Guerlain Vetiver or L'Occitane Vetyver

[Townyj]

I would like to get a few opinions out there on which one is preferred! I tested out the L'Occitane Vetyver today and it smelt fabulous!! I ended up purchasing the 4 Voleurs in the end because it is something different, smells like a great summer scent!

Has anyone owned either of these at the same time..? I am also taking into consideration the Guerlain Frozen Vetiver....

 

[WhosYerBob]

I was wanting to try both of those from L'Occitane as well.

 

[warlandsboy]

I was wanting to try both of those from L'Occitane as well.

Me too! I was tempted to buy a bottle of Vetyver on sale, and I'd like to try Frozen as well (hoping it's a little more contemporary).

 

[jakespoppy]

I would like to get a few opinions out there on which one is preferred! I tested out the L'Occitane Vetyver today and it smelt fabulous!! I ended up purchasing the 4 Voleurs in the end because it is something different, smells like a great summer scent!

Has anyone owned either of these at the same time..? I am also taking into consideration the Guerlain Frozen Vetiver....

These are so different you can hardly compare them. The Guerlain is a light, dry, soapy, powdery vetiver, and the L'Occitane is a dark, smoky vetiver. The L'Occitane is different from all the other vetivers.

 

[Townyj]

Well reading some review's at basenotes the Guerlain Frozen gets more of a thumbs up then the general Vetiver.... They say its less sweet smelling overall.

I know i dont need anymore more colognes... but the Vetyver really did smell wonderful, definitely a hard choice!

 

[cvac]

I didn't like the way the L'Occitane dried down on my skin. The opening was very nice though, if you like it, go for it. Out of the men's scents I like L'Occitan the best. I do wish they made a CADE edt though.

I need to revisit my samples of the Guerlain and Givenchy vetyvers. I remember like the Floris vetiver a lot but it's been discontinued unfortunately.

 

[LeGaulois]

Guerlain of course.

 

[jakespoppy]

Guerlain Vetiver or L'Occitane Vetyver....

How about...

Guerlain Vetiver AND L'Occitane Vetyver?

Never overlook the genius of AND!!!

 

[Mpugh77]

I have never smelled the Guerlain but the L'Occitane is great.

 

[azmark]

L'Occitane is amazing. My wife did not like the first few minutes (top notes) of it but about 30 minutes later....watch out! It was a good thing we were in public

 

[Townyj]

Looks like im going to have to revisit the L'Occitane Vetyver

I have been trying to source out a sample of Guerlain... doesnt seem to be anywhere that actually has one. Looks like i might have to do a days worth of searching in the city...

 

[andrew98]

I'm definitely getting L'Occitane Vetyver sometime this year. It's my favorite vetiver of those I've come across.

-Andy

 

[azmark]

I see a sign of genius here my friends!

Guerlain Vetiver or L'Occitane Vetyver....

How about...

Guerlain Vetiver AND L'Occitane Vetyver?

Never overlook the genius of AND!!!

 

[jazzman]

...I do wish they made a CADE edt though.

That would be my dream edt, as well. In the meantime, I'm enjoying their vetiver, 4 valeurs, and l'occitane, while sharing the OP's curiosity about Guerlain's take on the subject.

 

[MrFusion]

I would go L'Occitane Vetyver over the Guerlain Vetiver. My wife loves the L'Occitane (as do I) and we both disliked the Guerlain Vetiver when I tried it. It was a bit too soapy and sweet for my tastes but hey! YMMV!

 

[bigred90gt]

L'Occitane is amazing. My wife did not like the first few minutes (top notes) of it but about 30 minutes later....watch out! It was a shame we were in public

Fixed.

I would go L'Occitane Vetyver over the Guerlain Vetiver. My wife loves the L'Occitane (as do I) and we both disliked the Guerlain Vetiver when I tried it. It was a bit too soapy and sweet for my tastes but hey! YMMV!

I see "soapy" quite often in people's description of Guerlain Vetiver. when I sampled it, I got nothing at all soapy out of it, and cannot possibly see how anyone would. I smelled it first on the paper, then I sprayed it on my hand. Neither had anything to do with soap.

 

[MrFusion]

I see "soapy" quite often in people's description of Guerlain Vetiver. when I sampled it, I got nothing at all soapy out of it, and cannot possibly see how anyone would. I smelled it first on the paper, then I sprayed it on my hand. Neither had anything to do with soap.

To be honest, I only got a hint of soapy but the sweet side is what turned me off. I could see Guerlain Vetiver being Unisex (or is it categorized that way already?). I typically don't care for most of the Unisex scents as they usually lean more to the feminine side for me. I lean more toward the spicy/woodsy/earthy scents.

Hope nobody thinks I'm bashing Guerlain Vetiver. It's a fine scent, just not for me.

 

[bigred90gt]

To be honest, I only got a hint of soapy but the sweet side is what turned me off. I could see Guerlain Vetiver being Unisex (or is it categorized that way already?). I typically don't care for most of the Unisex scents as they usually lean more to the feminine side for me. I lean more toward the spicy/woodsy/earthy scents.

Hope nobody thinks I'm bashing Guerlain Vetiver. It's a fine scent, just not for me.

That's also strange to read as a description, because I got exactly the opposite from it. I got the spicy/earthy/woodsy that you say you prefer, and nothing sweet from it, at all. If I smelled this on a woman, I would I would be a bit concerned.

 

[cvac]

Guerlain Vetiver has been reformulated a few times and I believe one of the reformulations came out about a year ago. So it's possible people are talking about scents that are a little different and not quite the same.

The sample I got from over a year ago was indeed quite soapy but not too sweet in the dry down. You'd have to wait probably about twenty minutes at least to get there. Paper strips are basically useless for testing. I wouldn't call it "feminine", at least not from a standpoint of traditional men's colognes. L'Occitane's Vetiver does have some sweeter notes in the dry down, actually. But again, you'd have to wait for it to get there.

Givenchy Vetyver is very nice and a bit more clean and refined than Guerlain. I also really like Floris Vetiver, which has a more green, prominent, purer Vetiver note to it than Guerlain, Givenchy, or L'Occitane from what I remember.

Supposedly the older, 90s era and earlier vintage of Guerlain Vetiver was less tame than the two 2000s formulations because it had a stronger notes of tobacco and oakmoss. I've not tried it yet, but I did attempt to buy a bottle recently. I will post my thoughts when/if it shows up.

 

[arghblech]

I won't buy any cologne from L'Occitane because the whole store smells so strongly that I can't actually sniff the stuff in the bottles.