Quick reviews of Tauer Perfumes Majestic Tuberose Bar Soap, Tauer Perfumes Rose Nip Room Spray, Frédéric Malle Iris Hand Cream, Frédéric Malle Carnal Flower After Sun Balm and Herban Essentials Eucalyptus Towelettes. Please add your own quick review of anything marvelous you've tried lately!
Tauer Perfumes Majestic Tuberose Bar Soap
Tauer Perfumes' glycerin bar soaps have been around, off and on again, for years, but this is the first time I've tried the Majestic Tuberose. It's a lovely, full-bodied white floral, and the rose and the jasmine in the blend soften the impact of the tuberose perfectly — it smells like tuberose, but it doesn't overwhelm. The bar is scented just enough to make your bathroom smell good, and just enough to leave a light fragrance on the skin, not so much as to make it difficult to match your perfume after you shower (or wash your hands). The glycerin bars are soft (they slice easily, if like me, you don't want to keep a whole glycerin bar melting in the shower, or if you want a small slice for your dresser drawers or whatnot) and foam nicely. I'm a fan. The 100 gr bar is $15 at most places Tauer is sold.
Tauer Perfumes Rose Nip Room Spray
Of the three scents in Tauer Perfume's new-ish collection of room sprays, I've tried the Ylang Calm and the Rose Nip. (I'm tempted by the Cedar Ride, so do comment if you've smelled it!) They're both great scents, but it is the Rose Nip that immediately captured my affections. If you're already a fan of Tauer's way with rose, this is probably the one you need. I would call it a medium rose: not quite bright, not quite dark, not too sweet (if you want something sweet, try the tropical Ylang). The picture doesn't really give a very good sense of how cool the packaging looks or how much fun it is to use. Each bottle stands almost 10 inches high, with the atomizer mechanism taking up most of the top. You shake, you press the pump, and a huge puff of (water-based) scented mist comes out. I spray a bit in my bathroom before my shower, and it's lovely to do a quick spray in the bedroom before you go to sleep. 175 ml is CHF 59 (about $60), with free shipping, directly from Tauer.
Frédéric Malle Iris Hand Cream / Creme Pour Les Mains au Beurre d'Iris
A very kind reader (you can probably guess who) took pity on my blubbering over the new Frédéric Malle Iris Hand Cream / Creme Pour Les Mains au Beurre d'Iris and sent me a small sample tube. The blurb, in case you've forgotten: "Frédéric Malle honors iris concrete’s historical use as precious perfume for the gloves and hands of the Medici family. Its colorless, silky texture was harnessed by Olivia Giacobetti with musk and woody notes to produce a clean, soft scent to accompany you wherever you go." And yes, I'll vouch for the "silky texture" — the cream functions like a luxury hand cream. The scent, likewise. If it were up to me, it would be a bit less clean, a bit more earthy-rooty, but as is, it's catnip for an iris fan. And yes, it's highly scented when you apply it. It doesn't really function like an alternative to perfume, though, like some scented body creams, because the scent doesn't last long enough — Chanel 28 La Pausa lasts much longer. While it lasts, though, it's easily the nicest iris hand cream I've ever tried. It's $75 for a 75 ml tube, at Barneys.
Frédéric Malle Carnal Flower After Sun Balm / Baume Après Soleil
A Carnal Flower After Sun Balm? What a great idea. The blurb: "True to our pledge of always offering the best, we mixed this extraordinarily precious fragrance into an extremely hydrating, fresh feeling after-sun balm. Dominique Ropion’s art now meets high-tech body care." It has a texture somewhere between a gel, a cream and a silicone dry oil — it's pleasant to use, leaves a smooth finish on skin, and it does feel hydrating. The scent seems to emphasize the cleaner and greener aspects of the original Carnal Flower fragrance.* Some of Malle's Body Butters are so richly scented that they'll work as effective substitutes for the perfumes. The After Sun Balm comes close, I suppose, especially if you apply generously, but even then, not so close as a body butter, and a layer on my arms didn't smell like much of anything after a couple hours. It's $95 for 150 ml (at Neiman Marcus); I think if I was going to splurge, I'd rather just spend the (gulp) $230 for the 200 ml tub of the Carnal Flower Body Butter.
Herban Essentials Eucalyptus Towelettes
And now for something completely affordable. When I mentioned Herban Essentials individually wrapped towelettes in the Daily Lemming some time ago, it was pretty clear that everybody but me had already tried them. I'm still not up to speed but I have tried the Eucalyptus. It's a generously sized and generously moistened towelette, with a highly camphorous / medicinal scent that reminds me of Noxzema — I love it, but I can vouch for the fact that not everybody does. As advertised, the towelettes are the perfect thing to throw in your yoga bag, or maybe keep a few in your purse or beach bag, and the brand advises that you can place them in hot water to "inhale decongesting vapors". I may try the Orange next (there is also Lavender, Lemon and Peppermint). They're sold in packs of 7 ($7) or 20 ($16), and easily found on Amazon.
