02 L`Air du Desert Marocain Tauer Perfumes for women and men

This is a perfume for people who like incense and spices. The opening is really harsh and chemical. It reminds me some medicines like Locabiotal. I don't like the opening. After some minutes, it becomes softer and warm like a desert breeze. You can smell amber, incense, spices. It's quite pleasant even if I can still smell a medicinal note. I think it's a niche fragrance and only few noses will appreciate it. Personally, I don't want to smell like that, I think it's more suitable for a home fragrance like real incense.

A unique experience. Iridescent olfactory sensations. A Masterpiece.

When I was looking at reviews for this fragrance on youtube I found an interview with Andy Tauer in which he explains the idea behind this fragrance. When I smell this I am so impressed on how he has managed to translate his vision into fragrance. I suggest if you have this or your thinking of buying it, that you check out this video. Just copy this title into the youtube search bar: Tauer Perfumes L'Air Du Desert Marocain "STREET SCENTS" The Series Featuring ANDY TAUER

Enjoy!

This is for people that love incense, spices and very dry perfumes. Smells like a marocan bazar with some incense stick burning inside. Not my type of perfume.Next.

Sometimes perfumes turn my stomache, not as a figure of speech, but literally. Unfortunately Andy Tauer's do, too, LADDM no exception. Maybe it's some chemical? It's at least not a note, that those perfumes have in common. Maybe it's its strength or the medicinal notes, I get? I don't find it to be natural in smell, that's often something the stomach turners share. Maybe I cannot bare chemical smells of a certain kind?

Anyways, I'm sorry for that, because I've tried to share you're love for this funny and very likeable perfumer's creations for years now and I've failed again and again.

My first spray of a sample of this wonderful stuff. Longer review later, but for now, my first blush response to this fragrance, a la Vie Café:

A vast ocean of undulating sand hills stretch out before me. The dry air warms my lungs with each inhalation. I'm enveloped in cooling white linen, folds of fabric tugged at by the wind at my back as I watch the sun rise for the very first time.

This isn't a full review as I just got my sample today but I just had to share how beautiful this is. Without immediately checking out the notes on here I thought "balmy, resinresinresin" which is the ambergris, I believe. This scent is gorgeous and envelopping, with the resin being almost nauseating, like in Eau des Merveilles, with beautifully blended spices sitting on top. Masterful.

After about 20 minutes the woods move in. I get more vetiver than cedar, and to me it really tips the fragrance to unisex. This is the kind of vetiver I remember from my father (who is persian) and his friends in their cologne. This heavy spicy blend with added depth from the vetiver, lightening the blend to make it more accessible but still anchoring the fragrance. I love this it's beautiful and nostalgic.

I can definitely appreciate this beauty, lot's of spices, very unique, very passionate and very interesting. I can enjoy something like this in my own space, but I wouldn't wear this in public, or maybe I could if I were somewhere in Egypt. This is how I imagine Cleopatra would smell like.

Time for me to properly review this after the first shock (and with a more objective point of view), but first let's rectify the pyramid... I did a little research on the Tauer site and I'm sorry in advance if I'm going to sound like an annoying little know-it-all nerd:

TOP/HEAD NOTES
cumin
coriander
petitgrain

MIDDLE/HEART NOTES
jasmin
rock rose (Cistaceae)

BASE/BODY NOTES
cedarwood
vetiver
ambergris

Can we agree on the fact that cumin and caraway seeds smell completely different? I'm amazed at the amount of people who voted for caraway as one of the top notes here.... really? Cumin is well known for its pungent "intimate" (read B.O.) smell and caraway is a way more polite spice, sharp, spicy and a little more round. I get cumin here, and I'm damn happy I do, because I can imagine the scent of the people living in that desert I imagine in my mind. They don't shower much. I think this would be more safe and boring without the very well blended cumin.

I also get a very strong vetiver all throughout development when sprayed on a drier, non warm part of the body. I find this blooms so much better in the humid heat, or sprayed under clothes where the skin is always warm and a little moist. Then you really get the full "scenery" that the scent tries to convey.

Most people seem to get a prominent amber note here, but I sniff and search and all I can smell is the typical Tauer Ambergris note. I think it's pretty confusing when it comes down to amber and ambergris and I'm still trying to figure this one out.... It would seem that the said Amber note is created by the rock rose in the heart, which comes from the cistaceae family (I'm a nerd today, seriously I annoy myself). Perfumistas are familiar with cistus ladanifer, which is used by l'Occitane in their famous Ambre perfume (and is also used to make the note labdanum in most perfumes?):

(excerpt from the Ambre box)

"When the sun is slowly setting above the Mediterraneean shore, cistus plants fill the air with their delicious ambered and balsamic perfume."

l'Air du desert Marocain, is dry and spicy but weirdly sweet and aromatic, unisex veering towards masculine in terms of general taste and it has very good longevity and very decent projection. As it is a fairly non-conventional scent, maybe it is better undersprayed than oversprayed in order to not shock anybody who has to coexist with you on a daily basis... not everybody is ready for the magic that is L'Air, but if you're with me, spray freely as I ADORE this scent. I won't get into metaphors and imagery today, but it really lives up to its name. A modern classic in my book.

Wow! This is truly divine! The scent of paradise. I bought it blind based on glowing reviews and it exceeded my expectations! No questions, this is a masterpiece. Standing ovation, Mr. Tauer!

The top notes are calling attention to him, he starts striking and strong, very good, very dry and burnt, and a slight green tint given by petitgrain believe, but so light that the evil to feel beside the spices, which signal are very natural to my nose as if I were really smelling some seasoning. And gradually it gets hot, hotter and hotter, but still dry at some point I feel a touch incensed that quickly disappears. It goes really imprssão of you being in the middle of a desert, with a slight breeze and hot spicy.

When the floral notes start to appear, it gives a smoothed spices, but very lightly, and it's balanced on one fragrance. Soon after the flowers appear, the amber, vetiver and cedar also begin to have featured in fragrance, combining spices and wood with a sweet and smoky vibe, which remains alive in the skin for a long time! Great fragrance when I can, no doubt I'll have a bottle. Perfumes that already had the opportunity to meet, is undoubtedly the second best in my opinion.

I smell like a musk stick.

Okay so i got it as sample. Initial spray is super harsh, it smells a lotttt like in the church (which isnt good smelling). After it dries down, it becomes slightly creamy and sweet and mixed with the church smell. Basically just imagine the scent of a bakery mixed with the scent of a church (the incense) and thats the fragrance.

Quality ? Yes very high quality. Versatility? Almost none: the only reason someone would wear this is if they love the scent otherwise this scent has no purpose. Its not sexy, doesnt get compliments.

Easy way of putting this, this fragrance is for the person wearing it only. Only for her own satisfaction. Yes it does teleport you in a place in Morocco near the desert, near the markets selling spices and near a bakery. But in my opinion, I dont see the uselfullness of being teleported there.

The main problem I see with this is that the quality of the smell is just soooo good that its really so close to the picture it teleports you into that you barely feel that this is actually a fragrance youre wearing. And people wont identify you when youre gona wear this because their minds will just go to that place instead of thinking of you.
Blind buy? NO NO NO NO NO!!! Try a sample.

one of the best perfumes i liked

I think this perfume is a teleporting device and I am not in my house anymore.... I am somewhere else. Somewhere where I am asking myself: "who can possibly pull this off?!!!" I am even getting a little scared. This is a scary place! It's lonely and dark and so vast.... and dry. Sand everywhere. But wait, I think I see... a tent. A tent in the distance, a thin whirl of smoke coming out of it, shadows of men through the thick woven fabric, some oil lanterns gently rocked by the desert breeze. Oh, so gently, almost hypnotically. I'm lost, but I'm not sure that tent is a safer haven than where I' standing right now, in the middle of this dark nowhere.

I'll have to find the proper words to review this perfection soon.

Im wearing a sample as i type. Let me sniff my arm at the 6hr mark....It's there but kinda feint. This stuff is highly sought after. The craze is so strong that Luckyscent got involved, remixed it, and called it Lys du Desert. I blame my own expectations on your idolization and that's because i think this stuff is okay at best. I was really expecting this to give Incense Rose a run for its money. This falls a little short; maybe Andy need to remix this one more time......

I can see why this has such a devoted following. The spicy smoky top notes are stunning and exotic. Sadly, on my skin, it quickly devolves into Memoirs d'Holy Week, and all Catholic guilt aside, why would I want to smell like that?

The answer is, I don't, of course, and I don't want my man to smell like that either, although maybe it would play better on him. When I want a cheap Telegraph Ave headshop reminder, I'll head to Whole Foods for some incense sticks.

Surely it is just my body chemistry that fights such a promising and well-loved scent. Either that, or Andy Tauer is laughing all the way to the bank saying "they fell for it."

Still searching for the perfect cuminy scent. So far, only Epic is in the running.

I tested this quite a long time ago, but the notes I made to myself about it were that it was medicinal and woody, and a little too animalic/dirty for me. Just didn't really smell good on me, though I'm sure it might smell great on someone else. It seemed pretty masculine to me as well.

