Reviews of Vetiver (1994)
by Lorenzo Villoresi

Ahem !!!.....You'll have to excuse me while I clear my throat from the big sniff I just took of this earthy, raw textured take on vetiver. Villoresi seems to have a penchant for raw creations and this one is no different.

Earthy is an understatement. Do I perceive toasted nuts with butter that's almost burnt topped with a woody lavender? Or am I just mad? lol.

Not a fan of quite a few releases by this House, this one has me sniffing repeatedly in spite of its crudeness......and it is crude. As a test, I sprayed Encre Noir for a side by side and the Noir pales not only in projection, but substance and balls.

If you like RUGGED scents and have a proclivity for vetiver, this will not disappoint.

Even if the full duration of Villoresi Vetiver had remained as punchy as it did at the start I’d still adore it. Out of the bottle it was raw, bitter and earthy. It’s all about vetiver, bergamot, lavender and with a distinct nuttiness and very obvious celery note. It does soften over time but still remains as bold throughout, giving off a strong and continual earthy and smoky woods aroma.

Vetiver is wild enough to make noses around stand up and pay attention. It’s never beautiful but certainly not ugly. Imbues the wearer with a sense of sophistication and masculinity.

Oh dear! Vetiver is just too raw and harsh for me.

If you're still unsure as to whether or not you like vetiver fragrances, please DO NOT consider testing this one first – it may put you off vetiver for life...

[Original submission date: 23 December 2006]

Perfect. Creme de la creme. One of the best frags on the market. The best dry-down ever. Not very long lasting though. One just can't have it all.

This is a very stark, dry vetiver with little more than a tart citrus top note by way of ornament. Villoresi's take on vetiver is straightforward - perhaps even monastic - in its simplicity. There is none of the nutty character of Givenchy's Vétyver, none of the earthy green moisture of Route du Vétiver, and none of the smoky depth that's to be found in Sycomore or Encre Noir. Villoresi's Vetiver comes closest to the almost caustic sharpness of Etro Vetiver or Vétiver Extraordinaire, but it is far less agressive a scent than either. If that leaves Villoresi's Vetiver sounding nondescript I won't apologize. There are many outstanding vetiver scents to choose from nowadays, and Villoresi's could do with more personality if it's going to compete effectively.

I haven't tried all of the vetiver fragrances out there yet.. but I've been wearing LV Vetiver for over a year now and there are days I wake up and actually crave it.

To me it's raw, totally masculine, and "fresh" without being sweet or aquatic, or too dirty and earthy. A gem.

Dear Lorenzo:
Are the opening notes truly just bergamot. lavender and rosewood? Am I making the amateurish mistake of assuming that because they're listed as top notes we won't get a whiff of the rest of the scent right away? Or is there more truth to this than we've realized and you've managed to blend the top 3 notes like no one ever has before??

The reason I mention all this is that this vetiver scent of yours has, for me, THE greatest opening note I've been priviliged to enjoy. Smoky and--well, you can read the rest of the reviews.

However, despite the excellent longevity and the masculine gravitas of the rest of the scent, it's a bit of a bore compared to Guerlian's. In fact I'd dare say that, in my subjective opinion Goutal's salty offering is more innovative as a whole.

Please let me know if you ever make a scent that --though linear--can capture the opening of this one for hours. It'll be my favorite.

Go easy on the pepper,
Your fan,
Mario

This is not good on me.... Vetiver and a dirty lavender is pretty much all I get. Others have said it better but my opinion is that it would be fantastic on someone else.

One thing I'll say about the Villoresi line - it's not the same on everyone. Which can be fine.

I tried the Vetiver today. Initially, it was great: vetiver and neroli and sage and sandalwood and spice all nicely mixed and all playing together beautifully.

Alas, the drydown on me was all lavender in the sillage (against the skin, it still had the same fantastic beauty as the start did). But the lavender sillage just made me nuts. It's a very nice lavender. It's just not a scent I like on me.

While this is another Villoresi I won't be buying, it is beautiful and well done. Five LV samples down, 11 to go.

