Phi — Une Rose de Kandahar is the latest from indie niche line Tauer Perfumes, and when my sample arrived last year, I sprayed it once, then put it right into the purgatory basket, where samples go to languish when I can’t decide if I like them or not. And Phi did not capture my affections right away. It’s the second fragrance to join Tauer’s Collectibles series (the first was Zeta), which is based on rare natural materials. Since the scents are dependent on specific harvests, they may change slightly from batch to batch as new materials are sourced. As you might have deduced from the name, Phi was inspired by a natural extract of a rose from Afghanistan.
Anyway, I did not love Phi — I wasn’t even sure if I liked Phi — so I let it sit for a few weeks, and then a few more, and then I came across it at random and gave it another shot. Maybe it’s the colder weather, or maybe it’s that I wasn’t in the right mood the first time around, but now it seems perfect.
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…
