Chaparral at +Q Perfume

Simone at the +Q Perfume blog has written a two part segment titled "When Cowboys Meet Indians" featuring both Andy Tauer and myself. The first part was a tribute to the Cowboy and Andy's fragrance Lonestar Memories. Today she published the second portion which focuses on Indians and the liquid version of our fragrance Chaparral®.
Follow this link to read today's portion, or this link to read both part one and two.

Interesting how Chaparral® is getting so much attention all of a sudden, must be on the air.

It is an honor to be associated with my dear friend and colleague Andy Tauer. I am so grateful for Simone's piece, she really captured the spirit and essence of Chaparral®. While you are over at her blog check out some of the other items she has written about. The interview with the author of "What the Nose Knows" Avery Gilbert of is particularly fascinating. I had the pleasure to meet Avery here in LA at a presentation and this past autumn during the NYC Sniffapalooza Fall Ball. I highly recommend "What the Nose Knows", I received it for Christmas and have just begun reading it.

+Q Perfume Blog
Lonestar Memories by Andy Tauer
Andy Tauer website & blog
Chaparral® is available in a variety of sizes at my Etsy shop.
Avery Gilbert

Prince Charming

The Prince of Charm, Andy Tauer, came by for a visit Thursday evening. He brought his partner Werner (pronounced Verner) with him. I was so enchanted that I forgot to document the visit with pictures. When I did remember, the affair felt way too sacred for a camera. In fact I contemplated not posting about it and holding the memory close to my heart.

Andy and Werner arrived here at our little tree house-like abode at 5pm. I was gifted with one of the new Tauer Perfume sample packs, shown above. We began the evening with a toast with some jasmine sambac hydrosol. Then I invited them to my studio for some sniffing. Werner declined on the sniffing and choose to hang with Greg and the fresh guacamole.

Meanwhile, I took Andy on an olfactory adventure through each of my fragrances. As he inhaled each individual perfume, from a freshly dipped scent strip, I noticed that he looked perfectly poised like a ballerina. He stands very erect, as if in second position, and becomes completely devoted to the experience of taking in the scent molecules being offered to him. That was when I wanted to snap a picture, but, I was also extremely conscious of the sacredness of that moment.

During the sniffing he asked lots of great questions and seemed most intrigued by Q, Chaparral Vera and Sierra. In fact Sierra was his favorite of the seven he experienced. He asked how could it be that I use up to 50 different ingredients in one perfume. Thus, I shared a few of the accords that go into Sierra, explaining that each accord can have up to ten ingredients in each one. Andy does not formulate using accords in fact he refers to them bases. He shared that perfumer Vero Kern uses some of this accord methodology.

We probably could have spent the entire night in my studio talking perfume and formulation. Greg came in at one point and reminded us that the guacamole was almost gone, as well as the light. From the house the adventure weaved its way deep into the Santa Monica Mountains just as the sun was starting to go down. The view and quality of light was quite fantastic. The sunlight was being filtered through the pink colored clouds to produce a very surreal and magical landscape. An image I don't think any of us will soon forget.

After our walk we served dinner, followed by dessert and more fragrant journeys. This time we sniffed a variety of ingredients found in my palette. It was fun to introduce Andy to precious essences he had not yet experienced, like Mitti and a co-distillation of Vetiver and Rose. It was also interesting to compare and contrast our tastes. The other item Andy was curious about in my perfume formulation was the process of tincturing.

The evening then turned from the olfaction to visual & auditory. Andy and Werner were taken to Gregs world, where visual art reigns supreme. This time it was Greg's turn to enchant with his new film reel and award winning illustrations.

The Andy and Werner duo are here in California for a few weeks. This past Saturday Andy appeared at The Scent Bar where he will present again on October 17th. For now they are off to the peace and tranquility of L'Air du desert.

