St. Vetyver

Where to start with this one? I love vetiver and recently went through over 30 samples to find new unique scents for both the office where I work and everything else. With Essential Parfum's Mon Vetiver winning the office, I knew I needed something high in quality but versatile if it was to prevent Mon Vetiver from just being my all day every dayer. Enter St. Vetyver. Unique? Yep? Vetiver heavy? Absolutely. Ability to be used for the beach parties, date nights, house chores, or family get togethers? No question- it has a shape shifting, one-size-fits all profile that is all ages and all occassions. At 35, this scent has completely reshaped my idea of vetiver and for that aspect alone it was worth the hefty price tag. It portals you one island over from St.Kitts, but without any risk of the label of "tourist" being applied. It doesn't really make sense until you try it. This is a natural summer scent, carribean isle or elsewhere. It isn't like most fresh summer scents though- the spice and sweet notes tend to show up a lot more in the cold while the fresh notes become muted. Being a major factor for me, the vetiver is the star from start to finish and clearly high quality. The tropical description and notes of this scent caught my eye for sure. Be warned though, most of them are just for copy and locus purposes- what I get in order of appearance is a burst of oranges/aldehydes, bergamot, green, rounded vetiver ( i e hat straw, reeds, etc), some textural olfactory magic being done to give it beach atmospherics ( wet and dry sand? Salty air?), and finally a silky smooth rum accord that is light on the sweetness. It is fresh but warm, green but sweet, balmy but light- for me it is completely unique but not weird in the slightest. Longevity is decent, think 7-10 hrs with moderate to low projection.This is likely going to become my signature, as I cannot stop using since I got it. Another bottle is on its way, and I have yet to get through even a third of the current one. No gray markets either- I want the actual company to get my money for this gem. The cumulative effect this scent creates is a sense of being free of stress due to having earned that right. It's speaks slowly after a long sip of Grand Mariner "I'll do what I want, when I want to" but in a casual "Don't hate me, hate the game" sort of way. It reminds me in many ways of Terre D Hermes but without any of the cedar and a heavier emphasis on the dry, caramelized undertones its reisin accords carry. Both are orange and vetiver scents at heart, but the Durga seems a little less serious. In terms of the build, the opening for me is my least favorite part- there is so much going on that it is hard to make sense of it all. The sour orange note is HUGE. Once the vetiver shows up, sweetend a bit by the rum, it's game on though. It is fresh and clean, but still a little dirty. It's not a cologne, it's your skin as you live your life. It feels "lived in", and it just may make you appear more travelled than you actually are. It conveys beach dunes with waves of dune grass and all the romances, parties, tranquility, and good times that setting provides for those lucky enough. SV feels nostalgic for the purpose of rejuvenation, not merely to just remember. There is no age range for this, but it skews younger than other rum or vetiver scents I know. I haven't been asked yet "what are you wearing?" and I can't say I'd care if I ever wasn't. What I will say is I absolutely will tell those people "nope, this one's for me only". I really hope this stays in production, as this provides something rare, unique, and unforgettable. Although I haven't cared for many other offerings by DS and Durga, I will have to resample a few due to just how good this one is. Maybe I missed something. Don't miss out on this one. 5 stars.

I adore this fragrance and look forward to putting it on in the mornings. For me, it is has the real ‘classic with a weird twist’ vibe that you get with so many DS&D scents. Whereas sometimes I feel they could have benefited from leaving one note behind in some of their compositions, with St Vetyver it all just sings. It opens with a tremendously fizzy, in-your-face bitter orange note that I just can’t get enough of. It then settles gradually into a comforting amber, woody mixture that manages to be a little spicy and a little sweet but not too much of either. The balance is really excellent. The base is really where I start to pick up the rhum note, but it is more leathery than boozy, and harmonises with the earthiness of the vetiver, so nobody will be thinking you’ve been hitting the sauce at work. Although the aesthetic/marketing vision is of a vacation island theme, I actually think this pairs well with a suit and tie at the office as much as a holiday: it’s a strong scent but doesn’t have an over-powering sillage, and so fine for work or play. It is very versatile, capable of being serious or fun. For me, it’s a fundamentally summer scent (and best in hot climes), but that could be because that’s the season when I got my bottle. Longevity is good for me, and I can still smell the base notes on my skin after a full 8 hours. I’ll be buying another bottle when my current one runs out. EDIT: the recent DS&D price increases have been over the top and I think that $210 for 50ml is stretching how much I am willing to pay for this one. I wouldn’t touch their other fragrances at this price point.

