Andy Tauer - PHI--une rose de Kandahar - - a true collectible, created around a natural rose oil from Afghanistan. LIMITED AND COLLECTORS ITEM Eau de Parfum 50 ml
Phi is a luxurious scent, inspired by a natural extract of roses produced in Afghanistan's rose region, Nangarhar. This rose oil is extremely rare and of highest quality. Inspired by these roses, growing in a dry and rough land, Phi is a rare gem, complementing contrasting lines, rich in natural raw materials that add depth and authenticity. Due to the limited amount of the rose oil, une rose de Kandahar is not guaranteed to be available all the time.
HEAD NOTES: Phi starts with a rich fruity line of apricot. An all natural apricot extract with its surprising richness enchants and blends into a cinnamon line and hints of bitter almond, softened by bergamot essential oil.
HEART NOTES: These spices lead over to voluptuous roses in the fragrance heart: Extremely rare rose essential oil with its unique scent of spices, plums and flower petals blends into rose absolute from Bulgaria and hints of Bourbon geranium. The rose petals melt on the skin into a dark tobacco fond, built around an amazing absolute of dried tobacco leaves.
BODY NOTES: The animalic, leathery and woody tobacco opens the ground for a generously dosed layer of patchouli in the base of Phi. Here, woody and gourmand notes melt into hints of animalic lines. Vetiver, vanilla and tonka add richness and brilliance. A generous dose of exclusive musk and amber gris round the body of the fragrance and encircle the roses.
(*) Rose oil from Afghanistan
In 2004, the German "Welthungerhilfe" started a project supporting local farmers in the hilly region of Nangarhar. Farmers growing poppy were given a forward-looking alternative to make a sustainable living in the rough hills: 1500 meters above sea level roses started to bloom. Rosa damascena, with its pink flowers, gives a wonderful quality of an organic rose oil that is unique and rare.
Although the quantities of the organic rose oil produced are raising, the demand is larger than the production capacities.
The rose oil is produced locally, giving jobs to farmers and the local population, and what started with 20 courageous local farmers grew into a cooperative of more than 700 farmers cultivating roses in the region.
Picture © Welthungerhilfe
The first thing you need to know about Phi (assuming you haven't already smelled it, and many of you probably have) is that it's not a big floral rose, nor is it a feminine one. Rose-haters, or those who fear that rose smells too old-fashioned, should consider giving Phi a chance, especially if they're fond of the oriental or chypre fragrance families. The rose is there from the beginning to the end, but it's rendered warm and dusky, similar to the treatment in Ormonde Jayne's Ta’if, although they don't smell much alike and the Phi is even warmer and duskier. I doubt it's a perfect fragrance for a hot humid day, but like Ta'if, it never feels heavy on skin. And while it has a number of gourmand elements, it doesn't more than vaguely recall food, and it isn't particularly sweet.
Phi starts off a tad rough — it smells like all the individual elements are competing for attention at once (the notes: apricot, cinnamon, bitter almond, bergamot, rose, Bourbon geranium, tobacco, patchouli, vetiver, vanilla, musk, amber and tonka bean). Then there is a well-spiced rose, rather sheer at first, deeper as it settles, and given an almost-foody aspect by the apricot and bitter almond. It stays at the "almost" stage primarily because it's more dry than sweet and the early stages have a dusty finish. Despite the suggestion of apricot jam, you won't feel like you're wearing dessert.
As it dries down, Phi gets darker, and the rose recedes a step farther into the background as the patchouli, vetiver and tobacco come to the fore. While the tobacco is perhaps most noticeable on my skin, in the later stages, Phi is smooth and quiet, and while it's hardly the shower-fresh sort of clean that mainstream consumers have come to expect, it's not particularly skanky either. I hardly notice the vanilla until rather late in the game, and even then, it's subtle. If you find the far dry down too masculine, you might try layering it with a drop of something more vanillic; I meant to do that but as usual ran out of time.
Verdict: A lovely fragrance, and I'm glad I gave it a second shot. It will go on my buy list, but as longtime readers know, my buy list is mostly theoretical at this point since I don't buy much perfume and I don't need any (Ta'if has been on my list since 2005, and hasn't cost me a penny yet). You never know though, I might eventually spring for a travel trio so I can get Tauer's Incense extrême and Incense rosé too. A bonus: Phi's lasting power is excellent.
Source: Now Smell This.
