I wonder if every successful independent perfumer has a checklist of styles they want to make. I often deride the commercial brands for checking boxes. The difference with independent perfumers doing it is there is more chance of a different spin. It seems as if Tauer Phtaloblue is Andy Tauer’s take on the aquatic genre.
Andy Tauer
Hr. Tauer has been one of the most influential indies because he has always managed to find something different in the most generic of styles. I have commented that I think there must be a set of new materials within this genre. Prior to a couple years ago an aquatic almost always was constructed around the aromachemical Calone. Recently a different breed of aquatic has sprung up eschewing Calone. It has helped reinvigorate the imaginations of perfumers. I have begun to look forward to new iterations because an artist like Hr. Tauer has something to show me. Phtaloblue kind of follows the classic eau de cologne recipe but instead of an Alpine meadow we get a rocky Mediterranean strand.
The early moments of lavender and lemon will make you think “cologne”. It is that sunny high-altitude accord associated with it. Then he gives it a twist with fennel. The fennel through its licorice tinted herbal-ness acts as a simulacrum for a rocky tide pool. The salty accord arrives at the same time as it. A floral transition of orange blossom and geranium adds a freshness. The base takes a fascinating turn towards a toasted nuttiness. One part of it is tonka bean the other seems like a praline accord. It is a sweet nutty scent arising from the briny pool. A bit of clean cedar completes it.
Phtaloblue has 8-10 hour longevity and average sillage.
This is a version of aquatic as only a perfumer like Hr. Tauer could come up with. At turns cologne-like to end on a gentle gourmand nutty phase. It is Andy’s Aquatic.
Disclosure: This review is based on a sample from Tauer Perfumes.
–Mark Behnke