This one stumped me initially. Part of me loved it, part of me was weirded out by it. It took a week of periodic testing for me to wrap my head around it. This is NOT, your typical vetiver scent. In fact, it's more the idea of vetiver initially because of the rum and breadiness, but I do get some earthy, salty, and rooty vetiver hits. The straw is a very interesting concept to me, and it comes through accurately. The seagrass and reed is also super interesting, and lends a grassy, balmy quality. The rhum agricole mixed with these elements given me a feeling of being in a humid tropical location, with beaches and marshlands.The clove is not overdone, and the breadnut gives a gourmand element, without feeling like I'm wearing a pastry. The sum of the parts give the feeling of a warm humid southern night in historical Charleston, white linen shirt, enjoying fine food and craft drinks, The locals weave baskets and hats from straw with expert skill. There's beach and marshlands just off in the distance from historical, and beautiful gothic revival homes. Vacation in a bottle and one of the best from DS & Durga, who is a house I admire for taking chances (Mississippi Medicine, Rockaway Beach) and the artwork of David Seth Moltz. I'm getting a bottle this weekend for balmy summer evenings 🌴 Scent 9/10 Performance 5.5/10 P.S. It's better on skin, than a test strip. I tried it a year ago on tester, and dismissed it.

This scent is AMAZING!! It's definitely not your typical vetiver scent, but this is a PICTURESQUE Caribbean pirate/vacation scent. It smells like this boozy, aromatic, woody, and sandy cocktail. This smells like the scene in Pirates of the Caribbean where Jack is stranded upon an abandoned island where he stashed a large amount of rum to drink. I can see this being worn by anyone at any time, but this might be a little too boozy for daily work wear. This is an amazing scent that allows me to unlock my inner pirate and cast the nights away. It does have a very "sandy" quality that I really can only attribute to the reed or hat straw. My only gripe with this scent is that it doesn't last very long on my skin chemistry, but I know it can last 8+ hours because one of my friends sprayed it upon herself and it lasted FOREVER, and it lasts forever on clothes. Overall, it's a boozy, woody, and aromatic scent that I cannot wait to wear during these upcoming summer nights. Hopefully this will help me castaway somewhere :)

Brings to mind an old bay rhum that you could never find online, only in a tourist shop on some faraway island. That AWESOME hat straw - Days at the beach when you'd leave your hat on top of your face to block the sun and as it heats up, you actually do smell these notes, it's divine. These hats are the standard in hot weather places. The rhum comes in perfectly to bring out all the glory of "VETYVER" - No perfumer has done vetiver this good, which is astounding considering its popularity. This is how vetiver should be honored, in a sunny, tropical vignette. The scent only gets sweeter and perhaps a little earthy and green, leading to a wonderful memory of cracking open breadfruit, an absolutely legendary fruit that has made it on ships around the world for centuries.

grassy reeds slapping in the fair trade winds, hot sand, breadnut, a tanned, white-haired chest of a well-groomed man who has just been served a fresh pour on the rocks. Old-style cologne with a sweet and tangy lean, sort of a feminine streak in the novelty of sun-hat. DS & Durga's whole brand seems to be little cheeky wink concepts which is nice, however sometimes it's a bit too synthetic and gives me a headache. This one is the least headache-inducing for me for some reason. I contemplated this as a signature scent, but like another reviewer said, it's a bit too plain and linear for me, but that said I love the soft almost transparent vetiver here. Beautiful fragrance and great for summer. It caramelizes with time, which I like.

Love this scent. It doesn't project very far, but it is a comforting scent that I like to wear when I'm by myself. It reminds me of the smell of the yew bush my grandparents used to have, and all the summertime memories of running around with my cousins, playing tag, hide-n-seek, and catching fireflies in those late summer evenings. If you've ever plucked a small branch off a red-berried yew tree and gave it a sniff, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about. For those that don't know the smell, it is a softer evergreen tree smell with a bit of citrus. Very nice.

Rolled the dice and purchased this as a Blind Buy and was thoroughly impressed. Long lasting with decent silage for at least 5+ hours on my skin, this wears great on Humid, warm nights but can be worn all seasons except for Winter (IMO). Sweet, but not cloying. The Rum base notes are tied in with the dryness of the Hat straw and earthiness of the Vetiver. A severley underrated scent.

