Vetiver

What is your opinion on fine shaving creams and hard soaps? Do you like Trumpers, Coates, Taylors, Truefitt & Hill? Post your reviews and opinions here!
brothers
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Vetiver

Post by brothers »

I encountered a vetiver scented hand soap and now I have some vetiver cream and soaps to try. The hand soap was intoxicating and I had to look at the label to find it was vetiver. Now I've got Salter's French Vetiver and a couple of tallow soaps - Asylum Vetiver Bourbon and Cold River Soap Works' Morning Ghost. There are also some vegan soaps out there, but I am sticking to tallow-only soaps. Cold River smells very similar to Salter's, and Asylum is similar yet different in a positive way.
Gary

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Re: Vetiver

Post by EL Alamein »

Gary, I hope you enjoy the journey exploring vetiver. It's certainly a "love it or hate it" scent.

I personally like it and especially in Spring.

A little off-topic but Guerlain has a great story about how it's vetiver fragrance was created. It had to do with Jean Paul's boyhood memory of a gardener whom he looked up to. The gardener always smelled of vetiver, pipe smoke, and citrus. Probably marketing lure but I have related this story to my children. My youngest daughter always remarks "the gardener, ahhhh . . . " when she smells it on me. She's only eleven but has a fine appreciation for good scent.

I know that vetiver is a primary scent in Musgo Real as well (the classic aftershave). Fantastic stuff and very classic.

When it's done right it can be a very pleasing scent.

Good luck and enjoy!

Chris
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Re: Vetiver

Post by churchilllafemme »

I have not been a fan of vetiver in general, but I really do like the Guerlain Vetiver aftershave.
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Re: Vetiver

Post by Whistler »

Gary, vetiver is one of my favorites when it comes to cologne, presently my top three are, Le Labo, Creed and Guerlain. Guerlain is more crisp in your face scent, Creed is a bit more understated, business meeting, out with the boys scent, and Le Labo is a much softer powder type, think candle lit dinner with the wife. I get many compliments while wearing my Le Labo, you can also purchase samples off their web site.
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Re: Vetiver

Post by drmoss_ca »

LeLabo? Is that the same rubbish my wife keeps bringing home from Fairmont Hotel bathrooms? Rose 31 is the label. Basic fake rose scent and barely functional product (maybe there are restrictions on downtown hotels as to how much actual soap and detergent they can put into the non-existent Toronto sewage management system/aka Lake Ontario?)

I don't blame you, Whistler, for mentioning them

I do blame Fairmont Hotels, who ought to know better as an up-market brand. Their regular clients know better and dislike this nasty product.

I especially blame this LeLabo brand. Wretched crap. Avoid at all costs.

Moving on: Vetiver is an excellent scent. Imagine the intersection of dry/wood/tangy/smoky/green and you are there. I don't care for the Creed version as it is weak. The Salter cream is very nicely scented. As a cologne I'd go for L'Artisan Parfumeur Vetiver, which as dry as the proverbial witch's tit and just what you want if you like that scent.
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Re: Vetiver

Post by TRBeck »

Le Labo Rose 31 is not good IMO.

I do like their Vetiver. It's got a whiff of incense about it, plus some bright topnotes, but the vetiver in it is smoky and deep and even slightly powdery in the way the old Floris Vetiver was. It's a bit expensive for me, but I find Comme des Garcons 2 Man a viable alternative with a similar vibe and vetiver heart.

As for vetiver soaps, I do like the Salter: very rooty and smoky, like some of the essential oils I've come across. Savon du Midi has a vetiver shave soap that is too lightly-scented for me, and I know Cold River Soap Works has a vetiver fragrance in their new Glide base that I have not used (it is a tallow soap).

Vetiver is one of my favorite fragrances. Among my homemade shave soaps on hand at present are a citrus-vetiver I made as part of my soap line when I was in business, plus a scent I call vetiver forest, which includes juniper, spruce, cypress, and vetiver in concert; and finally, a tangerine-vetiver that I recently made to send to a member here. That last one is fun: out of the tub, it's all vetiver, a note that can overwhelm everything. After lathering, though, the tangerine pops and the whole thing takes on a brighter cast.
Regards,
Tim

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Re: Vetiver

Post by Whistler »

Apologies Gary for suggesting rubbish.
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Marty
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Re: Vetiver

Post by TRBeck »

Marty, I think Chris was commenting on the Le Labo Rose 31 which is not at all the same stuff. The Vetiver and the Santal are both much more interesting, although the Santal is not sandalwood at all. The Vetiver is a very nice fragrance indeed.

