Au Coeur du Désert

So many people want to know which would be the one to choose between L'Air du Desert Marocain & Au Coeur du Désert and I feel like I have tested a few in the family of ambers to help out. Look no further and I will say get ACDD. It's the same as LDDM but deeper and intense. Now if you don't want the fragrance as intense and to be more brighter with the citruses almost airy I would say get LDDM. ACDD has the same citrus and spices as LDDM..it's just an extrait version and it packs a punch. When my bottles are both gone I will be leaning to only buy ACDD for now on. Tauer was truly smart to not change the fragrance but just intensify it. I want to add that Jovoy Ambre Premier would sit right in the middle of these two fragrances as there is a striking similarity with the two with LDDM being lighter and brighter and Jovoy AP being in the middle with it being denser with citrus and spices but with an added medicinal vanilla that's lovely and ACDD being the most intense version but close to Jovoy Ambre Premier that you would have to decide whether you need both or just want to collect more amber fragrances. Au Coeur du Desert and Jovoy's Ambre Premier share this beautiful sophisticated amber and both have spices and citrus with a leather vibe blended in but Jovoy goes more into the vanilla on the base where as ACDD stays the same all the way through with the citrus spices, leather and amber. Jovoy has the spices and citruses all the same as ACDD but it just transforms more into the vanilla over time and could be closer also to Coromandel in some ways since that is also in the same family. If you have none of these fragrances I would say Au Coeur is the deepest one to get and because of the spices and amber it also reminds me of L de Lolita Lempicka with the citrus and spices..L de Lolita has a niche vibe and why it's so loved. But if you have Ambre Premier and you love these type of amber spicy fragrances yes adding ACDD to your collection would be a plus because it's the same but deeper and darker with the spices..you would do well to own both but it depends on you whether you want your base to go into more of the vanilla or to stay in the deeper spices as ACDD. I got a whole bunch of sample's from Luckyscent from Jovoy's to Tauers and they are all in the same fragrance families with these ambers, patchouli's and spices with leather. If you love ambers you have to try Jovoy fragrances and Tauers they are just quality fragrances that remind me of Chanel's Coromandel and how well blended they are and also use top notch ingredients. Oh I love them both equally. I may have to get Au Coeur..it's so stunning. It's like it takes my favorite L de Lolita and enhances it to be sweeter, spicier and more resinous. It does feel like being in the hot desert in Morocco. Well done Tauer! Update: LDDM has a sweeter almost vanilla touch over ACDD where ACDD is spicier and richer..LDDM is more aromatic. I may have to own both they are both so good. For my budget I may have to get LDDM first and then ACDD. I bought both and still stand by buying ACDD. It's the same scent but stronger.

Au Coeur du Desert is a slight modification of Tauer’s other great L’Air du Desert Marocain: a musky, breathy woods-and-spices aura given lightness with a gleam of citrus. Coeur is a bit mellower, I think, with more creamy ambergris and less skank, and a tenderer floral heart. It’s more approachable on a woman. We are no longer staring into the desert wind; we’re inside an ivory silk tent, drinking tiny cups of coffee and nibbling on knafeh. Over time, the spices become more predominant, along with a touch of vanillic sweetness, and give it a romantic, adventurous feeling. This would be great on a date night. Despite the “Oriental” associations, Au Coeur du Desert and L’Air du Desert Marocain aren’t heavy dark resinous syrups. They’re abstract, complex personal auras, with plenty of “air” in the middle, in mostly-neutral shades ranging from ivory to sepia. (L’Air du Desert Marocain has a strong lemonade-like citrus aspect and a deep smokiness, giving it a pale-yellow-and-charcoal color scheme; Au Coeur du Desert is more purely focused on warm neutrals, all about incense, spice, jasmine, and cream.) Andy Tauer has a handful of preoccupations that he remixes endlessly in different perfumes — he likes his creamy ambergris, his citrus, and his dry woods. This can make the scents a little redundant with each other. Au Coeur du Desert is the creamy theme done up with incense, woods and spices; Les Annees 25 is the same creamy ambergris all dressed up as a classic Old Hollywood aldehydic floral; L’Eau is pure citrus cream; L’Air des Alpes Suisses gives the cream an earthy-herbal base; Phi gives it the royal treatment with rose, apricot, and tobacco. They’re all good, but Au Coeur du Desert might be the most iconically “Tauerish.” It manages to be a soft, feminine-leaning Oriental scent without being either sweet or powdery, where most scents in that genre lean heavily on the vanilla (Shalimar, Parfum Sacre) or the powder (Fate Woman, Bois des Iles). It’s not a dark resinous syrupy thing either (like Tabu, Youth Dew, or Opium). Au Coeur du Desert is all rich cream and spiced woods, barely sweet, balancing a sense of dignity and adventurous spirit with mellow, cuddly affection.

