No 03 Lonestar Memories – rich and haunting and unique

Photo: Campfire at night

On his website, Andy says that No 03 Lonestar Memories is: “An ode on birch tar: True and unique, rich and lasting. The scent of a lonesome rider, wearing old jeans and leather jacket, after a long day on the horse in the dry woods, preparing his coffee on the open, smoky fire.”
 
I have written about the genius of Andy Tauer many times but what it comes down is his ability to make evocative scents that stir the emotions. They may not always be ‘pretty’ but they all have a unique beauty and 03 Lonestar Memories is a knockout.
 
No 03 Lonestar Memories opens with a surprise: a camphor/medicinal note that I love and that to me smells like liniment. What stops it from being too cold and medicinal are the organic dimensions that geranium and sage give it combined with a woodiness from cedar wood. Very soon a smoky/leathery accord appears – the smell of a campfire, of worn leather gloves and, I imagine, saddles. This is a rich well-rounded smokiness with any harshness tempered by the geranium and sage. Jasmine adds an animalic note that just makes that smoky/leather accord perfect – outdoorsy, but not wild. The base has a gorgeous earthiness from myrhh and vetiver along with a slight sweetness from tonka. Sandalwood smoothens out any sharpness, so that the dry down is luxurious and full, never hard or flat.

Now this is really stirring up some memories for me…
 
I am four years old. It is a crisp, cool autumn Sunday. I am 'helping' my father clean up the yard. He's snapping twigs over his knee and I am 'raking' leaves into a pile. When we are ready, he starts to build a fire. Laying wood and kindling just so. Some lighter fluid and a match, and then fingers of flame reach up, and smoke curls reach higher. We laugh and shout and hoot, stoking the fire with the dry leaves, making the flames go higher and higher. After a while, the leaves are gone, the flames die down and the excitement ebbs. He scoops me up into his arms and puts my head on his shoulder, and we watch the crackling fire together. Close up I can smell the day on my father’s flannel shirt – sweat, wood and leaves, earth, smoke and whiffs of lighter fluid on the leather work gloves he’s wearing. Sweet memories prompted by design by Andy Tauer.
 
No 03 Lonestar Memories is a haunting, unique fragrance that is like nothing else I know. That’s what you get in the bottle; the memories it stirs up are all yours.

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