Vetyver
by Parfums de Nicolaï

When one goes to the PdN website, the notes for Vetyver are listed as:

Top notes : Citrus : lemon petit grain oil, galbanum oil
Heart notes: Lightly aromatic woody vetiver
Bottom notes : Amber

The text in French below the listing talks about different things: cumin, vetiver and black pepper. And that is exactly what this scent seems to be about. It is a dirty, spicy vetiver and I really like it. It deserves more attention than it gets.

Nicolai's perfumes tend to make me yawn. Meh, it's okay or something. But inevitably I need a fragrance to make me feel better about myself.

Vetyver has the same, dull "block" in other Nicolai fragrance I've tried. It's THERE and doesn't want to go away and let me smell the rest of the fragrance. The vetiver in this concotion smells good, earthy and poignant but with a lot of that blockage. Terrible longevity for a semi-decent scent.

This is not your father's Guerlain. It isn't clean, it isn't fresh. It's boldly spicy, rubbery, animalic. If Edmond Roudnitska had used the vetiver root instead of citrus and leather in Eau d'Hermès, that divine, equally earthy, concoction may have smelled something like what Patricia de Nicolaï has done here.

Opens with a sharp vetiver—a little peppery but primarily rawly – almost iodinely – vetiver. Even in the sharpness of the opening there is an underlying dirtiness of spices welling up from the heart accord – specifically cumin with other spices following behind. The mixing of the first two levels results in a challenging accord – both piercingly sharp and down and dirty, if you can imagine that. I’m not sure how to take this accord – I think I both love and dislike it. The conflict between clean and dirty eventually settles down to an adjusted pleasant vetiver / cumin accord modestly supported by some sweetness (tonka bean). These last few gasps of life simply do not last long. Parfums de Nicolai Vetiver is an intriguing, challenging fragrance…challenging to wear fragrance, too… unfortunately, it seems to have very limited longevity. Parfum de Nicolaï Vetiver is a bold scent that is proof of the creative risks the perfumer is willing to take in accomplishing her art.