The Tar Trio
August 1st, 2007
By Tove Solander
Today’s theme is tar. I’ve compared three tar scents – in fact the only tar scents I know of: Comme des Garcons Synthetic Tar, Tauer Perfumes Lonestar Memories and Le Labo Paychouli 24. Only Lonestar Memories has tar listed as a note, although the Comme des Garcons scent has it in the very name. Patchouli 24 is composed of patchouli, styrax, birch and vanilla, along with twenty secret ingredients I assume. Lonestar Memories is known as a leathery scent, but the notes are geranium, carrot seed, clary sage, birchtar, cistus, jasmine, cedar wood, myrrh, tonka, vetiver and sandalwood. Tar, finally, takes a more urban approach with town gas, vapours of bitumen, bergamot, earth, opoponax, styrax, grilled cigarettes and pyrogenic notes.
What they all have in common, apart from smelling like tar, is that they’re on the sweet side. I guess tar has a rather sweet aroma naturally, but I could easily imagine a more butch take on it. In fact, there might be one – Comme des Garcons Synthetic Garage has hints of tar along with gasoline, chrome and faux leather car interior, without the sweetness. Tar, on the other hand, has hints of gasoline and asphalt so they’re really sister scents. Compared to Lonestar Memories and Patchouli 24 it comes off as very urban, very minimalist, very cool. The sweetness in it is almost the sweetness of anise or liquorice, as opposed to the more syrupy and vanillic sweetness of the other two. However, it’s mostly compared to them it comes off as so very urban and modern. Compared to the rest of the Synthetic series it feels rural, nostalgic, even cosy. Occasionally, I get a feeling of walking in a sunny pine forest rather than a metropolis.
Lonestar Memories is even more rural and nostalgic in feeling. It’s simultaneously sweet, thick and dry. I get a feeling of cracked, grey wood, so old it hardly has a wood scent anymore, and of dirt floors too dry and worn to smell other than dusty. It’s like being in an old boathouse or workshop – there’s the sweetish smell of hemp rope, perhaps some hardened leather gear oiled long ago, and dust speckles in the sunlight that shines in between the boards. The rich, musty sweetness makes it more of a summery childhood scent than a macho cowboy scent for me.
Patchouli 24 is, I think, my least favourite. It’s smokier than the other two, and I usually like smoky, but it’s also the sweetest of them all, and sugared smoke tends to get a bit nauseating. Rather than asphalt or boats, I’m thinking of barbecue. Barbecue with lots of crème brulée for dessert. Maybe even a steak drenched in custard, at its worst. It’s a viscous scent, like syrup so thick and dark it’s almost black. With less vanilla, it could have been the pleasant scent of a wood pile burning, but with the vanilla it’s just too much. I like it best when it’s a faded smoky-sweet trace on my skin.
Image source: luckyscent.com, barneys.com
Entry Filed under: Guest Blogger, Perfume Reviews, Smell-alikes
9 Comments Add your own
1. Flora | August 1st, 2007 at 11:49 pm
Wow. I adore Lonestar Memories, but those other two seem a bit overpowering for me. I can barely wear Lonestar since I am a girl and it’s so very manly, but I do wear it. I think I will leave the other two to the guys. They can wear the stuff around me all they want.
2. Leopoldo | August 2nd, 2007 at 2:30 am
Patch24 seems to be a summation of Menardo’s work - the vanilla focus that’s so often there (Bulgari Black, Body Kouros), alongside the love of smoke. I need to resniff to check for steak in custard (a repulsive visual image - thank you!). I love Lonestar, but wear it infrequently comapred to Tauer’s other blockbuster.
3. Elle | August 2nd, 2007 at 5:51 am
Tar is one of my favorite notes in perfume, so love this post!
I like all three, but actually think Patch 24 is my fav - just works very well w/ my skin chemistry. My other fave scents w/ tar are AG Eau du Fier and Dzing.
4. Judith | August 2nd, 2007 at 6:01 am
I love Patch 24 (though I may be thinking of steak in custard now):); I don’t, somehow, experience it as that sweet. I also like Lonestar Memories, but never tried the CdG–must do! And with Elle, I love Fier and Dzing.
5. chayaruchama | August 2nd, 2007 at 7:11 am
You make me howl with your Svenska candor, lady.
I loves you !
OK, so Lonestar ain’t butch- but it’s really adorable and snuggly.
I like the others, too-
But when I want to ’skank out ‘ my peeps, I usually resort to SMN’s Peau d’Espagne, which is terrifying to man, at least.
I am FORBIDDEN to wear this unless I’m on a desert island.
It leaves Nostalgia in the dust, for honk…
[I’ll warrant that the gorgeous, hyacinthine, and rufous-haired Judith loves this animalic beauty too- she’s a tigress/ goddess]
Kisses to you, my pet !
6. tmp00 | August 2nd, 2007 at 10:57 am
Love the reviews, even if you hate my love: Patchouli 24. Love Lonestar as well, and I will have to try the CdeG.
Chaya is forcing me to try that SMN! Forcing me!!
7. Martika | August 2nd, 2007 at 3:44 pm
I love all three and I will add a 4th one: Rien from Etat Libre d’Orange, with its styrax pyrogenic/patchouli/incense notes.
8. Ina | August 2nd, 2007 at 9:37 pm
Tove, I always enjoy your comparisons! I love tar, too, and out of these three, I like Patch the best. I get no patch on my skin, though. It’s pretty much all dark, sooty stuff.
9. Solander | August 7th, 2007 at 1:16 pm
Flora - Oh but if you can wear Lonestar Memories you should definitely try the other two! Tar is like a lighter version of it almost, and Patchouli 24 is less masculine because of the vanilla.
Lee - Yes, I guess tar seldom feels right to wear, at least not in urban settings…
Elle - I have to look for the tar in Dzing!, I get more elephant manure and hay and leather/cardboard. But I do love it. Have to sniff Eau du Fier as well…
Judith - You should definitely try the CdG. Perhaps you will not find it sweet at all, it’s cooler and therefore less sweet than the other two…
Chaya - Thanks a billion! I definitely have to find a SNM store when I’m in Italy (very soon now) and sniff around…
Tom - Oh I don’t hate Patchouli 24, it’s just that it’s so strong and sweet and overpowering. I do enjoy the trace of it on my skin, it’s mostly upon application it tends to get a bit nauseating or headache-inducing with it’s smoky vanilla overdose.
Martika - Lucky you! I didn’t get that at all from Rien, I got muddy mixed headshop-aromas.
Ina - Dark, sooty stuff sounds very nice. I wish more scents were sooty and smoky (without the added sugar)….
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