Fragrant Awakenings: Tauer Perfumes L’Air du Desert Marocain – Down the Rabbit Hole I Go

fragrant awakenings l'air du desert marocain header larbi cherkaoui cafleurebon

Untitled mixed media piece by Larbi Cherkaoui

Several years ago I discovered an online fragrance blog and community via an article in the New York Times. Through that blog I discovered that I could order samples from various places, so I did. Of course, everything at that point was an adventure, but one sample I got in those early days made me a true believer in the magic and transporting qualities of perfume.

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Fennec Fox, photo by José Mingorance/National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest

There was much buzz about a perfume called L’Air du Desert Marocain by a Swiss perfumer named Andy Tauer. It sounded interesting so I ordered a sample. To say I was instantly transported to another place is nearly understatement. I was in that hot tent, surrounded by fragrant smoke from incense and hookahs, I was in the dusty bazaar listening to vendors hawk their wares in a foreign tongue, I was standing in the middle of a desert, the sun baking the sand and my body. I had never experienced such a profound sense of place from a perfume. Some had made me gasp and swoon at their beauty, or be taken aback by their oddness, but had never just spirited me away.

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Paul Bowles in Morocco, photographer not known

It has been years since I read Paul Bowles’s book or have seen the movie of The Sheltering Sky. I know that it is ultimately pretty depressing, but L’Air du Desert Marocain is my Sheltering Sky perfume. It just seems like everything would have had an undercurrent of this kind of smell; dry as bone, resinous, sensual. I know it wasn’t just the name, although I’m sure that helped, but I believe in my heart that I would have still gone to the desert when I took that first whiff.

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This is the original bottle style, which is what I have.

I was a very lucky burgeoning perfumista that year. Andy ran his annual Advent of a daily giveaway from December 1 until Christmas Eve, and I entered to win a prize every day, pretty much. As it happened, I was fated to win a bottle of L’Air du Desert Marocain* and I was over the moon. I was giddy with excitement, and when the prize came, all the way from Switzerland, I opened the package, containing a sweet hand-written note, with near-reverence. Going from the eked-out dabs from my tiny sample vial to full-on sprays was like a miracle, and I reveled. I still have some perfume in that bottle, and I love to wear it to this day, with pretty much the same reaction I had on my first try.

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"Desert Village, Morocco" by Gerry Dudgeon

Introducing people to L’Air for the first time is something I relish. In the time since I discovered it, it has been written about, reviewed, dissected note by note, rudely dismissed by some as over-hyped, but seeing someone’s face who is smelling it for the first time is a real exercise in joyousness. They put the scent strip to their nose and sniff. Immediately there are eyes rolling back, knees buckling slightly, and exhortations to a higher power. The bottle comes back out and is sprayed on skin, with nose glued to wrist for the duration. Everyone should try it at least once; it doesn't have legions of fans for nothing.

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Perfumer Andy Tauer, photo by Andy Tauer

I have always found Andy to be an accessible person and nice man, and I visited his blog frequently and followed his journeys with perfume, always excited to read about anything new. He has produced some brilliant work, but in my heart my true love is this. It was the first perfume that made me understand what perfume could be: unique, personal, with no gender bias. It could take you places, bring images and scenes into your mind’s eye, cause your stresses to dissipate, make your body looser. I don’t think I have ever looked at a notes list for it. I don’t need to, because I don’t care what it’s made of. It is just L’Air du Desert Marocain, made by a lovely man named Andy. It is the perfume that led me, as we like to say, down the rabbit hole of niche perfumes, and closer to becoming a perfumista.

L'Air du Desert Marocain is available on the Tauer Perfumes website as well as Luckyscent, Indigo Perfumery  Twisted Lily in Brooklyn and select stockists throughout the world.

Tama Blough, Managing Editor

*I was actually double-lucky and also won a bottle of Maroc Pour Elle. I think I made some enemies that year.

Note: Fragrant Awakenings is a new series on perfumes that opened my eyes, pushed my envelope, or somehow changed the way I think about fragrance.

