Vetiver by Santa Maria Novella

This minimalistic composition opens with a rough, dry and in your face blast of raw vetiver that made me immediately believe I had found my new holy grail. Unfortunately, after one hour or so, rosewood takes over surrounding the scent with a "perfumery" vibe that's definitely off-putting for my likes. Amazing opening, depressing drydown (I'm sorry but I'm hypersensitive to rosewood).

This starts of very harsh and perfumey and the vetiver comes out after an hour. The vetiver is nice but subtle.

On the surface it seems to me to be a raw and rough vetiver, as many people have said. This raw note includes lots of iodine, and the iodine accord is even more aggressive than the one in Goutals Vetiver. I really love that surface impression because I love vetiver in all its aggressive natural glory. However, amid the raw, natural vetiver, I keep coming across a note that reacts in a feminine manner on my skin: it is floral and powdery and is not something I want to wear. It could be the rosewood that moon_fish mentioned. Im still trying to understand the conflict between the rawness and the powder, not that the two cant coexist: The juxtaposition of the raw / powder is, in a way, intriguing as an accord, its just not something I would enjoy wearing. I can even see this iodine and powder as working beautifully on the right person male or female ... just not for me.

Well, continuing my tour of SMN fragrances, Vetiver is more in the dry, herbal, earthy vein of vetivers than it is in the citrus or fruity line of vetivers. That means to me it is more like L'Artisan's Vetiver or Villoresi's Vetiver than Guerlain's, CdG's, or even Malle's, which has some citrus. This is a slightly sweetened, and almost aldehydic, feminized version of L'Artisan's take on this grass. It's not unpleasant, but it's also too close to something you might smell in a head shop or a new age store or a Dave Matthews Band concert. Vetiver isn't my thing, and while this one is not awful, it doesn't do much for me either.

I think that rosewood makes SMN Vetiver close to Lorenzo Villoresi Vetiver - which is only Vetiver that come close to SMN and could be compared with.
So I believe this is Italian style cologney Vetiver - it has no iris as Guerlain has got.
Heavy and loaded with citrus, it has sour qualities before it comes to dry and old-mannered base vetiver.
I like it as much as LV stuff. But favourites are another - Serge Lutens, MPG Route du Vetiver, Annick Goutal...

Have you been cleaning up the ashes in your kiva fireplace again, Sir?, my trusted assistant inquired perceptively.

[b]Vetiver EDC[/b] from Santa Maria Novella, is a shocker for an EDC. It is strong, powerful, scorched-earth arid, dry, and earthy. Not even a hint of citrus. While it is not as sharp to the senses as Route Du Vetiver, it is nearly as shocking, and definitely more arid and dry; I would not have thought that possible. If you love vetiver and dry, arid colognes, this may be your ticket. In sum, this is surprisingly strong EDC vetiver scent, very powerful, and extremely dry, earthy, and arid.

Wicozani

Not too bad, but nothing really special, not my favorite Vetiver.Whcih Lorenzo Villoresi

This is light years from the Guerlain version. It is much heavier. Long lasting, too. It smells somewhat similar to the Potpourri but with the addition of the strong note of earthy vetiver. Not a fragrance for a young man, I would think. (Not that they would choose to wear it.) Very off-beat and distinctly un-trendy. A lot closer to essential oil of vetiver than many others with this name.