Au Coeur du Desért 
Tauer (2016)

Smells just like LADDM. They just toned it down a bit. I have to give it a thumbs up just for those reasons.

This opens with effervescent spices & incense, topped with citrus. There's a powdery softness to it, so that it feels light & airy, not heavy or dense. It begins to sweeten a little ten minutes in, & as it evolves there's smoky labdanum, a touch of cumin, woods, & a subtle hint of something like camphor or menthol. Around ninety minutes in, it's less bright & more intimate, with leather, patchouli & ambergris in the base. From here it slowly fades, until twelve hours in it's barely there.

I don't dish out five stars easily, even to my favourites, but this one is really beautiful! I could hardly stop huffing my arm while wearing it. It's meditative & soothing, very present but not loud, & perfect for a late summer/early autumn day. It's almost ten years since I tried LDDM, but I'd say this one leans more feminine, & where LDDM was dark, this is brighter. It's like a dust devil swishing around you in a sunlit desert landscape, rather than a sandstorm blasting your senses & blotting out the light. To make something so deep & resinous feel so gentle is a very clever trick. Masterful work!

For me, Au Coeur du Désert is as good as ambers get. This is a less aromatic, less sweet, richer variation of the concept Tauer explored in L'Air du Désert Marocain. It's dusty, dry, smoky, and endlessly fascinating.

I had never tried ACDD having only sampled LADDM in the past and liked it very much. I actually think I may like ACDD a little better. It's got a nice amber note that rounds the scent out a little and seems not as dry as LADDM presents itself. Both are excellent, but similar enough that I wouldn't feel compelled to own both. I get the same feeling from Tauer's Lonestar Memories and Lonesome Rider, excellent and similar fragrances that are just close enough to only pick one for the wardrobe. In the case of ACDD or LADDM, I'm still split. Can't got wrong with either. Thumbs up again from Tauer.

If LADDM is a lovely walk on the dunes to the spice market; this is the desert stones of ancient cities, where residual scents of traded good scent the air -- drier and more intense. Good longevity, dry down is a play of scents that evolve like the lights striking the stones of Petra, letting highs and lows slow into a long slow slide of desert sunset.