I tested this on my skin.

I'm not sure whether my interpretation of the camphor burns my nose in a hot furnace or leaves me shivering in an arctic tundra.

This fragrance is incredibly manly, quite medicinal, and very strong. To me, I picture this scent as a sexy night fragrance for a man that is of the "chiseled-jawed hard-bodied young urban professional type". The opening grabs your attention in a dramatic and crude manner, taking advantage of your shock with a soft, sweet, and spicy seduction. However, the melt is never in a "nice guy" sort of way, but enters with snakelike smoothness, in-control-of-the-situation, thick, dark, enveloping sort of way.

A little bit of time makes this scent sweeter and softer. The bitterness lighter.

There is then a hint of shaving cream and aftershave. And then the scent is gone.

As a woman, I can't help but feel extremely offended. Scentwise, I've just been wham-ed bam-ed, and thank you ma'am-ed.

As far as my personal taste in men goes, I extremely dislike this sort of guy therefore the scent representation of the man simultaneously revolts me. However, I cannot deny that this fragrance was well made.

Aftershave, incense, dusty air, sand swirling up your nostrils, bracing heat, sandstorm-stained tattered cargo shorts...I'm not sure if this is a personal fragrance or an olfactory exercise.

When I sampled it, the people around me coughed a lot and I only put a dab on one of my wrists. I admire it, but I wouldn't wear it. It's dry heat is a bit on the suffocating side.

Does not last for a personal experience

Strong in the beginning and then disappears

Will try and you will know the truth

I'm surprised people who talk to them about this experience a strong fragrance that lasts

The truth is the contrary I do not recommend it

Excellent smell perfume complex

But I would not advise him to Edom more than minutes and the price is high-priced

I would not advise it

strong, concentrate, beautiful, romantic,warm,sweet,rich,for winter and night the best,i am in love with this perfume ,class perfume no doubt...my rating 10/10 smell,sillage,projection all the best.. :))

Update: i think it's better for men

My mind instantly conjured visions of a dusty, detached garage with an oil-stained floor next to a white farmhouse, where a now-deceased octogenarian performed decades of automotive work maintaining his four-wheeled works of art...or perhaps a solitary, anachronistic hardware store, long forgotten in the shadows cast by modernity, a place, if open, peddling obscurity in the form of metal and wood...a place which seems naturally empty and quiet.

Serene, isolating, solemn. And slightly brooding.

Tauer's inspiration is obvious, but not to me. I have never been to any desert, much less anything remotely resembling North Africa. I can only say that I will cherish this fragrance for as long as I own it. That maybe I will use it (somewhat oddly) on my wedding day or the funeral of my parents or dear loved ones.

Still, it is quite enchanting in its own right, and I will rack my brain to come up with other appropriate occasions to employ it. And personally, I thought it was cool that Andy Tauer signed (in ballpoint pen) one of the inserts in the pentagonal tin housing the bottle.

I try to be pretty open-minded when it comes to scents but this one just pushed me too far out of my comfort zone. I know a lot of women adore this but I found it way too masculine to wear comfortably. Too much leather and the camphor, which I am totally unaccustomed to, were deal breakers for me.

I've been wearing this for almost three full days already. To be honest besides the opening burst of spices (which I love) this hasn't given me that "wow" factor that I was looking for.

The opening starts out with a really dry spicy citrus which is eastern inspired. I really like this. It reminds me of the super dry almost brittle green herbals that came out in the 70's but with the addition of eastern spices. It is unique and displays a level of sophistication not found in many fragrances these days.

This opening lasts way to short IMO. I'd love to have something similar but linear and longer lasting !

Once this frag gets to the mids I get really confused. Nothing is obvious to me at all and I need to go sniffing my clothes and chest to see what's going on with the fragrance. No notes jump out at me. After careful sniffing I do recognize that I am wearing "L air " but it is very subtle and hard to tell what it is that I am smelling.

Every now and then I put my nose into my chest and I can smell something a little different (dry,spicy) but yet again very soft. I get spice with black pepper.

...and then the fragrance just disappears and I cannot find a trace of it. All within a 3 hr time frame.

This might be a hot weather only fragrance for me....who knows. The weather is really cold and dry in NYC right now. However I have been sweating underneath my jacket. This is usually all it takes for a frag to come to life on my skin. This never does after it dies down unfortunately.

I see and read reviews about this having amazing sillage and longevity but I don't get that. I have yet to wear this around other people. I guess they will let me know if they can smell anything on me or not. I will update when I do.

Conclusion :

Wonderful citrus/spice opening dries down to a very subtle dry spicy herbal. Eastern inspired.

Not a heavy oriental.

Update :

Was verified by a friend of mine that this baby dies down rather quickly...very little longevity. How sad.

عطر مدخن جميل جداَ

ثبات وفوحان أكثر من رائع كونه ماء تزيين

مراحل العطر تأسرك في انتقالاتها السلسة
لمسة إبداع من المبدع والمتألق اندي تاور

I simply just cannot stop WOW-ing at it!

I love this scent.

I smelled it in a small boutique in Madrid and I went out of the store with a bottle in my hands.

This fragrance is amazing.

It has a VERY STRONG spicy/dry opening, maybe the strongest I've smelled (well, Lonestar Memories has an even stronger opening...) but it's not unpleasant, it hits your nose in a good way.

After a few minutes it calms down a little bit, and you start to feel some woody and light floral notes, which start to relax you ,literally.

I get woody and spicy notes in the front most of the time with a light floral and smoke-like notes coming from the background gaining more attention gradually.

It's a very elegant and distinguished fragrance with a lot of personality.

In the last stages, the "relaxing" notes (as I call them ;) ) has a lot more of presence, and the spicy-incense smell, fades away.

Also, I find this to be VERY masculine. I can't imagine a woman wearing this.


It lasts on my skin more than 12 hours. You have to go easy on application, if you don't, you can duplicate that longevity and make people around you feel dizzy in a bad way.

If you spray it on your chest, it holds on clothes very easily. You can smell it from your last night's shirt when you take it to the washing machine the next day.

Its sillage is strong depending on the ambient's temperature. In cold weather, its 6 feet or so, discrete but noticeable, but if temperature goes until 15-20 ªC, you can be noticed from some distance. So this is definitely a winter scent.


With many other fragrances, I get bored of them very soon. This one doesn't bore me at all. I could wear it everyday.

This, and A*Men are the fragrances that I use most right now.

So....I am reading the reviews of this and am left scratching my head. "Dull, boring,...smooth, soft...."

Either I am crazy or I got the wrong fragrance. I allow for opinions as this is what a review is; however, if someone says "heavy metal sounds just like my Kenny G album" you would eventually say...."nahhhh that just can't be".

Now liking or dislking this fragrance is all opinion, but here are the facts. This is not soft, this is not dull, this is not boring and this is not smooth. It is a heavy, rich, thick, spicy amberish fragrance, which is exremely complex and I would argue "artistic", as I would imagine 8 out of 10 people would not like this if sprayed on a strip (on their skin may be a different story).

This one is gorgeous to me. Let me address one thing about hype. Ever seen a movie break the showbox records? Is that hype? Ever seen an artist go 4xPlatinum? Is it hype? Ever go to a steakhouse where you have to wait 3 hours to get a seat? Ever missed a concert because it was sold out 6 months earlier?

The dumbest thing on the planet are these "hype" comments. If something is good it is good and guess what, of all the stuff I listed there is at least one person who despise those very things that are record breaking.

On to this devil. Spicy, resinic, sweet, thick and dry all at the same time. It plays with your senses. It produces meditation and reflection on what your nose is experincing. It changes ever so suddenly. To me this is a dark musical that plays with your emotions.

This fragrance leaves me satisfied. It makes me proud to be a fragrance lover. Much like my love for hip hop...you got the Trinidad James and you have the Black Thought's. I enjoy a great run of the mill acquatic, the simple woodsy, the nice oriental...but I love these. Tauer has done an excellent job carving out a niche in the fragrance world while somehow still remaining wearable. I hope he keeps it up.

A blast of amber, a pulse of vetiver, a barrage of spices, floral notes, and a little vanilla among other gourmand elements in the background (and this vanilla note smooths out the fragrance).

It smells dirty, like a dusty garage, but in a good way. I definitely can envision a morrocan town aside a desert at night time as Tauer intended.

Excellent projection and longevity. As a niche fragrance, you are getting a great value for the price.

However, the versatility on this one is lacking. Most people will not understand the sophistication and artistic acheivement of this fragrance. This could easily be seen as some kind of cheap musty cologne for someone who doesn't know better. But those with discerning tastes will love this one.

In the end, it's something I like to smell. But not something I like to wear.

