Sonoma Scent Studio has launched two new fragrances, Tabac Aurea and Lieu de Reves.
Tabac Aurea (shown)...
...has an enticing golden amber drydown and a pipe tobacco note that is gentle enough to be enjoyed by women as well as men. It's smooth and softly gourmand, with notes of amber, woods, spices, tobacco, leather, tonka, labdanum, patchouli, and vanilla. The amber accord combines earthy, dry notes with some sweet notes and subtle fruity notes to create a beautiful, woodsy, golden aura.
Additional notes include cedar, sandalwood, vetiver, clove, and musk.
Lieu de Reves...
...or place of dreams, is a beautiful powdery perfume with soft floral notes of violet and rose on a base of heliotrope, tonka, cedar, vetiver, amber, vanilla, musk, and touch of orris. Soft rose notes and subtle aldehydes add elegance to the powdery accord. A feminine blend for powder and heliotrope lovers.
Other than the iris note, Lieu de Reves is unrelated to the earlier, now-discontinued Sonoma Scent Studio fragrance of the same name. Additional notes for Lieu de Reves include jasmine.
Sonoma Scent Studio Tabac Aurea and Lieu de Reves are available in 17 or 34 ml Eau de Parfum; samples are also available.
Also coming soon from Sonoma Scent Studio: the return of Cameo, and a new fragrance called Gardenia Musk. (via newsletter from sonomascentstudio)
Ahem…Robin, you are supposed to wait until I have ordered my Tabac Aurea before posting this. ‘~)
I have sampled the final version of Tabac Aurea and it is beautiful. I already have a bottle of Lieu de Reves, which is also gorgeous.
Off to put my order in now…
Mmmmm Lieu de Reves is nice, have you tried the Champagne de Bois? Gorgeous stuff! I’m trying to resist the Tabac Aurea but I’m wavering already. Maybe I’ll just take a quick look at Laurie’s site…you know, but not order anything…
ok, maybe a couple samples…
That’s it! you all are a terrible influence! Probably 9 of 10 fragrances reviewed on this site I am able to read about, think about, even sniff without being really tempted to buy…but this Tabac Aurea is a toughie. I just got my 31 Rue Cambon yesterday—–I cannot get away with anything else for a while—maybe I’ll go LOOK at my collection and that will snap me out of this fever!
You can not blame us as we have not reviewed it (yet)
ok, you do have a point there….it’s almost like you think I should develop self control….I’m afraid that’s really out of the question.
In case you couldn’t tell: I was wrinkling my nose/grimacing when I typed ‘self control’ .
You all really ARE terrible influences…. I’ve resisted SSS up till now and I’m finding it really hard not to go over there and order up some samples. But I have a few things on the way in the mail to me already this week, so that really should be enough. That Lieu de Reves thing is reminding me of my heliotrope curiosity and reviving my serious hankering for some Luctor et Emergo. I’m still afraid of tobacco, so that Tabac Aurea does nothing for me in concept, thank goodness.
Does anyone else feel as if you have to receive at least two parcels a week — even if they’re just little decant things — or else things seem out of whack? HA!
Joe, I have a lot of trouble with SAD, so early this Winter, I ordered about 20 used books through alibris, and as the packages trickled in, I stacked them in a pile, and on days when I came home feeling miserable, I had something “new” to open as a treat for myself. It wasn’t as good a solution as moving to Key West, but it did help me get through the season. It sounds like you do something similar with decants.
Joe, yes! I like things coming in the mail
Joe & Existentialist, I’m right there with you. Between ordering samples, swapping stuff on MUA and ordering used books, it makes going to the mail box not quite so miserable when I see a lovely package to accompany all my bills.
After reading Joe’s comment about packages, I realized he was absolutely right and immediately opened a new browser window and ordered all the SSS that I have not yet sampled.
Helpless I was. Back of hand flung over brow, head tilted back. Lightly scented wrist exposed…
Joe – I don’t like tobacco’s either. I only tested this one as an afterthought b/c it was her new scent. I LOVE it. Please read my comments below.
Divinemama, you are quick. I still haven’t put in my order of Vintage Rose, although I’m meaning to…
tabac Aurea does sound soooo intriguing (except that gourmand part, but you know, press releases con be misleading…;) .
