Over the summer, a friend’s son, Anders, turned 13 years old. He’s a stylish kid — he likes to raid his departed grandpa’s closet for ascots and Gucci sunglasses and send the resulting selfies to his mom. He also enjoys the company of middle-aged women, so he asked to host his birthday party at my house.
He was impressed by my perfume collection. I suggested he try a spritz of Guerlain Vetiver. Now, Anders doesn’t have a lot of experience with perfume. When he was a kindergartner, he found a bottle of something Avon that he called his “man cologne” for a few weeks, but that’s it. He sniffed the vetiver and said suspiciously, “It smells like hippies.”
“No!” I told him. “It smells like French executives.”
He nodded once. “Right. Like you’ve smelled a lot of those.”
Ultimately, the vetiver was a hit, and I gave him the bottle. (Apparently he’s painting it for his art class.) When he has a few more years on him, I’ll suggest he try something deeper, something with vetiver’s solid earthiness, but richer, a bit moodier, less citrusy. Something like Bruno Fazzolari Vetiverissimo.
Vetiverissimo’s notes include vetiver, resins, cedar and spices. The Bruno Fazzolari website makes a point of saying the fragrance has no head notes, and I get it. Vetiverissimo feels solid, dense and whole, like holding a rounded chunk of teak. Vaporous top notes have no place here. What you smell on first applying it is pretty much what you smell several hours later as it fades on skin.
And what you smell is dense vetiver infused with incense, a trace of cardamom and cedar for a woody, spicy vetiver hit with a waft of a warm iron radiator. It’s much darker than the landmark gentlemen’s vetivers, Guerlain Vetiver and Lubin Le Vetyver, which lean toward citrusy grassiness. But it’s not as tarry and punk as Fazzolari’s own Lampblack or Maitre Parfumeur et Gantier Route du Vetiver. Vetiverissimo is not as resinous and complex as, say, L’Artisan Parfumeur Timbuktu.
Vetiverissimo is, simply, the well-cut blue jeans of vetiver. It goes nearly anywhere and fits just about everyone. It’s not particularly fancy or self-consciously tough. It’s the real thing and smells like quality down to its last gasps at the end of the day. Its very simplicity and integrity makes it hard to review, because there’s not really a lot to say.
I recently found a Christian Louboutin satchel at a thrift shop. It's made of thick, silky cognac-colored Italian leather and crafted perfectly to fit over my shoulder and hold all my essentials plus a paperback novel. Its only extravagance is a subtle braided trim on the seams. The satchel doesn't call attention to itself, except that it's perfect.
Will Vetiverissimo blow your mind with its inventiveness? No. Neither does my new bag, but you'll need a crowbar to peel it from my hands. Those French executives anointing themselves with Guerlain Vetiver before work? They have nothing to complain about. Still, in their hearts it's the weekend, and they’re at home in the country with a guitar, friends coming for dinner, a good dog, and a fat bottle of Vetiverissimo on the dresser.
Bruno Fazzolari Vetiverissimo Eau de Parfum is $125 for 30 ml. For information on where to find it, see Bruno Fazzolari under Perfume Houses.
And a lemming was born!
BF? Vetiver? Together? In one delightful bottle? I may break my “no more buying unsniffed” rule for this one. And really, my success rate with buying unsniffed is pretty dang good…
Thanks for the review✌????
You can always order a sample first! In any case, I hope you love it.
What a fun read! And score on the satchel! I have been hesitant to try anything vetiver for no reason in particular. Have to try this one and the Guerlain.
Flopper, I have a vat of the Guerlain- happy to send you some, just email me if interested! Taiga101 in the land of yahooligans. Cheers!
Thank you, Oh gosh you are too kind! I was looking at Luckyscent and there are a lot of things I’ve tried that have vetiver as a note! I guess vetiver as the main star I’ve not tried.
Oh, vetiver is a good note to know and wear! It’s complex on its own, but still green and fresh.
So many good vetivers out there. Turtle Vetiver was the best, I thought. These days, I really love the Diptyque offering, and I wear the Annick Goutal Vetiver more often than I’d have ever imagined. The last two are so refined you don’t get that peanutty note I enjoy in vetiver so much. I’ll be looking forward to this one.
I like L’Artisan’s Coeur de Vetiver Sacré, too. So many good ones!
I thought I loved vetiver, but I was meh on Guerlain and BF’s Lampblack, so maybe I just live Channel Sycomore. Still curious to try this one (and Sammarco Vitrium).
Sycomore really is a wonderful vetiver, but worlds apart from Lampblack.
This is an awesome review! I love the Anders anecdote beginning
He’s something else, that kid. I can’t wait to find out how he turns out.
Is this then a study of vetiver? Have you tried Masque Milano’s Hemingway (supposedly another study of vetiver). I’m curious to see how they compare.
In any case, I really dig the blanket
No, I haven’t tried Hemingway, but now I’m intrigued. The Masque Milano fragrances have been so interesting.
This is DEFINITELY one of the 2018 releases that I was most interested in.
When I really started collecting perfumes, I fell in love with Jean Claude Elena’s work and Chanel Cuir de Russie, so I thought that leather and transparent citrus would be my true loves. But as I’ve “aged” in the hobby, it seems that IRIS and VETIVER are the notes that most intrigue me, and I am most interested in studying them from 100 different viewpoints.
Sycomore is so far my favorite, but I also really enjoy Roja Dove’s and Dior’s takes on Vetiver. I missed Turtle Front and Back (darn!). Somehow the Guerlain and FM are total misses for me— almost urinous and tinny. I love a slightly sweet, woody, rounded vetiver the most.
Thanks for the review!! I have to seek this out!
After your description, this vetiver might be right up your alley!
My dearest gvc— have you tried Carner Barcelona D600? It matches your ideal Vetiver and it is very iris forward!
Thanks for the review, Angela! I have a sample coming my way eventhough I still find vetiver to be challenging, though not sure why. Maybe it is its complexity? I do love Lampblack, but it’s more stylized and vetiver doesn’t stand out on its own, to my nose, anyway.
But I do wish I could meet Anders! He sounds like a hoot ????
Lampblack can be difficult to wear, I think. Vetiverissimo is a lot easier.
Anders is definitely a hoot! He’s one of those kids who does his own thing instead of following the crowd, and I love that.
Great review Angela…I love a lot of Bruno Fazzolari’s perfumes and will have to give this one a try.
I hope you’ll report back!
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this review – even though usually I avoid reading anything about perfumes I haven’t tried but plan to. But you masterfully drew me into with that opening story. Thank you.
I’m glad you enjoyed it!
I really like the conclusion of your great review – felt I had to give a shout out for that given how much praise you’re getting for the beginning
Thank you–that’s so sweet!
Oh gosh, I really wanted to like this one. Actually, I did love it the first time I tried it. I got myself a sample and tried it on a second time, like a good, cautious buyer, and the second time, the drydown turned into this horrible musk! (I often like musk, but this one was a real spoilt-garbage style musk.) I’ve been a bit scared of trying it on again, but after reading your description, well, I really need to see if that musky awfulness was a one-time thing.
I don’t know. Maybe BF just isn’t for me. By all rights, I should’ve ADORED Ummagumma. Instead, it gave me an awful headache.
(I didn’t really make this clear above, but your review really was beautiful, from beginning to end!)
Thank you–that’s very nice!
My skin didn’t bring out a lot of musk (thankfully, it sounds like!) But everyone’s different. I wasn’t wild about Ummagumma, either–it felt somehow too opaque and unreadable.