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Le Labo Vetiver 46 & il Profumo Vetiver de Java ~ fragrance reviews

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il Profumo Vetiver de Java fragranceLe Labo Vetiver 46

Le Labo Vetiver 46 and il Profumo Vetiver de Java, like yesterday’s Vetyver by Parfums de Nicolaï, are not unadorned renditions of vetiver: if you want the root, straight up and simple, you’ll have to look elsewhere. Vetyver highlighted vetiver’s earthy green properties with strong spices; in the two fragrances considered here, the focus is on wood notes.

Vetiver de Java is from il Profumo, the Italian perfume house created by Silvana Casoli. It has notes of lavender, vetiver, birch, incense, red rose, Cashmere cypress, gaiac wood and oak moss. The opening is a burst of lavender, slightly harsh, with a touch of citrus. It settles into a mild blend of mossy-earthy woods, tinged green, with occasional drifts of incense smoke and a bit of rose hovering just underneath the surface…

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Fragrance review: Vetyver by Parfums de Nicolai

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Vetiver grass

Parfums de Nicolaï launched Vetyver for men in 2004. The fragrance includes notes of vetiver, cumin, black pepper, clove, coriander, ylang ylang, jasmine and tonka bean absolute.

Vetyver opens on juicy citrus notes overlaid with heavy spices. The cumin is quite strong, but the effect is moderated by the pepper, clove and coriander; despite my general hatred for cumin in fragrance, I didn’t find it unpleasant here. Mind you, I didn’t love it, but I didn’t find it unpleasant. The spices get drier and dustier as the citrus fades, and while they do calm somewhat, Vetyver stays quite spicy straight through the dry down. It is not quite so curried as say, Christian Dior Eau Noire, but it does have a mild Indian food vibe…

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Perfume & lasting power: a lament

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Prague clock

Last night I sat down to finish off a review of one of my favorite fragrances by Jo Malone, Black Vetyver Café. Here is part of what I wrote:

Black Vetyver Café starts with dark coffee beans, freshly ground and almost-but-not-quite bitter, with a woody-nutty undertone. There is a faint trail of dry, smoke-free incense, and hints of pepper and light spices. Over the next 15 minutes, the coffee fades and the vetiver and woods intensify…

I love those first 15 minutes of Black Vetyver Café, but eventually gave up on finishing the review. There isn’t much more to say. The fragrance doesn’t entirely disappear after 15 minutes, but its glory is pretty much over by 30, and what remains after an hour is too bland to talk about at any length…

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Comme des Garcons series 4: Cologne

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Comme des Garcons cologne series

Comme des Garçons released Series 4: Cologne in 2002. Each of the three fragrances is a variation on the classic citrus-based cologne theme.

Anbar is the Arabic word for amber, and the fragrance has notes of amber, mandarin, orange blossom, lavender, clove and musk. It starts with bright citrus notes, and settles quickly into a mild blend with a whisper of dry orange blossom over pale amber undertones. It has a touch of spice, but overall, it is more bright than dark. The lasting power is fine considering the strength, and it is nicely done, but for the moment I am not captivated so I am setting my sample aside for another try in the summer…

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Frederic Malle Vetiver Extraordinaire ~ fragrance review

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Vetiver Extraordinaire by Frederic Malle

Vétiver Extraordinaire was released by Frederic Malle in 2002. The fragrance was created by nose Dominique Ropion, and includes bergamot, bigarade orange, pink pepper, nutmeg, floralozone (a “fresh air” note), Haitian vetyver, sandalwood, cedarwood, oak moss, myrrh, cashmeran, musketone and tonalide (synthetic musks). It is said to have one of the highest concentrations of vetiver of any fragrance on the market (25%).

It starts with a brief flash of very dry citrus. It is quickly joined by the spice notes, and for a few minutes, it is extremely diffusive, which I assume is the floralozone talking. After that calms, it smells like damp mossy woods and vetiver, and there is almost no point in trying to dissect it further, as it simply smells like the sum of its parts, and if you love vetiver, it smells very wonderful indeed…

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