Au Coeur du Désert Tauer Perfumes 2016

This is not easy to wear, as it exists and diffuses by itself, with a strong personality.
A work of art that makes you feel good whenever you sniff it, and capable of telling a story.
Projection and sillage are incredible.
Not something I would "wear" everyday, but I like to have a full bottle to come back to it every time I need some comfort, be it at home or on a special occasion.
It makes me think of some great avant-garde music which I definitely enjoy and projects me in another world, but which not necessarily would fit as background music.
A must have, at least in a sample.

Joint review of L'Air du Desert Marocain and Au Coeur du Désert worn on consecutive days and compared directly (wrist to wrist).

Au Coeur du Désert (In the Heart of the Desert) opens with a biting or bright scent that smelled a bit resin-y and a little cheesy. I didn't find it to be repulsive and nothing like a stinky oud opening. L'Air du Desert Marocain (The Air of the Moroccan Desert) OTOH opens resin-y and warmer than Coeur. As Coeur settles it takes on a VERY subtle sweetness. I can't emphasize enough "very subtle". Both Coeur and L'Air are very dry overall; it's just that Coeur has a slight touch of sweetness that L'Air doesn't.

As they dried down, Coeur and L'Air converged and were about 95% similar. l"Air was just a touch more woody than Coeur. They have a general dry resin-y spicy scent that certainly brings to the imagination the tent interiors of a spice caravan resting in the desert as the sun sets. Both are really nice fragrances, are quite masculine and have the masculine funk scent in the background, similar to Overture Man, but not nearly as strong, no doubt from the cumin.

Where Coeur and L'Air differ significantly is performance. L'Air lasted about 7 hours for me while Coeur still had a good skin scent at 10 hours which I could smell when moving around. Projection was also strong with Coeur for a few hours while L'Air quickly was more modest and retreated to a compact scent bubble after about an hour. Since their scents are so close, I'd go with the stronger one, Au Coeur du Désert.

Truly the next chapter in the story of LADDM. However, missing are the arid spices and vastness of the former, which to me are what made it magical. Many will prefer this for its sweeter, denser character that makes it slightly more wearable, albeit more similar to other ambers. I put this along the same lines as HdP’s Ambre 114, though not quite as smooth and sweet. If the spicy opening put you off of LADDM, then ACDD may be for you.

A powerful herbal blast in the opening sandwiched between fresh spices on top and dry woody undertones. An ambery sweetness quickly makes its presence known and it stays that way through the drydown, getting slowly more syrupy-balsamic over time but never overpowering the other elements of the fragrance. The image evoked in my mind is a vanilla-flavored wind blowing across the twilight desert, picking up bits of sand as it swirls about, enough to feel but not to cause harm. Can wind be flavored? I don't care.

I sampled it based off sheer hype to reach free shipping while buying other Vanilla samples. Does it live up? Honestly, yeah kinda. I was looking for something more gourmandish, which this is not, but it's a beautiful scent nonetheless. Performance is quite strong as well, I get about 3hr of strong projection and 9-11hr longevity as a noticeable skin scent.

Compared to L'Air du Desert Marocain, it's an unmistakable higher concentration flanker. ACDD is like +10% more ambery, -10% less herbal. It's also a touch more moist, as LDDM doesn't really get "syrupy" in its drydown, and has marginally better performance.

I tested № 02 - L'Air du Désert Marocain Eau de Toilette Intense as one of my first ever niche fragrances, 5 or 6 years ago now. I don't remember it enough to make a side-by-side comparison but I remember not liking it, so I decided to give Tauer-ade another chance to see if my nose has changed any with two flankers, this and L'Air du Désert Marocain Noir (also along with № 03 - Lonestar Memories which I didn't realize was a flanker but is). I still don't like it. I'm going to give a kind of general review of Tauer-ade before talking about the specific scent:

Everyone talks about a balsamic sweetness in these scents but unfortunately I get them as two disparate accords on my skin. The sweetness is an airy sugary note that jumps right off my skin and invades my nose immediately when spraying. The resins stay on my skin and don't project much. The combination smells great when I'm smelling it up close but in the air it doesn't do it for me. I will say that Tauer-ade is a completely unique kind of scent that I have never seen in offerings from any other house.

I think I like Au Coeur the most out of the three I tried, I think because the sugariness is the most toned down here. There are some woody and smoky notes but they're relegated to being stuck to my skin while all I smell in the air is fizzy sugary notes. I don't really get much in the way of spice either, unfortunately. It just reminds me of something like Espíritu Parfum only even sweeter.