Retesting this and ive come to a complete 180 on this scent. I think my decant of this was spoiled. This time around i find this frag very interesting and possibly will buy a full bottle. Vey different. Doesn't last as long as i would like

A very nice lady introduced me to Tauer perfumes. After falling head over heels for Lys du Désert, I had high expectations.
On first spritz, I was a little taken aback by the strong spices, very raw, as if I were standing in my kitchen. The top is strong, sharp, masculine. I wasn't sure this was something for me. Towards the middle I get some woody notes, vetiver and cedar, and the whole vibe reminded me of something by Serge Lutens, maybe Vetiver? It's hard to pin down exactly which one. The base gets softer and sweeter, powdery, dry (I love dry scents) with amber, woods and I think I can even smell some tobacco.
L'air du désert marocain doesn't project much, and longevity wasn't all that great on me either, maybe 3-4 hours. I sprayed it 3 times at 1-2 hours interval, and this seems to give the best results, adding it layer by layer. I also found that even after I had gone to the drydown, at times a faint citrus note would pop up. Quite interesting, and even though I usually wrinkle my nose at citrus, this wasn't bothering me.
As a whole, I would say this is a very good perfume, definitely unisex, and if it were gifted to me, I will gladly wear it. But the whole experience to me was a déjà-vu of a Serge Lutens composition, and since I already have so many SL perfumes, I will probably not buy L'air du désert marocain. I'll save up for Lys du désert, which is like nothing I have ever smelled and has that dry Tauerade that I fell in love with.

To much HYPE about this. If you want to smell like this cheaply, light an incense stick inside your clothes closet and then slap some pine oil on your neck and call it a day.

7/10

This is a One of a kind...you will never smell anything like it! Its a all around fragrance that can be used during any occasion.. summer, winter, day, night!

A real piece of art. Very unique, great scent. One if the best creation of the past 10 years. Get one in your collection cause that one is a Masterpiece.

Absolute. Unique. Unrivaled. This is one of the best fragrance i've ever smelt. Opens spicy and then dries down to something unbelievable delicious! I cant even describe it. Warm, sweet and comforting. Sillage, lasting power and projection are enormous. The package is also very beautiful. Definetely a masterpiece.

Is this be re-formule? Because i'm not saw incense & leather on the base notes :/

I love this scent. It's a fir-tree on me, very much alive, whole and healthy, from needles to roots.

Insensé, what a beautiful description,love it!

As a desert craving lover, how could I pass without Andy Tauer's beautiful creation! I use it when I feel nostalgic of the greater of solitudes, of the unbelievable mystic night I danced under the sound of touareg's music, or when I walked on the dunes of Tunisia, the moon smiling complacent...

heavy and mysterious and a pure shot of desert!

Nothing can compare to this. The silage is amazing. Lasting power tremendous and the smell.... Tom Ford's black orchid was good but becomes a poor copy scent of L'air de Desert Marocaine. . Amber and spices rolled together. I find it strange but men seem to find this scent irresistibly sexy. Probably not something to wear to the office unless you want to be a distraction. It has been a year and i still love it. It intoxicates me on each and every spray.

THIS STUFF TO ME ITS 1 OFF THEBEST PERFUME I EVER SMELL SMELL LIKE TOBACCO PIPE VERRY NICE AND GREAT LONGEVITY!!! 9.5 ON 10

After a few more wearings of this Hype Beast, I still don't see what all the fuss is about. smells like amber, gasoline, old woman..maybe stale cigarettes? I have gotten more than one negative comment on it from females and males alike. I got the sample from a reputable decant site. Not sure what im missing here.

A quiet night around a campfire. A lot of smoke, a lot of ash, and...?

Tania Sanchez (Turin's A-Z) gave L'ADM a five star review, due to the "holy" quality of this kind of incense (she is a "suburban American Protestant with no memory of mass") and a real memory of driving through a desert.

As much as I admire Tania and Andy Tauer I will have to disagree with Tania on the stars, because of one dimension lacking in this perfume. It projects a mood alright, but does not smell good.

The problem I think, is in the dominating quality of the smoke, and in the material the smoke derives from. Incense is usually made of aromatic plant materials combined with essential oils. Therefore there is such a thing as "Rose Incense" and so forth.

But here the smoke comes from a campfire barely on fire, and there are some roses growing on that slope over there. What is it that burns on that fire? Dry wood. This is not very aromatic, and not much of a combination with essential oils.

True, this fragrance will grow on you over time. And if you are a meditator, it may even become beautiful. There may also be a starry sky above you and dead silent.

But every time you get a hint of that beauty, and a sniff of the "rock rose and jasmin", a gust of air swirles another wave of dry ash in your face. And this note then lingers on and on. Had it only been the other way around!

Perhaps this is a work of genius, but I just can't get my self to wear L'ADM. Getting to know this strange, smoky creature however, has been interesting.

I sprayed it on at the gym, and boy was that a mistake. The entire locker room wreaked of my perfume to the point where if anyone asked whose perfume it was, I was going to totally deny it and say, "Man, that stuff's strong!" It has monster sillage for the first 20-30 minutes, but then it becomes a lot more tame. I gave someone a hug 30 minutes after I left the locker room, and I don't think they noticed it.

The air was cold that night, and as I walked around I felt like I was in the middle of a desolate Arabian desert. Nothing but sand in all directions for a hundred miles. The only things in the desert other than me were my companion, our camels, and our fire. The perfume was identical to the scent of dry sand and burning wood, which were somehow, unexpectedly, made more intense and realistic when combined with the crisp night air, as this scene had never crossed my mind before. I am going to be sure to wear it a lot in winter.

L'Air du Desert Marocain by Tauer is a wonderful illusion of desert environs and an oasis therein with a spice bazaar. It's nicely versatile, wear it whenever it strikes your fancy, but, easy on the trigger.

This is a potpouri of spices and woods, almost eye-wateringly so, but such is the excellent craftsmanship of Tauer that it escapes from being unbearably spicy. I much prefer the sweeter Le Maroc Pour Elle, that being said, there is a hint of sweetness in this, but just a hint, keeping it safely in the unisex zone. I may not want this for myself and I would advise to try a sample first instead of blind-buying, but I do appreciate its masterfulness. For lovers of dry orientals, definitely. For those who wish to make a statement-most surely. Lastly, a very powerful sillage and longevity make its price completely justified.

Now that I own a full bottle, I must add on to my below review. First of all, I do not smell like a walking spice rack. Secondly, I must say that this is one of the most exquisite perfumes I own. It just goes to show that dabbing perfume from a sample vial just isn't the same as spraying.

This perfume is woody, but not as intensely so as I thought before. When I spritz from the bottle, I get a hint of sweetness that peaks out from beneath the dry woods, and I also now detect some florals where I smelled none before, making this a more blissfully full-bodied perfume than I previously thought, while still remaining comfortably androgynous.

The inner packaging came with a leaflet that was signed by Mr. Tauer himself--the perfect touch! I couldn't be more pleased--best purchase I've made all year.

This is definitely a unisex, if not more likely a masculine, manly scent. The woods are the most prominent aspect and for the first couple of hours I smell prominent cedar and sandalwood. I smell newly carved wood shavings and imagine a bejewelled, polished dark oak jewellery box sitting in the corner glimmering amidst the wood shavings. It smells like an old antique shop. About half an hour or so into the fragrance journey, something distinctly musky and herbal chimes in, but the overall effect is still spice infused wood-shavings. My tastes tend to lean towards the feminine end of the richter scale, so for me, this woody, earthy, spicy concoction was a little too masculine for my taste. Personally, I thought it wasn't as much of a masterpiece as the previous reviews would lead me to believe, but I am a fan of this man's work regardless.

For me, this scent is Dune taken to a darker, drier and truly fascinating place. This is a perfume to wear when you want to relax and daydream of a handsome sultan taking jewels out of a sandalwood box and draping them around your neck as the cool sand blows by your tent in the desert night.

I had to add to my review. Originally after just a tester, I thought I couldn't wear this even though I loved it. I thought it was too strong and too dry. I was so wrong!. Now that I have a full bottle I wear it at night, to work. Half my office has been following me around wanting to know what I am wearing it smells so spicey and wonderful. These are folks who normally are not into different types of scents. I feel so warm and happy and confident when I put on this stunningly beautiful scent. Thank you Mr. Tauer for making the world a more beautiful place with your gorgeous perfumes.

I'd been craveing to try this scent for years. And yesterday at last - !!!! It happened!
Well,well,well....
Cumin....more cumin....a lot of cumin....and sthg greenish - petitgrain? Who knows. Coriander, if i focus on it firmly, or am I wrong?
Okay, the first impression is - that this is toooo masculine for me, and tooo much, tooo dry, toooo spicy.
Two hours later: wow, how beautiful warm aura I have! Cumin is still tramping, but sweeter, deeper. Amber arrives, a bit vanilla, but no flowers to my nose.
This face of the scent is where Amouage Epic woman starts the game. Very-very similar. Really nice. Still bit masculine.
And amber holds the creation closer and closer, but cumin never gives up.
Lasts for 8 hours or so, does not fill the room, but strong stuff.
Conclusion: good scent. gives a warm, deep aura, but I would never use as a perfume in casual way. For me this frag is like an art movie. Sometimes -rarely-, when I feel comfort and relaxed, I have a strong desire to enjoy sthg special, but on rush days it would not fit me.