Au Coeur du Désert is a spicy-amber scent that bears a striking resemblance to 02 L'Air du Désert Marocain. It feels like the extrait version of 02, but with some differences. ACDD is less dry and more amber-focused, and is more spicebomb than fougère. It is certainly more intense. This scent is perhaps my preference, but both are excellent and it comes down to personal taste. Both scents have distinct styles while being similar in spirit. ACDD is amber-led from its opening, a sticky, resinous amber that starts off quite sweet. It is complemented beautifully by its spicy top notes, with cumin and peppery coriander evident to my nose. There is a green woody undertone that brings to mind petitgrain, but it is less pronounced here than in the more aromatic 02. As it develops, I get some jammy rose alongside the amber - a lovely addition. A nice woody accord develops, led by a prominent birch note. Dry and leathery, it rounds out the labdanum perfectly while acting as a dry counterpoint. I get some lavender at this point, adding an aromatic edge. It is much less prominent than in 02 where it leads the fougère accord as a top note. ACDD becomes increasingly dry and woody as it dries down, with the salty ambergris coming to the fore - adding nuance and complexity to the sweet amber that permeates this scent. Some patchouli adds a chypre-like earthiness, rounded out by dry, grassy vetiver. Remnants of the warm spices linger throughout, making for a rich, satisfying scent that remains on-theme. It fades to a musky-mossy skin scent with a hint of spice. Sillage is strong and longevity is long-lasting. It is unisex, best worn in autumn/winter. A beautiful spicy-amber scent, ACDD is utterly elegant. It is versatile and wearable, yet perfectly evocative of spice bazaars of the Middle East. It can be summed up as 02 with added rose, sweet amber and intensity. It is also less masculine in my opinion than 02, contributing to it being my preference. Old-world-meets-modern, east-meets-west, this is true olfactory art. A masterpiece, perfected. 5/5.

The idea of exotic expanse is captured lucidly in L’Air du Désert Marocain, and this desert narrative was demonstrated as perfect still life. Au Coeur du Désert zooms in on the very same picture, so you miss the expanse but a more intense and more intimate picture is received. The fuzzy, ambery coriander seed hum at its edges are lost. Things are clearer and more defined, and the focus on the heart allows for more apparent modifications that would be lost in the expansive L’Air. The heart that is the scent in Au Coeur du Désert gives a drier, significantly austere perspective to the desert narrative, with firmer, persistent brushstrokes with greater detail up close. Thus, a denser, richer, and a tighter weave of fabric of the exotic carpet. The most obvious difference: A light and slightly sour citrus note at the top liberates and gives momentum, advancing towards a slick of patchouli with wonderful leathery bounce and a seasoning of vetiver, with the Texan cedar note pulled deeper, still offering coolness to contrast the oriental warmth. The patchouli is elevated in this extract, moving into the pleasantly funky range of burning, woods, and rubber. This is mimicked with oakmoss, and cradled with vanilla. Au Coeur du Désert is a scent of slow burn, patiently intense and immediately familiar, but an equally new and metamorphosed scent able to sit amongst L’Air du Désert Marocain yet also move away from it. The flourishes are removed, and the body remains with a more serious gravity, far less fairytale and easily categorised into patchouli-leather (See: Patchouli 24 by Le Labo) with all of the spiced oriental components one would expect from such a pairing. It’s the same Maghreb desert we all fell in love with, we can still close our eyes and find comfort in its incense-amber wash, but this time we’re closer to earth.

Absolutely and unmistakably a V2 of L'air, but with a smoke and leather quality that brings you closer to the notion of a campfire, a live habitat, human skin, and personhood. The granular gaps left in the top and mid notes of L'air get filled in with layers of dusty, cedar-y animalic notes. What texture remains, though, is identical to L'air to my nose. Cumin, coriander, and aromatics. The dry down of Au Coeur is just slightly less sweet. Where the deep drydown of L'air could suggest femininity or at least a unisex character, Au Coeur is decidedly more rugged as it gets going due to the smokiness. It's smoother and rounder, fuller, and possibly a little muskier, too, and in being "rounder" than its predecessor communicates the mind's eye of a leather-wearing bandit in the desert. I think it's much more romantic, and more traditionally "sexy" than L'air, but I dare say that its added wearability points make it a little less the anomaly; Au Coeur doesn't have quite the monopoly on dry, smoky, unisex-masculine sensuality in the fragrance market that L'air does on diffusively narcotic, arid atmospheres. All that said, they are both gorgeous and after smelling both, I don't want to be without either and will be getting an FB of Au Coeur when I get the chance. Performance on Au Coeur is generally excellent but not quite as miraculous as I was expecting as the first extrait I've ever tried. I get around three more hours out of this than I get from L'air, which is a solid nine hour wear itself. Sticks very well on clothing, and overall projects more loudly, consistently and confidently than L'air does, which is incredibly satisfying. I love the power behind each and every note that this gifts me with. Do try this if you get a chance!