I haven’t tried anything from the line: I will have to catch up!
I am not a huge tobacco fan, but this does sound really nice.
Lovely coincidence: I had just ordered a sample of Lieu de Reves and I’m wearing it today! I’m not big on heliotrope (L’Eau d’Hiver didn’t send me, for example). However, Lieu de Reves is a beautiful feminine blend. I’m liking it a lot it so far! I have two bottles from this line – Velvet Rose and Wood Violet. Must try the Tabac Aurea next!
I love FM’s Hiver, but oddly don’t usually like heliotrope. I really want bottles of Vintage Rose & Fireside. A Fireside cream would actually be awesome for layering…
Differences in taste are so interesting and sometimes seemingly inconsistent! I love Rose Musc and Velvet Rose, but something in Vintage Rose didn’t work for me. I have a Fireside sample, and need to try it. It sounds wonderful! There is a Fireside Extreme, too, right? Does anyone have comments on the Firesides?
There’s Fireside and Fireside Intense. I have Fireside Intense and I think the primary difference between the two is the addition of a leather note in the Intense version. FI is a favorite of mine, with beautiful sillage. It works well for layering, but I also like to wear it on its own.
I reviewed the Firesides:
https://nstperfume.com/2008/02/26/sonoma-scent-studio-fireside-fireside-intense-and-a-why-do-you-wear-perfume-poll/
And hopefully others will chime in too!
Oh, it does sound good. Now I need one more cool day before winter is REALLY over…
Daisy, Champagne de Bois is another one of Laurie’s scents that I love. You are right, it is gorgeous. Classic worthy for sure!
Joe, not to enable you further (yeah right) but the tobacco note in the final version of Tabac Aurea is subtle. No dirty ashtray here. It is truly beautifully balanced. I get lovely light amber and woods (mostly sandalwood) with a bit of tobacco and leather to make it even more interesting. I definitely enjoy getting more than one sample batch in the mail per week. :~)
Robin, I want to get this before this first batch is gone. Laurie makes a smaller batch to begin a new scent, then makes more if it is popular. She is great about getting the formula correct on subsequent blendings, but I still want to get in on it quick. I too have been eying and have sampled the Vintage Rose, which is also gorgeous, but I have so many roses already I haven’t ordered it…yet. I love the plum note in Vintage Rose. Hmmm, maybe I should have added that to this order? Ha!
you love Champagne de Bois AND you love the Tabac Aurea?? Uh-oh…that just makes me want it more. It’s like a double recommendation. The slightly gourmand aspect is fine , the subtle tobacco is intriguing…woods? spices? tonka? It’s like she made it just for me…..
I think I should just turn off the computer and go get on the elliptical trainer and not think about perfume for a while!
Oh boy, this review just pushed me over the edge. I’ve been putting off trying the enticing SSS fragrances for awhile. Now I’ve just placed my order of 8 samples. :O
LOL…but mind that it isn’t a review, only an announcement…I’ve never even smelled it!
Yep, sorry, Robin, I just realized what I wrote *after* I posted it (as usual). See – for some of us all you have to do is post a list of notes and we’re already weakened, fingers scrambling for our wallets. And I blame no one but myself.
I recently tried various SSS frags, not being familiar with violet or heliotrope, and have fallen in love with Lieu de Reves. I really enjoyed LdR. It’s subtle, but I keep smelling my wrist throughout the day. My other love is Velvet Rose, very well done.
Tabac Aurea sounds lovely. I might have to try this one too!
Seems like everyone loves the Velvet Rose!
I suspect that the Velvet Rose is her best seller. I had high hopes for it. Unfurtunately there is something in Laurie’s rose scents that turns into cloying honey on me. Which is different than most rose soliflores which turn to rose vinegar….heavy sigh.
On the other hand her more incensey frags are terrific . And the Egyptian musk I can hardly smell at all! (my nose has died??)
Can’t wait to try the Tabac Aurea
I find that I can usually smell Egyptian musks for about 10 minutes before they induce olfactory fatigue.
