Vetiver (1989)
by Etro

Going with the crowd. Dry, harsh, earthy vetiver. So raw and solid that you'd wonder where you put the herbicide. Love the fact that such a strong scent stays close to you because sometimes you just want it all for yourself. Now, after it dries down it calms a little bit but since vetiver is psychologically a calming scent for some, I think it calms down quite a lot since there is so much of it. So good and you need to like vetiver to love this. Now in my top five vetivers!

I didn't think it possible, but this stuff makes even Maître Parfumeur et Gantier's Route du Vétiver look tame! The opening explodes violently with a harsh, green vetiver that's hot enough to singe your eyebrows. And while the scent quiets down quite a bit, it never goes so far as to mellow.

Where the vetiver in Route du Vétiver is moist, earthy, and somehow fecund, this vetiver is dry, pungent, and acidic. There's nothing sweet in this blend to dull the vetiver's knife-like edge, and the few accompanying notes I can detect only enhance its potency. There are some very dry herbs, an odd, tart, acidic note, plus some crisp cedar in the base, and that's about it. Simple really, and almost brutal, but in a streamlined, even graceful way. Kind of like a shark.

Etro's Vetiver stays close to the body, which could be a good thing, since not everyone you meet is liable to enjoy anything this radical. It will be too much for many, but for those who like their vetiver, sharp, raw, and pungent this will be a must-try scent.

Update (September, 2009):
With Maître Parfumeur et Gantier's Route du Vétiver tamed in reformulation and that house's demise appearing inevitable to boot, Etro's Vetiver is left standing alongside Vétiver Extraordinaire as one of the finest essays in vetiver-based olfactory brutalism. Revised to a thumbs-up by attrition.

At first Etro Vetiver takes me straight to the big warm forest at summertime; it really has almost hauntingly beautiful forest-like smell to it. It smells green, earthy, woody, smoky, bitter/salty and a bit of a dirty as well.
At one point it reminds me of the way barbeque crisps smell.
After few hours have past, Vetiver creates this interesting smell that brings candle wax to my mind. Warm candle wax.

After reading some reviews and comments on the forum, it came as a huge surprise for me to try this scent out for the first time….I mean, I was expecting something really raw, sharp and strong, but that is not the case with this scent even for starters, at least not for me.
Etro Vetiver is very subtle (almost weak) in sillage wise, it isn’t pungent at all, and it is extremely easy to wear. It smells very natural in a most gentle way.
Etro Vetiver is a piece of cake comparing to Route du Vetiver (MPG).
I do find the lasting power a tad disappointing. Probably just because this is the kind of scent that I would love to see linger on forever, and ever, and ever….

This is just brilliant. I often like controversial scents but I can usually understand why they're controversial. But I don't understand at all what's controversial about this qua scent. It could only be controversial qua vetiver.


It's definitely very masculine, unlike the unisex of many vetivers. And like everyone says, it's woody and dry and earthy. In fact, Etro Vetiver is in many ways a woody scent with some vetiver rather than the other way around.

But the mix is remarkable. I usually find woody masculines a little predictable and vetivers, I'm afraid, always a little limp like they've been diluted with sugar water. But Etro Vetiver is neither predictable nor limp. It's rough, masculine and sui generis.

If only it lasted a bit longer.

Disclosure: I love vetiver. That being said i really like this one. My first toe dip in the pool of frags. was Guarlain Vetiver (summer of 2008). I loved it and started to explore ... found base notes and, well, here I am writing my first review: Straight ahead and dirty with a bit of smoke. I dig it!

A raw, wild and earthy vetiver. Makes me think of the very beginning of fall, when everything is still dry but the nights are getting a little nip, and sunset seems to take forever.

Whether Etro's vetiver is too raw is purely a matter of taste. Vetiver is a classic men's scent, and wearing Etro's vetiver makes me feel grounded, its earthiness makes me feel like part of the earth.

I really like this vetiver, and will probably use it to replace my comme des garcons vettiveru when it runs out, sometime in the next decade.