I am rapidly becoming a Lorenzo Villorisi fan. Not a big vetiver lover, but THiS! This is a beautifully complex, well balanced vetiver, with a very slight softening of all sharp edges. The spices add nuance but don't overpower. The woods, which appear later are fresh and calming. Even the celery (which I usually dislike) does it's job with aplomb and cheer. I don't find it rough, wild or uncivilized, as others have characterized it. But it IS sexy as hell. I think if I smelled it on a man I would IMMEDIATELY find him attractive, no matter what his external appearance. How's that for a recommendation!?

Lorenzo Villoresi Vetiver, I've been waiting a long time to get my hands on this one. I consider myself a vetiver lover (I have tried many of the heavy hitters MPG RdV, FM Extraordinaire, Goutal, Carlo Corinto, Givenchy vintage, etc). I wasn't put off by the astringent raw blast of RdV, but the strong herbal onset of LVs vetiver smells initially to me like rotting lettuce! Sorry, but that is what I got, just very very herbal green but not in a nice way. Then as the frag settles down and opens up, a wonderful transformation happens. It isn't the vetiver that diminishes, but some other 'green' herbal note in the top notes that thankfully evaporates away. As the notes get properly oriented to each other, a harmonious whole eventually emerges, and this is lovely. It is warm woodsy, soothing, slightly spicy, yet with the raw strident vetiver note never far away. I actually like this vetiver note, and LV just gets better and better as the hours pass. The vetiver turns slightly sour/bitter near the end, when all else is gone, and it must stand alone, but this may just be my skin. For me it is a fragrance designed to smell good only after about 30-40 minutes, and then increasingly good or another 5 hours or so, but think of the design genius this requires! It isn't a matter of a pleasant but short lived accord that thrills right out of the bottle. The real delight is in the long lasting wood-vetiver accord modulated by supporting green and spicy notes. This ranks up there with RdV and Vetiver Extraordinaire as the 'amazing three' in terms of potency, longevity and vetiver_trueness. And it lasts a good long time. Did I mention that the Givenchy Vetyver (vintage but recently re-released in France is VERY good too). You're lucky if you ever see it outside of France. But back to LV Vetiver, two thumbs up for being the wild and lovely thing it is!

Another fabulous fragrance from Villoresi. The top has a rough rustic feel but made from ingredients of the first order. Rosewood and bergamot shine here.

A perfectly balanced evolution ensues at once controlled and feral. Green notes with controlled spice and neroli blend into the santal, vetiver and cedar which dominate the base.

This leaves me with a calm, grounded feeling.

I reach for it when all affectation and pretence must be allowed to blow away with the wind.

I was so looking forward to this one as I am a Villoresi fan, but it proved too strong for me. It opens with a dark wood/iodine note, which calms down to a sandalwood with a very earthy, acrid vetiver floating above. It is long lasting and at end of day it was almost making me nauseous. A very strong vetiver but not for the faint of heart.
It has so many notes listed in its make-up, but I could only detect a few.

From Villoresi site:
Top Notes: Rosewood, Bergamot, Mint, Lavender, Galbanum, Petitgrain
Middle Notes: Neroli, Sage, Celery, Cumin, Nutmeg
Base Notes: Vetiver, Musk, Tonka, Sandalwood, Cedarwood, Oakmoss Patcho

How does he do it? How does Lorenzo Villoresi achieve these surreal effects – how does he take these olfactory notes and make them smell like a Dali painting looks: Composed with subconscious and unreal separation as if each core note were drawn with outlines made up of other notes. It’s really hard to explain but the vetiver (and other notes) in LV’s Vetiver is OUTLINED. It/they stand out in bas-relief from the background, and the background is bas-reliefed from its background… It’s an unbelievable olfactory achievement. I have experienced this same olfactory Sabattier effect in LV’s Garofano. Apparently I’m not the only one who experiences this: Read zztopp’s spot-on description of this phenomenon. There’s no need for me to describe the notes and accords, zztopp has done it magnificently. All I need to add is a couple of Bravo’s for Lorenzo Villoresi’s genius in creating these intriguing fragrances.

Top notes: Lavender, Galbanum, Cumin,
Heart notes: Osmanthus, Cistus oil, Neroli
Base notes: Labdanum, Vetiver, Oakmoss, Lavender Concrete

Having spent the past month or so trying out a batch of Villoresi decants, the house's Vetiver stood out the most in its overall flow and construction, and the quality of its ingredients. All Villoresi fragrances smell good, but theres something more striking about the Vetiver, especially when it comes to its ingredients. Whenever I wear it, I smell a wild untamed beast in the potion, yet the beast never claws me to death or rip me to shreads ...rather it overlays on me a raw hide skin, intense yes yet friendly at the same time.

