Sel de Vetiver (2006)
by Different Company

It's sad. I'm falling out of love. I can feel it. Sel de Vetiver. I fell in love with this fragrance some time ago. From the first moment I put it on my skin. The smoke. The flowers. The salt. Everything I love. I felt that SdV was more evocative than most scents for me. The smoky outdoor fire. The sea. The heavily salted roasted meat at a Brazilian Chuhascuria. Just kidding. But the smoke, the flowers, the salt: therein lies the problem I think. I love all these notes, but I feel I perceive them individually in SdV , individually as in "cut off" from one another. The more I wear it, while I still like the smoke, the flowers, the salt, the less I appreciate it as an integrated scent, if I ever really did. Furthermore, I now get some sour note I cannot for the life of me describe accurately other than to say it does not please me. I loved what to me is the uniqueness of Sel de Vetiver. Never smelled anything exactly like it and I still feel the same way. But uniqueness in and of itself is no virtue. There are many very popular unique smelling scents I do not care for. They often seem gimmicky. Is Sel di Vetiver gimmicky? I never wouldl have dared to think this before but now.... I still own a bottle and I stare at her thinking, "What am I going to do with you?" It's sad. I encourage all good hearted people to try Sel de Vetiver. And I'm giving her a thumbs up. I was in love once after all.

5th December, 2011.

Somewhere between Eau de Lalique(daddy Jean Claude!) and Eau de Cartier; light, transparant and delicious! Unfortunately slightly too female for my likes!

10th November, 2011. (Last Edited: 20th November, 2011.)

Well, this is a pleasant surprise! With a name like SEL DE VETIVER, what could one realistically expect? In fact, this creation by The Different Company really is quite different. A refreshing vetiver with a very detectable salt note which offers all of the refreshment of sitting out at the end of a pier at the seashore on a cool day. The vetiver is there like the planks of wood that form the pier, and as the waves crash rhythmically on the shore, they create a mist which dries on my face, leaving a fine salt layer behind.

This is a unique take on the classic vetiver cologne. A great example of "less is more"! Or, perhaps more aptly, in this case: "a skillful blend hides most of its notes..."

27th August, 2011.

Sel de vetiver fits perfectly the idea I have about vetiver's fragrances. Straight ahead, uncompromising but still classy and distinctive. A pretty linear (yet not simplicistic) composition to tribute this amazing roots in their full potential. Earthy, salty and easy to wear. In my "vetiver favourite list" together with Vetiver Extraordinaire, Sycomore, Encre Noir and Route Du Vetiver. Very Good.

10th May, 2011.

A bracing tonic for whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul. Sel de Vetiver is the smell of sea air rather than the sea itself, which is better represented in Heeley's more briny Sel Marin.

Celine Ellena's rendition launches with a vibrant grapefruit, the glitter of sunlight sprinkled on a heaving ocean, and is joined by a trace of cardamom that, combined with the smoky vetiver, take it ever so briefly into the territory of Duchaufour's Timbuktu. Like myself on the sea the fragrance then turns distinctly green, with a hardy vetiver and a geranium of peppermint-like freshness. The two notes in ascendancy throughout this development are iris and, especially, lovage. The latter, a very clever addition which smells like a cross between celery and fennel with a salty aspect, forms a neat bridge between the ocean and the coastal forest that Sel de Vetiver treads (and, pleasingly apt for a fragrance as parched and salt crystal laden as this, lovage is known for its aquaretic qualities).

One of the best around, the smoky, salty, floral Sel de Vetiver is doing something new whilst also holding its own with rival vetivers from the houses of Givenchy, Chanel, Malle, and Guerlain.

1st March, 2011.

My reactions in a sequence.
1. "Well... salt and vetiver"
2. "A swimming pool in the morning, recently cleaned!"
3. "It's the smell of the sea! How is that possible?"
Note: this phase is DIVINE.Really, really... the sea.
4. "Smells medicinal...The back of an old apothecary, where they store the pills and herbs..."
5. "Well... vetiver and who knows - traces of some dark base, maybe patchouli... Goodbye, Sel de Vetiver. Thanks for the sea part."

31st July, 2010.