Top Notes 
Bergamot
Primofiore lemon
Heart Notes 
Rooibos tea
Vetiver
Base Notes 
Cashmere wood
Musk
Sandalwood
05/03/2025
NicheOnly
84 Reviews
NicheOnly
3
Completely different story
It does happen from time to time that my experience with a scent is quite different to the voted-for accords on Parfumo. Clive Christian's latest release L: Red Tea Vetiver is one of those fragrance, because if you come into this expecting a citrusy-fresh fragrance then you will not find anything like that here.
In its opening, L: Red Tea Vetiver has a very prominent woody-spicy feel. I do find some comparability to Arquiste's Indigo Smoke which similarly has that woody-spicy structure around its profile. If you smell it on strip, it will make you think of the color "red" - I pick up on a very prominent cinnamon-like ingredient which blending wise reminds me of Amouage's Boundless. However, on-skin it didn't align itself as smoothly at first, offering added nuances of nuttiness and the rooibos note not suiting my skin.
Luckily, it gets better thereafter. At the core of L: Red Tea Vetiver lie the rooibos and the vetiver, two key aspects of the initial dry-down. Woody-spicy-green feel like the key accords at this point with the scent also having a mild sweetness to it. However, the deep dry-down is fairly underwhelming as by the 2 hour mark, the final result is a hodge-podge of various fragrance ingredients that smell of vetiver and amberwood.
If this scent smelled on my skin the way it does on strip, I'd rate it closer to Indigo Smoke (which I still believe to be the superior product). To add, the pricing and performance are also issues here with L: Red Tea Vetiver retailing at €400/50ml and the scent being light on both longevity and sillage (estimates: 5 hours of longevity, soft sillage). The uniqueness is definitely there relative to the mainstream genre, but the product itself lacks the quality necessary to warrant a recommendation, even if it performed better or cost less.
In its opening, L: Red Tea Vetiver has a very prominent woody-spicy feel. I do find some comparability to Arquiste's Indigo Smoke which similarly has that woody-spicy structure around its profile. If you smell it on strip, it will make you think of the color "red" - I pick up on a very prominent cinnamon-like ingredient which blending wise reminds me of Amouage's Boundless. However, on-skin it didn't align itself as smoothly at first, offering added nuances of nuttiness and the rooibos note not suiting my skin.
Luckily, it gets better thereafter. At the core of L: Red Tea Vetiver lie the rooibos and the vetiver, two key aspects of the initial dry-down. Woody-spicy-green feel like the key accords at this point with the scent also having a mild sweetness to it. However, the deep dry-down is fairly underwhelming as by the 2 hour mark, the final result is a hodge-podge of various fragrance ingredients that smell of vetiver and amberwood.
If this scent smelled on my skin the way it does on strip, I'd rate it closer to Indigo Smoke (which I still believe to be the superior product). To add, the pricing and performance are also issues here with L: Red Tea Vetiver retailing at €400/50ml and the scent being light on both longevity and sillage (estimates: 5 hours of longevity, soft sillage). The uniqueness is definitely there relative to the mainstream genre, but the product itself lacks the quality necessary to warrant a recommendation, even if it performed better or cost less.
Holscentbar
NicheOnly
