Vetiver

[forspecial_plate]

I'm pretty sure Baron Samedi has vetiver even though it's not listed. It took me a long time to recognize it, but for me it comes out in the dry-down. If you like spicey almond and/or bay you might want to try it.

[Jupita]

Okay, I know you were like "no amber!" but I do not care for amber very much at all and one of my favourite vetiver blends is Prurience red amber and scorched musk with voluptuous carnation, charred vetiver, sensuous tonka, and orris. It's definitely in the Snake Oil/Snake Charmer/Mme. Moriarty family. If you feel like tracking down a (not hard to find) LE with a similar vibe to Prurience and a fabulous vetiver note, you can try Lunar Eclipse Red musk, black currant, violet leaf, wild frankincense, lavender, black orchid, Darjeeling tea, vetiver, red moss, myrrh, Moroccan spices, blackened fruit gums, and tobacco.

 

Some other good vetiver recs:

 

Queen Bewitching Brews Brews For use only by women. An extremely potent passion blend, used to great effect when you're converting feminine sexual energy into power.

This, of course, is dependent on whether or not you choose to wear the Voodoo blends. If they are your bag this is a fabulous vetiver/honey/pine blend that is both enticing and a little threatening.

 

Alecto Excolo Olive leaf, raspberry leaf, vetiver and cedarwood.

Strong vetiver bolstered by the herbal quality of the other ingredients.

 

The Scales of Deprivation Sin and Salvation lemon peel, white sage, frankincense, lavender fougere, sandalwood, vetiver and labdanum.

A dry, herbal vetiver chypre. Very handsome and masculine.

 

Anathema Sin and Salvation Black opium, with vetivert and honeysuckle.

A bit sweeter. I find the opium to be the stronger note but ymmv.

 

Queen sounds nice... I didn't know it had vetiver in it... besides, I like pine too... is it very sweet, with honey being there and all?

 

Alecto sounds very nice too... those are the two that really tempt me the most...

 

Amber is a definite "no-no", not because I don't care for the scent, I actually like it on other people, but because once I put a blend with amber on my skin, thats the only thing that I can smell, it kills everything else, and in 5 minutes time, there's juste amber, and nothing else...

[aniemel]

Hiya vetiver loving loving peeps! Anyone have some new recs? I read through a few pages in the Vetiver discussion and added a few to my wishlist but I didn't find many that I haven't tried although Lucifer sounds fantastic. Seems like vetiver is usually paired with something I can't wear like myrrh, flowers, dragon's blood etc. Cohen v. California was so close to being perfect but the honey that is garbage juice to my nose stomped all over that! The ones I have and love are Death Adder, Tombeur and Antonino but I don't really get much vetiver out of the latter two. I don't want anything that is too charred or green, thanks for any help! (brought this over from Vetiver discussion)

[Wwindy]

Triumph of Death and Expressive Head were both very vetiver-heavy on me.

[ivyandpeony]

I thought I would bump this thread since we have vetiver single note available from the Lab this month. Here's my take on it! Vetiver isn't a note that I can wear often - I actually like the smell of it but it's usually bad when it's on my skin. It amps up and doesn't ever mellow for me. Still, I love it in a couple of blends, particularly Tombeur. I smell it in a lot of blends where smoke or leather are listed as notes. It also seems to age really well. Older bottles of vetiver-containing blends seem much smoother to me.

 

If I had to recommend vetiver scents, Tombeur would be first for me and I would also encourage everyone to try Azathoth. So what are your recs? Do you have any "vetiver for the vetiver-adverse" recommendations? Are you going to buy the single note while it's available?

[Monday]

My favorite vetiver blend so far is Death Adder. I'm very curious to see how the SN will turn out.

I have slathered on some Hurricane but the 'rain' part of it isn't working for me.

[whataboutprom]

I have been slathering on Sloth for two days now, and I can't get enough. Any recommendations for vetiver heavy blends that are similar?

[angelamaria]

So what are your recs? Do you have any "vetiver for the vetiver-adverse" recommendations? Are you going to buy the single note while it's available?

The only scent I have that has vetiver in it is Wulric, and it's not apparent to me at all, so I don't know if that is a good rec for "vetiver for the vetiver-adverse" folk as I'd never smelled a vetiver that I've wanted to try.

[neptuneanblues]

Vetiver and I are not friends either. I think the only scent with vetiver that I like is A Golden Idol from the 2010 Yules, which is antiqued amber, English lavender, vetiver, and tea rose. It's actually kind of headshoppy on me, which is probably why I like it. Most of the reviews say it's strong on vetiver, though.

[ModderRhu]

Harimise is a great one for people averse to vetiver. It has loads of sweet stuff in it to mask it. In all other blends vetiver smells like meat, burning hair, fish, or rancid peanut butter to me. Wonder if the Haitian variety is different.

 

ETA: it's listed as "khus" in Harimise, I believe. Yup it is!

 

 

Rice powder, osmanthus, rose geranium, magnolia, khus, and chestnut.

Edited October 1, 2012 by ModderRhu

[orata]

Atlas is a beautiful vetiver scent--very soft, woodsy, and cuddly. I often feel like vetiver smells like old peanut butter but I don't get that impression with Atlas.

