Vétiver (1981)
by Annick Goutal

I liked the semi-seaweed of CdG's Vettiveru ( 2002 ) but I must admit that the ozonic cognac iodine and unabashed full-on seaweed of this older vintage brought a much broader smile to my face. A nice change of pace and eminently wearable for the summer.
Pass the salt, please.

I'm firmly in the LOVE camp with this vetiver from Annick Goutal; it was purchased unsniffed and some of the reviews here lead me to fear it would be too weird or marine but it isn't. This scent is exactly what I wanted Olivier Durbano's Jade to be: a smooth clean green scent for day/work somewhere between grassy and watery. This one has enough spice and salt to keep it from being boring, but it doesn't go so far as to smell of medicine (like Jade does on me)!

Actually I find this Vetiver quite elegant and refined. It is toward warm yet it hovers between warm and cool, a not too sweet salt-water taffy of a vetiver. The dry down reminds me somewhat of Andy Tauer's L'air du désert marocain. I'm a woman and wear this with ease. My husband and dogs seem to love it too so it's an all around winner!

Rather a nice Javanese vetiver note, with all the round sweetness that entails, some nice backnose citrus and a rather odd salty aquatic undertone. This "seaweed" accord seems to me to be made from a combination of salty iodine and an ozonic note. The ozonic/vetiver is a strange combination which Vetiver Extrodinaire by Malle has realised rather better with its monstrous vetiver note and supporting cast including a much more subdued ozonic, though the vetiver here is more wearable in a conventional sense.

Quite compelling in a strange way but I can't help feeling it would have been better if the sea had been avoided altogether and the lovely sweet/savoury Vetiver allowed to shine unaccompanied.

OK, I seriously cannot get past the top/middle accords. Good citrus and vetiver drydown but... salty. It smells like my favorite Lebanon bologna meat snack.

Absolutely wonderful smell way ahead of its time. Smells amazingly timeless and original. Iodine note is absolutely delicious and it makes the vetiver mouthwateringly salty in structure. Intoxicating stuff for an hour.

I would buy a bottle in a heartbeat if it would last longer plus the drydown wouldn`t turn so awful on my skin. (Sadly I find the drydown very sharp and unbalanced)

Annick Goutal's Vetiver starts out with a very odd top note. As other reviewers have noted, the top note is a combination of Cognac, seaweed and iodine which was not particularly pleasant to my nose. Thankfully as it developed, Vetiver became a more accessible but still unusual vetiver fragrance. This is a very intriguing and wearable perfume although I am not sure if I would want a full bottle of this.

Here are the notes, as gleaned from various perfume websites: Cognac, seaweed, iodine, Burmese spices, rare woods, Javanese vetiver, patchouli, vanilla.