Yerbamate (2001)
by Lorenzo Villoresi

Yerbamate smells good--it's fresh, natural, and unique, and the tea note blends well with the mint to create a cool, dry accord that is slightly sweet and very green. Occasionally there is a baby powder-like, medicinal quality to it as well. I find Yerbamate enigmatic in the sense that it is a strange, unusual fragrance that simultaneously manages to lack a personality. To me, it is simply a scent and while I appreciate its quality, I feel very neutral about it. As such, I can't see myself wanting to wearing it very often. Yerbamate is mostly linear, with solid projection and average longevity.

24th January, 2012.

Oh beautiful mercurial Yerbamate! Each time this comes out if the bottle I don't know what I'm going to meet ... Some days it's chocolate lime sweets I remember from childhood, another a crisp delivery of green vegetables, amusing kid's plasticene or a lovely evocation of cool shaded english woodlands at their fullest. Whatever happens first I've learned to enjoy it, and to trust that the delicious dry enfolding elegance that is the long lasting heart will arrive. And finally, an end that is quietly mercurial too, sometimes a hint of smoke, woody, warm, powder ... A joy from beginning to end - an invitation to step off the beaten scent-track and into an absorbing green adventure. Not a fresh green or a shrill green or a cold green. Easy to wear, lasts for a whole day and doesn't attack passersby !

15th October, 2011.

I hate tea based scents as a general rule, but not Yerbamate. Something about this scent is just very appealing. It kind of reminds me of a spring day out in the countryside. Kind of powdery, but subtle enough that the powder does not distract from the fresh, green primary nature of the scent. The tea notes also blend harmoniously with the green, yielding a nice well-blended unisex mix of green grass, with tea and mate notes. Well done, LV.

17th August, 2011.

Yerbamate opens brilliantly with green notes that distinguish it from many other "green" scents (think Creed GIT or GV, or PdN Vetiver). But the green notes vanish within 15-20 minutes morphing inexplicably into something akin to PdN New York or Caron 3rd Man. I was interested in the first 15 minutes, but I don't need another sweet powdery scent, so this one gets a pass.

7th May, 2011.

I get and enjoy the grass and hay notes that everyone else mentions, and quite like Yerbamate... on a test strip. Unfortunately, on my skin, there is something that makes it turn almost immediately musky/funky, in a way that does not complement or balance the green, but makes it all go horribly wrong. Everything does calm down after an hour or so, but then all of the uniqueness of the fragrance has gone, as well.

I quiet like this take on 'green', but it's not for me (at least not for me to wear).

5th September, 2010.

The powdery sweetness clashes with the green notes. I would prefer the powdery-sweet to be turned down substantially (or eliminated). They do get quieter in the drydown, but it is too little, too late.

8th August, 2010.