Vetiver pour Elle (2004)
by Guerlain

In layman's terms, Vetiver pour Elle is Vetiver with the tobacco notes replaced with floral accords. Softer and not as harsh as the original, I actually find this more enjoyable to wear than the men's version.

Good stuff!

Green citrus bergamot, white-floral citrus neroli, green-floral honeysuckle, white-floral lily of the valley, the sweet spice of nutmeg, woody green vetiver, and the new-mown hay note of coumarin from tonka beans. Altogether a woody and green scent with traces of sweet florals and spice, with a dryish edge of coumarin powderiness. Vetiver with a touch of fougère? Yes, but too much vetiver to allow lavender in, so a kind of fougère manquée. Yet J-P Guerlain's instincts were dead-on; the right balance for a softer version of the 1961 Vétiver, if anything even woodier, less harsh, for removing the screen of rougher base notes and revealing more of the vetiver. It's quite nice for men, too — despite the rather sexist name.

Until 2004, Guerlain's only true vetiver-scent - the widely acclaimed, simply named Vetiver - was reserved for men. Women loved it, though, and they often asked Jean-Paul Guerlain to create a feminine version. Forty-five years after Vetiver, he finally accepted the task and made Vetiver pour Elle. He kept the characteristic notes of vetiver root, nutmeg and bergamot, but replaced the sweet tobacco with flowers like jasmine, lily of the valley and orange blossom. At first, its availability was limited to French airport shops, presented in a bottle that was a strange compound of Robert Granai's masculine Vetiver bottle and the romantic 'heart shaped stopper' bottle. The scent soon proved so successful that it was incorporated into the 'Les Parisiennes' line in 2007. With Vetiver pour Elle, Jean-Paul Guerlain managed to unite the smell of the earthy vetiver-root and bitter nutmeg with rich notes of white flowers. While the added tarragon in Vetiver Extrême tends to drown the wonderful vetiver in a prolonged soapy-herbal vapour, in Vetiver pour Elle, vetiver and flowers complement each other perfectly in a poised dance. The fragrance evolves and alternates beautifully between the flowery and earthy notes, and the wearer gives up deciding whether it's the white petals or the soil beneath the flower that he smells - or simply both. It's worth mentioning that perfume expert Luca Turin in his 2008 perfume-guide describes it as possibly the best woody fragrance currently - also for men.