Just Made a Blind Buy. Good? Bad?

[mistercitizen]

I just blind bought a 3.4 oz. bottle of Guerlain Vetiver edt and a 4.2 oz. bottle of YSL Rive Gauche for $76 with free shipping and a 20% off coupon from Frangrancenet.com. I've never sampled them obviously, but I've read so many good reviews and that they are considered classic fragrances.... I figured it was a pretty safe bet. What do you guys think? Good move?.... Bad move?

Ben

 

[StylinLA]

The Rive Gauche is a pretty safe bet. The Guerlain Vetiver will rub some people the wrong way, but odds are you'll like it.

i think it's a good move. Two classics that are not overused by the public at large.

 

[mistercitizen]

The Rive Gauche is a pretty safe bet. The Guerlain Vetiver will rub some people the wrong way, but odds are you'll like it.

i think it's a good move. Two classics that are not overused by the public at large.

I have Creed Original Vetiver.... and I'm kind of on the fence with it. I love it out of the bottle but after I've worn it for a few hours I seem to get tired of it. I don't know why.... it has all the ingredients for a great fragrance. I've heard Guerlain Vetiver is different though. I've sampled TF Grey Vetiver and I enjoyed it but didn't exactly want to pay the price for it. I have just been curious about these two for a long time now and finally decided to just pull the trigger and get them. They seemed like pretty safe bets.... but then again I've blind bought quite a few Creed fragrances.... and that's pretty risky business.

Ben

 

[MarkStar]

Rive Gauche is fantastic stuff that I feel belongs in everyone's collection. I am actually wearing it right now.

Guerlain Vetiver I couldn't stand until just last night, when I used up the last of my decant to give it a proper "full wearing". I decided that I like it also and will now have to buy a full bottle sooner or later.

So I guess you could say that, in my opinion, you did well. Enjoy!

 

[Schad]

Rive Gauche is very good buy.
I dont like Guerlain Vetiver but many on here do.

 

[The Chandos]

Spanking great deal and selection, two fantastic fragrances you can't help but love. Good on you.

 

[StylinLA]

I have Creed Original Vetiver.... and I'm kind of on the fence with it. I love it out of the bottle but after I've worn it for a few hours I seem to get tired of it. I don't know why.... it has all the ingredients for a great fragrance. I've heard Guerlain Vetiver is different though. I've sampled TF Grey Vetiver and I enjoyed it but didn't exactly want to pay the price for it. I have just been curious about these two for a long time now and finally decided to just pull the trigger and get them. They seemed like pretty safe bets.... but then again I've blind bought quite a few Creed fragrances.... and that's pretty risky business.

Ben

I maintain that the Guerlain Vetiver is kind of the vetiver bench note for many of us. It is very different from Original Vetiver and Grey Vetiver. Those are modern takes on vetiver.

Guerlain is a grassy, earthy vetiver note with an overlay of tobacco. Quite distinctive. You may need to give it time. I did. It's stronger than it seems initially. Or it was to me.

 

[Renato1]

Guerlain Vetiver is a classic, Rive Gauche PH isn't - it came fairly recently and didn't make much of an impact.

I don't like Rive Gauche PH much, but women seem to really like it, so it's worth owning.

Getting both for $76 is a pretty good deal.
Regards,
Renato

 

[CoinToss]

I got a deal on a 6-pack of Guerlain Vetiver deodorant over 10 years ago, and I loved the stuff, using it for many years. (The roll-on lasts and lasts.) If it weren't so pricey I'd use it still. And the half-dozen women I was with over that time period (mind you, those days are over) I believe liked it -- at least they didn't explicitly complain!

 

[mftoms59]

Perfect timing for the Guerlain with the cooler weather approaching, a bit lemony in the Top Notes but drys down nice to a nice grassy/hay scent with a touch of earthiness I enjoy. I haven't tried the Rive Gauche, but most YSL frags aren't exactly inexpensive, Did I say I loved the Guerlain

 

[Lamb Root]

I think that you have a very good eye when selecting a good fragrance upon reading a review is concerned.
I also think that our taste in fragrances would overlap if you end up liking these scents.

