New at Sephora, Vetiver Extreme by Guerlain:
Vetiver Extreme takes a modern twist on the original Eau de Toilette with the added richness and intensity of green and woody notes resulting in a scent that's the embodiment of simplicity and vitality.
The notes include lemon, bergamot, artemisia, pepper, nutmeg, olibanum, vetiver, tonka bean and cedar, and the 125 ml bottle of Eau de Toilette is $74. Please comment if you've tried Guerlain Vetiver Extreme, the original Guerlain Vetiver is one of my all time favorite fragrances.
Update: see a review of Guerlain Vetiver Extreme.
The Body Shop has launched a new fragrance, Zestini:
Zestini is a mouth-watering citrus delight, so juicy and zesty it smells of freshly squeezed lemons!
Other notes include grapefruit, sweet and bitter orange, cassis, peach, leafy accord, freesia, peony, jasmine, musk, tonka bean, teck wood and sandalwood. Zestini is an Eau de Toilette, and the 30 ml bottle is $16.
I did try. More spicy, less fresh, more modern also in the woody drydown. The color also is weird. A green that goes towards the blue. I wear Vetiver, but I wouldn't wearVetiver Extreme.
ambroxan
Hmmm, that does not sound compelling! I will not be able to resist trying it if my local Sephora gets a tester, but don't think I'll need it. Thanks!
I scoured the web for discount bottles and/or samples of Vet X, but apparently Sephora has an exclusive on this, because I found it listed nowhere else. So, I finally went there to check it out in person. I would say that the one thing that it definitely is is compelling. The extremely (it's a well-named fragrance) strong green/grassy (almost astringent) lemon + artemisia absinthium + vetiver combo creates an initial olfactory shock that the classy and well-balanced original never would. Even though several sources describe it as spicier than the original, I smell no spice at all. I mainly smell a lot of bright woods and strong bright lemon. Regarding the test spray that I placed on my arm, I initially hated it, then slowly began to think that it is amazing (for its edgy wierdness), and now have finally concluded that it is too feminine to ever be a future men's fragrance purchase of mine: even though—and unlike the original—I smell nothing floral in it (and the notes list confirms this), the great increase in bright lemony greenness combined with the great decrease in leather/moss/tobacco leads my nose to consider it a women's fragrance.
I haven't seen it anywhere else either, at least not yet. I only tried it very quickly on a card, and decided it was too flat and woody. Will have to give it a try on skin, it sounds more interesting than I thought.
Do you like “Tea (Leaves)” by Comme des Garçons? Because I just (purely coincidentally) tried that today and found it uncannily similar to Vet X. I would say Vet X is a lot like Tea but with all the sharp astringent wierdness amped up and all the rose petals removed. (Is that a good thing? Probably not. But it's maybe an interesting thing.)
The first time I tried the CdG, thought it was very cool but not wearable. That was some years ago, need to try it again — would probably love it now.