Today’s Advent scent is Incense Flash, from Andy Tauer’s “Tauerville” line. The “Flash” series were meant to be less expensive than his main line of fragrances, but no less interesting (Rose Flash is a favorite of mine). Incense Flash has an abbreviated notes list: incense, woody notes, leather, musk. That’s a little deceiving, because incense itself can contain different notes, and who knows how many notes are included under the single term “woody notes”? Anyway, incense is what I smell, right away. It is smoky but not harsh.
I used to associate incense with a sort of hippie mentality, but I find it so interesting in perfume. It seems to have gone more mainstream in recent years, with people buying sticks to burn at home. And of course, Advent is a great time to be wearing an incense-based scent, given various church traditions. I find myself really enjoying Incense Flash. I don’t really smell leather, but I think the musk accord is softening the whole impression.
I would say that the development of Incense Flash is somewhat linear. The lead actor is the incense, and everything else revolves around that, coming and going. I like it, as a straightforward incense fragrance.
Do you use incense in your home? Do you have any favorite Tauerville scents?
Serenity Now Scents and Sensibilities 
Incense is a bit of a struggle. IRL I find the smell of ancient cathedrals beautifully calming in a fragrance not so much. Avignon, gorgeously life affirming straight out of the can, an hour later? Unscrubbable & drilling into my brain like a jackhammer. 2 hours after spraying, in bed with a migraine. Listed & sold within a week.
Bois d’Encens, all a bit gothic horror worn alone but at least it doesn’t give me migraine. Somehow it feels a bit unfinished, to me it’s crying out for a mischievous elf to pop out, just like in UK cathedrals. I might experiment with Goutal’s Rose Pop to give Bd’E a friendlier face.
My most loved incense isn’t incense centric but Omani silver frankincense plays a twin. Yes the amazing Amouage Lyric Woman! Even in the new reformulated version the rose & incense play out their erotic dance on the wearers skin for hours. Until finally they’re tucked up in each others arms on a spiced musk & tonka cloud.
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I find the Tauerville scents overall much simpler than Andy’s regular line, but the price point makes them super appealing. I have a bottle of Tuberose Flash – had a sample and one night I could not stop sniffing my arm so I bought it. Pretty sweet, but on the right day I love it. I had a rollerball of Vanilla Flash when it first came out; replaced with a bottle when it was gone as I have a weakness for vanilla. I have sniffed the whole range – enjoy them all but didn’t spring for bottles of any of the others. It looks like he’s only making Rose and Vanilla these days, not surprising as those seemed to be the most well loved based on blog comments. Today my advent cleanse yielded my mini of Golestan so I’m giving that another try. On opening it reminds me a little of Tuberose Flash. Will see how it develops.
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Ooh, I’m very curious about Golestan! Please share your thoughts when you’re ready!
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I didn’t bond with any of the Tauerville scents, but I do like incense in fragrances. Comme des Garcons Zagorsk and Querzazate are my favorites, along with Heeley’s Cardinal. I find that these tend to seem very dry in the drydown (no pun intended 😉 so I sometimes layer them with an amber or amber/vanilla fragrance to add some warmth to the overall scent.
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I have read so many times about Cardinal but haven’t tried it yet. I like the sound of “dry”, but I think that’s a great idea to layer the dry scents with amber or amber/vanilla. I could even try that with multiple Tauervilles, as I have Incense Flash, Amber Flash, and Vanilla Flash.
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This reminds me that i have a small tester of Incense flash. Must revisit it the next days.
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I haven’t tried Incense Flash, in fact I didn’t know it existed. I have the Amber, Vanilla and Rose, the Rose being my favourite. I have tried the Tuberose, and it is fbw but I have too much perfume. How am I going to live until I’m 150 or so? Maybe then I’ll have some chance of using up a considerable amount of my stash🙈
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lol, I’m in the same boat! I love Rose Flash too. I like Incense Flash, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to get it over other options.
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INCENSE! I love it in RC Church, Hindu, Korean, Japanese and Chinese temples. All quite different. In Russia it smells different again.
Also, I love it in fragrance. There are so many in my collection with some or a lot of incense.
By far my favourite is Exultant by Maria Candida Gentile.
The Tauerville series kind of passed me by. Glad you found one to love. It’s piqued my interest.
Portia xx
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If you can try one, I’d go for Rose Flash. I think it’s great, and it is parfum strength, as I recall.
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Thanks OH
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