Shadows- Tauer Perfumes Incense Extrême (and a readers giveaway!)

The samples of Incense Extrême arrived a few weeks ago, the same day as the package containing my new camera. I ignored the bigger box and ripped open the envelop with the Swiss postmark. You got to have priorities and digital cameras don't smell.

Like all Tauer fragrances, Incense Extrême takes you places. While Andy described it on his blog as a minimalist scent, there's absolutely nothing here (thankfully!) to remind you of the biggest minimalist of them all, Jean-Claude Ellena (can I say thankfully again?). You get that unmistakable Tauer touch which goes from the top notes all the way through to the base that has more than a little of the "Tauerade". The frankincense is peppery and fresh at first, then becomes darker, woody and dry. Very very dry.

The "extrême" in the name might make you expect an over-the-top Catholic church on steroids kind of incense, or the entire CdG Incense Series crammed into a single bottle (Zagorsk would eat them all). This is not that scent. Instead, you get the different faces of frankincense, paired with a little wood and a little orris. Some feel it has a lot in common with Andy's limited edition, Orris, but my skin doesn't support this theory. Orris is more kaleidoscopic with the different layers picking here and there and revealing themselves almost randomly. Incense Extrême is much more streamlined and pulled-together. There's starkness in it, bold and clean, it dries down almost soapy, remains close to the skin, with just a hint of the shadows lurking from beneath.

Andy has warned me that this scent is basically masculine and would suit my husband better than me. A masculine label has ever stopped me before and I like wearing this scent, but when I smelled it on my husband I knew what he meant. A man's skin (or my man's skin) brings out more of the dark and mysterious part of the scent, those dark silhouettes on a bare ground.

Incense Extrême would be available starting tomorrow from Luckyscents. I have a few samples to give away, so if you're interested please leave a comment. I'll announce the winners early next week.

Art: Pine Shadows by Hamilton Aguiar from the Vinings Gallery.