No, Vetiver doesnt smell like its loaded with vetiver, rather, the vetiver is buried beneath a smorgasboard of other herbs, citrus and floral notes. But the scent explodes with a fantastic lavender note paired with a green herbaceous accord and a pine like note which, dare I say it, provides the fragrance a "fresh" feel. There is a persistent yet austere labdanum note which drills into the drydown decorating Vetiver with a smoky, woody and slightly salty/iodine-like accord. The effect is not unlike a refined and much better executed version of the mineralic and iodine-laden Vetiver des Sables by Montale.

Like all Villoresi fragrances, there is a raw untamed monster of a feel in Vetiver, yet at the same time it also smells powerful and distinguished, like a caveman dressed in a suit (picture Robin Williams at the Oscars). Each of the notes is crystal clear and rendered in high-def...my guess is that Vetiver probably the most expensive Villoresi to manufacture. Its not a naked display of vetiver root oil like Malle's Vetiver Extraordinaire or MPG Route de Vetiver, but it is a very well crafted fougere with a modicum of vetiver. Vetiver is kryptonite for the senses...except that you are not Superman.

Being a fan of both Yerbamate and Piper Nigrum, I thought I'd give several other Villoresis a try. I was expecting to favor either Spetzie or Incensi, but I surprised myself by being blown away by the Vetiver! It is much manlier than any other Villoresi. It's like being in the woods on an autumn night and lying face down in the mossy dirt and dying leaves while smelling someone's campfire burning off in the distance. The multiple wood notes in this really elevate it in my mind over MPG's Route du Vetiver. I'm currently hoarding the reminder of my sample for occasional sniffs and trying to wait until fall to purchase ... but it won't be easy. If Bois du Portugal is the ultimate civilized man's fragrance, LV Vetiver is the ultimate one for a man's less civilized side, and as such, I bet it would smell prety damn sexy under formal wear.

LV Vetiver is a wonderful refreshing, utterly masculine fragrance that will make any man's day a little more intriguing. Vetiver mixed by Maestro Villoresi is elegant but with just a touch of the rough edge to it. It's earthy and probably somewhat casual, in a nice linen and silk jacket kind of way. Everthing LV does brings Italian sensibility home. Think of spending a leisurely afternoon in Verona or Venice, you are watching others furtively milling about, as you sit in an outdoor cafe/bar, sip an glass of Gavi observing the passing parade with just a hind; just a suggestion of LV Vetiver and that is the proper setting to understand this. Think of Daniel Craig the new Bond on a mission in Italy, in that scene in Verona or Venice ready to leap into action at a moments notice, and you've got one image for LV Vetiver. Not a pretty boy scent by any means, but right for the right man.

This one is undecided whether it wants to be a Maitre Parfumeur et Gantier or a L’Artisan/Comme des Garcons. It starts off with a raw, bold, in your-face vetiver blast not unlike Route de Vetiver and originally appears to go even further. Where RdV offers a freshly-dug vetiver root, LV is a root that’s still sitting in wet pungent earth. But very soon the vetiver note changes into a bitter burnt-paper-and-timber smell of an extinguished house fire very reminiscent of L’Artisan. Bold and interesting, but the drydown is a real spoiler.

Villoresi’s Vetiver occupies the same ballpark as MPG’s Route du Vetiver and L’Artisan’s Vetiver. It’s earthy, dry, herbal, and strong. Expect plenty of sillage and tons of longevity from this scent. It’s stronger than the L’Artisan though not as strong as the MPG. Villoresi’s Vetiver is closer to L’Artisan’s Vetiver than it is to MPG’s RdV. It’s more herbal or green than the L’Artisan – both have a mint note, but the mint in Villoresi’s is paired up with celery and cumin, making L’Artisan’s mint more pronounced. All-in-all, I like L’Artisan’s a bit better, it seems to be the smoother of the two. That said, I like MPG’s the best of the three, as the blackcurrant note adds a richness, depth, and sweet plumpness that perfectly balances the raw, earthy, and pungent vetiver note. Vetiver is not really my note, so the way it is presented here - raw and herbal - is not to my personal liking. Still, I have to say it would be a good scent for those who like vetiver.

