Vetiver Etro 1989 Eau de Toilette

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7.5 / 10 118 Ratings

A perfume by Etro for men, released in 1989. The scent is woody-green. The production was apparently discontinued.

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Main accords

Woody

Green

Spicy

Earthy

Smoky

Fragrance Pyramid

Top Notes

Bergamot

Clary sage

Petitgrain

Sagebrush

Heart Notes

Bourbon vetiver

Gaiac wood

Iris

Base Notes

Tobacco flower

Amber

Perfumer

Jacques Flori

Ratings

Scent

7.5118 Ratings

Longevity

6.482 Ratings

Sillage

5.581 Ratings

Bottle

7.487 Ratings

Value for money

6.913 Ratings

Submitted by Kankuro, last update on 31.07.2023.

Reviews

6 in-depth fragrance descriptions

06/26/2018

8
Bottle 7
Sillage 8
Longevity 8
Scent

Schule
2 Reviews

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Schule

Very helpful Review 15

Greetings with the children's mail

"Dear Thomas, today my grandmother gave me a box of a gift. I was very curious, of course. My first stationery was inside. You're the first to get a letter written on it. Funny, even counterfeit stamps were included. But Mommy said they don't really apply, so we put the letter in a second envelope with a real stamp. Grandma also gave me a few things so that I now have a real small post office: a bottle of office glue with brush, red express stickers and blue airmail stickers. Both must be torn off the roll, licked and glued on.
What was already in the box was what I liked the most, but it has also brought in scolding from Mommy. The children's postmark and your own stamp pad. I also got a red plastic stamp in which I can insert rubber letters with tweezers to make my own stamp. Unfortunately, Thomas' A is now upside down. I realized that too late. The stamping ink smells totally funny, I always smelled it, but Mummy caught me, and forbidden it. She said that I should stop, because it's definitely harmful. Maybe you can still smell it when you hold your nose close to the letter. That concludes my letter again. I look forward to your answer, see you soon, your..."

There is the concept of error memory, and there are imaginary memories that can become error memories with ongoing consolidation. Or not. As described above, it wasn't.

I am massively reminded of old stamping ink by the scent, this impression overshadows everything else. Perhaps they are memories of a visit to a print shop in childhood, or the handling of stamping ink as a child. Years later there was the event of the Vienna sabotage crew, where the scent "Cash", allegedly based on the smell of fresh dollar notes, was launched. Back then, an entire Berlin club smelled of it - like teak, waxed jackets, ink. That comes very close. After trying unsuccessfully to raise cash, I am very pleased to have found a worthy governor here.

Otherwise almost nothing happens, I can't smell the other notes, or they step back very strongly behind the generated image, later everything retreats slightly acidic. With strong durability and at least in the beginning clear perceptibility.

For me a very special, artificial fragrance, which for me does not have to be a contradiction to a natural origin. Vetiver with an earthy-tarry, but not sweet, but rather bitter-sour, but at the same time very idiosyncratic impression.

I don't even know where I could wear something like that, there's no one around your neck, it makes you feel strange. So I spray it secretly on my arm in the evening and think of a children's post office with black-green, perhaps poisonous, stamp ink. Or should I say Encre Verte? For me, the more authentic ink..

12/17/2019

7
Bottle 4
Sillage 5
Longevity 8
Scent

SchueneMa
2 Reviews

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SchueneMa

Helpful Review 9

The devil wears Etro

Whooah! What's splashing out of this elegant, nobly unapparent flak king? Any other design house would have called this fragrance 'Black Vetiver', 'Vetiver de la Nuit' or whatever and wrapped it in an opaque black bottle. But not Etro, and so the surprise comes with the Spreuzer: Deep black, moist, earthy vetiver with a discreet smoky note. Remains relatively linear and close to the body, but wow, I find him sexy! Unfortunately the durability leaves much to be desired.

