Vetiveria Ormonde Jayne 2025

Once again, Vetiveria is a perfume that piqued my curiosity with its fragrance notes, and with the Ormonde Jayne brand I was expecting above all a modern, airy and transparent creation of the vetiver theme, which has already been interpreted in so many different ways. The brand succeeded in part, but it also drew on very classic accords, as both light chypre and fougère elements can be filtered out.

I really like the opening, because it has a very diverse aromatic-green-spicy effect and is also characterized by a rather mild, fruity lime, which is accompanied by a very subtle coumarin sweetness. I cannot say from personal experience exactly what Nepalese Szechuan pepper (Timut Pepper) smells like, but I find Linda Jayne Pilkington's description of it as fruity, airy and tangy understandable. In this respect, the fragrance already has a certain freshness - but I would have expected more citric acidity here. The floral heart notes here serve more to lend the fragrance fullness and yet lightness than to really accentuate it.

When perfumes are too smooth, I find them less appealing, which is why I also appreciate the fact that Vetiveria has a little bit of gruffness right from the start. The reason for this is that not only grassy, slightly woody vetiver is the center of attention, but also - in my perception - (oak) moss. This gives the fragrance a very classic, masculine facet and reminds me somewhat of men's fragrances from the 80s or early 90s. However, Vetiveria is slimmer overall and becomes softer and gentler over time.

The projection is slightly above average at first, but loses a lot of intensity after one or two hours and over time the fragrance is more skin-deep, but can be perceived for a relatively long time. In any case, it should be enough for a working day (I tested it on three) and in general I find Vetiveria best suited for daytime, work and leisure and for more mature men or younger ones who like more classic fragrances. Unfortunately, this Ormonde Jayne loses too much of its tension for me personally when the top notes fade and becomes a little too mossy.