Some other vetivers that are well worth a try:

Comme des Garcons Vettiveru (eau de cologne with a barbershop twist: neroli and clove gently blended into a vetiver-citrus accord with a cedar base...more or less my signature scent)
Lubin Le Vetiver (clean and brisk)
Lubin Itasca Vetiver (really a forest fragrance with a vetiver heart...just fantastic)
Lalique Encre Noire (dark and inky vetiver with a huge dose musk and cedar)

If you want to drop serious coin, Mona di Orio Vetyver is a very deep, rich ginger and vetiver scent that is very discrete and durable. I cannot afford it.
Regards,
Tim

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Re: Vetiver

Post by brothers »

Whistler wrote: Sun Apr 29, 2018 5:27 am Apologies Gary for suggesting rubbish.
Marty, thanks for your suggestions. I value your opinion! I'm still on the prowl for a local source of the Guerlain Vetiver so I can sniff it before I buy a whole bottle.
Gary

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Re: Vetiver

Post by John Parker »

Gary, what was the hand soap you discovered? And how are you liking Morning Ghost? I am tempted to get Morning Ghost to go with my Guerlain Vetiver, but hate to buy it in the blind. Plus I am trying to overcome my forced introduction to hard water. (Moved into an assisted living place that doesn't have soft water, or hot water for that matter. But that is another story.)
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Re: Vetiver

Post by TRBeck »

John, nothing against the artisans, but for hard water like you described over at B&B, I might suggest Fine Green Vetiver. The soap is Tabac's base, which lathers anywhere (mineral chelators!), and the scent is a close match for Guerlain Vetiver. It's hard-milled, so lasts forever, and it's affordable.
Regards,
Tim

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Re: Vetiver

Post by John Parker »

I didn't realize Fine made a shaving soap. Will definitely check that out. And tomorrow is going to be my big experiment using distilled water to try to beat this hard water dilemma! Did find Calgon at the commissary today but not citric acid. But want to try distilled water before I get too involved in chemistry. ---- Goodness! Our new place is very close to Offutt AFB. It is 10:00 pm and I just heard Taps played! Neat!! It has been a long time for this old sailor!!!
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Re: Vetiver

Post by John Parker »

Just checked out the Fine Accoutrements website! And then went to resniff my Fine Green Vetiver aftershave (very nice). Is it safe to say that the shaving soap scent matches the aftershave? The aftershave certainly goes nicely with my Guerlain Vetiver.
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Re: Vetiver

Post by TRBeck »

The soap is a good match for the aftershave. Fine outsources the soap from a European firm, and the story goes that the founder spent a good bit of time and money chasing down the supplier of Tabac's base. Whether the soaps are identical bases is up for debate, but they are really similar.
Regards,
Tim

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Re: Vetiver

Post by Sam »

+1 on CdG 2 Man. Also love Vetiverru but it is short lived on me

Got to find Salter vetiver cream to try. Maybe the Le Labo cologne too
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Re: Vetiver

Post by brothers »

John Parker wrote: Wed May 16, 2018 7:02 pm Gary, what was the hand soap you discovered? And how are you liking Morning Ghost? I am tempted to get Morning Ghost to go with my Guerlain Vetiver, but hate to buy it in the blind. Plus I am trying to overcome my forced introduction to hard water. (Moved into an assisted living place that doesn't have soft water, or hot water for that matter. But that is another story.)

John, by the time I got back to where that hand soap was, it had been replaced and now I'll never know. I figured it was just one of a million other hand soaps, but the maker of the fragrance just hit my sweet spot at random. This morning I used the Morning Ghost. I think I might have overloaded the brush because the soap seemed slightly gummy or pasty. I'll definitely give it another go in a few days with more water and less loading time. On the positive side, the scent is just fine and of course the result was a great cushion and glide, and following the lather pass when I splashed on some water and completed my touchup latherless pass, the Morning Ghost was as slick as slick can get.
Gary

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Re: Vetiver

Post by John Parker »

Thanks, Gary. I did check Smallflower's for vetiver bath soap, and they have several. Or I may just wait until I have a chance to go to T.J. Maxx to check there (usually inexpensive if they have the stuff you want). And I think I may try the Fine Green Vetiver shaving soap. Have never used Tabac shaving soap but have read many good things about it. With my water situation (hard), I really want to concentrate on something that can produce good lather in these conditions. My shaves have gone down hill, even with using distilled water. And this morning the stupid water heater was only putting out 109 degrees!
John
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Re: Vetiver

Post by brothers »

John, I'm right there with you. I've been wanting to try the Green Vetiver also. Speaking of Tabac, it lathers like a dream even with my hard water.
Gary

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Re: Vetiver

Post by John Parker »

The Fine Green vetiver shaving soap (in container) just arrived. Smells great. Do foresee a problem lathering since the puck is loose in the container; about 3/8 free space between puck and container. How am I going to get the puck to "stick"? Thought about grating some to fill up the empty space, but my grater went out in the move from the house to the assistant living apartment since I will no longer be cooking! Maybe I can use a pocket knife to pare some shaving off. Maybe.
John
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Re: Vetiver

Post by TRBeck »

John, I bought a refill and put it in an Anchor Hocking bowl. Similar thing: a bit of space between puck and bowl. I wet the bottom of the puck and then it stuck to the bottom. A bit of suds spillage will accumulate around the puck after a couple of shaves and you won't have the gap.
Regards,
Tim

Why should we not meet, not always as dyspeptics, to tell our bad dreams, but sometimes as eupeptics, to congratulate each other on the ever-glorious morning? - Henry David Thoreau
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