Vetiver 1959 Eau de Toilette

Vetiver (Eau de Toilette) by Guerlain
Bottle Design Robert Granai
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7.8 / 10 1088 Ratings
A popular perfume by Guerlain for men, released in 1959. The scent is green-spicy. It is still in production.
Pronunciation
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Main accords

Green
Spicy
Woody
Fresh
Citrus

Fragrance Pyramid

Top Notes Top Notes
BergamotBergamot LemonLemon OrangeOrange
Heart Notes Heart Notes
NutmegNutmeg PepperPepper
Base Notes Base Notes
VetiverVetiver TobaccoTobacco Tonka beanTonka bean

Perfumer

Ratings
Scent
7.81088 Ratings
Longevity
7.6895 Ratings
Sillage
7.0872 Ratings
Bottle
7.4853 Ratings
Value for money
7.9349 Ratings
Submitted by DonVanVliet, last update on 11/01/2024.

Smells similar

What the fragrance is similar to
Vetiver Extreme by Guerlain
Vetiver Extreme
Vetiver (Lotion Après-Rasage) by Guerlain
Vetiver Lotion Après-Rasage
Vétiver (Eau de Cologne) by Guerlain
Vétiver Eau de Cologne
Vetiver Sport / Vetiver Eau Glacée by Guerlain
Vetiver Sport
Grey Vetiver (Eau de Parfum) by Tom Ford
Grey Vetiver Eau de Parfum
Dunhill Edition (Eau de Toilette) by Dunhill
Dunhill Edition Eau de Toilette

Statements

22 short views on the fragrance
HugoMontezHugoMontez 4 years ago
8
Bottle
7
Sillage
8
Longevity
10
Scent
Timeless masculine. A citrus blast in the opening, a green vetiver and a touch of tobacco in the drydown. 5/5
0 Comments
ElysiumElysium 6 years ago
10
Bottle
7
Sillage
7
Longevity
10
Scent
One of the most root, smoky, elegant, and classy interpretation of the wondrous and versatile vetiver. Flawless on a calescent summer night!
1 Comment
JoaoMartinsJoaoMartins 6 years ago
7
Bottle
7
Sillage
8
Longevity
8.5
Scent
This baby right here put Grey Vetiver outside of my fragrance game. Absolute masterpiece. Clean, classy and charming with a creamy base.
0 Comments
BertolucciKBertolucciK 3 years ago
7
Bottle
7
Sillage
7
Longevity
8
Scent
Vetiver with the classic Guerlain touch. The scent is green, spicy, earthy, with a fresh citrusy opening and a slightly woody base.
0 Comments
Shafkat82Shafkat82 3 years ago
8
Bottle
7
Sillage
7
Longevity
8.5
Scent
Its like signature scent type, if you are 35+ . For mature nose and if you like manly perfume . Excellent for office environment.
0 Comments
GRGGRG 1 year ago
guerlain vetiver is Mr. vetiver with a capital V. Vintage formulations are great. fresh, sparkling. it is a marvel for the sense of smell
0 Comments
AgegshdhdAgegshdhd 1 year ago
it would be hard to find someone who doesn't like this. distinct and interesting, but still appealing to all. timeless & always modern
1 Comment
MrHonestMrHonest 2 years ago
8
Bottle
7
Sillage
8
Longevity
9.5
Scent
At its heart, a superb woody and ashy vetiver; yet utterly smooth, soapy and refined. Leans mature, but it's damn near perfect. A reference.
1 Comment
ChicoRoch1ChicoRoch1 2 years ago
9
Bottle
7
Sillage
10
Longevity
8.5
Scent
Vintage classic by the one and only Guerlain
0 Comments
ZleoZleo 2 years ago
9
Bottle
7
Sillage
8
Longevity
10
Scent
This is a staple for vetiver lovers.
Very classical, fresh and powdery scent with a little spices.
0 Comments
More statements

Reviews

48 in-depth fragrance descriptions
jtd

484 Reviews
jtd
jtd
Very helpful Review 7  
Vetiver Abstraction
[Note: The Vetiver referred to below is the horizontal(ish) striped frosted glass bottle. The ‘90s’ bottle. ]

Guerlain avoided the Vetiver Trap and chose to make the vetiver root conform to perfumery, not vice versa. Vetiver is a demanding note, and some of the producers of vetiver perfumes of the past 20 years have elected to make it the heart and soul of their perfumes. While there are so many obvious angles of vetiver to emphasize (woody, rootlike, oily, smoky, earthen) they are so imposing that using vetiver in any sufficient quantity in a composition pushes everything else out of its way. A byproduct of the primacy of a note is the same conceptual problem as the solifor in perfumery: why create a representation of vetiver in a perfume when we could wear vetiver essential oil itself?