Well.........I was very excited to try this one! I mean it got so many awards and everybody chirping about it. I dreaded receiving it because I figured I'd be dead meat and be whipping out the credit card....
I wondered what was wrong with me. All I had was a vial but I ended up using the whole vial to make sure I got the full effect because I couldn't spray it. I waited and waited for the magic.....I waited some more......It's too dry for me..?? I don't know? Maybe it's better on men? Do not know? I'll save my $ and spend it on my have to have's.......
Maybe more times trying it would help but why try hard? Very disappointed. eh

Smells like moldy clothes at the Salvation Army.

This is a great perfume, artfully blended, and the ingredients are of the highest quality. What I think I love most about it, is the way it smells like night sand. I'm sure everyone who has ever slept on a beach can tell you that cool night sand has a different smell than hot daytime sand. This fragrance captures the aroma of night sand perfectly.

This may be the most exotic smelling frag I own. It's an amber/rose/incense poem. If I knew what a Morrocan hippie chick smelled like, I'd say she smells like LDDM.

I actually own some juice that smells about 80% like this. Now discontinued, it was by Charles Jourdan and is called Un Homme. There aren't really any shared ingredients between the two, so I'm not certain how the similar smells occur, but that's part of the mystery of the perfumed arts, I guess.

I've heard the pronunciation mangled by many, so for the English speakers reading this, I'm going to give you a series of English words that will have you pronouncing it like a Frenchman. Just go light on the 'R's - be sort of soft and lilting with them.

lair do days AIR marrow CANE

A bit of a punch at first... But this is one of those very rare scents that divulge themselves in different layers throughout the day. Each and every time I caught the scent I was mesmerized by the woody ambery depth. It just gets better and better as it wears on...

In 2005 this must have been quite unique scent. It has stood the test of time and many other smoky spicy fragrances flooding the market. I have tried quite a few of this genre, but this is the one I always came back to.

Lately, I have been wearing this when a particularly stressful day is looming ahead, or at home when I want to relax. This is my serenity in a bottle, one spritz clears your mind from all nonsense in this world, only tranquility remains.

This is warm, dry, spicy, smoky and earthy. I love the quick blast of pine needles in the opening, on me the main act is campher,incense,smoke,amber and teensy bit of vanilla, only a quick whiff of florals. This is a strange fragrance in the sense that it does not progress from top->mid->base. Rather, it feels that the middle phase is a carousel of notes, not a linear drydown towards the base. On my skin, the drydown is soft, not bitter vetyver-amber. Lasts about 6h, if I sniff really hard, I can still detect it after 10h, sillage is quite good for the first four hours.

I have used this on and off since 2008 and although I cannot say I "love" it, I know I will find myself from the Tauer online shop on a really bad day when any other fragrance just won't do.

I love this juice...I only have a sample at present but it smells intoxicating. When first applied I was kinda taken back by the opening. Though unusually harsh, it was pleasantly bold. The magic starts to happen in the heart of the fragrance and dry down...what a smell. Gotta grab a bottle of this concoction!

Proof that my taste does not change with time, I uphold my pessimistic 3/5 rating for the acclaimed Tauer!

Granted, it's niche in every aspect. The quality of ingredients used is superlative, and it's faultlessly accurate rendition of an Arabian desert is well documented!

But tell me, is one willing to smell like the baked, parched sediment that is sand? Does one review objectively for what the product is attempting to achieve, or make a subjective assumption based on pure opinion?

No sand note on the database, but certainly would be appropriate here! A herbal, slightly creamy sand but, how dry? You'd be craving for a nearby bottle of Spring-water. Or may I say, an oasis! It's not sweet at the start either, mainly herbal with slightest hints of the amber (faintest trace of sweet) at the top.

Also- may I critique, the unreserved nature of the herbal top almost bordering on the uncivil? I'm always intrigued, but was never quite certain why many a niche house resort to these kind of introductions in their creations! Art? An act of uncompromising brashness? Or simply desire for controversy? Whichever, I've never bought into the act. A customer should always deserve the premium quality right from the start for the Premium you pay for these products, and now I'm extending my ramblings into huge rants as at present!

But back to the Perfume, and finally some more good points. The sand, vanilla, amber and now restrained herbs finally settle into a most fantastic melange that I summarise as a creamy resinous sand. I definitely feel this is one of the highest quality blends on the market, had the top been a little sweeter I certainly would wear this every day! Plus the bourbon vanilla and ambergris really add the most luscious of finesse to the earlier parchness.

A masterpiece? Well yes, and no. From the bewildering opening to the mesmerizing drydown, this is the very definition of flawed-genius! The deserved Parfum Icon that it is? Most definitely, no!

My expectations being set very high from reading on and on how this perfume is one-of-a-kind, I was inevitably disappointed when I encountered it in person. Not because it's not lovely; it actually is. Very. But it's not as exceptional as some reviews lead to believe. It's a spicy amber very much in the vein of Serge Lutens Ambre Sultan and Armani Prive Ambre Soie. Since I was thinking anyway on getting the former and already have the latter, I think I'll pass on this one.

One of the things I most enjoy about perfumes is the way they evoke certain states of mind, places, feelings, or memories...Perfume has been referred to as a wearable art form, which makes sense to me. Like art, taste in perfume will be highly personal, subjective, and yes, whimsical. And just as a painting or photograph will affect different viewers in different ways, perfume will appeal or not appeal to different people depending on what it evokes for them, as much as on what their personal aesthetic preferences are. By any standard, I would say that Tauer's L'Air du Desert Marocain is an artwork indeed, and one that I find very compelling.

It does evoke Morocco for me, the dry air, the bone-deep night quiet of the Atlas mountains, woodsmoke, spices, lingering traces of incense, a faint grassy scent of reed mats, leaves and flowers gathering strength in the cool night air. Tauer has managed to restrain the spices in some very precise way such that there is no obvious kitchen quality, just letting them be part of the composition as they would, in life, be part of the air of a house. The jasmine is very subtle, but definitely there; the amber, refined and even delicate. Everything about this is subtle but never insipid or boring. The quality seems very high, also, especially of the cedar and vetiver in it. A masterpiece, to me.

It is also delightful to wear...Some perfumes that I admire greatly for their evocative compositions don't wear particularly well, at least on me. L'Air du Desert does wear beautifully. I like even my contemplative perfumes to be sensual, and it is very sensual, though it never shouts. It is, to me, positively irresistible on men.

The opening is fairly brief, heading straight into a cushiony drydown. It lasts well, with discernible but not strident sillage. A gem of a scent...

Love it! This is like a fine wine, a Rolls-Royce, a Cuban cigar, caviar, etc...

It is the fragrance that will be worn when I'm in the mood to be serene and reflective. It is a fragrance that will be worn when I am in no hurry to be anywhere.

It is dry, yet fresh. It is spicy, yet soft. It is incense but not church.

Only critisism? I wish the opening/middle notes lasted a few hours longer.

9/10

This is a very beautiful, dry, woody, spicy perfume. It's exactly what I expected it to smell like. On my skin it smells mostly of toasted caraway, aromatic woods, and a sharp citrus that fades slowly as time progresses. Normally I would not like sharp citrus, but here it balances the spices and creates an illusion of freshness (ie not stale caraway that has spent years in the spice bottle).

While I don't actually smell pine, this fragrance strongly reminds me of Christmas. Many of the volatile oils found in herbs, spices, and aromatic plants are chemically similar, so I wouldn't be surprised if caraway and pine shared some constituents. I'll have to look into it more.

I have not been able to stop sniffing myself. The spice and woods are extremely sexy and mysterious. Despite this, I am not sure I can commit to buying a full bottle. It's one of those things, like just beacause something smells fantastic doesn't mean I want it on my person all day long. The woods are sublime in this perfume, but I am pretty much a cult follower of Le Labo, a brand that offers the finest woody scents I've ever encountered, so again I'm not sure I would choose this over a new Le Labo. And do I really want to smell like a walking spice rack??

While I have these questions floating around in my head, make no mistake about it: I truly have the greatest respect for this perfume. As I try to talk myself out of a full bottle, something continues to draw me in. Please--you must give it a try and see for yourself!

So strong and so beautiful! When you love it is forever!

absolute favorite. perfection in a bottle. makes me happy.

OMG! This is my very first introduction to Niche. I can smell the difference instantly between mainstream and Niche (as they say). I am completely in love.i knew it would be good but not THIS good! I've never smelled anything like it not even my prized Tom Fords. This stuff is serious business folks, no joking around in this camp. I'm afraid I might have a new addiction...

It's very mysterious and daring.

They say L`Air du Desert Marocain was made as a lighter version of Andy's previous Le Maroc Pour Elle, but on me LDDM is more powerful than LMPE. And is quite a different scent! It is not as sweet as LMPE, and you can smell the incense much better. I like it very much, and can't wait to buy it!

I needed to update my review of this stuff.

L'Air du Desert Marocain really is something beautiful if you don't try too hard to understand it. It's not a fragrance that's meant to be sniffed hard or strapped to a chair and forced to fess up. You just gotta put it on, let it envelop you like a halo of warmth from a faraway land, and make your own tale out of it. Besides, if I sniff fragrances with noticeable coriander for too long, I start to get a vibe like celery seed or Old Bay seasoning.

