Sine Tempore

I tried this last year at Jovoy in London and knew instantly that one day it would be mine - but: the price. This is how Brexit works in luxury niches: I was informed with a winning and sad smile that only one bottle was left and Arte Profumo products wouldn’t be reordered because of the given complications. Competitively, I gave in. I always loved Vetiver by Guerlain, it’s timeless and still tells me stories about the late Seventies/early Eighties, Paris, London and guys I fell in love with when I was young and Vetiver seemed too grown up and polished for me. Sine Tempore beats even Guerlain, perhaps because of that oak moss in the base that makes the Green Man step out of the woods, the saps of distant and vibrant green and roots fed by a damp earth, and with it the sensation of being close to the overgrown bark of an oak tree. The lime holds it all together in a kind of clean way, never fades and makes this a very real and wonderful scent.

Oh my! I think I'm in love! Sine Tempore is an absolute king of a mossy, green vetiver scent. A near-pure vetiver scent may not sound that exciting. Vetiver can be an unkempt animal, one or more of its many facets always getting out of hand — it's often too rooty or too dry or too sour or too dirty. Here there's no sourness. Just a phenomenally well-balanced, sublime, smoky, grassy, ethereal masterpiece. Yes the price point is way up there but honestly, for this, I think it's worth it. Daytime signature scent worthy. Trabuquera's review below is a must-read.

Beautiful simply constructed masculine aromatic chypre. The scent opens with beautiful lemon citrus notes and transitions to a firm vetiver middle (the perfume boasts of two sources of vetiver oil) with a hint of cardamom. The perfume settles on a powdery bed of more vetiver, oakmoss and synthetic musk. The masculine leaning scent has moderate sillage and excellent longevity. Like a natural version of Terre D’Hermes. Elegant, classy and an absolute must have for lovers of clean masculine scents. Enjoy!

I believe there are many notes not listed here. It seems that Italian perfumes always like to be concise and list the characteristics of the fragrance without listing the other embellishment notes. But this scent is so rich and complex, perfectly embodying the character of vetiver at its core, eaathy, deep, chewy, almost roasted, and both light and dark. So smooth, so graceful, and so vibrant, it has to be high quality materials to do that. Perfect vetiver.

I hate rank, dominant vetiver - but this is how a note I'm often afraid of is meant to be done. Bad, or just unsuitable, vetiver fragrances literally turn my stomach and make me feel nauseous. Sine Tempore is completely vetiver-centric - TWO kinds of vetiver, centre stage, and each totally identifiable as vetiver - and I still like this scent a whole lot. What a wonderful surprise! Bright fresh zingy lime in just the right balance to make the cleaner and almost-citric properties of good vetiver shine through, while scrubbing out any of the rotten-reed or acrid-body-odour it often cooks up on me. Lovely prickly spicy touches of that cardamom and oak moss rough it up to make it much more interesting than a plain light-green vetiver cologne splash, though, giving delicious dry peppery tingles amid the clean leaves. And then there's also a really classy smoky (but not bitter), cast to that second type of vetiver - definitely detectable and itself, but still never too much. I'm honestly amazed - at how good this is, and at myself for skating so close to a near-phobia and loving every sniff of it. Not just pleasant but persistent, too, with longevity up to 4-5h and staying fairly linear all the way through, which is just fine. Scary price. But if it's good enough to convert ME, vetiverphobe, then it is must be some seriously good gear. For vetiver fans it might be all the way to heaven. "So I smelled this thing ... now I'm a believer", as the song doesn't go. It's a vetiver missionary winning over all the sceptics, this one. A great deal of respect to Arte Profumi for brewing it up.

The below reviews sum up Sine Tempore pretty well. This is a lot more rich and complex than the listed notes would have you believe. Definitely a dirty start that mellows out into something closely resembling a more refined version of Guerlain's L'eau Boisee. I also detected a few elements of other modern day classic vetiver scents such as Encre Noire and Sycamore. My major issues with this scent lie in its poor longevity and sillage, as well as the price tag being on the higher end.

Nice Earthy blend. Damp vetiver and oakmoss. A nice touch of citrus. Really good, soil of the Earth type stuff. My nose must be playing tricks on me because I can smell powdered hot chocolate for a second. Unusual wear but awesome scent. Really good stuff, starts dirty snd sharp and gets warm....and a little less sharp.