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25 comments

  • What a gorgeous review. I was recently lucky enough to be gifted with a sample and was most surprised at how much I loved it. On paper it is totally not my thing and Lonestar Memories was so traumatic to me that I had decided that Mr. Tauer and I had little in common. This is the stuff that changed my mind.

  • I love the old bottle design 🙂 This is great timing, because I know exactly what you are talking about! I tried this perfume recently for the first time ever. While it wasn’t love at first sniff, I found myself hunting for remnants on my sweaters for days after I tried it. Now I spray it on lavishly daily, and I dread the day my sample runs out!

  • I seriously can’t believe I haven’t tried this one 😉 I know how to fix that, quite certain I will be a member of the L’Air du Desert Marocain cult!

  • Tama, I enjoyed your story and could identify. This perfume, along with Chinatown, were the two that really opened me up to the world of perfume many years ago. I have long drained my bottle and keep meaning to replace it, but get distracted with new stuff. You are extremely lucky! I enter the Christmas countdown every year but have never won. Anything by Andy would be a coveted win, but especially this one. It is one of a couple I took on a trip to Egypt and will forever remind me of that experience.

  • I have to agree with Tama on L’Air. Even dusting the bottle takes me elsewhere. And it almost always invites the ‘What scent are you wearing?” comment, said breathlessly.

    Tama- great idea for a new series. I’m sure we all could contribute chapters!

  • Elizabeth T. says:

    How fun to see the original bottle design. I didn’t discover Tauer until they were the pretty blue bottles.

  • ringthing says:

    I remember those bottles, and what an awesome prize! Andy Tauer is the most generous perfumer on the planet. LDdM is a fantastic perfume. Thanks for sharing your story, Tama.

  • What a lovely article, Tama! I agree it’s an extraordinary perfume, and I’m glad it eventually led you to become a perfume writer!

  • silvrolive says:

    This is one of the most transporting perfumes I have ever tried. I have a small sample vial that I keep around “in case of emergency.” In the middle of the long cold winter I take a sniff and am instantly half way around the world.

  • Fazal Cheema says:

    I have one on the way, the one before latest packaging change but someone claimed the latest version has greater sillage..is it true?

  • Fatal, I have not smelled the latest version, do can’t report on the sillage. Mine has pretty great sillage, though.

  • This is the one that got my whole collecting fragrances started and by far still my favorite. Great article Tama. Another love of his fragrances are the PHI Une Rose de Kandahar and Lonestar Memories.

  • StephenmMc says:

    This was the first ‘niche’ perfume that I got my hands on, and it included a sample of Maroc pour Elle which I still own. He seems like a lovely guy!

  • meganinstmaxime says:

    It’s truly a beauty. I still get quite excited whenever I spray one of his perfumes. I live off his samples and have 2 x bottles and they are so rich in dreams. I really feel like I’m on a magic carpet.

  • Thank you for recreating the feelings I had upon sampling LdDM. Legend perfume, and perfumier!
    Aren’t the Advent calendars great? Shhh.

  • I like the premise for this new series. In the crush of excitement over the newest releases, we often forget the fragrances that held meaning for us just a few years ago. Thanks Tama.

  • Datura5750 says:

    Andy’s stuff is so original and wonderful!
    And he is so generous to his fans!

  • Barbara B says:

    Love LdDM. And this article. Looking forward to another Fragrant Awakenings article.

  • Cynthia Richardson says:

    Coriander, cumin and petit grain – you can get a spray sample of LdDM from the Tauer Perfumes website for less than $10!

  • I thought that the notes of coriander and petigrain would be okay but sort of “manly” but there’s something sweet and warm that I didn’t expect, which made the scent very special indeed. i see why this fragrance has so many adherents.

  • Thank you Tama! Lovely review. And that Fennec Fox!
    I identify with this so strongly (even down to winning a bottle!) because of the transportive experience. There is such a strong sense of wide open space, dry heat, golden light, sun-bleached woods and warm winds.

    Fell in love with Tauers because of LADDM, also love Incense Extreme which takes me to the edge of the desert, higher and cooler and rockier in the foothills with the most piney outdoorsy frankincense I’ve ever tried. Also got Dark Passage unsniffed, which is tied for favorite and takes me somewhere elusive and strange…