Tauer Vetiver dance review and a virtual picnic

ADVENTURES IN SINAESTHESIA

When the generous and enormously talented perfumer Andy Tauer was kind enough to send me samples of all his fragrances—and an adorable sample set to give away (details soon)—I was thrilled. I was especially thrilled to find a sample of his Vetiver Dance within one of the adorable embossed tins, for as you may know, I adore vetiver, and any fragrance with vetiver in the name is pretty exciting for me.

 

SO, I did what any self-respecting perfume-loving bon vivant would on a sunny Memorial Day weekend. I spritzed on Vetiver Dance and went on a picnic, prophesying that a vetiver fragrance would go well with a sunny day down by the river. I was right!

Vetiver Dance opens up with a bouquet of pepper, rose, and citrus—Grapefruit, yes, I can detect that..and stays fruity for quite a while. This makes it go very well with the gin and tonics my beloved had the foresight to pack in our picnic basket!

In fact, this fragrance played very well with all the food we enjoyed on our little tartan picnic blanket—cold herbed chicken salad with lemon, kalamata olives, pan-roasted almonds, a light romaine salad, gummy raspberries and blackberries, dark chocolate, Armenian cheese, and apples—all seemed to agree with the gentle wafting scent of the Vetiver dance. In particular, the aroma of the crushed grasses under our blanket and the lemony herbaceousness of the chicken salad seemed natural complements to the warm grassy aura of the EDT.

(My darling, post picnic repast, ready to do some serious reading in the sun)

After we ate everything all up, like two little bears, we decided to just lie out in the dappled shade under the spreading branches of two large river-loving trees, and just read to our hearts’ content.

I am the proud owner of a brand new Sony reader, which I adore, since I can read all my favorite novels for free from Project Gutenberg, so I cracked it out and started reading a book I can’t believe I didn’t read as a child—The Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Grahame. I couldn’t have chosen a more perfect story for this beautiful afternoon by the river.

(my e-book, ever convenient.)

As I read of the little river rat and his friend Mole, and their adventures on a river much like the one near which we were camped, the Vetiver Dance became even more of a friend. The tonka bean at the base of the composition kept any sharpness at bay, and the whole thing stayed sweetish and elegant. As I read of the warm summer day on the river, and Rat and Mole on their boat, the grassy, almost wet notes of the fragrance came out, and I imagined I too was sculling along the river.

  As the friends entered the earthy domain of Badger in a later chapter, the dark earthy qualities of the vetiver, along with the classic Tauer incense and balsamic notes, came to the forefront, and I was no longer rowing under an open summer sky, but in a cozy earthen home before a roaring hearth, nursing an imaginary brandy.

 This vetiver is not like many other vetivers, in that Tauer chooses to bring out different and unusual aspects of that noble grassy root. In his hands, if becomes an ever-shifting, yes, dance of floral, smoke, and green depths, but always retains a certain sweetness of character that is quite unlike other craggy vetivers, which don’t try so hard to make friends.

It was a perfect reflection of the landscape in which I found myself, I realized. I began to imagine each aspect of the perfume as part of the river meadow. The resinous parts of the fragrance became the majestic trees. The vetiver? Well, it was the grass and the undergrowth all around me, with a bit of swamp thrown in—there was a lovely little wetlands in the meadow as well, full of VERY tall yellow water-irises  

 

 

(See how tall they were? Almost up to my eyes!)

 

The roses in the fragrance were matched by these powerfully indolic and fruity smelling wild rosebushes, with their proliferation of blossoms. My beloved said it was too much scent, but I was in HEAVEN!

The citrus was the gin-and-tonic, and the lemon chicken salad. The ambergris, lurking at the base, was the salt on my skin.

 (me in heaven.)

the thick sweetness permeating the whole fragrance became, in my sinaesthetic mind,  the shining river, floating through the landscape like a dream of great loveliness and joy.

 

I felt at one with myself, with my love, with the summer afternoon, with the river and the flowers, with the fragrance on my warm skin, kissed by the sun. I put flowers in my hair, feeling like a woodland nymph.

We read, walked, kissed, smiled, and sat in silence, enjoying this perfect day.

Drunk with such joy, even the sluglike snails on the leaves, dangerously close to our food and our bodies, seemed like friends, lovely in their very existence.  

Others’ reviews of Vetiver Dance:

sorcery of scent
notes from the ledge
roxana Illuminated perfume
perfume da rosa negra
perfume shrine
grain de musc

CREDITS:
all pics mine except the one of Badger, which comes from the Project Gutenberg site.

A REMINDER TO ENTER THE BOOK AND FRAGRANCE GIVEAWAY; THE WINNER WILL BE DRAWN THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW!