• About
  • Login to comment
    • Facebook
    • RSS
    • Twitter

Now Smell This

a blog about perfume

Menu ▼
  • Perfume Reviews
  • New Perfumes
  • Perfumers
  • Perfume Houses
  • Shop for perfume
  • Resources

Lorenzo Villoresi Yerbamate fragrance review

Posted by Robin on 29 November 2006 17 Comments

Lorenzo Villoresi Yerbamate

Lorenzo Villoresi recently became the first independent perfumer to win the Prix François Coty. In his honor, today I'm revisiting Yerbamate, a 2001 fragrance from the Fantasy Collection. Yerbamate was named for the South American plant that is brewed to make mate tea. The ad copy describes the scent as...

A boundless greenland touching the sky. The scent of grass, of new-mown hay, of countless herbs and flowers scattered in the fields, stirred by the wind and warmed by the sun. A lonely fire in the meadows, the quiet ritual of tea and mate a gentle veil of smoke, rising and lightly embracing.

Yerbamate includes green and citrus notes, tea, aromatic herbs, mate, mint, estragon, rosewood, ylang ylang, new-mown hay, lavender, galbanum, labdanum, tree-moss, patchouli, vetiver, aromatic woods and powdery & spice notes.

Yerbamate opens on citrus and fresh herbs, as advertised, and the first few minutes are sharp and bracing. As it calms, the grass and hay join in, along with bitter tomato leaf, and it begins to smell rather like a vegetable garden baking in the sun on a hot August day. Further on, it switches gears and leaves the fresh outdoors behind; in its place, we get sweet, resinous-ambery notes, along with hints of smoke and soap and a fair-to-middling dusting of powder.

Yerbamate is a dense fragrance, very much in keeping with Lorenzo Villoresi's style — he has a few relatively light scents, but by and large, this is not a line you turn to for transparency. It is also a distinctive fragrance, and I have always admired it greatly without being able to decide if I actually like it. It strikes me as a fragrance that would take a certain kind of person to pull off, which is, I suppose, exactly the point of a niche scent, right? If you've tried Yerbamate, do comment.

Yerbamate is a unisex Eau de Toilette, and the lasting power is excellent. For buying information, see the listing for Lorenzo Villoresi under Perfume Houses.

Possibly of interest

Summer greens ~ fragrance reviews
Aftelier Joie de Vert ~ fragrance review
Vilhelm Parfumerie Chicago High & Imaginary Authors The Soft Lawn Edition 2.0 ~ fragrance reviews

Filed Under: perfume talk
Tagged With: green, lorenzo villoresi

Advertisement


17 Comments

Leave a comment, or read more about commenting at Now Smell This. Here's our privacy policy, and a handy emoticon chart.

  1. Anonymous says:
    29 November 2006 at 3:39 pm

    I haven't smelled this one, but I like your general idea. I'm kind of captivated by fragrances like that — I imagine them to be the perfect match for this one person (who generally isn't me) who then has a perfect signature scent. I've decided Chaos is mine (although I'm hardly alone in that!)

    Log in to Reply
  2. Anonymous says:
    29 November 2006 at 3:51 pm

    Yerbamate is a surprisingly fresh, complex juice that wafts out of the bottle bright, green and heady. Twenty minutes onto the skin it is dense, sweet, heavy, and agressive. The freshness is replaced by a sharp powderiness which clings and refuses to mellow into a bottom note. Villarosi is known for his dense perfumes, but I felt lost in a blizzard of suffocating powder at the drydown.

    Log in to Reply
  3. Anonymous says:
    29 November 2006 at 5:40 pm

    I bought Yerbamate because I fell in love with its herbal complexity, and thought it would be perfect for summer. Summer came, and Yerbamate…wasn't quite perfect. As SniffQ says, it refused to mellow. It stayed aggressively herbal and, if anything, seemed to get stronger the more I wore it. So now I'm wondering if the coldest weather will suit it better…waiting for February…sigh.

    Log in to Reply
  4. Anonymous says:
    29 November 2006 at 7:14 pm

    No, you're not, LOL…just saw that perfume bay is selling *samples* of Chaos for $10 or something.

    Log in to Reply
  5. Anonymous says:
    29 November 2006 at 7:16 pm

    That is how I felt the first time I tried it, and am wondering now if it was hot at the time. Today, it didn't strike me as oppressive at all, in fact, it was enjoyable to wear even if still not quite “me”, and it wasn't nearly as powdery as I remembered.

    Log in to Reply
  6. Anonymous says:
    29 November 2006 at 7:17 pm

    Ah, sorry then that you've already bought it. But as I said above, it didn't seem too heavy to me today. Dense, yes, but not really heavy, despite the fact that we are having fairly warm weather for November. Hope it will work better for you when it gets good & cold.

    Log in to Reply
  7. Anonymous says:
    29 November 2006 at 8:35 pm

    It is indeed strongly herbal. All of a sudden the before so easy to separate herbs blend together and I'm left with something refreshingly soapy accord. It reminds me of something, and although I always feel I've missunderstood a fragrance when I make the floor cleaner parallel, I can't help but to do it here. It smells very much like something like that which I've encountered before.

    Log in to Reply
  8. Anonymous says:
    29 November 2006 at 10:47 pm

    I know this scent has lots of fans because people used to post about it on MakeupAlley when I first came there…but apparently none of them are going to comment here today.

