Yazhini ManimudiSummer heat is more tolerable when nature provides you a fragrant grass that cools the breeze that glides through your home. Vetiver, native to South India, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka, has long been woven into blinds to cool the air in the hot regions. When sprinkled with some water, the blinds diffuse the vetiver aroma in the air.
Bundled up vetiver is also placed with linen clothes to perfume them. Traveling by way of French colonialism, the Tamil vettiveru became vetiver in French perfumery. The ingredient has gone on to become as central an ingredient as sandalwood, rose, and jasmine.
What does vetiver smell like?
The vetiver oil used in perfumes is mainly extracted from the roots, reminding us of vetiver’s etymology– vetti, which means to cut and veru which means root. The tall grass can tolerate a variety of soil and temperature conditions, but thrives under hot and humid summers. Vetiver roots as laid to dry under shade so that the precious fragrance doesn’t escape under the sun. Within 2-3 days, the fragrance is extracted through steam distillation.
Vetiver’s fragrance varies depending on where it was grown. Indian vetiver tends to have a bitter aroma. Javanese vetiver is smokier with a leathery accord and an earthy background. Haitian vetiver is green, light, and mildly sweet. In general, vetiver’s fragrance can be described as deep, earthy, and woody.
It’s hard to pick the best vetiver perfumes, not because the best is so rare to find but because of its prevalence in perfumes. Vetiver is found in 20% of men’s perfumes and 40% of women’s perfumes, combining with various ingredients to produce unique experiences. When paired with citruses, its fresh and woody aspects shine better. In floral perfumes, it recreates the aroma of nature by putting forward its green and earthy facets. Javanese vetiver has a floral facet that pairs wonderfully in this case.
Though it’s hard to choose the best vetiver perfumes, I have narrowed it down to ten:
Vetiver in a soft perfume…
Jo Malone Vetiver & Golden Vanilla
Key notes: vanilla, tea, vetiver, cardamom
Unisex
This is a soft, warm vanilla fragrance that avoids the popular overly sweet and youthful vanilla. Dry vetiver comes in beautifully with the green facets of tea and the sweet-bitter adventure of cardamom. It feels light, fresh, and serene, creating a small scent bubble with its intimate scent.
Vetiver in a dark, woody perfume…
Lalique Encre Noir
Key notes: cypress, vetiver, cashmere wood, musk
Masculine
Lalique’s most beloved perfume Encre Noir is deep, sensual, and woody. The woody, earthy cypress pairs beautifully with the similar facets of vetiver. It feels dry, dark, cold and quite mysterious. At the same time, there is a kind of comfort to be felt from the fantasy note of cashmere wood.
Vetiver in a citrusy perfume…
Creed Original Vetiver
Key notes: bergamot, vetiver, sandalwood, iris
Unisex
As we discussed, vetiver does have some fresh, green notes to it. The bergamot brings these facets out perfectly in Creed’s iteration of vetiver. It’s clean, soapy and very crisp. It’s a bright and uplifting fragrance that you’ll love weaning on a summer day.
Vetiver in a smoky perfume…
Guerlain Vetiver Parfum
Key notes: vetiver, juniper berry, smoke, coriander
Masculine
It’s a dry, green, and smoky counterpart to the bright fougere EdT from 1961. The woody, pepper facets of coriander complements vetiver. Juniper berry comes with a balsamic undercurrent and a piney greenness. It’s for when you want to feel dark and mysterious like a film noir character.
Vetiver in a fruity perfume…
Guerlain Vétiver Fauve
Key notes: fig, vetiver, cypriol, pineapple
Unisex
The newest vetiver from Guerlain as part of their L’Art & La Matière collection is juicy, green, and quite adventurous. There’s a watery fruitiness from the pineapple, a complementing lactonic green vibe from the fig that bridges the sweet notes with the earthy cypriol and vetiver. Perfumer Delphine Jelk describes it as the feeling of a wet, tropical jungle straight out of Rudyard Kipling’s Jungle Book.
Vetiver in a green perfume…
Chanel No.19
Key notes: neroli, oakmoss, vetiver, sandalwood
Feminine
I think this perfume should have the same popularity as No.5. It’s so multidimensional with green and floral notes with a creamy, mossy, leathery base. It has that old school charm. It isn’t shy like Chanel’s newer green fragrance Eau Splendide. It’s bold and unafraid to be itself without being overpowering. Wear it on the days that call for bold elegance.
Vetiver in a woody, spicy perfume…
Swiss Arabian Vetiver and Orange
Key notes: orange, pepper, flint, vetiver
Masculine
This has to be one of the most fun vetiver perfumes ever. It’s beautifully balanced with the citrusy opening and woody base, all the ingredients shining but never overpowering each other. I like the metallic note that comes from the flint the most in this perfume. It’s affordable, versatile and has the potential to become someone’s one and only fragrance that they reach for every time.
Vetiver in a floral perfume…
Memoirs Of A Perfume Collector Indian Vetiver
Key notes: sea notes, neroli, coconut milk, honeysuckle
Unisex
Indian vetiver, despite the name, is not the most focused on Indian vetiver. The name aside, it manages to be a very beautiful and underrated perfume. Vetiver plays a supporting role to the beautiful multifaceted florals and the sea notes. It’s fruity, citrusy, sweet, and gets some creaminess from coconut milk. It’s more unique than most perfumes and shows how versatile vetiver can be.
Vetiver in a sweet perfume…
Etat Libre d’Orange Fat Electrician Semi-Modern Vetiver
Key notes: vetiver, whipped cream, olive leaf, marron glacé
Masculine
That’s one way to name a perfume… In Etat Libre d’Orange’s distinct style, the perfume has a strange name and formulation to match. They romanticize being a fat electrician in New Jersey (so specific) who is sweet and demure (is he also mindful?) in a perfume they call a ‘sensuality of contradiction’. It’s all woody, balsamic vetiver and the nuttiness of candied chestnuts. The most electrician about it is the vaguely rubbery and metallic accords.
Vetiver in a spicy fragrance…
Frederic Malle Vetiver Extraordinaire
Key notes: vetiver, bitter orange, pepper, oakmoss, incense
Masculine
Frederic Malle brought the spice rack with this one with caraway, pepper, pink pepper, cardamom, and cloves. It’s earthy, mossy, and has a mild freshness about it. It dries down to a sophisticated woody fragrance with a warm, luxurious incense and myrrh. It’s better worn during the day.
Yazhini Manimudi