Let it get to know you before you get to know it. The people around you will thank you for wearing this one.

This is a wonderful - far and away the best Tauer fragrance. It is heavy with incense and amber but also clean and sparkling with dry herbs that give it a huge uplifting feeling. His others, many of which are nice, ultimately feel too heavy and sweet for me and they settle down on my skin to the same persistent note that reminds me of sickly sweet damp earth.

But this is a masterpiece and for the sake of this I try all his others as they appear hoping for another lightning strike of pure genius.

Ohh ya, Morocco aromatic dry spice and leather with a backdrop of deep dark cedar wood, lots of wood. It has dark qualities but still manages to be fresh albeit dusty and smoky. Its putting me in an aura of nostalgia and wonder. It made me think of exotic clear midnight skies, black deep pools of ocean water slowly moving along the shore in the night and rich peppered breezes that finally lull you into a vivid dream of beautiful warm amber, the bottle is perfect for what's lurking inside!

Amber masterpiece- stunning!

Quando lo indosso mi sento ricco di ogni stella in cielo....

L'air due desert marocain was one of my biggest disappointment of all time. I just didnt warrant anything out of this scent. No disntictive at all, for me it is a niche perfume and with that price tag it has to do something magical but it does not.

When I was much younger (say about five to seven years old) I went to a predominantly Armenian/Eastern European-American elementary school. Los Angeles would eventually bestow the district where my elementary school was located with the name ‘Little Armenia’. One of the strongest, most redolent memories I have of those years was the smell of the beautiful mothers who came to pick up my school chums. Their clothes, their hair, their jewelry, their makeup and, mostly, their fragrances were bold and over-the-top beautiful. I thought then, as I still believe now, these women were the ultimate epitome of womanhood and beauty. My parents eventually decided the big city was no place to raise a child; children needed routine, a backyard, and a dwelling that allowed dogs and cats. I loved growing up in the suburbs but the sense of glamor was lost in the move. None of the suburban moms showed up dressed to the nines, smelling of sweet spices and exotic flowers; that got traded in for drugstore classics as Charlie and White Shoulders. These safe fragrance choices were a microcosm of the overall lack of daring, bombastic personality in suburban living.

By no means am I criticizing life in the suburbs; I still live in the outskirts of Los Angeles. However, sometimes the city girl in me wants to break out like the protagonist in (the original Kevin Bacon version of) Footloose. Sometimes I want to shake things up without making a single move. Andy Tauer’s L’Air du Desert Marocain completely enables me to do this. It’s a stand out fragrance that is guaranteed to turn heads. The sillage might as well be a flying carpet, taking others out of their droll routine and on an olfactory adventure with the wearer. This is the beauty that was only definable by the Armenian/Eastern European mothers of my past. There is an indefinable spiciness that cannot be singled out or easily detected but it is certainly there. This is probably a first where I cannot break down the note I detect or the phases of the scent—I am a love-struck woman.

It is infinitely sexier than any expensive lingerie and I can imagine a refined man of the world pulling this off with the same sex appeal as any woman. I know any words I try to use or any hyperbole I try to include won’t even begin to define the exotic sexiness of this fragrance. This is a fragrance that can only be understood by wearing it.

I am absolutely in love with this meditational mood-scent! All the notes combine to create a dry, woody-spicy incense that lasts a good 4 hours off a single squirt. (Thank goodness, too, otherwise my small decant would have been empty ages ago.) The sillage is pretty intense, but rather than apply two squirts, I can immediately see it's better for me to reapply when the fragrance wears off. It could become headache inducing!

I can also see how this scent might be overwhelming on some skin chemistries. On mine, it feels very serene and natural. I get a good dose of cedar along with the amber, and the spicy top notes provide such a nice balance to the dry woody base! It's so nice to find an Oriental-Spicy fragrance without anise or clove!!!

I love this perfume, however, in the end it smells like a cinnamon sugar roll on me. The beginning is great, the cedar very strong. After that, it basically smells like cinnamon and sugar...very strong amber. The most extreme sweet perfume I own. Honestly, I am just as happy with my Annick Goutal Ambre Fetiche, which has all the amber with a bit more incense. If you love amber...this is the perfume for you. A high quality sweet perfume.

This is my small treasure. I have the tiniest sample-3 ml i think. Wherever i use-it immediately takes me on journey. Mystery, far away oasis in desert with the flowers and streams of water...just behind the closest barhan of sand...No, mirage again. Then , even smell of far-away caravan and camels-leather sacks, sweat...This is amazingly long lasting treasure, i tiny drop near my nostrils-nd I could still feel it's magic after the shower, after the re-application of Explosive (which is a sealage bomb)...I was surprised to catch the whiffs of this Tauer...On my wish list-anyone wondering what to give me for my BD?

comfortable. such a exclusivity. which can be enjoyed- yo listen up. any ideas on a magnifico! comprende! ok now listen up, who has an idea of a badass JASMINE/leather/boozy/chypry/dark- key words badass and jasmine. peace-

I like it, but I don't love it (yet).This isn't quite as exotic as mentioned in previous comments. I keep picturing old movies in which men wear shades and long coats, smoke cigars, and play pool in a lodge.

I will add my review to the long line of glorious accolades. They were the basis on which I bought it - unsniffed - and was not disappointed. To the contrary, it is one of the best unisex colognes around. Usually men's colognes are too bold, clean, or whatever ... this one is a cologne that can be worn from morning to night. In the morning, it gives you that extra lift after stepping out of the shower, in the evening (spray on a lot) it projects the aura of what the name promises. Literally, dry desert air ... True, if I wanted to dream in that direction but, if it were called "intense lemon verbena with a lot of depth" it would be unromantic, yet true. Anyway, I love it, just love it. It is both a close to the skin scent and a short sillage scent. To really feel it, one has to spray on a lot, and let it dry down. The stages are rather the same, from opening to end, or is it my nose ? Whatever, the dry down is rather long lasting and will compound when you spray on more. This is not a sillage monster, rather a harmonious and non offensive scent. It is comfortable and wearable - on all occasions. If it were not so expensive, it would be my go-to scent ... but here quality comes in an expensive 50 ml size, so it has to be appreciated.

My god...this has got to be one of the most exotic perfumes I have ever smelt. It's truly a masterpiece

This is a masterpiece, unique and fabulous. The aroma is intoxicating, opens with caraway and coriander. Both are still in the heart and meet a slight rose. The powerfull amber takes over and joins the previous mixture, that the moment i feel a incense vibe accord, after this a wood aroma with vetiver, in the base evens out the perfume and enchants all. I think is one of the best drydowns in the perfumery.

I really wanted to like this more than I did...especially with all the rave reviews.
The opening was fantastic, very reminiscent of being back in Morocco, dry, sweet air, very amber and vanilla. I got a hint of incense after about half an hour but that went rather quickly, to my disappointment. Afetr a few hours all that was left was the amber and vanilla, but drier and a little soapier than before. The fragrance remained very close after a few hours wear, failing to project. Too expensive for my skin!

There is something special and extraordinary about this fragrance - deep, gothic, great incense, mysterious. As some people say, it really smells like very old books, interior of an old monastery.
Extraordinary, I love it. Makes you feel heavenly, silent, peaceful. Very special and for special moments.

I smell a library in a gothic church ...
mold ... cold ... love it!
Alas, I didn't buy in the store today: the top note was pure patchouli to me, but I'll be back to have a bottle.

I've been ranting of late about some devolutions in the perfume world, including rampant dilution—not only by mass market producers, but also some niche brands as well—so it's certainly a relief to be able to turn to one of Andy Tauer's creations as a reminder that there is still hope. Yes, even in a world filled with meaningless and irrelevant flankers which evaporate from collective memory nearly as fast as they evaporate from the skin, in a quaint corner of Switzerland, genuine perfumes are still being made.

L'AIR DU DESERT MAROCAIN bears the unmistakeable "wild" signature of this house. Lots of complexity and depth and layers and some very heavy notes, which are however thoughtfully measured and blended. This truly unique composition is an oriental chypre with an ambergris base. Yes, that's a mouthful, and L'AIR DU DESERT MAROCAIN is indeed a noseful--but in a good way! Evernia prunastri and evernia furfuracea account for this perfume's chypre demeanor, but the spiciness imparted by coriander and cumin keep it oriental without leading the wearer inadvertently back to the kitchen. The animalic quality imparted by the ambergris is not at all unlike some leather notes I've sniffed.

A beautiful, contemplative composition, suitable for guys and gals alike who appreciate a good dark chypre, although there is definitely more here than that. Let's just say that chypre appreciation is a prerequisite to a successful encounter with this perfume. Very potent, as I find all of the Tauer creations to be. This one is marked as "eau de toilette intense," but it may as well be pure perfume, since it behaves just as well, with big sillage and excellent longevity. L'AIR DU DESERT MAROCAIN is a perfume best worn when one wishes to experience the beauty of perfume, as an event in and of itself.

