There are a few flowers that should arguably never appear in the name of a perfume. Jasmine doesn't matter so much — you can call a fragrance Jasmin de Nuit or Jasminora or Ikat Jasmine or whatever and it's no big deal if it's something other than a realistic jasmine soliflore — after all, there are plenty of realistic jasmine soliflores already. If you're developing a new jasmine fragrance, going for interesting over realistic might be the better approach.
Magnolia is more problematic. The smell, in nature, is incredible, yet really lovely (and realistic) magnolia soliflores are as hard to find as leprechauns. Some perfumistas will automatically resent a fragrance called Magnolia-something-or-another that doesn't, in fact, smell much like magnolias. Gardenia, ditto. The first thing a perfumista wants to know is: does it really smell like gardenia? And if the answer is yes, the next question is: for how long? Gardenia perfumes that smell like real gardenia for more than say, 10 or 15 minutes, are rare indeed (see the comments for Tuesday's review of Gardénia de Robert Piguet).
So, let's just get this out of the way: the new Sotto La Luna Gardenia from Tauer Perfumes is not a realistic gardenia soliflore, nor does it appear that it was meant to be. The Sotto La Luna series (of which Gardenia is the first) was "inspired by flowers in the night", and Andy Tauer warned on his blog that...
...you might want to forget what you know about gardenia, or no: better said… you might want to get ready to explore details, facets of gardenia that you have not explored yet.1
The opening is green, with yes, flashes of gardenia. It has a spicy edge but it's dewy-fresh and herbal rather than heady. It does seem to pick up steam on the gardenia front for a short time, and it briefly takes on a bit of the mentholated undertone that might announce a move towards a full-bodied white floral, but then — poof! — it switches gears. The gardenia fades into a more general floral blend (the notes list rose and jasmine, I can't really say I smell either) over a mossy-earthy-woody base, and it's that base that intensifies through much of the next hour or so. For a good long while, it smells like a decaying forest floor, complete with mushrooms, wood chips and warm earth, with odd fruity notes popping up here and there ("not-so-fresh banana peel", says the Non-Blonde). Then — poof! — we are off on another facet altogether, as the mushrooms fade away and are replaced by gourmand elements: vanilla and spicy-nutty granola, mingling with what's left of the wood chips.
Verdict: If you were after a pretty, easy-to-wear gardenia that will delight your friends and co-workers, stick with the Robert Piguet. Tauer Perfumes does not generally make crowd pleasers; you can pick nearly any one of his fragrances and find responses ranging from ecstatic to horrified.2 I think that's a positive thing, so long as you don't make a practice of ordering full bottles unsniffed. But it also means that even fans of the line aren't likely to love all of them. I found Sotto La Luna Gardenia interesting to wear, but I did not love it. It is going in my purgatory basket; I'm going to give it a try in colder weather and see what I think then. Meanwhile, I'm looking forward to finding out what new facets of hyacinth and tuberose Mr. Tauer will discover as this series progresses...
Tauer Perfumes Sotto La Luna Gardenia is available in 50 ml Eau de Parfum, $145. For buying information, see the listing for Tauer Perfumes under Perfume Houses.
1. From MORE ON POETRY. TO GIVE NOTES OR NOT TO GIVE. at the Tauer Perfumes blog.
2. For ecstatic takes on Sotto La Luna Gardenia, see Persolaise and the Scented Hound; for horrified, see Kafkaesque.
Waiting patiently for my decant, fascinated by the vast range of responses to this scent…. I have to say, Robin, you make it sound right up my alley. Exciting!
Hope you will love it!
After a couple of wearings from my decant my verdict is that I really do want to own a bottle of this intriguing fragrance. I do get some gardenia from it in some of its transitions, however it is ‘something else’ in this that I’m finding so compelling.
To make it to my ‘buy’ list a fragrance has to make me feel something strongly while I’m wearing it and this one I’m finding to be a very comforting scent.
You know, I like parts of it. I like the opening. I like the mushroom-y part. I wish those two phases co-existed more…I’d like a green, mushroom-y gardenia (and the smell of real gardenia is very much about decay, IMHO). But there’s something about the gourmand part that doesn’t suit me.
I know what you mean and find it interesting that we both have to use the word ‘something’ to describe what we either like or don’t like. I think that says something about how talented a perfumer Andy is.
I need to send you Oriza Legrande Chypre Mousse if you like mushroomy. Just let me know 🙂
Thank you! But I have tried it, although only quickly, I think I’d promised the sample to Kevin. Another one w/ lots of mushroom is Providence Perfume Co Indolice, and of course Aftelier Cepes & Tuberose.