12/07/2020

Intersport
62 Reviews

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Intersport

Helpful Review 7

Vetiver a la Romana

Vetiver is a profoundly French thing: Proust speaks of it already felt on page 3, the complex colonial past of France in Haiti and La Reunion (Bourbon vetiver) and the anecdote that Guerlain has already shipped in the 19th century vetiver water to Mexico as mosquito protection, as well. Later then the classics of Givenchy and Guerlain. Jacques Flori managed with his version for Etro to move the whole thing into an Italo context, at a time when vetiver was not yet back on the playing field, as it has been since the 00s. Perhaps by combining it with sage and other aromatic herbs, a possible reference to Renaissance medicinal gardens. When I read Paolo Rumiz's recommended book on the Via Appia a few years ago, I kept having to reach for Etro's Vetiver, in addition to Eduard Flechier's superb Vendetta pour Homme. I'm referring to the cologne version, which starts out less citrusy than the current eau de toilette. Perhaps the most 'Roman' of all Vetiver's.

08/25/2012

7.5
Longevity 7
Scent

Apicius
222 Reviews

Apicius

Helpful Review 4

Take Me to The Forest!

I once had the chance to smell the difference between natural vetiver oil, and vetiveryl-acetate which is processed from it. The smell of vetiveryl-acetate is actually what we would recognize as such in all those acknowledged Vetiver scents from Guerlain, Lubin, and many others. The natural stuff however, is not very pleasant in its pure form: woody, bitter and very smoky.

Nevertheless, perfumers seem to feel tempted to use the natural oil instead of the refined product, and it very much depends on the ability of the perfumer if he is able to transfer this into something beautiful or, at least, tolerable.

The Vetiver by Etro is one of that kind. It has this unrefined roughness of Vetiver oil, and not so much Guerlain style elegance. Actually, it has even a licorice-y or aniseed appeal, which makes it reminiscent to the ouzo-style perfume Kenzoair Intense. It is closer to Encré Noir, Kenzoair Intense and maybe Frédérick Malle's Vetiver Extraordinaire rather than all the Guerlain vetiver variants, the Carven, the Lubin and Givenchy vetivers.

However, it is not quite Greek ouzo style. When I first tested it, it perplexed me with relations to my childhood. On Sunday, if the weather was nice, my parents used to take me to a big forest near my hometown. This forest was actually a former moor, many centuries or even millenniums ago. So, the soil was quite acid and had a high PH value. If you have ever been to such a forest, you might recognise it has a different, more distinct smell than other woodland. It still smelled kind of sour, and the soil, the moss and the needles seemed to create a much more lively and intense fragrant experience than other woods.

Etro's Vetiver follows that path. It has this coniferous woods appeal, and it seems to be very much more on the natural side than others. Yes, it does remind me of the soil of my childhood forest – it is like warm sunbeams touching a very lively anthill.

Of course, I have it, but I hardly wear it. For me, it is simply too close to nature for that. Etro's Vetiver with its strong liquorice-y note has a strong reminiscence to Kenzoair Intense, however, the charakter of both fragrances are quite different.

It is good we have it, and I hope, it will not vanish too quickly from the shops.

07/15/2012

jtd
484 Reviews

jtd

Late Autumn Sense Memory.

This is a great vetiver. It has a wonderfully burnt yet wet quality that makes this seem not so much like a fragrance to be worn in autumn, but a fragrance that smells of autumn. It smells like dried, fallen tree leaves that have been rained on, plus burnt cedar logs that have been doused by the same rain. Etro’s Vetiver has a very strong opening. The vetiver has the scent of real dried vetiver roots, and gives me that feeling of smelling soil in an small, enclosed space. It makes me take shallow breaths as if the scent is dry like cold winter air and will chap my mucous membranes if I inhale too quickly. It’s very visceral in this regard.

This is a stark vetiver. Not a fresh vetiver by a long shot. No citrus, no marine notes. The woody, rooty vetiver is perfectly matched by a combination of saccharine licorice root and dry, dry woody cedar. These two elements actually mimic an aspect of vetiver and reinforce the principal vetiver note. Vetiver overload! I love it! Over time it becomes more wood than root, and the cedar dominates the drydown.

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