I’ve never reviewed a soap before but Vivid Gardenia “Perfume in a Soap” from Andy Tauer of Tauer Perfumes made me excited to venture into new territory.
Tauer Perfumes & Andy Tauer’s Vivid Gardenia soap. Photo: my own.
Tauer Perfumes enters the Middle Eastern world of attars with a new release, Attar AT. It’s a deep, dark, powerful fragrance centered on smoky woods, vetiver, leather, and smoke in a way that, initially, mimics the facets of genuine oud. It’s the sort of scent that presents such a rugged, self-assured, soft-spoken but powerful masculinity in such a no-nonsense, unpretentious fashion that I think it would appeal to quite a large number of men.
There are certain fragrances which I know I will have to brace myself for mentally right from the start. That was the case with Sotto La Luna Tuberose, the latest release from Andy Tauer and the second entry in his Sotto La Luna (Under the Moon) Collection. I love tuberose and it’s my favorite flower, both in nature and in perfumery, but after my experiences with Mr. Tauer’s Sotta La Luna Gardenia, I prepared myself for something that was a mere abstraction and nothing remotely like the real thing. More to the point, after that same Gardenia turned gruesome on my skin, all I hoped for this time around was for a wearable fragrance. Of any kind. Well, after trying Tuberose a few times (and scrubbing it a few times as well), all I can say is that it’s better than the Gardenia on my skin. I’m not sure that’s saying much.
Source: crazy-frankenstein.com
Not all gardenia scents are soliflores; some can be general floral bouquets. The latest release from Tauer Perfumes is neither one of those things on my skin. It is, however, one of the most disappointing fragrances that I’ve tried this year. The reason has nothing to do with expectations of a soliflore, either. I would have been perfectly happy with a rich floral scent, or even a nice perfume of a completely different nature. Unfortunately, on me, Sotto La Luna Gardenia is simply a terrible fragrance, period.