And SSS Cuir et Champignon, which seems to have disappeared from conversation after being a perfumista darling for a short while.
I’m not sure I really ‘know’ gardenia as a note, but that forest floor base is what has me entranced – the under the moon part, not the flower.
Yes…I think that’s a good way to approach it!
I have a sample of this, and what I got was lots of powder and a little gardenia and it kind of stayed that way throughout the day, but I liked it. Felt like a nice soft scent that could be worn all year long.
Glad it worked so well for you!
I wore this today and was sort of honking on about it on the SOTD post – didn’t know you’d be reviewing it today. I am on the fence about it. I think I’m getting more gardenia than some reviewers are, but the gardenia is subsumed by the usual Tauerade suspects, and sometimes I struggle a little with that. It was not working for me today, certainly.
I wish I got more greenish stuff up top, because I was wishing for a little floral freshness (in the sense of a fresh flower, not that gardenias are ever in any way “fresh” as we’ve come to know the term in perfumery). I am not, however, getting mushrooms alone, just a hint that makes the gardenia believable, and that is a very good thing. There is a point where this fragrance gets comfortable for me, right before it plunges into the gourmandy/woody/ambery Tauer territory with very little floral left, but I’m not loooooving it. It probably doesn’t help that the thing has monster sillage *and* the half-life of U-235, so that once it’s on, there is no going back. And I have scent-eating skin, too. If I had scent-glue skin, I probably wouldn’t get it off me for three days.
In any case, I expect I might like this better in the dead of winter. I don’t think it’s bad or unlikeable, just quirkly, and probably too weighty for my usual taste. I absolutely hated Une Voix Noire which was, to my mind, a similar sort of treatment of gardenia, even if the notes weren’t congruent – as “gardenia atop decaying/gourmand rich dark base.” Ah well. Might find a home for my decant, as the promo sample showed up well after I’d already jumped in on a split and that’s probably all I’ll need for ever’n ever.
I suspect I might like it better in serious cold too, that’s why I stuck it in the purgatory basket instead of the “no” pile. We’ll see.
I wore this back when it first came out and haven’t worn it since. Now that is starting to get cooler again (I truly can’t stand heat and the past few days were just icky), I will wear it once more. The impressions I left on Kafka’s blog read as follows:
I got some airy, slightly coconutty indistinct floral, sharpish almond extract although I think it may be woods, powder and dusty Bazooka gum. Somewhere in the middle, I actually got incense. In the far dry-down, I got dry vanilla.
Overall verdict? FB-worthy for me. I have a decant right now.
Also, for what it’s worth, that dusty Bazooka gum smell is similar to one of the LUSH perfumes…don’t recall if it was Smell of Freedom or 25:43.
Interesting…I loved 25:43 (keep meaning to buy some) but didn’t like Smell of Freedom (and now can’t remember it).
I was so excited when this came out, and ordered my sample straight away! I have tested it only once, as want to wait till the weather gets colder. My first impressions were not that great, perhaps I was too anxious to love it). I even held off buying LADDM (FB) as I thought I might just love the Gardenia even more than LADDM. Needless to say, I went ahead and bought my FB of LADDM, as it wasn’t instant love with the Gardenia. It is extremely green in the opening on my skin, and very earthy. I will of course, give it several more tries before I write my final review. I love Andy Tauer fragrances, and have tested all of them. I’m not against green openings, As I also own Une Rose Chypree, but found the gardenia opening very bitter. I will certainly give it a few more testings though!
Well, enjoy your bottle of LADDM! I am going to spend more time with this one too.
I bought a bottle. Although this is not an easy-to-love fragrance, it has the longest and most distinct narrative quality I’ve ever experienced in any scent. It’s like four perfumes in one bottle, presenting themselves in sequence. I already have simple gardenia perfumes; it’s the story here that intrigued me.
Wonderful, glad to hear from a fan of the scent!
I have only tried my sample briefly once – it was not instant love, but that doesn’t mean anything. Some of my big loves were hate at first sniff but then grew on me. Now that it is cooling off in SoCal, I plan to try it again and pay close attention to how it develops.
I didn’t care about Phi Rose at all until trying it again months later…
I totally agree with your review. I love that Andy isn’t afraid to stick his neck out. It makes no difference to me that I haven’t loved every single launch of his, but if I had to whittle my top ten all time favourites down, there would be at least three or four Tauers in there and I will always be loyal to them.
As for Gardenia Sotto la Luna, the way I think of it is that it is a Gardenia close up, in HD, with no make up on, first thing in the morning. It’s REAL. But no, it wasn’t my favourite.
I’ll always be a Tauer fan though.
Nice way of describing it!