Category Archives: Journal

Top notes: Coriandre, cumin, and petitgrain.

Middle notes: Rock rose and jasmine.

Base notes: Cedar, vetiver and ambergris.

Epic. Is there a more epic niche fragrance? I doubt it.

This storyteller opens with a harsh but loving pull, as if you’re being carried off into the desert for some terrifying adventure. It’s smoky, cool air with sun burnt spice hinting at the sacred. It’s a journey into the dark blue Moroccan twilight away from city lights.

And yet into the drydown a leathery, cigar-smoke joviality emerges. A rose, coriander and ambergris hug? And so Andy Tauer’s masterpiece L’Air Du Desert Morocain is rendered universal and mysterious and friendly and complex.

This is one of those fragrances one must smell if you love perfume. The sillage and longevity are perfect. But it’s art and entirely irreplaceable.

Nose: Andy Tauer

Top notes: Saffron and Jasmine. Middle notes: Amberwood and Ambergris. Base notes: Fir Resin and Cedar.

It took me years to buy this cult classic.

I resist trends on principle and starting in about 2016 or so the online fragrance community started buying Maison Francis Kurkdijian Baccarat Rouge 540. It was super popular right away. And, if you’ve smelled it, you know why.

It has a synthetic hedione opulence. It smells like saffron, cedar and burnt sugar mixed with cotton Candy. It smells like the dentist, if the dentist was in Heaven.

On some people this cool, spicy, yet enveloping fragrance is noticeable. It has good sillage. On me it’s quiet and the longevity and sillage are moderate to weak. It’s unisex and surprisingly linear on my skin too. And no, I bought it directly from Maison Francis Kurkdijian. It’s real.

Honestly, it’s just not my aesthetic. That being said, I appreciate it. I’m not likely to ever get a compliment on it, but I still enjoy it for myself on occasion. And yes, I’ve tried the extrait too.

Nose: Francis Kurkdijian

—