Here are my thoughts on Vetiver Dance:
I've been on a high dancing with Andys latest fragrance, Vetiver Dance. It is a stunning and beautiful perfume. He managed to tame vetiver essential oil, which has a tendency to get very heavy and prominent in formulas. Vetiver is one of those notes that is extremely viscous and not necessarily "friendly", a tricky one to manage. Andy expertly choreographed vetiver to dance fluidly in the composition of this fragrance. I am most enchanted with the Ambergris note, is it real or married with the synthetic ambriene? Either way, it is a luscious, velvety note that floats up through the dance as the vetiver diminishes. Read more about Andy's new fragrance at Perfume Shrine.

Andy Tauer Perfumes
Vero Kern
Lucky Scent

Roxana Illuminated Perfume™

Images: Top is a photo I took of Andys perfume sampler gift, Face in the Sunset image© Greg Spalenka, Alchemical bottle on parchment©Roxana Villa and Vetiver Dance image is from the Lucky Scent website.

The Vetiver Dance

Andy Tauer returns to grace us with his presence at the Scent Bar this October. The Saturday, October 4th event is full, however the Friday October 17th slot still has a few openings. Click here to RSVP.

The latest from Tauer Perfumes is "Vetiver Dance", a unisex fragrance focused on Vetiver essential oil. At the event Andy will take us on a tour of how the fragrance manifested, including some of his early rendition.

Andy is a very warm, friendly and entertaining. Check out our journal entry from his presentation last Spring and you will notice how big our smiles are. This is a great opportunity to meet one of the great independent, niche perfumers working today.

Scent Bar
Andy Tauer
Vetiver Dance Review on Perfume Shrine

Roxana Illuminated Perfume™

Image above is from the Lucky Scent website.

{ Chocolate }

“Researchers have discovered that chocolate
produced some of the same reactions in the brain as marijuana.
The researchers also discovered other similarities between the two,
but can't remember what they are.”
Matt Lauer on NBC's Today Show, August 22

The origins of chocolate begin with the cacao pods of the Mesoamerican tree. The seeds were ground and mixed with other ingredients to create a chocolately drink by the Mayan and Aztec people.

Andy’s recent post about a perfume he made called Aqua Tenebrae reminded me of two Chocolate inspired perfumes I had formulated back in February of the year 2003. It began with one of my aromatherapy students requesting a Vanilla+Chocolate perfume. In the past I had made chocolate themed lip balms, but, not a perfume.

As I sample the two perfumes I am intrigued and may come back to it soon. Both formulas have potential, however, they are much more simplistic than the way I work now. I use the word simplistic because there is very little evolution to the perfumes due to the way they have been constructed. Number one has incredible tenacity and lasted on my skin for more than twelve hours!

The botanical perfumer has a few options available for creating chocolate inspired perfumes. First off there are the cacao pods and or seeds, which can be tinctured or infused. In the lip balms we use to make, we would add cocoa butter and actual chocolate to our beeswax to produce the note. In my palette I have cacao absolute and a C02. The absolute is really dark and viscous (pictured above) compared to the C02 which is white and powdery.

The perfume Andy created, Aqua Tenebrae, was created for a birthday. According to his blog notes the perfume consists of “cacao absolute, dark cistus, patchouli, cinnamon notes, vetiver, complemented by green spices and light rose notes.” When I read this I was intrigued by the combination of Cacao, Cistus and Geranium. One of my versions included Cistus, while the other included essences of Vanilla and Benzoin. Mine however, had no rose at all.

I find it interesting to see how other perfumers combine ingredients. Even more fascinating was to see these two old formulas in the first few pages of my perfume journal. I was much more eclectic in the way I would combine notes.

Read about Andy's formula at the link below and note that he is due back in Los Angeles this October 2008. Most likely he will be making an appearance once again at the Scent Bar.

"Life is like a box of chocolates - you never know what you're going to get."
Forrest Gump in "Forrest Gump" (1994)

Images: Cocoa absolute and Candy box illustration titled Star of Knowledge ©Greg Spalenka.

