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Cabsslomb – :
Is it me or does Taklamakan smell like a softer L’air Du Desert Marocain by Tauer? Swear it reminds me of the dry down of Tauer’s fragrance. That powdery dry down is so apparent.
Serzhio – :
it`s name is completely zccord with it`a smell.taklamakan which is name of a desert is embedded in this fragrance .
it`s dryness rhoroughly pictured a hot desert while benzoin and vanila give it more warmness and make it mor oriental.
in depth guaiac and labdanum give it smoky feel to it.
it`s quite an amazing fragrance with balanced notes which own hi quality ingredients .
totally it`s dry woody sweet vanilic smokey juice in a bottle .
performance wise it has fairly beast longevity and moderate to high projection.
qwedsa_ss – :
“Exotic oriental desert in a bottle.”
Taklamakan is a 2016 fragrance from Stéphane Humbert Lucas 777, a French fragrance house that specializes in heavy oriental scents by the namesake perfumer. I got to know the perfume line from Kafkaesque blog, and learned just how unique each of Lucas’s perfumes are, but Taklamakan is the one that particularly speaks to me.
I first came across Taklamakan at The Different Scent Perfumery in Berlin, Germany back in December 2017. Upon spraying it on my wrist, the scent stuck on my sleeve for 3 days and I was completely enamored by the sweet and sandy scent. I get notes of vanilla (not the sweet-sugary kind, but the Guerlainesque type that is more savory), guaiac wood (which makes this fragrance majorly woody), labdanum and benzoin.
What really stands out about this fragrance for me is how dry it is, and thus reminds me of Andy Tauer’s L`Air du Desert Marocain, but much less spicy and a lot more vanilla and labdanum. More accurately, it’s the love child of L`Air du Desert Marocain and Dior’s discontinued Mitzah, without the sweetness and spiciness. Both L`Air du Desert Marocain and Taklamakan conjure images of the desert; while the former invokes images of the Sahara, the latter does for the desert of the same name.
As Taklamakan is a pure extrait, the longevity is enormous and can easily last an entire day, all 24 hours of it. This scent is utterly beautiful when worn during colder weathers, and becomes addictive when sprayed on a fabric and left to dry after a few hours. After being smitten upon sniffing it on my wrist, I decided to get a full bottle for myself at The Different Scent perfumery, only to be told that they ran out of stock… so I did the next best thing: buy the tester.
Amazing fragrance in all, but be warned: it’s a very potent fragrance that should be worn sparingly! Plus, the bottle design is utterly gorgeous!!
axiomsound – :
Taklamakan is a very beautiful composition, especially if you are a fan of Ambery, resinous type frags. This is a somewhat linear fragrance, not too much development but in this instance, thats a good thing. It does not need it. Main notes are Guaic wood, an incense note from the labdanum, hints of iris and vanilla but the main player here is definitely the Benzoin. In fact, the easiest way to describe this frag would be a blend of Ambre Sultan and Tom Ford Amber Absolute wrapped in a Beautiful Benzoin note. Longevity and projection are both good. A winner for the cooler months. I currently just have a decant of it but this is definitely full Bottle worthy for me. Very Nice.
7boostraficz – :
I must say very strong lasting power, but… Today when I tried for the first time it’s not all satisfying me… I will try it again, there is something I don’t like, perhaps benzoin.
koks3010 – :
The master of the Exotic Oriental Fragrance Stephane Humbert Lucas presents us this benzoin based perfume which is enhanced with Bergamot, rose (prominent), patchouli coeur, black vanilla, tonka absolute, birch, cade, gaiac, cedar, myrrh, orris, tolu balsam, labdanum, ambreine, amber gris, sandalwood, and musk. In spite of so many elements, the end product is one of his lightest and most evocative creations that has a beautiful understated yet luxurious understated elegance about it. The perfume conjures visions of the spice laden caravans slowly crossing the Mongolian desert after which this stunner is named. Missing is the perfumer’s favorite element Oud, which gives the perfume a rather clean and sanitized effect over his great Oud based offerings.This perfume will grow on you and never overpower you, but its sweet spicy mysteriousness lingers and wins you over. A masterpiece!
aanniiss – :
Ever so slightly softer, more delicate, and more floral than other benzoins I’ve come across.
Manages to avoid the cliché 1920s throwback vibe. Is modern, but not pretentiously so.
Def my favorite out of all the benzoins I’ve tried.
krufti – :
Quite easily makes my list of top 5 fragrances of all time. Period. If you are in to these types of darker scents, you owe it to yourself to get a sample of this asap!!
Frol – :
I think this is the best benzoin driven scent I have run accross. Smooth..great blending..a benzoin lovers delight!
3JIoDEu89 – :
Dry, woody, resinous with just a dash of floral notes and vanilla to sweeten it up a bit. Benzoin-rich for those who love that note.. Great longevity, moderate silage. I accidentally spilled most of a sample vial on myself this morning and thought I’d be overwhelmed, but it’s really not a silage beast, even on a hot, humid day. This goes on my wish list. My experience with SHL is limited to this and Rose de Petra; I’m so impressed with his quality and originality.
anakin2008 – :
Goodness! And I mean that as both the exclamation as well as the word itself! Oh wow – get thy nose to this ASAP!
I cannot believe nobody has reviewed this here yet. I’m not sure if that means this is a sleeper, or if I’m the only one who likes it enough to write a review, but oh! how PRETTY!
