As you may know by now, I love many of the perfumes from Andy Tauer. I’ve already written about Le Maroc Pour Elle and I’ve worn his modern classic L’Air du Desert Marocain in the snow (amazing in cold weather) and swooned over Rose Flash (in his Tauerville line). I was not totally blown away by Sotta La Luna Tuberose but enjoyed it – a new spiced up take on the gnarly white flower. I also recently wore Phi and had forgotten the tender beauty of this rose that paints a nuanced tableau against Tauer’s grand statement scents.
Lonesome Rider is Andy’s latest release and the early bird deal was a generous thank you to his customers. He has a website dedicated to the scent and for a limited time had a much reduced pre – release price – now over. The perfume is for sale at the regular price now. Samples are still available at a price of your choosing. Yes you read that correctly! I remember back in 2007 when Radiohead offered downloads of their brilliant In Rainbows at a pick your own price. It was a radical move for the music industry then and I imagine that it’s a completely revolutionary stance in the perfume world and goes against all pricing principles, margins, coefficients and the like. Imagine if bottles were sold this way. Now that would be something. Let me know if you’ve seen this pay what you like offer before in fragrance land. I’m curious on that front. It can’t have made store owners entirely happy though with that discounted price.
Lonesome Rider EDP : Nose : Andy Tauer : Year : 2016 : Notes : Citrus, spices, black pepper, iris, rose, incense, leather, vetiver, sandalwood, ambergris.
Lonesome Rider is a scent that builds on his limited run Orris and fan favourite Lonestar Memories. It’s a somewhat quieter perfume from Mr Tauer, although please don’t imagine it’s a soft scent in the schema of general releases, but rather comparatively within his own line. It doesn’t bluster with his usual full force hurricane signature that typically bowls you over with its intensity. Lonesome Rider also doesn’t feel quite as genre bending as some of the more recent creations.
Lonesome Rider is a chameleon like perfume on my skin. I’ve worn it around five times now and quite honestly am having difficulty pinning it down. Sometimes it seems like a vetiver soaked incense with a grassy veneer and on other wearings it veers into floral and citrusy territory, still with a smoky aspect but lighter in temperament, more joyful and sunny. This difference seems to be dependent on how much I spray. A heavier hand results in a big woody vetiver hit and a lighter touch brings out a flowery flourish. I’m not sure if this will be the case for any of you, but do let me know if it plays like this when you wear it. I’ve decided that a light spritz is more to my liking.
A bright, effervescent grapefruit like note opens Lonesome Rider before a peppered tint enters the scene, lending a lightly charred effect. There’s also a geranium like quality that could be the rose brushed with citrus. To be honest I don’t sense a lot of iris in Lonesome Rider. It’s certainly not at Iris Silver Mist (Serge Lutens) levels and it’s not creamy and buttery either but adds to the mix of florals by providing a lightness of being. Incense is the dominant hue and when I referred to ‘smoky’ earlier, this is what I’m talking about. It’s dusty and very arid with leather flourishes smoothing the texture. It’s a floral leather, rough around the edges but not to the same extent as Lonestar Memories. A sandalwood that I detect on occasion dolls up the scent and on others the vetiver dominates. A lightness prevails as the scent dies down, sometimes slightly soapy and others more tea like. Overall I think Lonesome Rider has more of a masculine tint, although males may find it skews feminine due to the floral melange.
Lonesome Rider isn’t as distinct for me as Lonestar Memories – one of my favourite Tauer perfumes. If I had to pick between the two, Lonestar Memories would win in the battle for my affections, but perhaps it’s not as versatile a wear. Lonestar Memories is more intense, with a smoky fire and heavy dose of birchtar burning off everything in its path. Lonesome Rider has more of a carefree appeal and brings to mind the music festivals I loved in my younger years, with that sense of freedom and escape. The air is teeming with excitement, music is humming, yet you feel close to nature and a sense of calm prevails amongst the madness. There’s torch fire and the surrounding air is smoky and brims with life. Your boots are made for walking but also made of leather, traipsing through dirt and grass as small flowers fall at your feet. At its essence this is a spirited perfume and one that will take you places.
The Low Down : A spirited perfume perfect for festivals with its smoke, florals and woods.
Read more about Lonesome Rider on : Now Smell This
For where to purchase : Please see the Lonesome Rider website for further details. The price is $135 US for a 50ml bottle. It currently ships to the USA, Switzerland, France, Germany and Austria.
Megan In Sainte Maxime 
I used to love Andy’s perfumes but then something changed. I still have one bottle which i still love but all the others I had I swapped away because they started to smell awful on me. I believe it’s a skin chemistry thing. I love the description of Lonesome Rider but I’m in no rush to try it at the moment.
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Hi Poodle – tastes and skin chemistry change I suppose. I’m a little worried that may happen to me and I will need to get rid of old favourites as well. Well on the bright side it’s another one you don’t need to spend money on.
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It was interesting to read about the very different faces of Lonesome Rider based on your application levels. I think I would prefer the lighter hand as well, but who knows! I’ve got samples of LDDM and PHI, but I’ve only tried them once – perhaps a year ago. I am afraid that I just don’t get them – or maybe they just don’t play well with my skin chemistry. I got them when I first fell down the rabbit hole, so I’ve been holding off to see if perhaps my nose just wasn’t mature enough yet. I should try them again soon. Perhaps they’ll click and I’ll be more tempted to branch out and try other offerings from Andy!
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Hi Sun Mi. When I first got hold of Phi I didn’t really get what everyone else was talking about, as everyone loved that one. But now it smells really different to me, and I love it. So yes maybe try them again at some stage. Although it seems that many can’t wear his scents. I’d say that Phi is one of the easiest to wear though out of all of the scents I’ve tried from Tauer.
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Andy seems like a really cool man, I like quite a few of his frags too.
You make this one sound very tempting.
Portia xx
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Hey Portia – I def have my favs from Andy and I like his DIY ethos too. Xx
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