Black Vetiver Phaedon 2013

Where to buy

Search on

More

Where to buy

7.6 / 10 54 Ratings

Black Vetiver is a popular perfume by Phaedon for women and men and was released in 2013. The scent is citrusy-green. It is still available to purchase.

Search on

More

Fragrance Notes

Java vetiver, Tar, Lemon leaf, Pepper, Jamaican vetiver

Ratings

Scent

7.6 | 54 Ratings

Longevity

6.8 | 45 Ratings

Sillage

6.0 | 48 Ratings

Bottle

7.2 | 46 Ratings

Submitted by DonVanVliet, last update on 31.03.2021.

Rate
Collection
Classify
Notes

Reviews

02/27/2020

GewoonBB
59 Reviews

GewoonBB

Black Vetiver (@Nose.Knows.No.Notes)

• Phaedon Black Vetiver •

What's your favorite vetiver? How is this much more pleasant than I expected and still a bit disappointing?

Black Vetiver is my first dive into the house of Phaedon. Based on the name and bottle design, I had completely different expectations of Black Vetiver. I never read into it, so I expected a greener, darker, heavier vetiver fragrance. That's not the case. Essentially, Black Vetiver is 95% Tom Ford's Grey Vetiver. The 5% that's different comes down to Black Vetiver not getting as sweet as Grey Vetiver tends to get in the drydown. And perhaps the opening is a tiny bit brighter and more like a traditional men's barbershop cologne for a couple of minutes.

Which means it's good, probably more to my liking than whatever expectation I had of it. Unfortunately, it's also redundant if you own similar soapy vetiver fragrances as it doesn't do enough to differentiate itself. As someone who owns Grey Vetiver, which probably outperforms Black Vetiver, although performance isn't bad at all, I have no room in my collection for this otherwise well-crafted fragrance. If that space isn't filled in your rotation yet, you might want to get your nose on this one, as it's a worthy alternative based on what I'm smelling •

05/05/2016

ColinM
516 Reviews

ColinM

1

Solid everyday vetiver

I am missing the “black” part here, at any stage, but nonetheless... what a compelling smooth and modern vetiver this is. Along the line of Tom Ford’s Grey Vetiver, but noticeably more quality to any extent for me: crisper, more natural, more vibrant, with a more “dimensional” texture, slightly rawer too (or, say, maybe just more “genuine-smelling”). A bit similar to Maitre Parfumeur et Gantier’s Racine as well, mostly for the citrus-vetiver combo, but somehow more transparent, slightly colder and overall more “minimalistic” than that – shortly, more contemporary. The evolution of Black Vetiver is quite simple, basically it starts off with an invigoratingly vivid splash of zesty lemon supported by an initially toned-down elegant accord of smooth, salty vetiver infused with something which smells like a sort of aldehydic musk to me; it’s very subtle, but it gives a peculiar texture to the woody base accord, making it smell as a sort of a greyish, breezy vetiver “mist” sprayed on dry concrete. Well, I’m making it sound more avantgarde than it is, but that’s more or less the effect I get here.

Once most of the greenish top notes of lemon fade away, it’s all about some really great, high quality, vibrant yet pleasantly civilized grassy-salty vetiver still surrounded by that breezy sort of dusty mist I mentioned above – and still lightly infused by some citrus nuances. But most of all it’s vetiver though, and it’s completely, indisputably pleasant as only good vetiver can be. It smells very natural, very woody and grassy-salty (no “inky” nonsense or whatever other ill synthetic rendition of it). And like good vetiver does, it smells also at once very elegant, yet terribly laid-back and easy to wear. As the drydown progresses, some more somber, smokier and slightly sweeter nuances arise, but at no point it will get too “black” – just a bit quieter and moodier, but with a palpable salty-breezy feel underneath. More than “black”, a “grey-yellow vetiver”.

That’s it, it may sound simple and it actually is, but it’s a pure, vibrant kind of simple, something more than pleasant to wear. Thank God none of Guillaume’s trademark mish-mash concepts are here, no weird mojitos and no chubby gourmands gone wrong. This doesn’t smell at all like one of his creations for me, and maybe that’s why it smells so nice. By far my favourite “modern” vetiver, a refined everyday gem and a perfect contemporary companion to the nicest old-school vetivers like Guerlain’s or Carven’s. Still quite overpriced but totally worthy if you can get some discount.

8,5/10