You probably won’t believe this, but I assure you it’s true. When I first sniffed Ingrid, before I knew anything about the movie character on which it’s based, it seemed to me like a perfume undergoing a personality crisis. Then I discovered that the eponymous protagonist of Brian Pera’s third entry in the Woman’s Picture series is a transsexual. Now, before I go any further, I want to make it clear that I am not proposing for one moment that the painful, confusing experience of an individual’s struggle with the very core of their identity can be reduced to the scented contents of a pretty bottle. But the parallel between the perfume and the film stayed with me, and I’d suggest it’s a useful key to understanding the way this new fragrance from Andy Tauer achieves its effects.


Simply put, Ingrid is a clash between masculine and feminine, a confrontation Tauer has chosen to express in olfactory terms by pitting leathers against florals. So on the one hand, the scent presents snarling, rubbery, well-burnished hide (accentuated with a hint of the furniture-polish note which seems to be doing the rounds at the moment). And on the other it reveals a frangipani facet (Tauer claims no other flower could have captured Ingrid’s personality more aptly) rounded off by gentle suggestions of citruses, honey and greenness.
The battle between the two camps is undeniably interesting, but only up to a point. For some reason, Tauer decided not to punctuate the stand-off with many contrasts: there’s almost a sense that he thought his central premise was sufficiently complex and therefore didn’t need any further highlights or emphases. There’s certainly merit in a single-minded adherence to the purity of one’s core idea, but I can’t deny that, whilst wearing Ingrid, I found myself wishing for a greater interplay between light and shade, a wider range between the highs and the lows.
That said, the vanillic drydown is difficult to resist. Just about as silky, nocturnal and seductive as anything Tauer has built into the foundations of his scents, it reconciles the leathers with the florals and brings the earlier strife into a state of equilibrium and peace. After the opening struggle, the conclusion of this story is utter contentment.
[Review based on a sample of eau de parfum provided by Tableau De Parfums and Scent & Sensibility in 2013]
Persolaise

Discover more from

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

2 thought on “Persolaise Review: Ingrid from Tableau De Parfums (Andy Tauer; 2013)”
  1. Lovely review, I adored this fragrance and will have to get a bottle one day.
    I found a really dominant clove and rose note throughout too, and also got the furniture polish smell (which I love). The vanillic drydown reminded me a little of Miriam, I think the whole trio are all subtly tied together. I think the Tableau de Parfum line is Tauer's greatest work to date, so beautiful.

    1. Smellythoughts, yes, I'd agree that there seems to be a vanillic link between the three scents.

      By the way, I'm sure you know this already, but just in case… Ingrid also comes in a very affordable, purse-spray size. That's the one I bought for myself 🙂

I love hearing from my readers, so please feel free to write a comment or ask a question.