Vetiver Oriental (2002)
by Serge Lutens Les Salons du Palais Royal Shiseido

Personally, I prefer Vetiver Tonka by Hermès over Vetiver Oriental. I really don't like powdery frags and this one's no exception.

While Vetiver Tonka comes across as better balanced and fresher, Vetiver Oriental seems very unsure of its identity – for winter or summer? Fresh or powdery? Warm oriental or fresh green? Feminine or unisex? Also, Vetiver Tonka possesses the confidence and panache that Vetiver Oriental lacks, with its notes more elegantly refined.

Vetiver Tonka is the confident adult who has many admirers trailing closely behind in awe; while Vetiver Oriental is the cute but insecure teenager, who continues to sit alone in a dark corner, muttering incoherently...

[Original submission date: 25 May 2008]

Serge Lutens Vetiver Oriental

I am an avid comic-book reader, excuse me graphic novel reader. One of the more fun books to read was a series called Marvel Team-Up, each issue Spider-Man would team-up with another superhero. Sometimes they were cool and sometimes they felt forced. The one constant to everything was Spider-Man. Vetiver sometimes seems like Spider-Man in that many perfumers look to team-up vetiver with new notes to see what will be found. So it is with the 2002 Serge Lutens Vetiver Oriental created by Christopher Sheldrake. If I'm looking for a perfumer who knows the art of the team-up M. Sheldrake would be the nose I'd most likely think of first. His ability to find two different versions of chocolate and patchouli in Serge Lutens Borneo 1834 and Chanel's Coromandel is testament to this ability. In Vetiver Oriental the team-up is to put vetiver on top of a traditional oriental base focused on amber and see what this produces. From the top the vetiver comes out, this is the vetiver that feels sweeter and less woody. I characterize this as more grassy and green than rooty and deeper. This is the opposite tack taken from Borneo 1834 where it was the rooty quality of patchouli that was emphasized. The heart of this is centered around iris and this is a perfect choice to hold the middle ground in this team-up. The iris here is both sweet and slightly astringent and actually serves more as a palate cleanser than a real heart of this scent. The heart is the base which is a mix of chocolate and amber. It is the combination of these two notes that create the Oriental half of things. This is a sweet amber combined with a less-dominant cocoa powder accord to keep the sweet of the amber in focus. The best part of the development of Vetiver Oriental is when you get the contrast of the bittersweet green of vetiver, the floral sweet of iris and the deep rich sweetness of amber all together it is truly a beautiful team-up. It reminds me of when Spider-Man and The Hulk teamed up and what sounded forced turned out to be surprising and fun. Christopher Sheldrake has made a scent that is at turns surprising and fun, another successful team-up.

On a trip to Paris I went into the wonderful Lutens boutique expecting to buy Muscs Koublai Khan, but to my surprise this was the fragrance I ended up buying. It is delightfully strange in the way that many fragrances from this house are, with the dry vetiver working with the gourmand and sumptuous oriental notes forming a mysterious composition that seems to be greater than the sum of its parts. While it is very rich, it is never overpowering, and over time the rawness of vetiver becomes its dominant characteristic, making it a wonderfully masculine fragrance. It is well worth trying if you admire Lutens, but find his fragrances overpowering.

Next to Musc Ravageur, this is one of my favorite fragrances. I wore this perfume forever 'til I discovered Musc Ravageur-smile.

I agree with so many others who state that Luten’s Vetiver Oriental is a lovely, soothing, soft Vetiver scent. Yes, it IS a Vetiver but as another poster so perfectly stated, is is a Vetiver without the edge. Frankly, when worn by me, many Vetiver fragrances simply smell like cheap men's cologne. The immediate grassy-ness and woody-ness of most Vetivers usually overwhelm my senses. But with this Vetiver, I do not experience that sensation.

This Vetiver has a beautiful, smooth, creamy richness to it with hints of leather, greens, wood and a wee-bit of powder, which gives it the slightest sweetness. Also, some of the "softer" and less edgy Vetivers tend to be too "powdery" for my taste and this Vetiver Oriental is certainly not powdery at all.

This is a very pretty, feminine fragrance with good lasting powder. One last thing...I cannot imagine a man wearing this fragrance...it just seems way too feminine for a guy, IMHO! But, if that sort of thing doesn't bother you, than I guess it would be okay on a guy, too!

Begins a little gourmandy, but the vetiver/green notes kick in pretty soon after. The best is yet to come though -- when the labdanum and gaiac woods start to mix it almost takes your breath away. I would take this over Hermes's tonka any day. A winter fragrance to die for.

Starts off with that familiar metallic-grass scent of vetiver (plus the ice of iris), but layers of labdanum and amber lend warmth and sweetness. It turns woodsy and a little smoky over time, while the bitter cocoa in the base adds a nice touch of dust and earth.

Very creative, balanced and wearable for pretty much any occasion. I don't ordinarily trumpet praise for Lutens (so many other people already do), but this is a terrific piece of work and is well worth checking out.