Vetiver

[Sam]

I am thinking a greener scent for me. For years I have not done well with vet over as a scent. Years ago I had Geurlain and it was soapy and earthy to the max. Then i had Montale Red Vetyver and it was spicy and pineapple and long lasting. Tried Comme des Garcons Vettiveru and it was good but fleeting. Tried one- either Vetiver Extraordinare or something by Lutens or Malle-and it was chocolate. Then EncreNoire was smokey ink

Lately I have wanted to revisit it as via summer scent. Tried TomFord Grey Vetiver and it was bright Read up on Dior Vetiver and I this said to be pineapple and vetiver with a coffee background. Not smokey like Chanel Sycamore, which I liked but did not last and also smokey

Ideas? I am thinking it is Montale Red Vetyver or the Dior or Tom Ford Grey Vetiver

[Squire]

Sam the two that work for me are Creed's Original Vetiver (which is neither original or vetiver) and Roget & Gallet's Vetiver. The latter I used for decades and thought I liked Vetiver until I discovered it was really a citrus scent with a vetiver touch. Could say the same thing for the Creed.

[TRBeck]

Squire's suggestions are both good ones. Good scents that are very likeable and wear well.

Grey Vetiver is IMO an update of the older citrus vetivers, bright and clean without being cloying. I like it much more than I did at first sniff. I also like Red Vetyver a great deal. These would both be good choices, and you know you like them. I will mention two others. The first is Maitre Parfumeur et Gantier Racine. Also in the citrus-and-vetiver vein and very well done. The other one, and it is very pricy, is Mona di Orio Vetyver Les Nombres d'Or Eau de Parfum. It is IMO an absolute stunner, deep and cool and green and round without ever going sweet on my skin. Less citrus, though there is some, and more use of spices (ginger, nutmeg) and wood to surround the vetiver and keep it from being plain, raw, and earthy. WInds up a fresh and dry scent that lasts and lasts. I went through a small sample a while back, and it was by far the best new scent I'd sampled in ages. It's spendy, as I said, but ranks with Sycomore as a vetiver masterpiece of recent vintage IMO.

[Bargepole]

I think green, grass, chocolate and smoke are part of the deal with vetiver. The Guerlain has downplayed the vetiver until to my nose it's not really paying its way, and the Tom Ford Grey Vetiver is in the same category -- to me it fetches up as a sort of citrus with something wrong about it, and an odd rotted-lemon-rind note at the top.

For me, the three tops are Vetiver Extraordinaire, Sycomore and Encre Noir, with a special reserve cabinet for Route des Vetivers (earthy and swampy and profoundly hard-core), Turtle Vetiver #1 (Limited run; all gone; Isabel Doyen away from the Annick Goutal politesse factory, with her rock chick boots on); and Turtle Vetiver "Front" (Mme Doyen again, but with a cute broderie Anglaise chemise over her black Levis and her Doc Marten's -- starts off with a balsamic, smoot vetiver but has a surprise at the end in the form of a dryout soft as a dog's-nose kiss but not uncompromisingly masculine.)

I wonder whether a different sort of green -- the galbanum green in the original Vent Vert, for example -- might not be worth thinking about? For what it's worth, Grey Flannel is still pretty damn good. There's also Bois d'Orage a.k.a. French Lover, Borneo (Serge Lutens; greener than Borneo Redux, a.k.a. Coromandel), or the current, excellent Robert Piguet Bandit.

[Sam]

Was hoping you would show up Michael. I am a bit gun-shy on an earthy vetiver, and so I went with samples of Red Vetiver and the Dior version

[gsgo]

Royall Vetiver, stands up well to others in the gendre, seems to have some followers, I find it is a bit lighter than Guerlain, doesn't hang on as long but I like the note on Royall especially for the summer months.

[JRTASTER]

This post intrigued me and I checked out the Mona diOrio Vetyver and found it goes for about $225+...pricy indeed.

On Basenotes, the Vetyver had rave comments, but at that price, it's way out of my reach. I still gulp when I remember
shelling out half that for Acqua diParma, which I sampled deeply and often before purchasing!

Also learned the apparently gifted Mona passed away several years ago due to complications following surgery at age 42.
She had quite a bio and several apparently great fragrance creations in her too short career.

jr/John

[Bargepole]

Expensive, yes... but by doubling your expenditure from Acqua di Parma you go up an order of magnitude in the kind of experience the fragrance will give you. Mona di Orio's Vetyver is not to my taste -- too much else going on, though the initial rooty blast of the Giant Honkweed is really fine -- but it's an extremely well-crafted and eloquent fragrance; Acqua di Parma, to me, is a reasonable eau de cologne with a splash of rose; elegantly done, gentlemanly, but in the end -- and I wear it a lot in summer, when we *get* summer -- it tells the same story each time. It doesn't suddenly slew round and do something unexpected that reminds you why you fell in love in the first place.

(Thank heavens, one might say.)

Now Sam, who has a sanguine attitude to paying top dollar, might well find the Orio very fine indeed. I should have thought of it myself. Tsk. Losing my touch.

