as prominent as it is here. Then tonka/vanilla loomed into view, another irritating scent when it dominates. Wash-off time. In my opinion this is not a unisex scent, it is feminine. Not my style.

Reverie au Jardin launches on a powdery floral note with some iris and just a gentle dab of lavender to give it backbone. Some aldehydes and a distinct soapy accord contribute to the soft blend as well.

Sweeter tonka/vanilla and incense notes come forward after a few minutes, while the iris/lavender accord remains firm in the background. The entire composition remains extremely well balanced and blended, so that no single note, not even the lavender, is dominant.

The heart of the scent organizes itself over the first hour, with very smooth woods and mild amber anchoring the floral and incense notes in the foreground. The drydown is a subtly sweet ambergris, woods, and vanilla arrangement that brings on a sense of wistful comfort. What a far cry this is from the likes of Lonestar Memories! The overall effect here is extremely gentle, gauzy, and mild, with a dream-like quality I often associate with Olivia Giacobetti's scents. "Reverie" is very apt!

Though composed of different notes, Reverie au Jardin evokes the same mood as Frederic Malle's exquisite Iris Poudre. If you enjoy one, I suspect you'll enjoy the other. Tauer's scent is more obviously unisex, possibly because the incense adds a certain firmness that's lacking in Iris Poudre. The bit of oakmoss in the base of Reverie au Jardin also blends with the abmergris and florals to yield a somewhat fruity accord that sweetens it in comparison to Iris Poudre. That I can comfortably speak of Reverie au Jardin and Iris Poudre in the same sentence is a credit to Tauer's accomplishment.

My main problem with Reverie is the ultra-sweet top note .... very fruity/floral ... the lavender gets lost in there. The frag becomes much more interesting in the midnotes and basenotes, where the green/herbal notes come into play more with lavender peeping out every once in a while. But I can't get beyond the candylike notes. If you like sweet, you may very well like this one, but it's just not my cup of tea. Longevity is decent, sillage not so great.