Vetiveria Ormonde Jayne 2025

Vetiveria is once again a perfume that piqued my curiosity with its scent notes, and with the brand Ormonde Jayne, I expected above all a modern, airy-transparent creation of the already so diversely interpreted theme of vetiver. The brand has succeeded to some extent, but it also relied on very classic accords, as both light chypre and fougère elements can be filtered out.

I really like the opening, as it comes across as very diverse, aromatic-green-spicy, and is also characterized by a rather mild, fruity lime, accompanied by a very subtle sweetness of coumarin. I can't say from personal experience how Nepali Szechuan pepper (Timut Pepper) smells exactly, but I find Linda Jayne Pilkington's description of it as fruity, airy, and zesty to be understandable. In this respect, the fragrance does have a certain freshness - I would have expected even more citrusy acidity here. The floral heart notes serve more to give the fragrance fullness and yet a bright lightness, rather than being truly accentuated.

When perfumes come across as too smooth, I am less drawn to them, which is why I also appreciate that Vetiveria has a bit of roughness from the very beginning. The reason for this is that not only grassy, slightly woody vetiver is the center of attention, but - in my perception - equally (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 overall slimmer and becomes softer and gentler over time.

The projection is initially slightly above average, but it noticeably loses intensity after one to two hours, and over time the fragrance is rather close to the skin, yet still relatively long-lasting. For a workday, it should certainly suffice (I tested it on three occasions), and overall I find Vetiveria to be best suited for daytime, work, and leisure, and for more mature men or younger ones who prefer more classic scents. Unfortunately, this Ormonde Jayne loses too much tension for me personally when the top notes fade and becomes a bit too mossy.