Vetiver Dance
Tauer (2008)

Garbage. Vetiver dance? It's more like a mess of white flowers with an off, weird, sweet almond.

I've had it with Tauer. I've tested 3 of 'em in total. LADDM and Au coeur du désert I rated thumbs down as well.

They're just weird scents.

Phew. I normally like vetiver fragrances, but Andy Tauer's Vetiver Dance has me rethinking my affection for this note. At first I thought I may have mistakenly put on the wrong sample and had to check the label to confirm I had indeed put on Vetiver Dance. This starts off very green and sour, with a bushel of horrid clary sage and funeral like lily notes. It's frighteningly old smelling, like a nursing home or funeral parlor old. Lily of the valley always makes me think of funerals. Unfortunately, the fragrance is also devoid of it's namesake vetiver as well. At least in the opening hour vetiver is absent, leaving you waiting for something better than clary sage and lily to develop. Slowly and eventually an adulterated vetiver does kick in, but it arrives too late for me and it's entirely infected with sour toned cistus and tonka bean. Vetiver is supposed to be a clean, uplifting note that is fresh and earthy. Vetiver Dance is really quite the opposite, even depressing by half. I hot showered it away at 2 hours then splashed myself liberally with Guerlain Vetiver to cheer me back up, as well as ward away the Grim Reaper, who I'm certain smells something like Vetiver Dance. A huge thumbs down.

Definitely starts out more mosh pit than waltz, but settles into a nice jive.

Some years ago, I sent off for a set of samples from Tauer, and took a fancy to this. I then invested in a full bottle, and have had an odd co-existence with Vetiver Dance ever since. I think my original attraction was to a definite link to Je Reviens, which is burned into my brain after an incident with a 'borrowed from Mum' full bottle of parfum and a jacket pocket in my teenage years (I dream of getting back the smell I remember clinging to that jacket pocket..).

Vetiver Dance (I will not call it VD for obvious reasons) is strong, with a sour citrus and herb giving the vetiver a raw edge. A little after spraying it feels like I've got on a rollercoaster and I'm regretting the decision. I'm wearing it today as I'll be alone all day so won't pressgang anyone else into the ride.

Several hours later and I really like the sour but soft drydown.

Oberon Titania and Puck with Fairies Dancing by William Blake 1786

BLUF: Different from all other vetivers I've tried.

I know we all have our own take on what "powdery" means, but I perceived this as a powdery, white floral, clean take on vetiver. It doesn't smell at all like Dior's Privée Vétiver, but I feel like they are painted on similarly dry vetiver canvases.

The vetiver starts off in the background and seems to be of the grassy/green sort, and is joined by soft florals and sweetness (smells more like vanilla, but tonka is listed) and some hesperidic top notes. Some hours later, it takes on the more smoky/crunchy aspects that I associate with Java vetiver (the kind listed in the notes here), and at this point most of the "powder" and florals have died down considerably and it's primarily a woody/vetiver scent with a touch of dry aromatic herbs of which I cannot pinpoint.

Nice overall, not your typical take on the namesake note, but not compelled to pursue any further than my sample. Worth sampling for any vetiver fan, as I know of no analogs.

Very pleasant fragrance. Reminds me of the smell in a newly decorated room with fresh paint and wallpaper. There is also a resemblance to Tauer's Carillon pour une Ange in the greenish quality allied to moss or undecavertol. Finally there's a suggestion of the green-violet freshness as in Grey Flannel.

A clearly vertiver-dominated opening blast, intertwined with a peppery sidekick. The vetiver as such is fairly clean and bright, with only minimal rawness and earthiness on my skin, but the pepper casts a dark shadow over it. Additionally, very much from her start herbaceous undertones are present, at times verging on light hay note.

The vetiver dominates throughout so far deep into the drydown, although a whiff of white florals gives is a softer edge.

The base goes through a fairly nonspecific woodsy stage initially, but then vanilla and a slightly crispier cistus note merge into a dyad that is quite unusual and more interesting than I expected. There is an overly synthetic ambery/ambergris component mixed in that is suffocated by the cistus/vanilla dyad - maybe that is not such a bad thing; the ambery note works better in the background on my skin. The vetiver still breaks through at times, but eventually the dyad rules, only interrupted at by a slightly sweeter version of the herbal aroma from the beginning.

The performance is very good, with moderate sillage, excellent projection and eleven hours of longevity on my skin.

As a vetiver, a clean vetiver with a spice note on top, it is a passable creation, but the shenanigans around the vetiver sound rather haphazard and synthetically chaotic, but they work surprisingly well in accord.

