6 years ago
Don't think anyone's mentioned Tom Ford's ~Grey Vetiver~. At least then I can get to be the first! Venturing to get this, despite its not seeming particularly good on cardboard in shop, I've actually found it phænomenal, wearing it.
Venturing a bit upmarket, I also strongly recommend ~Zizan~ by Ormonde Jayne. This choice of mine was the polar opposite of it, in that having decided to get one of the (IMO thoroughly excellent) OJ fragrances, I eventually decided, after borderline-forensic deliberation, to go for it. A strange thing about this fragrance is that, although it is lovely, it is ^not^ well-inegrated: to my mind it is like a dry-stone-wall in a sheep-farming region - but a dry-stone-wall made of pices of flawless stone. And I do quite like dry-stone walls! Somehow, it gets away with not being well-integrated. Another used the figure of a °rugby-match° of notes; but unlike me, that reviewer did not like it on the whole.
And venturing ^a lot^ downmarket, there is ~Zidan~ by Al Rehab. No! I am ^not^ joking! This is ^^most phænomblial^^ value-for-minlet! This is one of those that pitch me into a crisis about having ever bought any high-end or even normally-priced 'fume atall! However, when I go back to them, it does become clear. But the diminishing-returns curve ^is very^ steep!
Funny how a 'fume with vetiver in becomes a ^vetiver^ perfume so readily, maugre its being a subtle note. You don't particularly get ^ylang-ylang^ perfumes, or ^bergamot^ perfumes; and these notes are not subtle!
But beheld fræ another angle, it's not ^very^ surprising. Vetiver is an outstanding example, perhaps even the prototype, of the paradox of a note that ^almost^ doesn't smell of anything , and is yet wondrously distinctive & compelling.