Vero Kern, the nose behind Vero Profumo, released three fragrances in extrait — Onda, Rubj, and Kiki — in 2008. In 2010, she released Eau de Parfum versions of each fragrance. These three perfumes are Vero Profumo’s only offerings. Vero Profumo is one of the few perfume houses that doesn’t hustle one or two new perfumes out the door each year. While it’s a relief not to have to field a regular raft of new perfumes, Onda, Rubj, and Kiki are so interesting that I’m eager for her next release.

I first smelled Onda extrait when a Now Smell This reader passing through town slid a spray sample across the table of a Thai restaurant…

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Wandering around on a recent rainy Sunday, a friend and I stepped into Una, a tiny shop on the working class side of town. The clothing was tremendously chic, all Italian fabrics and clever design. In a different life, when my womanly figure turns gamine and my penchant for nipped waists and rhinestones fades, I’ll have one of each on the rack. The jewelry was fabulous, too, and I’m saving up for a bronze Monica Castiglioni ring. But what really pleased me, was that in this shop — this little shop that could fit inside my living room —was a row of Etat Libre d’Orange perfumes.

Forget the rain, I was ecstatic. They didn’t have my two favorites, Jasmin et Cigarette (“We could never sell that here, people wouldn’t get it,” the owner told me later) and Like This, but Vraie Blonde sat in front, and several fragrances I wanted to get to know better lined up behind it. One of them was Fat Electrician Eau de Parfum. I took home a sample…

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I used to think there were some notes that simply couldn’t be done to death. The fragrance industry has proven me wrong on that score. Raise your hand if you’d just as soon not see another new oud fragrance for a few years?

Vetiver hasn’t yet reached that stage.¹ We’ve seen a slow but steady stream of new vetivers over the last couple years, but nothing like the fever-pitch rate of new ouds. On the other hand, you know, there are lots of vetivers out there already, and vetiver, like oud, has a tendency to dominate whatever composition it’s in. So the bar is set high for a new vetiver fragrance.

Today, I’m looking at new(-ish) vetivers from Escentric Molecules and Chantecaille. Many perfumistas already know about Escentric Molecules, the niche line of perfumer Geza Shoen. They’ve released three fragrance duos, each consisting of a single note diluted in alcohol, and a fragrance built around that single note. The third duo, which debuted last year, features vetiver. Molecule 03 (the fragrance I’m counting as a half in the title since it isn’t really what you’d call a finished fragrance) consists of vetiveryle acetate diluted in alcohol, nothing else. As with Molecule 01 (iso e super) and Molecule 02 (ambroxan), it’s probably not the most cost-effective way to get yourself a straight-up aroma chemical, and I’ve always wondered why they don’t release the Molecule fragrances in very small sizes…

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Just as everyone’s clothing wardrobe benefits from a few low-key, comfortable items to pull on without thinking, perfume wardrobes need the same.

It is present, yet close to the skin — me, but better. I almost feel it rather than smell it.

But if you want a perfume to rest lightly around you, like a second skin…you could do a lot worse.

Those lines were pulled from Angela’s review of Mythique, by Parfums DelRae. Now let’s say that all sounds awfully good to you, but Mythique wasn’t exactly the second skin you were after (as was the case with me: I thought Mythique was lovely, but it did not move me). You’ve got your second chance with Panache, the brand’s latest release. It’s named for a line from Edmond Rostand’s play, Cyrano de Bergerac:

One thing is left, that, void of stain or smutch, I bear away despite you … My panache.

Panache is meant to be a unisex fragrance “centered around” vetiver. I don’t think your average vetiver fiend will find it passes muster as a vetiver scent, and by the same token, if you hate vetiver you needn’t necessarily cross Panache off your list…

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Vetyverio is the latest fragrance release from French niche line Diptyque. They reportedly “had a fun time blurring the lines by blending perfumery’s archetypal raw materials, namely masculine vetiver and feminine flower bouquets”. In other words, it’s a unisex, although Diptyque, like many fragrance companies, prefers not to use that particular word, stating simply that it is neither masculine nor feminine.