[fufu_berry]

I'm not too much an expert on vetiver for the vetiver-averse since I love it, but to me, the vetiver in Cohen v. California and Velvet Cthulhu is very soft. Both of those have some very "fresh" notes (apple blossom in Cohen, wasabi in Velvet Cthulhu) and tea that I think helps offset the smokiness that vetiver can have.

[LiberAmoris]

Vetiver is not a note that I generally love, but I've recently found two reasons to continue testing perfumes when I see it listed: The Tumultuous Vultures of Stern Passion (vetiver tar) and Psychodynamic Discharge (Haitian vetiver). The vetiver is really beautiful and perfectly balanced in both of them, and if I'd passed them by due to the V-word, I'd have missed two new favorites!

 

Are there any other recommendations for either vetiver-strong or vetiver-soft scents?

[lady_pandora]

Vetiver is not a note that I generally love, but I've recently found two reasons to continue testing perfumes when I see it listed: The Tumultuous Vultures of Stern Passion (vetiver tar) and Psychodynamic Discharge (Haitian vetiver). The vetiver is really beautiful and perfectly balanced in both of them, and if I'd passed them by due to the V-word, I'd have missed two new favorites!

 

Are there any other recommendations for either vetiver-strong or vetiver-soft scents?

 

Vetiver has sometimes gone really wrong on me, namely smelling like ciggy smoke, but it so much depends on what it's combined with that I've also stopped avoiding vetiver blends on principle. Sloth was my "gateway vetiver"--I have always liked myrrh and it rounds out the vetiver so nicely there, so it's green instead of acrid. I also learned to be OK with the smoky version when it fit the concept, as in Djinn, which smells like smoke but is meant to smell like smoke.

 

The Weenie The White Witch lists vetiver as a note, but darned if I can find it in there. And a few years ago I'd have passed it up entirely just for mentioning it.

[ModderRhu]

vetiver light: Harimise (2010 Luper), Blood Kiss (GC)

 

vetiver strong: Grand Inquisitor's Heretics Fork (Carnival Diabolique), Azatthoth (GC), Hurricane (discontinued GC)

[Balame]

Vetiver is not a note that I generally love, but I've recently found two reasons to continue testing perfumes when I see it listed: The Tumultuous Vultures of Stern Passion (vetiver tar) and Psychodynamic Discharge (Haitian vetiver). The vetiver is really beautiful and perfectly balanced in both of them, and if I'd passed them by due to the V-word, I'd have missed two new favorites!

 

Are there any other recommendations for either vetiver-strong or vetiver-soft scents?

I'm on the other end of the spectrum (I usually like vet) but I haven't tried these yet. Judging from the descriptions it seems both are mixed with sweeter notes so the vetiver doesn't become predominant.

 

For something similar I'd look at these if you haven't:

 

Tombeur - Vanilla-infused sandalwood, blood musk, antique patchouli, vetiver, lavender, bitter almond, amber, and a trickle of Snake Oil.

Kind of a sexy blend where the vetiver isn't in the forefront. People say it's similar to Snake Charmer.

 

Satan & Death with Sin Intervening - Opoponax, benzoin, orange blossom, mahogany, karakarounde, white tea and vetiver.

A beautiful blend that focuses mainly on the mahogany and orange blossom, a mix of light and dark. The vetiver does a lot of grounding here. Incense-y and earthy with a bright spark of citrus.

 

The Final Darkness - Black amber and shimmering moonflower blackened by opoponax, khus attar, smoked oudh, and myrrh and all swallowed by the fathomless depths of a lightless ocean.

If you like aquatics and/or incense-y blends you've got to try this. You might've missed the vet here (khus) but it's so gorgeous, dark and mysterious.

 

Atlas - Mallow, oak bark, coffee bean, hinoki wood, and khus.

This is my favorite BPAL ever, so enough said! Very very vetiver soft. To me it smells like marshmallow s'mores under a tree oozing softly sweetened incense.

 

Lips of Flame and Heart of Stone - Red musk and red apple with bourbon vanilla, tobacco absolute, Indonesian red patchouli, black clove, and khus.

I haven't tried this one because I'm not a big clove or apple fan, but it sounds like it might be similar to Vultures with the fruit, red musk and vet.

 

 

 

 

 

[LiberAmoris]

Bumping this to say that I finally got to test Dark Chocolate, Black Tobacco, and Vetiver bonbon last night...wow. As noted above, vetiver is a note that can be overwhelming for me (even though I've found some scents over the years that contain it and are glorious on my skin). The vetiver in the bonbon is strong at first, but it pulls back pretty quickly and the scent ends up smells a bit like a really unique version of a 'tobacco vanille' perfume, with the vetiver lingering just enough to add something a bit bitter, green, and smoky (almost like a tea note on me). I bought this bottle for my husband but he'll probably need to share it with me.

 

If you also like vetiver in moderate amounts, and you love chocolate and tobacco—I definitely recommend it!

[lady_pandora]

I realized my last post in this thread was early enough that I didn't mention a couple of newer vetiver favorites--Anathema and Do the Dancing Maidens Sleep. So apparently I like vetiver with honeysuckle! The vetiver adds the green-bitter thing LiberAmoris mentions and it kind of grounds both blends and keeps them from being too sweet. I'd say the vetiver is stronger in Anathema and less prominent in DTDMS, but I think it works for the same reason in both.

 

And then I also like Black Moths, another case where it's smoky but the smokiness just fits the concept really well.