To focus on a tobacco note seems an obvious way to fall into this trap and wind up with a musty, earthy density. But Guerlain’s Vetiver uses a tart grapefruity bergamot along with licorice and what (I swear to god) seems like aldehydes to make the tobacco bloom, giving Vetiver an effervescent upper register. The real trick is that from the top through the basenotes Vetiver has a dry gin-like almost hissy pervasiveness that is far more durable that this range of notes typically is. The cool quality doesn’t actually feel mentholated or camphorous, but rather sheer and glassy, suggesting that it is cool to the touch.

Coolness seems to have become pronounced over the various reformulations. I know that many are saddened by reformulation. I seem to remember the Guerlain Vetiver a French friend wore in the late 80s and early 90s focused more on the dense, oily vetiver note itself. I know the lightening of a fragrance as a result of reformulation is generally panned, but this cooler, more gin-like Vetiver 1) gives me a wonderful sense of sang-froid in my warm climate and, 2) lifts the register of the tobacco note, making it effectively floral. The lightening doesn’t have to do with dilution, but an increased emphasis on the tenor range of notes.

Prettier than it was, and still pitch-perfect, I find the current Vetiver de Guerlain more appealing than ever, and exceptionally successful in its manipulation of a difficult botanical note. The current Vetiver, more than earlier versions, uses its eponymous note in the same manner that Chanel No 5 makes a floral perfume with jasmine: it makes a balanced abstraction that smells of vetiver but does not smell like vetiver.

(I’ve been wearing reformulated Guerlain Vetiver in the old-is-new-again rectangular bottle with the silver cap. My overview of it is that it’s nicely made, smells more like the ‘original’ and smells more like vetiver root but less like tobacco and aldehydes. I prefer my ‘90s’ Vetiver for its abstraction, but I might be in the minority. My only strike against the new is that it fades rather quickly, something I don’t remember any previous version doing.)
0 Comments
8
Bottle
7
Sillage
8
Longevity
10
Scent
HugoMontez

73 Reviews
HugoMontez
HugoMontez
Very helpful Review 7  
Soapy Vetiver
There are 3 different categories of Vetiver based scents. The dry-earthy category, the more recent gourmand category and the classical soapy one. This is an example of the old style. I one of the best vetivers around. A true mark in fragrance history.
My review is based on my current bottle, which is the square frosted one. I had some decants of the current version in the HR style bottle with green cap and it's definitely watered down, lasts only 5h and more is slightly more fresh, with less tobacco.
It's a very linear scent. Basically starts with vetiver, bergamot and dry tobacco and it ends like that, just with less bergamot.
A great office scent, classy, refined, masculine, timeless.
If you want a versatile masculine vetiver, search no more.
This one lasts all day (12h+) and has a good bubble around you. Doesn't project like a monster though. It's more around you.
A masterpiece that everyone should have.
5/5
2 Comments
7.5
Bottle
5
Sillage
2.5
Longevity
7
Scent
Insense

25 Reviews
Insense
Insense
Helpful Review 5  
What type of man do you want to be? (Guerlain Vetiver vs. Habit Rouge)
Today I will digress in two male mythical Guerlain: Habit Rouge and Vetiver, opposing each other.

