Terre d'Hermès Eau Intense Vétiver Hermès 2018

Flankers always have a hard time. They must always be measured by their big name. Especially when the 12-year-old model has set the bar very high, the customer's favour is still very high, a benchmark has been set in the industry. Maybe I already mentioned it here and there, I don't like comparisons, because I want to leave every scent for itself. It's hard for me here. Because Terre d'Hermès has left his mark on me, it's on my shelf, I regularly grab it blindly and never regret it. So I'm curious. especially because Hermès didn't improve his divine classic Bel Ami a few years ago with the addition of vetiver for my taste
You shouldn't necessarily expect the perfumery shop assistants to happily give you a tester shortly after ten in the morning, when the fresh goods are still waiting in the crates in front of the shelf to be sorted, but the ladies haven't even processed the events of the previous evening and first have to report all kinds of things to bring each other up to speed. The customer, the disturbing nuisance.

So it happened that I only saw a tester in the third perfumery. The cardboard can already be recognized from a distance, even if the somewhat unmotivated colour decorations leave me somewhat undecided. Probably I'll have to read what the marketing department has to say on the homepage in the next few days. Fortunately, the bottle is still the good, solid square of Terre d'Hermès, which I love so much, with the H in the bottom and the light orange liquid. Unfortunately, the spray button is kept in an unsightly retro brown, which promptly takes me back to my military service when I contributed more to the national defence with the brown-black bakelite of my field telephone (Ackerschnacker) than with my assault rifle. But what the hell, it's only a small detail, even if you have to look at it before every sprayer.

The first sniffer on your arm will show you why this fragrance has the Vétiver additive. Yes, there is Vétiver in its green, but also slightly bitter and astringent form. It also takes up a lot of space, so that I take some time to sniff the top note. But even after a few minutes and hours I have my sheer need to get my nose through the Vétiver fog. The rather narrow fragrance pyramid makes me search for fresh bergamot - no chance. Perhaps the pepper has formed a crime unit with the vétiver - unfortunately I cannot perceive any tingling, sharp or electrifying moments. Which would be painful in itself. But I remember the part Terre d'Hermès in the name and dig my nose deeper and deeper into the fragrance and just don't find it ... the typical earthy, mineral and fruity DNA of Terre d'Hermès. I can't see what that fragrance was supposed to be. Only Vétiver is available. From beginning to end. From overwhelming vehement to very close fading. Which is not wrong in itself, if you are looking for a monochrome vetiver scent, which covers about 8-10 hours well, but can also be sniffed out in the morning afterwards. I, on the other hand, feel a little deceived and screwed around.

Once I had dried my bitter tears and overcome my disappointment, I wondered what Terre d'Hermès Vétiver was. A classic male gentleman scent I've smelled so many times before. Pleasant and yet unfortunately too monochrome, too one-sided, without course or even surprises. Even without having my other Vétiver fragrances compete in a big Vétiver comparison test, I have to say that I clearly lack the width, the volume, the substance. Maybe I should layer one or two splashes of the classic Terre d'Hermès over it so I get what I expected from the name Terre d'Hermès Eau Intense Vétiver.

So in the end there is unfortunately only the impression of a classic vetiver scent, which I have smelled very often and often much better, because it is more complex and versatile. Hermès, you've disappointed me.