Daisy: I’m anosmic to almost all the musk fragrances that SSS has. Some,like Egyptian Musk, I can’t smell at all, and I can barely smell Opal and Sienne Musk. Her Winter Woods doesn’t work for me at all, again, because I can’t smell the musks. You are probably also anosmic to most musks. Once you learn about this, it really helps when smelling fragrances that aren’t working. There are a few out there for me, like Kenzo Winter Flowers and the new Badgely Mischka Couture that smell like dirty socks, most likely, because I can’t smell any sweet musks that are in the blend. You should email Laurie directly and she can work with you if you are interested to discover which of her scents you may not be able to smell. And her incense frags are terrific….but they don’t always work for me, b/c I am “incense challenged”, lol.
Hi, finally commenting under my new user name (used to be Patty). How would you say Tabac Aurea compares with Tabac Blond?
Welcome Patty! I haven’t smelled it yet, sorry.
This is one of those lines that I do wish was more widely available outside the US. I’ve never tried any of their frags, but a lot of them do sound GOOD!
I don’t know if they ship internationally — but of course, that often isn’t worth the added price & bother anyway.
Hi Robin, I’ve been on the SSS website and they do ship internationally. I’m going to order some samples so fingers and toes crossed I don’t get hit with the UK’s horrendous customs charges.
Thanks for bringing this perfume line to my attention as I’d never heard of it. I’ll have to let you know what I think of the frags when I get my samples. Best wishes, Sue.
I will keep my fingers crossed too…hope they get there cheaply and you like them!
Anyone – like AnnS?, who has a bit of an inside track on Laurie – know what the status is on Gardenia Musk?
If you follow the SSS blog, you’ll probably find out — she usually blogs about scents “in progress”:
http://sonomascent.wordpress.com/
I have NO idea how I missed this post! With the changeover in NST and a headsplitting week at work, I turn my back for like, two days, and well, I entirely missed this post!!! Ok so here are my few cents about Lieu de Reves and Tabac Aurea –
Lieu de Reves is just a beautiful, very pretty, but not insipid, natural, violet powder fragrance. It is very well blended combination of powdery heliotrope and violets – and it is not really sweet, more fresh, like the first air of spring. It absolutely smells just like that time in spring when the trees begin to bud, the flowers poke their shoots up, but the air is still cool and damp. There is nothing else like it. The closest I can say is that it’s a much more rusticated version of Apres L’Ondee. It is also a lot of fun to wear – when I spritz myself, it’s like I’m sending a poof of lovely powdery fragrance my way. It lasts for hours but is still subtle. Lovely and fresh, its perfect for spring.
Now I got to smell Tabac Aurea before it was finished. I am very hopeful that I’ll like the finished version b/c it only has a few changes f`. I didn’t actually even think I’d like Tabac b/c I don’t normally like tobacco scents. This is not smokey at all. It is just really wonderful and warm. I like it for all the same reasons I like some other rich fragrances I enjoy wearing like Coco, or Bal a Versailles, or Montaigne (not that Tabac Aurea smells like any of those), but it has this wonderful rich golden warmth to it. The sillage is beatiful – not to strong – and the lasting power is amazing! The tobacco note smells like a fantastic old wooden cigar box, that manages to convey both the dried sweetness of tobacco and its aromatic vegetal qualities.
….Uh, ok, my toddler whacked my laptop, so I didn’t get to finish above…..
…Tabac Aurea creates this feeling like you just walked into this old room with lots of velvet and wood panelling that’s been permeated by years of pipe tobacco and other wonderful things – maybe an occasional bouquet, some well worn leather sofas, old books, and god only knows what else. I think Tabac Aurea is a real achievement and is just amazing. It just melts into the skin. I’m not the only one who thinks this either, if you start poking around on the blogs. It is absolutely unisex and I am very impressed with what Laurie created. It is gorgeous. I am eagerly awaiting my tester, and I highly recommend people test it – it is nothing like you expect. This fragrance just blew my socks off.
As far as gardenia musk, I have no idea, I think from reading Laurie’s post she is still working on development, trying to get some of the floral notes just right, as gardenia florals are very hard to work with. She is reworking Cameo too.
Thanks for the detailed reviews!