There are certain perfumes that go beyond just being great scents, they become more of an expoerience because the moment you apply them, you're instantly transported to another plain of existance while you're simultaneously still in this one. I can't explain it, but it feels kind of like being in two places at one time. A really surreal thing. That's a rare experince since I can count on one hand the scents that have made me feel that way every time I smell them: Serge luten's Douce Amere, Guerlain's Djedi, Vero Profomo's Onda and now, Andy Taurer's L'Air du Desert Marocain.

i really like the top notes! it is much more sweet then what i expected, but in a pleasent way, unfortunately it is a bit harsh after a few minutes when the sweet roundness goes away.

I can't really do a technical review, so I will say what this perfume conjures up for me. Raiders of the Lost Ark, the scene where the monkey eats the poison plums- This is how that house smelled. It's being kidnapped by Bedouin, rolled up in an ancient incensey carpet, unrolled in a tent full of Bedouin women who prepare you for someone by washing you in scented water and exotic oils...
It lasts very well. I like it best several hours after putting it on, and 10 or so hours later it is a beautiful woody spice that stays very close to skin.
My only regret is that it is a little sweet (and I really hate sweet), especially for the first hours.

-had to add: Now unreservedly love this! It has really grown on me and I will definitely splurge on a full bottle. I may even stop pining after my lost love Sinan de Jean Marc Sinan.

E' tutto spezie questo raro profumo. E incenso. Da subito un'esplosione di note miscelate iper-abilmente ti accrezza il naso, fra le altre il pepe, il coriandolo e più di tutte il cumino. Recentemente un collega all'ora di pranzo mi ha detto "questo profumo mi fa venire fame".. è una stortura che mi ha fatto sorridere. Sono stato in Marocco, nel deserto e a Marrakesh: nell'aria aleggia questo profumo per intero o a pezzi. Niente da dire, quello di Tauer è a tutti gli effetti un plagio.

Non vado matto per i profumi didascalia che raccontano situazioni o luoghi e infatti mi concedo il piacere di questa creazione nei momenti contemplativi e di relax, in particolare quando stiro. Il cambio di stagione l'ho fatto con indosso l'air du desert marocain e nelle casse l'adagio di barber. Lo consiglio, è stato un cambio fantastico.

In generale è un profumo che non ha la forza di aggredire, ti accompagna silenzioso, e tuttavia persiste incredibilmente anche dopo 6 ore. Adorabili sono le note di fondo, un'ambra dolcissima e indelebile, come tatuata, e un sentore diffuso di incensi. Ripeto, da meditazione.

Not having been to the Moroccan desert yet (it's on my list!), I can't comment on how authentic this perfume is or isn't. Having said that, I was really excited to smell it given everything I have read, and I was really disappointed. It had a bit of orange in the top note, but that quickly disappeared and left me with very generic incense. I remember my mom having a little brass incense burner with cone shaped incense sticks when I was a little girl - it seemed very exotic then, but today I associate it with trashy, hippie-type import shops with lots of flowered skirts. I'm pretty sure you can get some perfume oil there that will smell a lot like incense for less money. I hoped for some redeeming dry-down, but it dried to a very polite and boring vanilla on me. Glad I tried it, but I would not invest in this perfume.

One of the best! a must-have in a fragrance collectors cabinet. Warm, spicy, unique, complex and long lasting. Fragrance-art in a bottle. In brief, a masterpiece!

The moment i smelled this sample, i bought 2 bottles, this is the $H!T!

The smell of silence. Meditation incense, deep amber, spices. Isolationism, immense desertic landscapes, silence.

An extremely rich oriental composition that is incredibly able to mantain a perfect balance between deepness and lightness, opulence and wearability. An intense blend that smells like a successful levitation phenomenon by a trascendental meditation master. Not the masterpiece I expected but surely an evocative fragrance.

No more words, enjoy the silcence.

Rating: 8.5/10

It smells wonderful in the bottle – a deep, mysterious, concoction of sweet and spice; and it smells that good briefly when you first wear it, but then out comes the vetiver, and it becomes a strong, smoky/spicy vetiver with more depth than is typical for that note. It does smell faintly desert-like (“heated”), but that’s about it. I wore this in the beginning of fall in 80-degree weather (welcome to Florida), so maybe it’s better off as a true fall scent?

As a vetiver-based scent, it’s remarkably long-lasting, and it never turns into bug spray on me. Andy Tauer must be using high-quality vetiver and/or the spices anchor it down. By six hours, it has become a skin scent and has turned sweeter, and it continues in this minimal state for at least ten hours, gradually dissipating but still detectable.

10/10. Beautiful in every way. My wedding day is 9/10/11 and it was my wedding day scent. One definition of perfection in a bottle. Thank God for the day and the inovative mind of Andy Tauer

When I was having a problem with too much sensitivity to odor, this fragrance came across as a potato skin smeared with spices, left out in the hot sun, then sprayed with floral-scented cleaning solution. It's not as harsh to me these days, and I know to apply a small amount, but I don't find that it holds a candle to some of the great designer fragrances, such as Lagerfeld Cologne (before it was reformulated and renamed Lagerfeld Classic). Instead, you get a heavy, creamy effect that is a bit harsh (at least) and lacking in dynamism. I can understand the appeal, but I don't think it's for me. This is the opposite of a "transparent" fragrance, so keep that in mind.

I like the idea of trying to evoke a landscape, but I don't want to wear a landscape odor (even if that could be rendered accurately). Instead, I want to wear a fragrance that was blended in a way that generates the dynamism necessary to keep me interested for several hours. If I want a creamy effect that possesses decent dynamism, and that is at least somewhat "oriental," I'd reach for fragrances like vintage Night Spice or M. de Morabito instead. What's interesting is that L'AdDM doesn't evoke a landscape of any kind to me, but that M. de Morabito does. And Mr. Tauer, if you read this, I suggest considering that such a heavy fragrance doesn't evoke landscapes because there needs to be a kind of "breezy" quality, even if it's minimal. Just my opinion, of course.

UPDATE: Lots more sampling since I wrote the above. I now regard Tauer as a talented amateur, but an amateur nonetheless. Now in the fragrance/perfume world that is not especially relevant, but if you want a scent that is more "professional" but in the same direction, get the Balenciaga version of Rumba (not the Lapidfus version) and see what is possible.

One of the most mysterious and complex fragrance that I've tasted so far. L'air du Desert Marocain is a masterpiece created by Andy Tauer that captures the full aroma of a dry, dusty and smoky caravan crossing the desert's arid and hot environment.

We have in the opening, a light aroma of incense similar to the one in Jubilation XXV , but with the dried fruit of this Amouage being replaced by intense spices present in his brother Epic Man, combined with the scent of burnt wood, forming in L'air Desert, a theatrical picture of Arabia.

A fragrance much more focused on the male side that praises for the perfection in which it describes the environment that the name proposes. A work of art.

It took me 3 samples to finally come and appreciate this scent, to the point of becoming addicted to it!

At first, the combination of rose and incense seemed nauseating to me and I completely dismissed it. However, just when I thought I was done with it and as I was wearing my last drops of my first sample, my mother commented on how beautiful I smelled! Hence, the second sample. This time, I didn't hate it, perhaps because I could detect the amber more and amber being my favorite note, this gained immediately some extra points. Plus, I was intrigued by the extreme longevity: more than 12 hours at least! At this point, I liked it but was not ready for a bottle yet.

Finally, I couldn't get it out of my mind and got another sample. This time, I fell in love. To me, it's a dark amber, with something animalic in it, wild and untamed. I feel sexy, bold and mysterious when I wear this and I love the fact that the sillage and longevity mean that others can smell it too:) I sprayed on another fragrance today, quite liberally, and dabbed my last drops of the 3rd sample on my wrist. Well, guess what; every time I move my hand I get whiffs of it! I now know I need to get a full bottle of it soon, but I'll probably wait for my bottle of L'Ombre Fauve to finish first, because those two seem quite similar to me to own at the same time.

I'm in love. Dry and warm, it makes me think of walking through an open market, vendors opening ornate wooden boxes to tempt me closer. I love Dune with its warmth, but L'Air takes it further. I definitely get cumin in the top, but it fades within a few minutes. Someone else described it as earthy and creamy and I agree. I cannot stop sniffing my arm. It is divine and unique. I do think I would tend to wear this more during the fall and winter.

This is a lovely, unusual fragrance. Bought a sample and have not stopped wearing it since it arrived. How did they make a perfume smell "Dry"?! It also has nice lasting power...pleasant to catch the spicy dry-breeze later in the day when you aren't expecting it.

WOO-WHEE! Now here's a strange one!

The good: L'Air du Desert Marocain is nice and unique, but you need to give it a fair chance. Once I tried it a few times, I came to appreciate the incense, rose, and amber coordinating with each other. Dark, dusty, and almost medieval in style, when I finally started to "get" L'Air du Desert Marocain, the mental images also popped up - a dry desert on a cold night. Both hideous and beautiful at the same time.

