Andy Tauer, a Swiss molecular biologist, gave it all up to become a perfumer. With no formal fragrance training, '02 L’Air du Desert Marocain' is only his second creation, but it’s now critically acclaimed, gaining a 5-star rating as “a masterpiece”. With his glowing legacy in mind, I’ve been late getting my hands/nose onto this superstar-de-parfum.

The opening wasn’t what I expected. Such sweet labdanum (reminiscent of Le Lebo’s ‘Labdanum 18’) combined with sweet incense with amber and woody, bitter twigs from orange petitgrain with spices. It’s so sweet, I had to double-check there was no vanilla in it. There isn’t, but there might as well be. It’s way too sweet for me in the opening. The dry-down becomes a woody, bitter, but highly aromatic scent that remains very strong, and never relents, but fades to an underlying sweetness which still projects after many hours. On me, the dry-down becomes similar to Tom Ford's ‘Noir De Noir’.

My expectation of a fragrance inspired by a nomadic Arab of the desert, is perfectly embodied by Amouage’s ‘Ubar’, which would be my preference over '02 L’Air du Desert Marocain'.

 

TOP - Coriander, Cumin, Petitgrain

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MIDDLE - Rock Rose, Jasmine

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BASE - Cedar, Vetiver, Ambergris