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vetiver

I am surprised there are so few vetiver based aftershaves and colognes. Is it because vetiver is a more Oriental type fragrance?

I use vetiver oil in an aromatherapy difuser and it's wonderful stuff, very relaxing. It has a nice earthy, clean smell, like you might find in a fine bar of soap. It's inoffensive and I doubt anyone would find it disagreeable.

The only inexpensive cologne I have seen with vetiver is a Spanish cologne from Miami called Kolonia 1800 Vetiver, made by a company named Crusellas. I guess I will have to put that on my "to try" list. I know their regular cologne (Kolonia 1800) resembles Arko in its scent- just an old fashioned citrus cologne.
 
I dunno... Plenty of frags and AS with vetiver playing support, though indeed less with it front and center; even less that are budget priced. Not sure if a $10 splash on cologne is a good thing or not...There’s still a fair amount of options though.

Looking forward to hear how you end up liking it
 
Years ago I tried Thierry Muglier's Cologne in a small sampler and it was wonderful stuff, but I'd never pay the kind of money they wanted for a full bottle. Plus it's not easy to find, and not the most popular.

Vetiver is an inexpensive essential oil because it it's easy to grow in tropical areas, and even in some parts of the US, and it grows fast. You can mix and match different growing regions of vetiver and produce everything from woody, resinous base notes all the way to fresh green top notes.
 
I have Fine Fresh Vetiver AS. When I first got it, I couldn’t stop using it. Then I bought Mike’s Vetiver soap which I found to be somewhat bland. I would like to smell some more vetiver scents to better understand the scent.


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I recommend buying some essential oil of vetiver off Amazon and just wearing a drop like perfume. You will figure out the scent of the real thing. It's only about 6 dollars for a small bottle.
 
I love using vetiver in a diffuser when I meditate, it creates a calm space. It's sort of like oud or sandalwood in that regard, only much cheaper (I prefer it to sandalwood, which tends to have a urinous note.

I have some old vetiver oil I bought years ago. It was always very resinous, and looks and acts like molasses. It reminds me of the resinous, labdanum note in Clubman's Private Reserve, if you have smelled that. It's honestly not very flattering, and I only use it as a fixative in aromatherapy.

I prefer more clean vetivers. Depending on where it grows, or how it's extracted, vetiver oil can vary significantly in character.
 
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I was bummed when L'Occitane phased out its very nice vetiver scent.

Me three. Stopped in the local shop the other day to sniff around, told them I missed their Vetiver and they said, "like those up there?" They had a display case on the upper wall with bottles of their Vetiver. May have been filled with water, though.

Don
 
Guerlain Vetiver can be had for dirt cheap on the discount sites like fragrancenet. I recommend trying that one.
 
Guerlain Vetiver can be had for dirt cheap on the discount sites like fragrancenet. I recommend trying that one.

Looks like fragrancenet has 100 ml testers of Guerlain Vetiver for $39.95. That is a bargain for a fine, classic, easily accessible edt, and equates to "dirt cheap" for you and me, jdp93.

Not Kolonia 1800 Vetiver, dirt cheap, though. I have bought but have never ended up actually using scents like Kolonia 1800.
 
I got the bottle of Crusellas Kolonia Vetiver today. I decanted some into an old Avon bottle I cleaned out. My initial impressions is that it's an old-fashioned citrus cologne, similar to Florida Water in strength and silage, but instead of being spices, lavender, and oranges, this is more of a citrus and vetiver fragrance. The vetiver is more in the background.

If you've sampled any Turkish colognes, it's very similar. Crusellas colognes are made in Miami. All of the Kolonia fragrances appear to smell very similar, but they don't have the vetiver locally in stores, I had to order it for 8 dollars per 8 ounce bottle.
 
I think the comparison to Florida Water is apt. It is my impression--and I could be wrong, so folks should not hesitate to correct me--that, perhaps like Florida Water, Kolonia 1800 and similar scented liquids prevalent in the Caribbean and Latin/South America are not really used the same way American and European edts would be used. That when applied to the body they are splashed on rather more generously, and are used for adding scent to the house or baths or even in various, shall we say, rituals, or just to bring good luck, that type of thing. I think I have read that infants often get doused with the more floral of these products in some cultures, which always struck me as a pleasing custom, and rather romantic. There are generally less intense and more fleeting and intentionally so designed than American/European edts and the like. They are intended, among many other things, to be refereshing splashes, rather than to strictly add some aromas to human body.
 
I think the comparison to Florida Water is apt. It is my impression--and I could be wrong, so folks should not hesitate to correct me--that, perhaps like Florida Water, Kolonia 1800 and similar scented liquids prevalent in the Caribbean and Latin/South America are not really used the same way American and European edts would be used. That when applied to the body they are splashed on rather more generously, and are used for adding scent to the house or baths or even in various, shall we say, rituals, or just to bring good luck, that type of thing. I think I have read that infants often get doused with the more floral of these products in some cultures, which always struck me as a pleasing custom, and rather romantic. There are generally less intense and more fleeting and intentionally so designed than American/European edts and the like. They are intended, among many other things, to be refereshing splashes, rather than to strictly add some aromas to human body.

Yeah, I've seen baby cologne is stores around here.
 
Before synthetic fragrances and modern perfumery, cologne was not particularly strong or long lasting. Also, it was a way to sell fragrances cheaply through dilution.

I tried making an old-fashioned cologne using essential oils years ago, and the results were similar. You have to use artificial ingredients and fixatives to really get staying power out of cologne.
 
Before synthetic fragrances and modern perfumery, cologne was not particularly strong or long lasting. Also, it was a way to sell fragrances cheaply through dilution.

I tried making an old-fashioned cologne using essential oils years ago, and the results were similar. You have to use artificial ingredients and fixatives to really get staying power out of cologne.

I think I would have to see some citations for the above. Ingredients like ambergris, civet, and musk are not weak or short lasting. I do not know whether oud was used in scents other than in the east in the past, but it is massively powerful and long lasting. Seems to me various rose, lavender, and other natural floral scent components are powerful and long-lasting. Frankincense and myhrr do not seem weak to me. Real mysore sandalwood was not weak. I do not think of vetiver oil, patchouli, jasmine, oakmoss, or the various evergreen extracts as weak. I cannot speak to coumarin off the top of my head.

I am not saying that any of these natural components was inexpensive. I would say it has always been so that <Also, it was a way to sell fragrances cheaply through dilution.>

Perhaps you are correct, that before synthetic fragrances cologne was not particularly strong or long-lasting. But I have read a fair amount about the development of wearable scents, and I do not recall reading anything to that effect.

It may be true that poor people were really poor back in the day and scents available to them were very weak and short lasting. But I do not think it was because natural ingredients are necessarily weak. I think there have always been powerhouse scents available to those of means.

If I am incorrect, I am ready to be corrected.
 
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