Does Vetiver Smell Similar To Patchouli?

[Nick Danger]

I'll freely admit that I'm not very knowledgeable when it comes to fragrances. Truth be told, I'd never even heard of vetiver before I started reading this forum.

Having done a little online research, I've seen a few references to vetiver smelling a bit like patchouli. Does anyone else find that to be true?

I'm asking because I really hate patchouli, and as I read the descriptions here and on basenotes.com, I want to try and avoid fragrances that have a prominent note of patchouli or anything similar.

Yes, I can sample many fragrances at local department stores, but I find that I sometimes don't get a good sense for a fragrance until I bring it home and try it for a while (guess I don't have as sensitive a sniffer as some other folks.) I think I get overwhelmed by the other smells in the store. For example, I didn't notice the patchouli smell in Cartier Roadster Sport until I bought it and brought it home. I quickly came to regret that purchase.

I plan to order samples from Garry and other vendors or hobbyists here who offer decants. Knowing what to avoid will help me in my quest.

Thanks for your opinions,

Nick

 

[Matt555]

Good question, but no. It is like comparing apples and oranges. However, a vetiver based fragrance may very well have patchouli notes blended into the composition. But vetiver itself smells nothing like patchouli. Ordering some samples, as you mentioned, is your best bet. Vetiver is tricky stuff. You may love one and absolutely hate another.

 

[mascarasnake21]

no such thing as a stupid question with fragrances. notes are a hard thing to pin down when they're not obvious ones like, say, rose or leather.

Not too experienced with vetiver, but I've tried Guerlain's. I'm a fragrance n00b, so I'll try to explain the smell...

It smells...earthy. Grassy. Green. (if that make sense to you.) To me, patchouli smells like potpourri and hippies.

 

[Niles]

Good question, but no. It is like comparing apples and oranges. However, a vetiver based fragrance may very well have patchouli notes blended into the composition. But vetiver itself smells nothing like patchouli. Ordering some samples, as you mentioned, is your best bet. Vetiver is tricky stuff. You may love one and absolutely hate another.

+1

 

[hedonist222]

Not at all.

Patchouli is very different.

Patchouli smells greener than vetiver but not green like mandarins or petit grain.

A damp dense green. Imagine walking through a rainforest after its rained for a fortnight.

Vetiver smells sharper. Almost astringent.

 

[StylinLA]

Well, if you notice the patchouli in Cartier Roadster Sport, you're probably pretty able to pick it out. I say that because patchouli is in TONS of men's scents, but usually blended as an element that doesn't dominate. I maintain most of the patchouli haters who show up here relate to the raw, pure patchouli scent often associated with.... wait for it .... Dirty hippies!

You're right where you need to be on your journey into frag land. Your best bet is to read here and research in the Basenotes Directory to see what intrigues you. Then purchase small samples so you can wear at home. I've been at this a long time and don't trust the in store test much either. Primarily because you can get no sense of how long it will last based on being in the store for 20 minutes. Plus, until you've owned and tried a lot of different scents, they all start to bleed together after three different sample sprays. You're always better off if you get a sample to wear just the way you plan to wear the scent (for work, after work, weekends, etc).

Many of the vetiver scents that get discussed here are very vetiver dominant. The quickest one for you to sniff, and one of
benchmark veteivers would be Guerlain Vetiver which is pretty widely available in brick and mortar stores.

I don't think vetiver and patchouli smell much alike. Hedonist describes them pretty accurately. Patchouli has heavier, danker smell to me. Really storng patchouli scents will actually catch in my throat. Vetiver can sometimes be very earthy, but more like the smell of grass roots which have just been ripped out of the soil (which makes sense, because that's basically what vetiver is).

Vetiver, like patchouli and sandalwood is in hundreds of men's scents as a part of the mix of notes. But as I said above, when we discuss vetiver scents here, it's usually scents where the vetiver is pretty dominant.

 

[rum]

Well, if you notice the patchouli in Cartier Roadster Sport, you're probably pretty able to pick it out. I say that because patchouli is in TONS of men's scents, but usually blended as an element that doesn't dominate. I maintain most of the patchouli haters who show up here relate to the raw, pure patchouli scent often associated with.... wait for it .... Dirty hippies!

You're right where you need to be on your journey into frag land. Your best bet is to read here and research in the Basenotes Directory to see what intrigues you. Then purchase small samples so you can wear at home. I've been at this a long time and don't trust the in store test much either. Primarily because you can get no sense of how long it will last based on being in the store for 20 minutes. Plus, until you've owned and tried a lot of different scents, they all start to bleed together after three different sample sprays. You're always better off if you get a sample to wear just the way you plan to wear the scent (for work, after work, weekends, etc).

Many of the vetiver scents that get discussed here are very vetiver dominant. The quickest one for you to sniff, and one of
benchmark veteivers would be Guerlain Vetiver which is pretty widely available in brick and mortar stores.

I don't think vetiver and patchouli smell much alike. Hedonist describes them pretty accurately. Patchouli has heavier, danker smell to me. Really storng patchouli scents will actually catch in my throat. Vetiver can sometimes be very earthy, but more like the smell of grass roots which have just been ripped out of the soil (which makes sense, because that's basically what vetiver is).

Vetiver, like patchouli and sandalwood is in hundreds of men's scents as a part of the mix of notes. But as I said above, when we discuss vetiver scents here, it's usually scents where the vetiver is pretty dominant.

That seems pretty accurate to me. About the only thing similar about them is the earth-like smell, but vetiver is a lot smokier in strong doses (Sycomore). I prefer when they are blended in perfumes accordingly; don't like them much as single notes.