I received this in a trade and chose it only after reading the review done by Kafkaesque, which is entirely perfectly written and I could only muddle the words. The only think I can add is this: I have had it on for nearly an hour, and typing has been an issue because I need both hands to type, and my left hand really NEEDS to be close to my nose – a lot. I mean, I need it sorta right up there…so I’m gonna have to stop typing for now, and get back to this in a bit.
Good LAAAWD! Get THY NOSE ON THIS NOW!
Mepqb230InsuffBooni – :
Unusual, but amazingly good fragrance. Very dry and at the same time very warm: it’s a smell of hot sand. The name suits it perfectly, having said that I’ve never been to a desert but I would imagine this is how it smells like. It’s my comfort scent: feels like wearing an old, loved merino wool jumper. Great fragrance!
ann28 – :
This is a wonderful warm fragrance. Not overly sweet, despite it’s fragrance notes. I find it smells dry, quite like a desert or maybe a sauna.
Reminds me of VC&A Ambre Imperial, except for that dry note.
extesskew – :
Taklamakan surprised me when testing at Harrod’s little exclusive 777 stand and I blind tested without knowing the notes and I really liked, if not loved it.
Now I know why; it’s the simple bergamot (lemony-sweetish type here) with a huge boatload tub of rich, sweet resins and/or vanilla.
It’s intense without being cloying; very thick and sticky sweet but most importantly, smooth and that had me all smiles.
Reminded me of Tom fords populist ‘hit’ that I totally hate, Amber absolute but I think this is so much more polished and addictive, it’s a totally different scent for it.
Waves of sweetness were accented with good sandalwood and some nice chewy resins.
The rose and iris make this a very safe scent in the scheme of things.
Maybe could have been more complex or with a real surprise or 2 to take it to the top Level but it’s more than satisfying enough with so much (and mostly) shockingly bad filler out there, even in the Niche world.
Very pleased; a must try and sleeper hit imo!
My rating: 8/10.
seffokan – :
Breathtakingly great. Wow, dry..incense with musk resting on a smoky vanilla base . The notes listed are there but create notes that are just so great. I am not going to say this smells like anything. It deserves to be its own creation. It will soon be hyped so I am going to be one of the originals and order a bottle now. Price is perfectly fair, 50ml for under $200? Yes. I say this because the longevity is good and it projects just fine 🙂
I dare say 10/10 🙂 ?
Gathpreella – :
Up front I can totally see the Tauer comparisons. There was a fleeting whiff of Desert Marocain, but Taklamakan quickly announces to the beholder that it is a desert of another sort entirely. Far less forgiving. A place where the beauty of the lessons learned doesn’t come easily.
This is compelling, dark, and haunting! What starts out as a cool, dusty amber is slow to unfold for the wearer. It’s warmth unveiling itself very gradually over time.
If you haven’t already, read the article with Stéphane Humbert from Esxence 2016 (Survivor of the Death Desert, by Serguey Borisov). Understanding the perfumer’s emotional (and somewhat unsettling) journey in Taklamakan’s creation is illuminating, but without dispelling any of the mystery of the final product.
Taklamakan may well be one of my favourite contemporary uses of benzoin! It becomes a new animal entirely in here. Smooth, less medicinal. In many ways it’s the benzoin I wanted (and expected) in other fragrances! The woods are expertly harmonized to the resinous notes, and the florals are a syrupy flick across the wooded background.
This will definitely not be for everyone, but there is much to appreciate here. Be it the construction, the story, the journey, or even just curiousity, I think Stéphane Humbert has given us something really special to bear witness to.
ollave – :
Sampling this today and I like it but I probably won’t buy it. This to me kind of reminds me of Andy Tauer’s frags. I get musk, benzoin and woods up front. All a little warm spicy and dusty. The Labdanum adds some sweetness and the rose is reminiscent of Andy’s Loretta which I own. The wood is the most interesting part with the cedar and guaiac creating a smooth and balanced accord sometimes too synthetic in niche frags. Which brings me to the one thing I respect about SH fragrances, the natural way they smell. The longevity is decent and the sillage is a little bigger than a skin scent. This is a fragrance that I would like to sample again in the cool so I will tuck it away and come back to it in a couple of months.
ijm902Bessinepome – :
The more creation i see for Stephane the more happy i go and excited to examine. Now this one is quite different as i begun to feel that Stephane is going to darker themes and ideas since he begun with “Mortal Skin” & now it’s “Taklamakan”.
As Stephane Described to me, Taklamakan is a desert in China and it is ِarid, barren, and too dry and i guess he mentioned something with the death of love and as you go there and use a shovel on the sand and with only one hit you will come up with skeleton heads all over the place and under the sand of Taklamakan. A dark scene for a dark juice which i personally love (the idea of dark scenes).
Now this fragrance has something similar to Qom Chilom somehow (which is my favorite after O’hira & unfortunately it is discontinued because of poor selling) but it has much less cherries and more of sharp roses to presents the dark blotted clotted blood with the help of Guaiac Wood. I can smell the musc that gives the dirty death note in an amazing way and some sandalwood, iris, and a slight vanilla to give the silence of the desert although it should be sandy instead but it’s not in this juice. I even can smell Stephane’s main note which is almonds. I can even smell citrusy patchouli.
This is a not love at first sniff but tolerable over time AND it might go to your favorites shelve if you like sharp roses and the scene it describes.
It will be released in May 2016 and it will be as same price as Khôl de Bahreïn, Rose de Petra, & Une Nuit a Doha.