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Wednesday, September 4, 2019

Serge Lutens Vetiver Oriental: Tendrils of Earthy Green

photo copyright Elena Vosnaki


I cannot shake the impression that the task of scaling down, of attenuating the formula of Vetiver Oriental to the richness and sumptuousness of the material's roots is an algebraic challenge, a piano étude aimed at perfecting a specific agilité that is not in tune with the Lutensian way of usual opulence. And yet...and yet the result speaks in hushed, nocturnal voices of a decadent drawl; a few chiseled citrusy consonants, a little rubbery-smoky with the rosiness of gaiacwood, surprisingly sweet-spoken licorice-like (deriving from lots of anisaldehyde) with the earthy bitter edge of dry cocoa and loads and loads of polished woods, almost laminated... Read my full on fragrance review of Vetiver Oriental by Serge Lutens on THIS link.

2 comments:

  1. I'm in Bortnikoff Vétiver Nocturne today. And not only that I thought of Vetiver Oriental when applying this, an hour later I opened your newsletter, find this paragraph and you actually *use* that word nocturnal! And you did so already in that review from 11 years ago - maybe you inspired Dmitry Bortnikoff to name his Vetiver this way!? Who knows... ;-)
    That said, in Vétiver Nocturne I don't find the creaminess I seem to remember of VO, it's closer to Nishane's Sultan Vetiver. At least as far as I can tell from the top of my head.

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    Replies
    1. What a most delightful comment! Thanks for suggesting this, it made my day. :) It might have, yes!

      Delete

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