*Then again, I have not smelled a new bottle of Carnal Flower in ages. Perhaps it has been reformulated?
Naughty, naughty, Robin, why do you have to tempt me (us?) with this amazing list? ????
Buy the Herban Towelettes. It will scratch the itch and it’s only $7.
Have not tried any of this items but they would make perfect little gifts (if someone wanted to gift me, ha)
Ha!
Ooh the Tauer soap! So pretty, so affordable, but glycerin soaps dry me out like an airplane cabin. I want it anyways and will probably be gifting them to everyone I know.
Oh no, really? I don’t have that problem, I find glycerin pretty mild, but then I do not have very dry skin.
I’m in love with Tauer’s Tuberose soap. It smells amazing and does the job.
Yep! I wish he would do a soap for Lonesome Rider / Lonestar Memories.
I love using soap to scent drawers, so it’s definitely a bonus that the Tauers are easy to cut.
A non-perfume product I’ve been loving lately is papier d’Armenie–I love the original product, but I’ve also fallen hard from the scents in this shop. The link is to verdigris, which is an amazing limited-edition tomato vine and herb scent: https://www.etsy.com/listing/279596802/armenian-incense-papers-verdigris-a?ref=shop_home_active_10
Oh, aren’t those pretty! I will have to look at those again when I run out of burning papers.
I’m a fan of those Tauer soaps too. I tried the citrus/amber one (forget the official name) and I was hugely and joyously surprised by how they foamed up. I love suds in the shower! I enjoyed the level of scent too; you can get good wafts of it while you shower but it doesn’t hang around on your skin.
Mandarines Ambrees 🙂
What a fun set of reviews! Sadly for my wallet, I lemminged and bought quite a few of these.
I happen to currently be using Tauer Majestic Tuberose. How do I feel about it? What Robin said :-). I will add though that unlike most glycerin soaps, mine has not melted into a gelatinous mess and is in 3rd place in my Soap That Will Not Die category (after Atelier Silver Iris and Castelbel Woodland Animals Gingerbread Soap).
FM Iris Hand Cream – I love it to the tune of 2 tubes.
I got a sample of the Carnal Flower balm. I’m afraid to use it. Anything that fragrant that you wouldn’t normally wash off as part of use instructions make my skin itch just thinking about. Yes, I have issues.
The room spray just looks darling in a big way, I must get one! And since it is water-based, one can probably use it like a perfume, maybe?
I will look for the towelettes as an add-on with my next Amazon purchase…probably this week as my mom handed me a list of items to order.
My one body product to recommend is Dionis Goat Milk hand cream I bought in Alaska. There were many scents available and I chose — unscented! It is emolient without being greasy and makes my hands feel baby soft. For someone who abhors eating anything goat (just thinking about it makes me want to hurl), this is simply amazing. As it turns out, I could have bought this at Ulta, Walmart and Amazon, etc. etc. The next time you are looking to get up to
Free Shipping at Ulta, check out this line of hand creams!
Oh, very good to know about the soap, and hope I did not imply that the Tauer was particularly bad on that score. I just never put glycerin soaps in the shower because they always melt…our soap shelf
Now wait, are you saying you never use scented body lotions?
You can use the body spray like a perfume. I found the rose unsatisfactory as such because it is not as good, on the body, as other Tauer roses (Rose Delight, Rose Flash, Phi, etc). The Ylang worked better since it didn’t already have Tauer competition, but it’s in a sweet tropical style that is fun but not really totally my style.
Hey, those hand creams are nearly local to me! Plus, lots of gift sets! Sold.
Ooh, I get a hand cream enabler pin. Woo hoo!
The glycerin soaps that get really messy are the one from The Body Shop. I think your tip for cutting soaps is a great one but I am just too lazy to do it.
I have not used scented body lotion from as far back as I can remember. The only line I briefly considered trying recently was the all vegan Kniepp. I got as far as using the Foot Repair Cream so that was a start.
Hey, where you gonna keep all those pins? We need to get you a sash, like they use in the girl scouts 😉
I’m using the tuberose soap right now too…it is lovely.
“Lemminged” ????
I’m glad you reviewed that iris hand cream, Robin. I was guessing that it might double as perfume, and only inertia had kept me from ordering it. I’ll stick with SL Iris Silver Mist.
Well, I hope someone else will chime in if they disagree with me!
Slicing a soap? Don’t know why I never thought to try such a thing, but a lovely pal gave me a giant soap I’ve been hesitant to open–and now I can, while still “saving” part of it.
Oh, I do it all the time using a big chef’s knife. For one thing, Nesti Dante bars are just too big for my hands, for another, we have a tiny soap dish, for another, our “soap shelf” in the shower melts everything. But definitely some soaps slice more neatly than others. The Tauers are like butter 🙂
Oh of the Tauer glycerin soap sounds so good – if I don’t leave glycerin soap in a dish that holds water it seems to lasts forever.
And I didn’t know I needed Eucalyptus wipes, thank you Robin!
😉
You’re welcome!