Vetiver (1994)
by Lorenzo Villoresi

Lorenzo Villoresi's Vetiver is probably one of the most intriguing vetivers I have ever experienced. I greatly admire its austerity, and beyond a slightly medicinal opening, it evolves into a hauntingly dry echo. The unsentimental theme is maintained throughout, and on occasions it seems to adopt an almost medicinal piety in its pursuit of ingredient and concept integrity. For those that enjoy their poison without prevarication, LVV will illuminate you; everyone else may find this a distinctly bitter pill to swallow. One might regard the four hours it lasted on my skin as a short lifespan, but it was certainly a life well lived.

3rd January, 2012.

LV goes over the top and makes a brutally green fragrance. Now, while "fresh and clean" are usually adjectives used to describe green fragrances, that is not the case with Vetiver. This is more like a vetiver salad, with everything acting to highlight the green.

Maybe you would consider it a solid positive to smell like you've been rolling around in produce, but I just feel that it's incomplete.

19th December, 2011.

This vetiver has for me always been the major disappointment of a promising life wasted. Intially there is a big bold blast of delicious smokiness reminiscent of Fumidus but of a refinement Fumidus can never match. Lavender lurks in the background and in the beginning period LVV is almost perfect. But the lurking lavender is lurking like the villain it turns out to be. As the lavender asserts itself the fragrance moves from the proverbial perfumista campfire on the beach straight into the barbershop. Still an OK scent but suddenly tragically old hat and considering the spectacular opening something of a crime.

15th December, 2011.

Camphor in hemp rope...or something like that!
Strange but not dirty.

20th November, 2011.

Now I finally know what all the fuss is about!. This scent held my attention for so long that I finally had to break down and purchase some. Well it is probably one of the best decisions ever made as this vetiver is is a class of its own. LV vetiver offers turns and twists in its development that makes one think that LV himself must have so much fun making and formulating his perfumes.
This one is a celebration of all things earthly and still manages to have a sober sombre side in the personality. Like a great holiday recipe that has something for everybody, LV Vetiver should appeal to a whole myriad of tastes.
My initial impression was honestly this "SEX IN A BOTTLE" ....And no other fragrance has that same visceral reaction on me. In fact I was doing a blind test of a few bottles I purchased and honeslty thought LV Vetiver was something else i.e TDC Sel de Vetivber in fact. I reviewed my bottles and found that is was in fact LV Vetiver.
Word of caution: a little goes a long way with this brew and it can go from appealing and intriguing to downright in your face macho with one too many squirts of the bottle.
Wonderful stuff that now has my unreserved respect and admiration.

4th November, 2011.

This was love at first sniff. Vetiver can sometimes lack of personality and smell a bit flat if it is not in good company. What makes a great vetiver scent is not vetiver but the background notes: incense, citrus, rosewood, tobacco, woods, tune them right and you get the perfect vetiver. At last a vetiver that is nor shy nor heady. I get notes of varnished luxury antiques in the galleria of a Tuscan villa, with its windows open over the countryside and wind blowing whiffs of cypresses…

For now Lorenzo Villoresi has achieved what I could not get from my other best vetivers and that includes Guerlain, Lubin and Malle: longevity, character and imagination. It smells quite masculine, green and aromatic, in the vein of Patricia de Nicolai’s Patchouli Homme (Patchouli Intense). I get pine notes that are not listed here, at the same time the cumin and celery notes are subdued enough not to repel anybody.

Once again a must have for vetiver lovers.

10th June, 2011.