St. Vetyver to TF Grey Vetiver: "I'm you but better." This has a similar DNA to Cowboy Grass, they both that warm grassy green in the opening. But St. Vetyver has a richer sweetness from the fruit notes and rum. To me this is a broader and deeper fragrance than Cowboy Grass, and more wearable year round. Of the D.S. & Durga fragrances I've sampled, this is my favorite.

Instant love! The only thing I want to be wearing on warm evenings this summer. Despite being vetiver-focused, I would almost call this a savory gourmand (possibly coming from the orange, straw, rum combo). Another truly original and photorealistic creation from D.S. & Durga, yet also more accessible/wearable than some of their other offerings. Great stuff!

Boozy booze, slightly sweet, surprisingly heavy aromatic summer scent. Has a lived-in vibe (and that signature "dusty" DS&D accord) that really works on me. Can handle heat and humidity. According to D. S. Moltz it's not a best seller - but it is his daily go-to and his kids' fav, so it isn't going to be discontinued anytime soon.

It is always great when someone brings something new to the game, especially that now days it became a very saturated market. This fragrance is different from the other fresh boozy ones, it might take sometime to grow on you. It smells like a beer for me, it is not super fresh tho, but its definitly summery.

The opening is quite dry, herbal and peppery, it's summery and nice, I quite like it but holy shit... that dry down is where it's at, lightly sweet, a bit boozy, a hint of leatheryness, woody and a little freshness. It's gorgeous. I love this fragrance and consider it signature scent worthy.

Wonderful vetiver and there is Definitely a straw hat and red stripe vibe going on. It’s nice enough to wear with a jacket and cool enough to wear with t shirt and shorts. To me it feels better dressed up. Would suggest.

Sweet, and slightly fermented. Exactly what they promise— rum and dry grass on the beach. Fun and uncomplicated, the perfect escape. I love when my husband wears this.

Really evocative of a warm, breezy summer's night sitting in a beach chair drinking rum. Nice and sweet, relatively mild with good longevity. Great vacation scent.

Amazing fragrance. Few of the Vetiver fragrances that easily can be unisex. Rum is the main player, with creamy Vetiver. Wearable, complex.

so interesting and idk what this is exactly. rum? hot beach vacation on a boat. idk if i want to buy this or even like it but it's so fun

Slightly smokey, masculine-leaning vetiver. Do wish it projected a bit more, but overall very impressed.

I wore straight Indian vetiver essential oil for years before deciding it could be interesting to see what it's like blended into perfumes. I was so excited about another vetiver fragrance after acquiring my beloved Nishane Sultan Vetiver that I immediately ordered a full bottle thinking nothing could go wrong with the cool experimental addition of "hat straw" and whatever "rum agricole" is. It sounded like organic, earthy beach hut. Actully not dissimilar from THE Beach Hut by Amouage which was catastrophically discontinued before I could ever even own it (how could they?!). So when I got St. Vetyver out of all of its packaging and sprayed it I was PISSED. First of all, the nozzle sprays in a stream, not a mist, so forget lightly spritzing your clothes (or lightly spritzing anything). That's an inexcusable oversight at this price point. Second, it performs like an eau de toilette instead of an eau de parfum-- again, inexcusable at this price point. I do not smell "rhum agricole." I do smell something like seagrass. And it is distinctive. However. EDPs for over $100 that perform like EDTs are like ordering an expensive chocolate dessert at a fine dining restaurant and getting brought a Hershey bar. If I wanted to pay that much money for an EDT I'd just start buying Replica fragrances-- awesome for their profiles, dismal for their performance and longevity. I have the same issue with Imaginary Authors. Expensive EDPs, all with intriguing stories and novel fragrance combinations, that all perform like EDTs. For that reason I don't buy them. That being said, the scent profile is nice and I am kind of "bought in" the company's thing due to the novelty of its experimental vision and fragrance combinations. I'm not giving up on DS&Durga from this one experience, and I do pull out St. Vetyver to enjoy if I'm wearing it to short occasions where the smell will last through it. But with the nonexistent projection, poor longevity and lack of sillage I have to say that this is, at best, equivalent to a really good Body Shop EDT at the price of a high end niche parfum.