Vetiver Ambrato

Guerlain's Aqua Allegoria Neroli Vetiver led me to this. I got a sample and was just sold; bought a whole 100 ml bottle. It was expensive but it is worth it. I absolutely adore this incredible greenness, the same deep green the box has. The simplicity of the box and the fine artistic pattern on the box cover fit together so well: they seem to hint that this smells simple and deep, yet there could be fine details. The immense greenness here is much stronger than GAA Neroli Vetiver, although that too is an exceptionally good and green scent. I see the rich list of notes but I guess I can only smell the vetiver part. Actually, I would've avoided this immediately if I had to choose based on these notes only because cloves, amber and vanilla are mentioned, also lavender that adds sweetness. But I smell none of these here, not even lemon, or I just don't know how they smell as a fragrance note. I also like that it's not jumping into nose but is rather reserved and calm so I can use it when going out, wherever. I don't want to disturb my colleagues at work with things like that and this seems to be both exceptionally good and also safe for that purpose. Also, it has a spray nozzle that seems to be better than any other I've seen: it sprays out wide and it seems to create very fine pieces that try to float away, like partly a mist. I think this is for men only.

I am truly perplexed as to why this is rated so low against summer. Perhaps it is just my preferences, but to me this is almost the perfect summer fragrance. Yes, it is not your traditional fruity citrus bomb that seem to be preferred by most in summer, but if you prefer something a bit more refined, with that subtly sweet, woody and powdery dry down, this is a great summer fragrance as it does have that clean, unoffensive citrus/floral open. Its only real downside is the performance relative to its price point. Granted, it is cheap for a niche fragrance, only slightly above more expensive designers, but for the price you burn through it pretty fast. Despite other claims in the comments, the bottom of my bottle clearly states that it is an EDT (and it is a new bottle). The performance isn't bad. On skin and clothes the dry down lasts for a long time... well over 24 hours on clothes, at least 12 hours on skin. But if you apply this at home in the morning before you leave for work, don't expect anyone else to smell it, unless they come in for a hug. But this is actually its strength as a summer fragrance. You can go hard on this, and it isn't going to offend anyone, and the heat will actually help it get a bit of sillage. Even a few hours in. 9/10. It is one of my Top 5 fragrances at the moment.

The house Bois 1920 was acquired, and as a result, the EDT's have been reformulated into EDP's. I'm not entirely sure how extensive the overall "reformulations" were, but this review focuses on the EDP version. Firstly, I find the name somewhat misleading, as vetiver (although there) is not a major player here. It opens up with a beautiful blend of bergamot, lots of lavender, and petitgrain, someone else mentioned neroli, which I also get. It has a very herbal and familiar aroma that very well reminds me of Pour Monsieur. It dances around that ballpark, and over time, develops into a creamy, powdery barbershop style base reminiscent of Bois du Portugal. From what I understand, the original EDT version was somewhat similar to Shalimar and contained tobacco, hay, and patchouli -- which this version does not have. So, these are likely two different compositions.

I am always, and I really mean it, always amazed of every one of fragrances by Bois 1920, the quality, depth, complexity is simply amazing and breath taking, even if the fragrance doesn't suit me or I don't find it to be "my style". The same thing is with this one, it opened lovely with burst of lavender and spice mix followed by marvelous, warm resins, amber and tobacco. It is definitely not my kind of scent as if I wouldn't like to wear this, but I would sure love to smell it on other people. I don't find this to be extremely masculine, okay, the opening might be too harsh for some woman, but the dry down is well suited for a woman - warm, comforting and very inviting. Do try, worth every penny.

Vetiver Ambrato is very refined and old school, and I love it. There are a lot of ingredients listed, but really, it is what the name says it is. There is a somewhat fresh opening, which very quickly gives way via a slightly powdery barbershop route, to the heart of this fragrance, which is all wood and vetiver, with just an edge of patchouli. Over time, it becomes a real amber, smoothed with quite a lot of sweet vanilla and musky tobacco. More than anything else this reminds me of Mäurer and Wirtz's classic, Tabac, but more refined and tasteful... just better. It's supposed to be unisex (or as they say, 'shared') but it smells almost stereotypically masculine to me, at least until the drydown.