    Log in to Reply
  9. Anonymous says:
    30 November 2006 at 8:25 am

    Thanks for the review, R! I am glad you mentioned the soapy quality of Yerbamate because I found all of the Villoresi scents to have that soapiness to them. I love them, Donna was my favorite of all of them.

    Log in to Reply
  10. Anonymous says:
    30 November 2006 at 10:36 am

    Review of Donna coming up later today, P :-)

    Log in to Reply
  11. Az says:
    7 November 2009 at 3:02 am

    Almost 3yrs :D

    Hey Robin after reading reviews on MUA, I wonder if the base notes are too sweet? I’m looking for sth green, herbal, cool & wavering between this one & Guerlain Herba Fresca. Thank you in advance :)

    Log in to Reply
    • Robin says:
      7 November 2009 at 8:37 am

      The Guerlain is fresh & crisp, this one is not: it’s sweetish, and very dense. If you’re looking for crisp, fresh, green, you might also try the Miller et Bertaux Green, green, green.

      Log in to Reply
      • Az says:
        7 November 2009 at 9:56 pm

        Thank you dear. Suddenly I’m fed up with all the oriental for winter. I think I’ll get Yerbamate, haven’t had anything by LV yet.. A risky unsniffed purchase, it’s just sweetish right :D The MeB Green sounds great, must check it out =)

        Log in to Reply
        • Robin says:
          7 November 2009 at 10:31 pm

          Ack, can’t you get a sample first? That’s a very risky unsniffed choice.

          Log in to Reply
          • Az says:
            8 November 2009 at 1:23 am

            I was too impatient (maybe partly because of your review :P), guess I’ll get some vial from theperfumedcourt first.

            Thanks a lot <3

  12. raluca says:
    23 March 2010 at 7:50 am

    Ah, Lorenzo Villoresi, such an exquisite line! And the prices are correct for such a high quality (real, not only advertised, like Bond no. 9 or MDCI) perfumery! My idole.

    Log in to Reply
    • Robin says:
      23 March 2010 at 12:55 pm

      It is a great line.

      Log in to Reply

Leave a reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Advertisement

Search

From NST at Twitter

  • "The Biggest Fragrance Trends for 2023, According to Experts" (marieclaire) https://t.co/tVmxnyMEXX, 2 hours ago
  • "Cult Shop: the perfumer drawing on her Māori heritage" (financial times) https://t.co/9HmkvBfcvm,
  • Imaginary Authors' limited edition Decisions, Decisions from 2020 is available again for a limited time… https://t.co/CL55QrsyTB,
  • "Scent-a Fe: New Mexico could be first state with official aroma" (guardian) https://t.co/zt7NB3n20L,
  • "The Smell of Magic: A new crop of scents reference long-held beliefs about the connection between perfume and the… https://t.co/6OeiuFOYtf,

Browse by...

Topic

Perfume talk New fragrances
Shopping Books :: News
Body products Home fragrance
Polls Another subject

Date

January 2023
December 2022
November 2022
October 2022
September 2022
August 2022

Prior months

Author

Robin Jessica
Angela Kevin
Erin Guest Author

Tag

Celebrity perfumes
Cheap thrills
Collector bottles
Perfumista tip series
Video
The complete tag index

Recent reviews

Atelier Cologne Love Osmanthus
Moschino Toy Boy
Arquiste Misfit
Diptyque Eau Capitale
Zoologist Bee
Parfum d’Empire Immortelle Corse
Comme des Garcons Series 10 Clash
Frédéric Malle Rose & Cuir
L’Artisan Parfumeur Le Chant de Camargue
Yves Saint Laurent Grain de Poudre
Régime des Fleurs Chloë Sevigny Little Flower
Chanel 1957
Gallivant Los Angeles
Amouage Portrayal Woman

Blogroll

Bois de Jasmin
Grain de Musc
Perfume Posse
The Non-Blonde
More blogs...

Perfumista lists

100 fragrances every perfumista should try
And 25 more fragrances every perfumista should smell
50 masculine fragrances every perfumista should try
26 vintage fragrances every perfumista should try
25 rose fragrances every perfumista should try
11 Cheap Perfumes Beauty Outsiders Love

Favorite posts

The Great Perfume Reduction Plan
Why I Love Old School Chypres
New to perfume and want to learn more?
How to make fragrance last through the day
Fragrance concentrations: sorting it all out
On reformulations, or why your favorite perfume doesn’t smell like it used to
How to get fragrance samples
Perfume for Life: How Long Will Your Fragrance Collection Last?

Upcoming

List of upcoming Friday projects

4 January ~ damage poll
4 February ~ winter reading poll

TBA April ~ swap meet

Back to Top

Home
About Now Smell This :: Privacy Policy

Shop for Perfume Online
Perfume Shopping in New York
Perfume Shopping in London
Perfume Reviews
New Perfumes
General Perfume Articles
The Monday Mail

Glossary of Perfume Terms
Perfume FAQ
Perfume Links
Perfume Books
Fragrance Awards

Noses ~ Perfumers A-E :: F-K :: L-S :: T-Z

Perfume Houses A-B :: C :: D-E :: F-G
H-J :: K-L :: M :: N-O :: P :: Q-R :: S
T :: U-Z

Copyright © 2005-2023 Now Smell This. All rights reserved.