The bad: This fragrance is not for everyone, and can be quite off-putting. The combination of incense, rose, and amber I talked about above also can smell like an old, moldy basement, at least to me. Hell, this is gonna sound weird, but my brother and I used to have a bunch of Ghostbusters toys that we kept in the basement of our old home, and when I first applied L'Air du Desert Marocain my mind instantly shifted to memories of those toys. There's no brightness or sunshine here. For me, this scent is DARK.

The ugly: The negative associations above, such as the associations with a basement, are the "ugly" aspects in my opinion.

Bottom line: Definitely try L'Air du Desert Marocain. It's most definitely unique and is one of the most talked-about niche fragrances currently. I wouldn't buy it blind, but at least sample it. The associations above are merely from my nose; you may get something totally different out of this fragrance. I like it but I dunno if I'd buy a full bottle, especially considering the price.

I had been so looking forward to trying this one - from the notes and glowing reviews it certainly sounded like something I would enjoy. I think, however, my hopes for this becoming a new favourite were too high and I am disappointed that this does not seem to sit well for me. Don't get me wrong, this is a gorgeous fragrance when I sniff straight from the vial. On my skin though is a very different scenario. This is just too heavy and incensey on me, it's very overpowering and heady. Eventually this does settle somewhat and becomes a little more blended as the sweeter notes are more prominent but until then it's just too much. Fortunately some has spilt in my bathroom so whenever I am in there I am able to enjoy it's gorgeous aroma that way!
I will hold on to my sample and am determined to try this again at another time just to see. Either way, I'm so glad I tried this and highly recommend others do too. If only this smelt on me as it does from the vial, I would be in heaven!

What an amazing marriage of sweet and dry. This is an arrestingly beautiful fragrance. I think it may be the perfect oriental.

This to me is the most true and fascinating frankincense note I've experienced. The other spices and resins sing in a perfect harmony. How does this perfume manage to steer clear of both the dreaded "old lady" and "head shop" while being a powerful, attention-grabbing oriental? Also, this transcends what I would usually think of as a winter or night-time fragrance. Resins are from plants that live in dry sunny climes, and this fragrance for me captures that hot, dry flavor.

I'm ready to commit to this fragrance for life. I wear fragrance because being around beauty isn't just something to enhance my mood (though it does that) it is a precondition for enjoying life! I'm so happy to have discovered this perfumer.

I love the name of it. It is so lyrical. I'd really love to find out what is the smell of L'Air du Desert Marocain...

this may be the most "special" perfume i own. when i purchased from the scent bar, i told the perfume professional that i essentially wanted to smell like an expensive hippie. this is what he pulled for me and that is what i bought. it is completely unique in every way. sooooo sexy and warm. you really do feel like you are laying on a white bed, windows open, in the middle of a Moroccan desert with the spicy warm air wafting in. i imagine this is what a Moroccan bizarre would smell like and i love it. every time i where it, my husband immediately tells me how sexy i smell. i treasure this perfume. i have yet to smell anything close to this. no one smell like you, which is a big plus in my book. expensive and worth every frikin penny.


Update: So, I finally took that trip to Morocco, the one that I only imgained in my review, and yep, Morocco, in a bottle. I even brought my L'air with me, but unfortunately it leaked out completely in my travel atomizer, so I wasn't able to wear it once during my trip. Which may make this review even more accurtate, since it wasn't a fragrnace I wore to "color" my experience, of niether the perfume nor the country. They are seperate and completley the same. Dead on Andy Tauer.

I could describe this scent in terms of incense, smoke, resins etc. but the main thing about it is that it DOES NOT smell like a perfume, ie; in the French sense. This is a type of perfumery so new that it circumvents the 17th C onwards and goes back to brass tacks.
It smells like a place, not a person, definately reminding me of when I travelled in North Africa, the souks and markets. As much as I love it, I wouldn't choose to buy it as it's more of an atmospheric, slightly masculine scent than feminine or mood lifting. I enjoyed smelling it on my husband!

Wait a good 15 minutes after you spray this precious. Don't judge by initial notes. And then, let the wisdom of the Moroccan desert take you. The perfume is so natural. Smoke and incense with spices, and flowers barely there, powered by an ambery base. Nothing sweet or too much to force compliments, it is not a crowd pleaser. But it is so special, and feeds the soul. The only other fragrance like this that comes to my mind, is Mystra by Aesop, but LAdDM is richer and longer lasting- Mystra, though, is even more natural. L'Air manages to capture my philosophical and spiritual mood. After this, all the other perfumes need to be revised.

To be honest I am quite unsophisticated when it comes to most things , perfume being but one of them.Meat and potatoes kind of guy,only wore a tie when going to church,that kind of thing.But I know what I like,and I love this gem,even if I can't dissect in detail what is in it that I like.Yes it's dry,spicy,smokey,sweet amber and slight pencil shavings going on but how many others do that as well?.There is an unconventional beauty to this perfume,it's exotic and enigmatic,clean and unpretentious.I picture that afghani girl with the beautiful eyes from that old National Geographic ,grown up and dolled up to go to her best friends wedding or something.Not for everyone and not for everyday use.It's to bad if this scent does not agree with your skin or your nose,but if you are jaded enough to find this boring or uninspired I feel a little sorry for you.

Like Lonestar Memories, this is also reminiscent of turpentine and Creosote... and I do not think it smells remotely like the Moroccan desert (I've been there) - or any other desert for that matter!.

It starts out with a powerful burst of incense, Birch tar and bitter smoke then gradually evolves into a blinding duststorm of amber and vanilla. Unfortunately it goes right to the back of my throat and seems to last forever- and resembles a talcum powder explosion. Difficult to abort mission during this period if you're inclined to do so; the scent is a real super-powered clinger and heavy scrubbing is required.

I prefer it in the latter stages when it's powers are mercifully declining. Never the less, very well made (if a bit overrated) but far too strong for me. It reminds me too much of catching diesel fuel on the back of my hand at the filling station.

Austere, dry and shape shifting, I circumnavigate the desert by night. Grazing the floor and carving dunes with an unforgiving tempest; spiriting spiced treasures from nomad tents in my nocturnal voyage.

As the moon rises to illuminate my path, I am startled by a lone rock rose* in the vastness, unfurling sweetly to bathe in the lunar glow. Its stark, innocent charm is undeniably arresting, eclipsing the moon--I find I am in powerless awe of this tiny, but mighty flower. It emanates a meditative perfume and a veil of gossamer beauty--ambery, musky, sweet, arid with gentle celestial warmth.

No time to loiter, much to do in the Saharan slumber. As I press on and wind back through the dunes and desultory scrub, I carry with me the rock rose's unforgettable ethereal aura.

~ This is quite possibly the most exquisite perfume I have had the pleasure of experiencing ~

* aka labdanum or cistus for those who are interested in fragrances with this gorgeous botanical resin

A gust of strong, smokey desert night wind is followed by the pale scent of a few transparent dried jasmine blossoms pressed between the leaves of an old leather-bound book. This dries down to a soft, sweet ambery vanilla.

The scent has lasted over 7 hours on me, and it seems to renew itself in intensity occasionally, as if the wind has picked up around my wrists.

This is a unisex scent, dry and rounded. I'm not sure it suits me, but I'd like it on a man.

Starts off strong, sweet, camphorous, herbal, slightly animalic, slightly spicy, with incense, cedar, vanilla, labdanum, patchouli. Wait - I think I just dissected the amber base, which should have waited till the end to make its appearance. But that’s OK, because it’s lovely.

As the perfume dries down it becomes thinner and more transparent without really losing much strength, changing first into a curling wisp of cedar wood smoke, then a blast of vanilla, then a sweet patchouli, the various currents switching places and twining around each other as if blown on the wind from a nearby oasis. After an hour or so it settles into a resinous amber, with what seems like dry pine sap in the sillage. It gradually dries down to a sweet vanilla amber, lasting about 6-7 hours.

To me, L’Air is a prototypical “Oriental” scent, a gem that was produced when Opium was cut, polished and put in a setting to make it shine. If you like orientals, I would highly recommend sampling L’Air du Desert Marocain.

Although classified as oriental spicy it is not as potent as some under this classification, such as YSL Nu. L'Air du desert marocain is a soft and gentle blend of exotic spices, allowing me to feel throughout the day as if I am walking through a spice market with all the vibrancy of the associated sounds, smells and colours. This perfume feels dry, yet somehow is balanced by a very subtle sweetness that prevents it from being too harsh. Longevity is good- about 8 hrs but wears fairly close to the skin.

As happens with some perfumes, whilst wearing this, I can't help feeling reminded of something from my past.... the best I can come up with is a slight memory of Tiger mosquito coils: an incensy, smokey smell of my childhood that I associate with still, hot nights. Are there any Australians out there who can test this theory??

A good fragrance, but reminds me of my late great-grandmother. She probably wore this because there aren't many similar fragrances out there. Funny how memory is linked to smell. I use it to remind myself of her, but I will never wear it. Sample first!

It is streets ahead of my whole collection today. I love it.

just sampled this today and i think it is very nice has a fresh and warm quality and powerfull mysterious smell. i have smelt similar things i have to say, i remeber my grandad used to wear attar which is a pure oil based scent and alot of the ones he wore had very similar qaulities and a few he wore smelt just like this. so it's nothing new to me just in a spray form, but for someone who grew up in europe might smells this and think what the hell is this in a good way or confused.