Guerlain Vetiver:
The classic masculine, where the vetiver note has become a benchmark for men. For use with suit and tie, at any meeting. Classy, but also a lot of sobriety.
For me, however, it is a bit dated (yes, I'm the counter current of those who consider this more modern than Habit Rouge, being this one outdated upon many reviewers): I prefer more modern vetivers, when that note, one of my favorites, is blended with a touch of profanity as in L`Artisan Parfumeur Timbuktu, example of exoticism; or wherein the distinction is even more marked as in Chanel Sycomore, the unsurpassed distinction. Or is it the sandalwood that matches the vetiver so smoothly?
But my reference is Frederic Malle Vetiver Extraordinaire, vetiver at its higher level, linking to my taste on oriental and inspiring my next short review on Habit Rouge below.
I am so sorry, Guerlain, you inspired many, and will have to watch now the beauty of youth from distance.

Unless…

Guerlain Habit Rouge Eau de Toilette:
This is the opposite of the previous one: said to be the first male oriental in 1965! Or, as I think, was it the first androgynous? It does not matter, because it has it all for those who always feel good in their skin, whether at work or at play, such as a father or as a romantic lover (ok, he may be all at the same time, ok?). And both based on the cutaway aristocrat as the rocker playing his electric guitar jumping on stage ... If you are more for well-defined identities, it will not be for you.
The touch of vanilla in the drydown is wonderful, someone considered the male Shalimar. I do not agree completely: it is less powdery and is drier (a more pronounced and animalic leather accord?). It is a unique scent and I do not know any other as complex, contradictory and inexhaustible. Guerlain wanted men the opportunity to wear Guerlinade, and they succeeded auspiciously.

A modern replacement?
I'll think a bit more about it. You see, I prefer this against Vetiver; I changed. A few years ago I thought otherwise.

My dear Guerlain, you need not anymore to feel envious. You became a forever young vamp. But you'll have to walk alone.

(Also published for Habit Rouge)
1 Comment
7.5
Bottle
5
Sillage
7.5
Longevity
7
Scent
Apicius

224 Reviews
Apicius
Apicius
Helpful Review 6  
Vetiver and Forest
Guerlain's Vetiver has always been the most popular fragrance of its class. Here is my personal view on the history of Vetiver.

It must have been an idea of the late 1940's to use Vetiver as the main note for a gent's cologne. It seems it was Carven who first came out with such a perfume in 1949, not Guerlain. For some reason, these dark, green and earthy colognes must have hit the Zeitgeist of that time. They did not stand alone. Next to the Vetivers, another dark green fragrance, the coniferous Acqua di Selva was tremendously popular – at least in Germany. I have always seen a close relationship between both - not only due to the fact that an amount of vetiveryl acetate may also go into AdS. For me, that Italian fragrance is a sort of role model for the classic Vetivers: it is dark, green and has the same “vibes”. The interpretations by the means of that tropical grass are just the more sophisticated way of expressing the same thing.

Vetivers begin with something even older - the concept of the forest. In my imagination I see old pine trees, spruces, larches and firs among other broad-leafed trees. Have you ever been in such a forest in summer on a not too hot day? Have you ever realized the beautiful murmuring sound that comes from the wind as it passes the branches, leafs and needles – only interrupted by a cuckoo or the echoing sounds of a woodpecker? And last but not least, did you sense the multiple scents that the summer breeze brings to you – of pine needles, tree resin, earth, brake and anthills?

In my country, the “Deutsche Wald” (German forest) was first invented as a place of longing by the poets and intellectual representatives of the romanticism. On their way to find the “Blaue Blume” (blue flower) some of them found the forest instead: “Wer hat Dich, du schöner Wald, aufgebaut, so hoch da droben?” (Who has built you, you beautiful forest, there so aloft?) - these words by Josef Eichendorff, transferred into music by Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, soon became a popular folk song.

Aloft is the key-word here, it has a second meaning.

Entering a dark forest is a bit like entering a cave. The vastness is gone – instead, trees and foliage come close and give the surrounding a more intimate appeal. Leaves provide shelter from rain, storm and sunlight, and so, there is protection. On the other hand, thick foliage may hide the unknown that also comes closer to us. The poet however looks at high growing trees and thus, focusses on the grandness and sublimeness of the forest – and he relates it to the privacy of a forest home.

Intimacy and sublimeness, protection and the unknown – how can this go together? I think such contradictions was just what the romanticists were looking for. Like any other logical contradiction it can open a crack in reality and so - in the case of the forest - fairies, trolls and korrigans can enter and maybe reveal themselves to those who are able to see.

