Vetiver Extrait opens with a nose tingling mix of effervescent lemon and bergamot before quickly moving to its heart. As the composition reaches its early heart the lemon remains, sans bergamot and effervescence as it joins clean citric, grassy green, slightly woody vetiver infused by bitter-green resinous galbanum and slightly sharp cedarwood, with a relatively subtle wet concrete-like undertone. During the late dry-down the composition loses the wet-concrete-like undertone, with the clean vetiver remaining, supported by slightly powdery oakmoss in the base through the finish. Projection is excellent and longevity outstanding at around 20 hours on skin.
Roja Dove's Vetiver Extrait is not the usual vetiver presentation I go for. I love my vetivers rough, aggressive and smoky, and Roja's Vetiver is none of those. One might think that I disliked the composition as a result, but that would be quite far from the truth. To the contrary, while this presentation of vetiver is more of the grassy, clean variety, it uses extremely high quality raw materials throughout. Another distinguishing aspect of the composition is its very appealing use of natural smelling lemon through most of the composition's development. If there was an aspect that required a bit of getting used to, it would have to be the concrete-like undertone that hangs around through the entire mid-section, but while the accord is a bit unsettling when sniffed up close, when experienced in the composition's generous sillage it melds rather nicely with the lemon infused vetiver, giving the composition a distinguishing facet while still smelling extremely pleasant. "Pleasant smelling" is probably the best descriptor of the end result, come to think of it. This is the kind of vetiver composition that even folks disliking many others may still enjoy wearing due to its highly refined clean nature. While I maintain there are a lot of great vetiver options far below the composition's relatively stratospheric price point per ml, if one can afford Roja Dove's Vetiver Extrait, it is hard to say it is a poor investment, especially if you enjoy your vetivers of the clean, polished variety. The bottom line is the $395 per 50ml bottle Vetiver Extrait is quite the bank account buster, but Dove delivers the goods with top-notch raw materials and superb execution earning it an "excellent" 4 star out of 5 rating and a solid recommendation. I don't know if I can personally afford the price to purchase a bottle, but I certainly envy those that can and do.