 

[maxman]

Nice picks. Guerlain Vetiver is a great scent.
Don't judge it on the top notes if you aren't sure.
Wait about 20 min for the Lemon Pledge smell to tone down.
That of course is my opinion.

 

[john parker]

I bought small decants of each, and enjoy them. Particularly in summer for me.

 

[mistercitizen]

Thanks guys. I'm feeling a little more confident about the purchase. I really enjoy fragrances, but I'm not the type of guy who feels the need to build a huge collection like some guys. I haven't been into fragrances for a real long time (a couple years) so my collection is relatively small. I like having something for every occasion so I've got maybe two to three dozen bottles. But, I keep reading about certain fragrances and the name keeps coming up over and over and over and I feel like it's one that might be (or should be) a staple in any man's cologne collection. These are two that I feel fit the bill. Rive Gauche may not be a true "classic" like Guerlain Vetiver.... but I felt I had to get it because of the "barbershop" connotation I keep hearing about.

I guess when you get to talking about all of this stuff in a forum like this there's that curiosity factor.... you want to know what all the fuss is about and to be able to relate to what the other guys are saying.

Ben

 

[BillC]

The curiosity factor is big for me - it keeps me sampling all the time.

with regards to the two frags you just bought: As you've seen Rive Gauche gets a lot of love around here. I've tried it a couple of times and to me it just triggered a "generic cologne' reaction - exactly what had led me to believe I wouldn't like wearing scents. But because lot's of people whose taste I respect admire it I go back to it every so often to see if it's going to click with me this time. Not yet, but I'll keep testing it

Guerlain Vetiver took me a while too. I got a 10ml decant an on first wear I liked the opening and the heart but detested the tobacco drydown - reminded me of stale cigarette smoke. Came back to it several more times and the drydown finally resolved itself for me - to the point that I couldn't understand how/why I ever got the cigarette connection. At the same time, I was sampling a bunch of other vetivers. I found several others that I liked, but by the end of my sampling my favorite was: Guerlain. Go figure. So I just bought a bottle of this myself. Don't know if this is a new formulation from my decant or just my tastes evolving, but the juice in the bottle seems to have a much milder drydown - very little tobacco at all.

 

[Niles]

Those are two of my favourite fragrances.

 

[tehtimmeh]

Both good scents. Guerlain's vetiver is nothing like the other two you have tried (OV and Tom Ford's), so you will be in for a surprise. It's very old school in a good way. May have to grow on you. RG isn't my favorite barbershop scent, but it gets the job done. Smells like barbasol to me. You could certainly do worse that these two!

 

[mistercitizen]

Another couple I was considering were Azzaro PH and Van Cleef and Arpels PH based on some of the opinions I've read here. I know that Azzaro PH is another one that is considered a "Barbershop scent".... so it was kind of between that and Rive Gauche..... and I went with Rive Gauche. I feel like running down to CVS and picking up a can of Barbesol so I can know what RG smells like... or I could just be patient and wait a couple more days.

Ben

 

[Oscroft]

I have to say I love both of those!

Azzaro PH is also great, but I prefer Rive Gauche.

Creed OV is also a big favourite of mine, but it's very different to Guerlain Vetiver (and for some reason, I don't really like Tom Ford Grey Vetiver).

As for "barbershop", it's an utterly meaningless term - there are dozens of fragrances that get described as barbershop even though they're not remotely similar.

 

[tehtimmeh]

RG is more barbershop than Azzaro IMO, but I prefer Azzaro. Azzaro is one of my favorites of all time and I have tried my fair share of scents. I'd say I bet most prefer RG though. It's cleaner and easier to wear. Azzaro is more aromatic.

VC&A is great, but it is potent and hard to wear without a suit and tie, which I do like once per year, so I can't really find the occasion to wear it. Definitely not a scent for everyone. It's very a very dark, potent, soapy, leathery sillage monster that screams "HEY, I'M FROM THE 80s", but in a good, assertive, type of fashion. I always think of Gordon Gekko.