 

[sychodelix]

Patchouli is musty and oily. Vetiver has a dank, damp mossy, hard to describe scent.

Patchouli is very singular and simple, with no real variation. Vetiver can be drastically different from one frag to another.

 

[Nick Danger]

As always, you guys are amazing with your advice and the clarity of your descriptions.

I will seek out Guerlain Vetiver in a local store and get a sample. Around here, Sephora has a pretty decent selection of men's fragrances and they will send you home with a generous sample.

It's funny, but I associate both patchouli and sandalwood with dirty hippies. More often then not, it's the female hippies I've known who drench themselves in patchouli oil, while burning cheap sandalwood incense to cover the smell of their, um, recreational activities.

Interesting how certain smells can produce such strong associations.

Nick

 

[Matt555]

As always, you guys are amazing with your advice and the clarity of your descriptions.

I will seek out Guerlain Vetiver in a local store and get a sample. Around here, Sephora has a pretty decent selection of men's fragrances and they will send you home with a generous sample.

It's funny, but I associate both patchouli and sandalwood with dirty hippies. More often then not, it's the female hippies I've known who drench themselves in patchouli oil, while burning cheap sandalwood incense to cover the smell of their, um, recreational activities.

Interesting how certain smells can produce such strong associations.

Nick

Sephora is probably not going to have Guerlain Vetiver. Finding it in a store will be a challenge.....

 

[tehtimmeh]

Sephora is probably not going to have Guerlain Vetiver. Finding it in a store will be a challenge.....

I've actually seen it at Sephora. I believe some locations carry it or they did.

 

[drlvegas]

+vetiver goes well with soapy scents
Patchouli will NOT work with soapy scents at all IMHO

This certainly makes sense--if the hippies used soap, they wouldn't need all that patchouli, so why would they go together.

 

[Nick Danger]

Sephora is probably not going to have Guerlain Vetiver. Finding it in a store will be a challenge.....

The Guerlain web site lists a few places in my area that carry their products. I'm walking distance from Chicago's Michigan Avenue shops, but I wouldn't dare go there until after the holidays. It's a zoo in that neighborhood right now.

Nick

 

[StylinLA]

It's funny, but I associate both patchouli and sandalwood with dirty hippies. More often then not, it's the female hippies I've known who drench themselves in patchouli oil, while burning cheap sandalwood incense to cover the smell of their, um, recreational activities.

Interesting how certain smells can produce such strong associations.

Nick

Yes, of course. It's almost like a running joke here because about every 3 months someone posts something about patchouli and hippies. The scent they are really remembering is pure, unadulterated patchouli (or sandalwood), as in incense or scented oil. Patchouli and sandalwood are two main base note building blocks of so many frags, I guarantee you have worn, smelled or liked scents that contained one or both. Every other men's scent in the 80s was a patch/sandalwood combo.

What's up with wet shavers and hippies? When was the last hippy? 1974? Timothy Leary? Charles Manson? I guess scent associations are strong. A friend's dad tried to convince me in the 70s that the post office was secretly hiring and training hippies for some kind of "new world order" thing. He didn't have a telephone because it was really just a government listening device. In Detroit where I grew up, there was a period where there were lots of long hair types delivering mail. Guess it was a long range plan cuz they are probably mostly retired now.

But I digress.

 

[Matt555]

The Guerlain web site lists a few places in my area that carry their products. I'm walking distance from Chicago's Michigan Avenue shops, but I wouldn't dare go there until after the holidays. It's a zoo in that neighborhood right now.

Nick

I think you will have better luck there than Sephora. I know the two Sephoras in my area only carry womens Guerlain frags. You can also get a decant on Crystal Flacon. A few sellers have it....

 

[Matt555]

Looks like Garrys Sample Shop is up again. He has Guerlain Vetiver. I would grab a decant from him. He has Encre Noir too.

 

[Oscroft]

My fav patchouli frag is Givenchy Gentleman

Fantastic stuff - patchouli and leather. And it doesn't smell anything like hippies

 

[Matt555]

Fantastic stuff - patchouli and leather. And it doesn't smell anything like hippies

This one smelled like a worn/cracked, brown leather jacket to me (I don't know why I imagined brown, but I did). Not my thing, but a good fragrance none the less.

 

[Quintar]

+1 +1 +1
I agree totally !

My fav patchouli frag is Givenchy Gentleman - that's just about as much patchouli in a bottle as you will find in any frag niche or designer - maybe Montale Patchouli Leaves will come in a close second.....
A female wearing Givenchy Gentleman - she definitely has balls....

I love gentleman, it's definitely a patchouli monster, but I think the most patchouli you can cram in a bottle might be giorgio beverly hills for men. patchouli leaves has more amber than patchouli to my nose...I was rather disappointed by that.

Patchouli to me comes in different forms. In some scents it is dry and medicinal almost dusty, others it'll be rich and sweet and oily, while others its earthy and wet. I think it all depends on what it is blended with.

Vetiver is similar, some vetivers are green and grassy, others are dry and woody, while others are earthy and damp.

 

[coolbus18]

Hi there Nick Danger , Third eye!,

I too abhor Patchouli(even when I lived in a commune[late 60's]and no I or my friends were not dirty) and vetiver has an earthy almost cut grassy scent to me. Then again at 65 y.o. I've lost 1/2 of my smell and taste. Try a Google search and take the exit to the Antelope Fwy and say Hi to the Pharaoh.