The middle notes became the top notes when I tried this. What a gorgeous, quite subtle but long-lasting fragrance this is. I have been wanting to try some Tauer perfumes, as he seems to be a fascinating person, & have got a few samples to test out. I thought this one would be quite "in your face" from reviews, including L. Turin, but I am really pleased it is gentle but pervasive. Never having been to Morocco cannot vouch for the desert air, but I would recommend lovers of oriental spicy to give this one a go. Thumbs up!

This is an amber dominated scent on my skin. Its sort of an herbal, smoky amber that get quite sweet on my skin. Vanilla is obvious to me in the drydown. Im not loving this at all. Crazy enough I find it too powerful on me. This is unusual since my favorite perfumes and not for the faint of heart. Maybe Im just having an odd day. But right now, this is too much.

There simply is NO other fragrance which smelled the way this masterpice does to me..I do not know how caraway smells but the opening of that smokey warm scent is just as great as all following layers..it is embracing and comforting, warm and powerful at the same time,and here the spices complement each other very well and after 15 minutes I get the flowery notes as well, the jasmine ist just a hint but beautiful as that. I even feel stronger as a I wear this powerful oriental beauty because you ll have to have some guts to wear it..it is no where mainstream and I only can compare it to strange (to our noses) arabian perfume oils. So please sample it before buying:)It has excellent staying power and sillage, impressing quality overall. Some more of that kind, Mr. Tauer please..!!

fragranza misteriosa.
È caldo ed amichevole ha una nota di erbe asciutta senza tempo in aggiunta agli elementi fumosi

L'Air du Desert Marocain is my absolute favourite when it comes to this perfume house. Just as I am sniffing my wrist I can smell nice, aromatic woods, a bit of spice, a bit of dryness, a gust of warm wind. I like Tauer's vision of the desert very much. It is not overpowering, hot, tiring. Although the fragrance is quite dry and can be a bit harsh, there is also something delicate in the background, a green sprout by an oasis perhaps?
A bit of a curiosity for me: incense is not listed as one of the notes here, but I swear I can feel quite a strong incense note as the fragrance develops. Can it be that someone has built a church in the idlle of this desert? Or is it just a mirage? Who knows...

It is a really fun fragrance to smell, every time I come up with different imagery for it!

Love this - a unique,deep and mysterious fragrance. It is warm and friendly but also has a timeless dry herbal note that added to the smoky elements reminds me of incense burning in a huge cathedral. There is an amazing dreamlike quality to it that clears my head and makes my senses sing.

miliy, no na mne variazii na temu vanili... pravda pod konez stal bolshe nujskim... spezievim... neplohaya stoikost'....
ne hochu..

Smoky,heavy amber and veeeery heavy Incence.Deffinately the heavy artylery!It doesnt give me a desert feeling.I think Dune by Dior is more like a desert frag :).But anyway..i like i t a lot.Perfect for cold weather аnd not very impressive lasting power

This one is one of the best scents.Its dry and warm,you feel and smell the desert,when you are wearing this fragrance.It developes better and better,warm,woody and spicy and lasts on my skin for a very long time.

I get dry spices and clear cistus with this one. It warms up more with saffron notes and cedar, almost like a kitchen cupboard. That changes as vanillic notes appear, and a faint edge that reminds me powerfully of old books, which I love. It lasts forever, too. I wouldn't recommend this to fruity floral lovers, but for those who like incense, resinous or evocative scents that place you in mood and time, this is a must-try.

I am a bit dumbfounded. This perfume is high quality, and highly artistic, beautiful. I almost can't speak about it, it's so grand. The opening is all spice, and at moments waves of the the floral notes. A potent wave of what seems to be fresh tobacco comes out at first. The tobacco smell fades very slowly, the notes here in the database do not list tobacco-I assume it's my mistake, and for sure -- All notes are so well blended, I cannot distinguish them individually. It is sharp, masculine.(still unisex).and then there is the vanilla. The vanilla shows itself but in the middle notes, but only when you breathe deep, and then you find-it's so very creamy, buttery, and delicious-contrasting all the other notes, but only when you inhale deep. The spicy notes last and last...the
perfume itself lasts and lasts...It never shriveled in the heat here..The drydown changes several times, in so many pleasant ways even giving me a surprise of different angles on the scent as I went to sleep, and as I woke up the next day. It must go on forever. For the price, I feel it's worth it. A splurge, but, a true value and luxury for truly well crafted scent.

walking on the railway tracks at dusk
sweet smell of petrol, wood smoke, and amber vanilla drifting down a desert mountain

Andy Tauer is a devoted perfumer that makes perfumes for the love of it. Many perfumers claim to create scentscapes or olfactory journeys but none compare to the geographies of Tauers fragrances. L'Air du Desert Marocain is his flagship fragrance and is probably the best utilization of his signature tarry sweet tonka/amber base. Unfortunately, I don't get as excited about it as I do some of his other creations. Don't get me wrong, I like this one a lot but I don't think this is his best work and I think there are comparable fragrances in this fashion (I've heard everything from Gucci pour homme to Terre d'Hermes to Dune but it's more like Ambre Sultan or Musc Ravageur). I have a deep fondness for Tauer's work and love the funkiness of his other scents, especially Maroc pour elle, Vetiver Dance and Incense Rose but Desert Marocain I think is too smooth and too easy to wear (can I use compliments as criticism?). The spicy opening transitions easily to a floral heart and ends in a dry, dry sandalwood-amber-vanilla drydown that lasts all day long. While this certainly sounds like a commonplace formula, there is a slight perculiarity to his notes that lends an air of the foreign, something different and out-of-place. This is a great fragrance for both men and women and suitable for anytime of year but if you like this you must try his others. Otherwise, you just won't know where else Tauer can take you.

On my skin it is thick leather belt. A litlle smoky, but just leather, nothing more.

A dry warm spicy scent that's very smooth and comfortable to wear. It starts with a blast of spice and amber that reminds me a lot of Ambre Sultan but without the fruit. Later its spice + wood + incense reminds me a little of the dirty pirate L'Eau du Navigateur, but his much quieter, more sophisticated brother. It all calms down to a dry slightly sweet spicy woodiness that stays all day.

Um, OK... I'm a midwestern girl and this opening smells just like the pig barn at the county fair. Seriously. Nevertheless I gave it a go to see what the dry down would be like. Three hours later I see it never leaves the barn, it just opens the windows to let a fresh breeze blow through. I know this scent has it's fans, but I'll keep walking.

Smoky, fresh, spicy. Worth trying just to get an idea what noble perfume is about.

Warm, Spicy, Dark, Rich, Earthy and Creamy all in this bottle. I love this spicy scent. I'm inhaling deep breaths of this and loving it. A. Tauer never disappoints me. I would recommend this to anyone who loves Spicy notes or Musc Ravengeaur (reminds me alot of)

Thanks to a suggestion by Leesee I got a sample of this lovely fragrance. Since I found myself unable to stop smelling my own wrist I knew I needed to purchase the bottle. This scent is spicy, it's arid, it's hot, it's earthy, it is AMAZING! This is a scent I want to smell forever!

Thanks to SNS I had an opportunity to try this divine fragrance!
With the first sniff the amazing smell of summer beach reached my nose. It reminded me of the white sand beach and dunes we have in Lithuania surrounded by the pine forests. For my nose this fragrance has the freshness of pines (even pine needles) and the warm sea wind, and then the dry smell of hot sand as well. I never had an idea how the beach sand could smell like in fragrance, now I do:)Then the smell of incenses appears making the composition absolutely adorable and oriental. I must admit one thing - I prefer L'Air du desert Marocain's trail to the smell of the fragrance on my skin. The trail it leaves is gorgeous!!!

The staying power is great.

P.S. The sillage of this fragrance is very similar to Chanel's Les Exclusifs Coromandel.

Andy Tauer is a genius. I had l'air du desert marocain and i think it's one of the most distinctive scents i've ever wore. I'm taking some time off with it ,but that doesn't mean that i don't loved it and still admire it. it does have great quality and a reasonable price ( It's good to feel that big companies doesn't try to sell their name or hype , but great quality products).The opening is so unusual fresh mildly herbal with the petitgrain company that leads in a rosy spicy heart.The earthy drydown with the powerful rooty resinous suggestions is very long lasting and rich.Yummy.

A pure, true, soft scent with a warm and radiant presence on the skin as it dries down. This is the scent I wore most of the summer, as it had a great ability to meld with my skin, it did not turn bitter or sour if I perspired, and it never felt heavy or too sweet.

A very comfortable fragrance, top notes are nice and fresh with citrus, and very light spices. The flowernotes are very warm and at the same time very soft and nothing in this perfume is to much or to heavy. It is just perfect for anyone, it smell as good on me as on my husband, wich I find quite unusual. The basenotes are really longlasting, they stay with you all day... warm wood and aromatic resin. It is quite personal as well, but still very easy to wear and smoth and nice...
Highly recommend it.