Aqua Tenebras by Andy Tauer
Roxana Illuminated Perfume™

Andy Tauer in LaLaLand

For over a year now I’ve been hearing the name Andy Tauer. It began with a fellow blending partner, Ylva Rubensson. She had been intrigued by Andy's particular methodology for making perfume. Then, my friend and mentor, Gail Adrian highly recommended I experience his perfumes. Well, this past Saturday, I finally had the opportunity to meet Andy and see what Andymania is all about.

I arrived at the Lucky Scent Bar to witness two men taking photos, one on each side of the counter...was it of each other? The blonde, wavy haired young man in the blue suit I recognized immediately. Andy is much more magnetic and charismatic than the photo on his website suggests. I found him super funny and charming with that underlying sensitivity found in artistic souls. The owners of Lucky Scent, Adam Eastwood and Franco Wright are a delight with a terrific aesthetic. In a past life they both worked as graphic designers.
(Pictured below are Adam, Andy and Franco)

Andy began his presentation with samples of two types of frankincense. One was a Boswellia carteri from Somalia and a distilled Frankincense Resin from India. I must say the distilled Frankincense was absolutely stunning! He also shared a Boswellia serrata CO2 found in both Incense Extrême and Incense Rosé at almost the same concentration.We experienced a fresh and spicy Coriander and the citrusy Petitgrain, both of which are contained in Incense Extrême. Andy works with both of natural and synthetic materials. He teased about this saying he was neither Catholic nor Protestant. He also passed around some of the expensive, synthetic notes he incorporates including Irone alpha, based on Orris and Ambroxide, a molecule found in Ambergris. For Lonestar Memories he used a rectified version of the woody Texas Cedarwood, Juniperus mexicana, combined with the Ambroxide. All the materials just mentioned are the major scents found in Incense Extrême . Incense Rosé contains 40 different ingredients, both natural and synthetic: the sweet, flowery synthetic phenyl ethyl, damascenone (in minute quantities with phenyl ethyl), geraniol, Bulgarian rose absolute, myrrh and labdanum.

Andy also brought along two of the scents currently in process a Rose Chypre and a Vetiver based fragrance. Rose chypre trial version 3.5: He followed Luca Turin’s definition of chypre, which combines bergamot, oakmoss, and labdanum. The Rose chypre 3.5 utilizes both the Bulgarian rose absolute and the steam-distilled rose oil. Vetiver trial version 8 is an earthy vetiver based fragrance that unfortunately I did not get to smell. Maria B, one of Andy's biggest fans and a trusted “nose” for Tauer Perfumes tells me it is lovely.

When sharing how he works, I was stunned to hear that his process begins by typing a formula on his computer. This is so different from me and got me thinking that each perfumer probably has a very unique path to achieving there final perfume orchestration. Some of this of course is revealed in the Perfume Inside a Poem project created by Heather Ettlinger.

One of the wonders of these types of events is that you get to hang with other scent obsessed folk. The event made me think of the last LA Sniffapalooza. In fact, I recognized many faces. It was a pleasure to finally meet Justine Crane of The Scented Djinn and Le Parfumeur Rebelle. The lovely and gracious Maria B, was in attendance with her husband Kurt. The tiny Scent Bar space was packed. I noticed some filming taking place and look forward to seeing the footage.

Andy was a fellow participant in the Memory and Desire, Perfume Inside a Poem project. We had the delight to sample his contribution. The freshly dipped scent strip smelled of fresh, crystalline flowers to me.

There is quite a lot of written reviews out on Andy's perfumes, below are a few links where you can read about his fragrances and seek them out.

Cheers to the Art Spirit yet again. I look forward to one day spending some time with Andy and comparing scent notes. (Yes, pun intended!)

Thank You to Maria B for the use of her fantastic notes and her husband Kurt for his warmth and smile. Many thanks also to Franco for sending along their photos from the special event.

To purchase Andy's perfumes check out the The Scent Bar on Beverly or their online store. Sign up for the Lucky Scent newsletter to hear about other upcoming events, like this one with Andy.

Lucky Scent
Andy Tauer
Perfume Inside the Poem Project
Roxana Illuminated Perfume™