Wanna take a walk on the wild side? Walk on this. This is fumingly fresh tarmac through the rainforests of Borneo. It’s volcanic activity on the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. It’s the sulphur from Hell rising to Heaven by way of your nostrils.

This is one wild beast of a fragrance – untamed vetiver, possibly the most feral thing I’ve smelled. As vetivers go, I think it best compares to those of Annick Goutal, Floris and MPG, but in the end clawing them to shreds. The initial impact, as it seems to crash on the skin, is of scorched wood followed by a lingering note of smoke. There’s also a tangy saltiness to the top notes, almost like sal-ammoniac, which I find equally odd and appealing, but it mellows into more herbal and vegetal registers, the celery carrying some of the sting after about an hour.

All in all, this isn’t the earthy variety of vetiver, not green and rootsy, but a darker, muskier, more animalic version of raw natural power that is very envigorating to savour as a work of art but almost certainly too provocative for casual wear. Probably not even for polite society, as it hurls you beyond any semblance of civilization, and it takes as much personality to wear as it gives.

As for longevity, I can sense it for 11+ hrs; it even seems to pick up speed after about five hours as some of the lighter touches of herbs and citrus are beaten to a bloody pulp by those muscular woods and fumes. Unrefined in the very best sense.

I was quite surprised that I liked this as much as I did, not loving vetiver all that much, but the rest of the composition worked nicely and framed the vetiver well. Not something I would choose to wear, but overall well done and balanced.

Wow. What a surprise. I have never smelled anything like this. This fragrance is rich and warm and takes the vetiver full throttle. Guerlain and Carven call theirs vetiver but then try to cover it up. Not Villoresi. If you love vetiver, this is a must.

A bold, bright green musky vetiver. Easily my favorite vetiver scent. Great for everyday usage. Bold, yet wearable, like the best of LV's scents.

I prefer L'Artisan's refreshing Vetiver to Lorenzo Viloresi's celery-tinged version. Where LV's is antiseptic, L'Artisan's is oh-so-slightly minty. I'm no connoisseur (more accurately, connoisseuress), so don't go by my review alone. The differences between vetivers can be just an element or two, and each of us has to fine-tune our preferences without regard to other's opinions.

"Are you wearing that Route du something-or-another again, good Doctor?", my assistant asked spiritedly. He is a good one for powerful, no-nonsense fragrances, particularly on me for some reason, while he, on the other hand, revels in fruity, floral kinds.
"Very keen this morning, Holmes, but you're off just a little, for I'm trying Vetiver from our friend Lorenzo Villoresi for the first time."

LV Vetiver bursts forth from the bottle unapologetically strong, smoky, and masculine. There is a raw sharpness to the vetiver root note, which is buoyed by bergamot. The sandalwood and pepper start to make their appearance known in the mid-notes, and lend an appealing smoky character to this scent. It is roughly as strong as Guerlain's Vetiver, but without nearly the citrus, and is not as harsh and raw as Route du Vetiver. In all, an excellent scent worthy of an extended try.

Wicozani

a very masculine fragrance wonderfully natural smell thats well different to the usual department store staples

When I first sampled this, I smelled only pepper. I thought--- disappointing. Then suddenly after about five minutes the fragrance warmed up into one of the classiest smells I've ever come across. Awesomely masculine and very refined, this one is LV at his best. The "subtle nuances that surface here and there", as noted by another reviewer, definitely put this fragrance on a much higher level than most. Awesomely intense and very warm, this vetiver simply cannot be rivaled.

Perhaps second best.... with it's clean and very sharp edge. IMHO, the finest is Annick Goutal's Vetiver.

This is one ultra-masculine Vetiver scent. It makes Guerlain's seem girly in comparison.
Renato

The Best Vetiver known to man. No elaboration necessary, must be experienced to be believed. Nuff said...

Let me begin by saying that I am not a fan of vetiver fragrances. Although Guerlain Vetiver is a classic, it gives me an instant headache. LV Vetiver is a complete surprise in the line of vetiver fragrances as its simple mix of elements produces a potent masculine blend with subtle nuances that surface here and there throughout the wearing. Lasts a fantastic amount of time and is incredibly versatile in regards to occasions for wearing it. A great classic I say.