Spending time in a forest means to be in an environment with confusingly opposing aspects, and it is up to you how much of it you are able to sense. When the weekend came, there was no Italian Andiamo alla piazza - my parents took me to the forests.

Back to Vetiver. I remember wearing Guerlain's vintage Vetiver when I drove through the countryside some twenty years ago. It was summer, rain had fallen and now, all the forest scents evaporated and filled the fresh air. These well-known scents mingled together with my Vetiver, and suddenly, it made sense to me. The Vetiver was just one more forest note, it belonged there, it was part of nature, and it fit in. Even more, it amplified all the memories and the divergent moods that came with the forest air. This was the moment that Guerlain's vintage Vetiver became a favourite of mine.

It is hard for me to define the magic of it but it may have to do with some ingredients that are restricted today – evarnia prunastri? Anyway, the old Vetiver by Jean Paul Guerlain was the best of all. There was the forest character of an Acqua di Selva but without being downright coniferous. Very likely, there was something mossy. It was dark and noble, but it was anything but rough like so many contemporary Vetivers are. It was too elegant to be called earthy.

It may not have been the original intention to create a forest fragrance and as far as I know, Vetiver was never marketed as such. However, I do think that the vintage Vetiver may have touched all the wearer's multiple connotations with the forest, very often without reaching the state of consciousness. This includes that Vetiver never directly smelled like forest, but, figuratively, it somehow included all the magic and the concept of the romantic forest.

We will not get it back. A few years ago, I attended a meeting with Sylvaine Delacourte, Guerlain's art director. I asked her about Vetiver, and she complained about the IFRA restrictions. Still, I am not sure if the IFRA was the only reason. The reformulation may also have been a marketing decision after Guerlain had been as sold to LVMH. The version in the riffled bottle is still good, but the excellence and the respectability of the vintage Vetiver are gone.

Lately, Guerlain dropped the modern riffled flacon of the year 2000 version and went back to the old flacon. The only difference is that it has a silver cap now instead of a gold cap. Also, the badge on it is light green, not dark green. There are various accounts about the content of it. When I tested it I found no difference to the 2000 version. However, other Parfumo users found evidence of another reformulation – more smoke, more tobacco. For me, the question is still open. Maybe they changed the flacon but then filled it with different batches. I am not sure what exactly I will get if I should buy a bottle of it.

So, as Guerlain went only halfway back, what other choices do we have?

For me, Guerlain's Vetiver Extreme is the successor. I find it somehow muskier, more up-to-date and although completely different, a very respectable new approach. A very earthy, forest soil style Vetiver comes from Etro. Annick Goutal's Vetiver (recently discontinued) transfers us to the shores of Scotland with its most unusual salt and spindrift notes. The Vetiver's by Lubin, Tom Ford and Creed are all closer to the contemporary Guerlain Vetiver than to the vintage. Dominique Ropion's Vetiver Extraordinaire is a very dark and intense one, highly recommendable. I find Frédérick Haldimann's Vétiver interesting as it combines vetiver with a classic fougère note – a true gentleman's cologne. The Vetivers by Carven and Givenchy were released well before Guerlain's but then pushed aside by the superior Guerlain fragrance.

But - isn't there any left that somehow kept the vibes of the vintage Guerlain Vetiver? Well - what about Royall's Vetiver? It is just a cologne, and very bland – but I think it has got it.
0 Comments
2.5
Bottle
2.5
Sillage
2.5
Longevity
5
Scent
Drseid

820 Reviews
Drseid
Drseid
Helpful Review 4  
This Is Not My Kind Of Vetiver Scent At All...
Not impressive. I own a vintage ribbed bottle of this one and have so tried to like it, but alas I just cannot warm to it. It is fresh and very wearable, but I just kept hoping for something that is more raw and distinctive. I recently sampled Tom Ford's Grey Vetiver (which many consider a modern take on this one) and while I agree about the "modern take on GV" part, I was unimpressed with that one for the same reason. Both of these are just too refined and fresh for my personal vetiver tastes. Longevity and projection are both relatively weak. The bottom line is Guerlain Vetiver will always be a classic, but not one I can recommend when there are so many more distinctive vetivers out there, IMO. 2.5 stars out of 5.
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