Vetyverio starts out bright and fresh and energetic, with peppery citrus and leafy green notes (the notes: mandarin, grapefruit, lemon, bergamot, ylang ylang, Turkish rose, geranium, vetiver, carrot seeds, nutmeg, apricot, clove, cedar and musk). After that, it’s an exercise in subtlety: everything, from the florals to the vetiver to the spices, speaks in muted tones…

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Researchers at Michigan Technological University are on to a simple, low cost solution to the complicated problem of keeping antibiotics out of water supplies. In a study of vetiver grass grown in antibiotic-laden water, they found that 95.5% of the drugs were removed from the water and taken into the plant tissue.

— From “Perfume Grass” Could Solve Problem of Antibiotics in Water Supply at Clean Technica.

My vetiver cup runneth over. You’d laugh if I told you how many vetiver fragrances I own. It’s rare for me to come across a vetiver perfume I hate, but after disliking Prada’s take on another perfume note I love, orange blossom (Infusion de Fleur d’Oranger), I wondered if its interpretation of vetiver would also be a disappointment.

Infusion de Vétiver is a limited edition Eau de Toilette developed by perfumer Daniela Andrier. Apart from vetiver, the listed fragrance notes include tarragon, pepper and purple ginger. The first time I smelled Infusion de Vétiver was on paper, and it smelled like watery, slightly peppery vetiver: plain. When I wore the fragrance, I detected other notes but the composition remained aqueous and simple.

On my skin, Infusion de Vétiver starts with the scents of powerful, acidic “citrus” (just a second or two) followed by fresh tarragon….

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My first niche perfume purchase was a bottle of Etro Vetiver Eau de Cologne way back in 1990. I bought Vetiver, along with some wonderful Etro soaps, at Etro’s Beverly Hills boutique, and I became an instant Etro fragrance fan. Over the years, I’ve owned several bottles of Etro Vetiver, Sandalo and Magot; I’ve also enjoyed bottles of Messe de Minuit (the fragrance that helped launch the Incense Revolution in perfumery) and Patchouly. In the early Nineties, Etro’s perfumes smelled exciting, rich and different to my baby “department store-trained” nose and a new, expensive, niche perfume passion was born. Etro led to Comptoir Sud Pacifique, which led to Jean-François Laporte (L’Artisan Parfumeur), which led to Creed, which led to Czech & Speake, which led to Penhaligon’s…on and on to this day.

Etro Vetiver, by perfumer Jacques Flori, was released in 1989 and lists notes of artemisia, clary sage, cypress, cedar, tobacco and Bourbon vetiver. Etro Vetiver opens with green artemisia and sage; the herbal, forest-y notes are strong and clear — invigorating…

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And here's another, from Ethiopia.

Vetiver is in my veins. I use so many vetiver fragrances I’m sure detectable quantities of Chrysopogon zizanioides oil appear in my blood panels. Vetiver has such a hold on me, I believe it must have been one of the first fragrances I smelled as a baby. When I sniff vetiver, I feel warm, happy, calm, and contemplative. Tom Ford associates vetiver, as he does many of his favorite things, with money and power: “It is solid, like the man who wears a custom-made suit or invests in hand-crafted shoes.”¹ That statement robs vetiver of all romance, and as I often feel while reading the worldly wit and wisdom of Tom Ford, I want to renounce my possessions, move to a mountaintop, set up house in a cave and own only a robe and a begging bowl. With Tom Ford, “money talks”…and talks, and talks some more.

(O.K. I admit while searching theTom Ford website for images to use in this review, I saw several coats from the fall/winter men’s collection that ignited the most unenlightened thing possible — Desire; perhaps I’m not quite ready for the hermitage.)

At any rate, Tom Ford’s coffers are continually growing…

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