[Sam]

Sometimes I can justify top dollar, other times I can't. Probably the latter with vet over until I get the one I have to have

[Bargepole]

And you will. It'll happen. Happens to us all.

[Craig_From_Cincy]

Michael, Interesting to learn that Grey Flannel has held up well over the years. It was the first 'adult' cologne I ever wore, and it has a sentimental place in my heart. I see that it sells for around $20 here, a very modest price indeed. I'm going to have to buy a bottle now.

[JRTASTER]

Michael,

Having re-read your posts in this thread, they surely approach gifted prose grounded in a wondrous and intimate knowledge of the nuances of fragrance
and scents....I seriously stand in awe of your expertise.

With respect to your response to my tight-fistedness, however,may I quote that well-known San Francisco street poet, Dirty Harry:
" a man has got to know his limitations!"

Great and informative thread. Thanks!

jr/John

[drmoss_ca]

Michael is one of those few people who can, and deserve, to make a living with a pen. Buy his books and feed him!

The only vetiver I have is that from L'Artisan Parfumeur, which is a dry grassy scent, quite unlike the smell of a barn filled with new-mown hay and more like the dregs and sweepings at the end of the winter. I like it well, but it might not suit others.

Chris

[Bargepole]

...With respect to your response to my tight-fistedness...

Yes; I realised after I'd posted my comment that it could be interpreted like that, and I meant to post a follow-up, but then forgot. I didn't mean to suggest that you were a skinflint and I am sorry if I gave that impression. Your damn' right about knowing one's limitations; I got into terrible trouble when I was in my twenties for being completely incapable -- for reasons of bluff and swagger -- of saying "No, I'm sorry but I can't afford it." Your saying that the di Orio "is way out of my reach" is admirable. If more people said "Sorry, but the price is beyond my means at the moment" we might not all be in the mess we are now.

I should have read over my post before hitting the button. No offence was intended, nor to my other suggestion that Sam was a kind of crazed hyperosmic Croesus scattering ducats and doubloons indiscriminately at the merest glint of a bottle-stopper. My apologies.

[JRTASTER]

Michael, Michael, Michael,

No apology is needed as absolutely no offense whatsoever was taken.

Though never having met you, from all your posts over the last 6-7 years you appear to be the
consummate gentleman and one who regularly and generously shares your astounding expertise
with all of us! For this alone you have my and our admiration and appreciation!

The fact is, with your expert use of our Mother Tongue, had you wanted to offend me, I probably
wouldn't ever have realized it, or not at least for several months.

Please don't change for any reason, let alone this "no harm, no foul" non-incident!

All the best,

jr/John

[Squire]

Beautiful image Michael, Sam with fists full of ducats and doubloons.

[Sam]

More like Scrooge McDuck if you ask me.

Im not one to even think anything about anything that is said. I agree with Chris, buy Michael's books. He has a way with the wording that paints pictures, even if I don't understand all the words. I know how harsh a statement might come across in writing, when actually, if one were saying it aloud, it would sound funny. I many times have said something that came across as harsh when I did not mean that.

Actually, Squire, I bet my practice was more like yours than you imagine, as mine is mainly low to middle income clients. I have no office staff, and that affords me the luxury of not having hands out at the end of the week when there is more week left than money. I have two colognes at present, and so shopping for a third or fourth is what I am doing, and I dont mind spending a few more dollars than I could pay for something at Macy's (some of the scents there are like $85 for 100 ml, so spending $155 for 1120 ml is not that bad to me, that is, if I like the Dior Vetiver, and Montale is around $130 for 100ml)

[Squire]

Sam I just like the image of you tossing gold coins while being wheeled over the cobblestones in your carriage.

[bernards66]

Yes, Sam is actually quite tight fisted most of the time but can go bonkers when it comes to scent. I definately know, and am okay with, my limitations in this regard; stuff like Aqua di Parma and Penhaligon's is my absolute top end these days ( and I hardly ever really paid full price for Creed even 'back when' ). And I'm also definately one of those dullards who think 'thank God' when a scent doesn't pull some sore of weird and unexpected turn-about in mid flight as it were. So, there you have it; poor and lacking in imagination...sigh...but i still think I smell pretty good most of the time ( chuckle ).
Regards,
Gordon

[Sam]

Got my samples of Montale Red Vetyver and Dior Vetiver. The Montale I have had before. Says it has a grapefruit opening with Haitian Vetiver. I get the citrus and some spices, makes it smell like it is hot but it is not a spicy scent per se. It projects and lasts, and I have to get it.

Now, the Dior has notes of grapefruit, Haitian vetiver and Cocoa. Went on bright and has the grassiness without being too earthy. Kinda like a vetiver for someone who does not like vetiver. To me, it is not like Encre Noir or Sycamore, the former being an 'inky' sort of scent and the latter being smokey. I could see me getting this, $155.00 for 125 ml/4.25 ounces, so not a bad price all in all.

Im two hours into it and it is smelling nice. Wife did not care for it but this is one that I could wear to the office when she is not going to be with me, and keep Creed GIT for those occassions when she is not