Overall, although rather synthetic, this is an interesting rendering of a vetiver scent. 3/5.

Vetiver Dance is a sweet/citrusy fragrance. I don't know if it's me but I smell the vetiver in the background here. The lily of the valley and citruses are more dominant in this fragrance. It is very strong and projects very well. Just 3 sprays should be enough. I love vetiver based fragrances and this one is unique and wonderful.

Interesting mix of scents here. It starts off with great sillage. The greenness of the notes mixes well with the citrus, florals and spice. The tonka sweetens it. The vetiver is very grassy and is probably the closest I've smelled to actual grass, but the other notes add more freshness and depth. Once the wood enters the picture with the ambergris it gives an impression of the great outdoors. Very evocative and reminds me of grey skies in the summer. The sage leaves give some small similarity to Grey Flannel in the leafy aspect of the scent. The longevity (like Marocain) is very good. I like "grassy" and "leafy" scents so this is right up my alley, but there are probably those who won't get into it. Nonetheless Tauer is definitely an artist. Try before you buy.

This one reminded me of summers visiting relatives in India. The talcum powder that the men put on to combat the heat that was oppressive even at the start of the day. Right away there was powdery clean with some floral in the mix, but not overdone and cloying (I rarely like floral).

In the mid the floral died away and the vetiver began to peak out underneath the powder bringing with it more earth...clean but with honest work outdoors underneath (freshly turned earth and trampled moss).

The dry down saw the powder almost die away on my skin and a crisp vetiver came to the fore with a hint of spice. This to me was a piece with three themes, each distinct and with its own merits and memories brought forth.

Genre: Woods

Andy Tauer's Vetiver Dance evolves in a very interesting manner. It begins with a luscious, sweet, yet refreshing floral/citrus accord that's light years away from the flinty, tart citrus notes that open many a modern vetiver scent. The floral notes intensify as the vetiver emerges, establishing the dance of the title as a pas de duex of smoky, slightly licorice-flavored vetiver and soapy rose.

The dancers perform against a dry, herbaceous-aromatic background, their motion accented from time to time by a delightfully brisk and realistic note of black peppercorn. The vetiver outlasts the rose and peppercorn, and ends the dance nearly solo, supported by quiet wisps of sweet resin. Sillage and projection are well judged, and the vetiver drydown is admirably tenacious. In overall style I'd describe this as a warm, mellow, even nutty vetiver, not far removed in mood from Givenchy's Vetyver, though decidedly more floral at its heart. Sophisticated, comfortable, and reassuring all at once, it would make a wonderful everyday scent.

The Gypsy Vetiver

I find this one very interesting, and unique (like many of Andy Tauer's creations). In the beginning I get a very spicy and dry intense Black Pepper accord, followed by a grapefruit that lifts it up to give it a bright, sunny impression. The Pepper is joined by very dry, almost burnt-like Herbs (the Sage note).

Initially I was afraid of trying this as I thought that Lilly-of-the-Valley would remind me of old lady perfume, but in my opinion it works wonderfully here! Paired with the rose it gives the whole composition a floral warmth that really makes it interesting. The Vetiver itself is dry and earthy, and by the time the ambergris joins in, almost salty. It's a very interesting fragrance in that it is a mixture between very dry notes (Black Pepper, dried Herbs, Vetiver, Cedarwood, Ambergris), and very lush notes (Grapefruit, Rose, Lilly-of-the-Valley). I also get a hint of the Andy Tauer signiature at the dry down (all of his dry downs are usually the best part of his fragrances), which is something close to an incense like vibe. It's really great, like dried grass and leaves near a swamp. I love Vetiver but this fragrance made me love Vetiver even more.

I should also point out that if you are new to Vetiver as a main note in perfumes, you may not like this one. I find that I can only appreciate this after trying other Vetivers... and whilst I still love Guerlain Vetiver I really commend Andy Tauer for taking the note and doing something totally different here.

Overall, I find this perfume very bewitching and a little mysterious, so I call it the "Gypsy Vetiver", and I imagine that the Vetiver here is like a Gypsy dancing at a campfire in the night forest, surrounded by the other players. There are herbs next to a burning cedarwood fire, not far from some swampy riverbank, where dried leaves and rushes hang over the warm, tranquil water. I picture her wearing a dark green velvet shawl. That is the colour I associate with this one. Dark, mysterious, hypnotic. A perfect composition fitting of the name "Vetiver Dance".