Top Notes 
Heart Notes 
Base Notes 
10/21/2019
MrHonest
106 Reviews
MrHonest
1
A perfect unisex vetiver.
Words can scarcely describe my love for this scent. It’s a virtual harmony of luscious green and floral notes dancing in perfect unison to the tune of Chopin’s Etude in E major. Everything is just so well balanced, so finely tuned and blended to perfection that it’s not only a delight to bask in its subtle smoothness, but just as enjoyable to simultaneously discern each individual note in the composition – a feat that in and of itself is difficult to achieve.
Terrarossa begins with a wonderfully understated chalky breath of fresh, yet rooty Haitian vetiver (the same used in Guerlain’s famous Vetiver edt to my nose) underneath a fine veil of sweet neroli, tangy green cypress and a bed of damp ylang-ylang petals. You can immediately tell that the ingredients are quality right from the first whiff. Nothing stands out from the blend, and yet, with each sniff, it’s almost as if you can feel your nose hairs tenderly parting the notes with the softest of touches, to come away with a different experience each time.
The Haitian vetiver is not unkind. It’s powdery, graceful and spreads out like a silk blanket to shelter a nursery of delicate flowers at dusk, covered in evening dew and unperturbed from a soothing day of soaking up the sun. There’s a basket of oranges somewhere nearby, but certainly not close enough to mask the beautiful aroma of greenery and florals that evoke an almost buttery texture. In all earnestness, I never truly appreciated just how well ylang-ylang can complement the earthy facets of a rooty vetiver until I experienced it in this fragrance.
Within 15 minutes, the image of an underlying parched, red topsoil begins to emerge, as a dry and dusty nutmeg joins the mix - perhaps not enough to steal the spotlight, but certainly enough to add a dash of spice. Once again however, it’s so masterfully blended that it could easily be passed up as a characteristic of the vetiver – a smoothness that some people may even liken to a quasi-aquatic.
Finally, after about 2 hours, the smoky, slightly burned Java vetiver comes in, replacing the neroli and cypress almost entirely and giving the composition a final murky quality before its late night farewell. Projection and sillage are not stellar if I’m honest, but I’m not sure that this is a scent that necessitates or even warrants a loudspeaker. Instead, it’s one of those fragrances that keeps your nose coming back for more – never too green, too floral or too spicy, but juuuuust right.
Simple, elegant and so marvellously natural smelling, Terrarossa is quite possibly the best blended unisex vetiver scent that I have ever encountered. In a surprising synchronicity, I was somehow lucky enough to scoop up one of the last bottles of this discontinued gem in the UK. If Mr. Galardi is reading, I would consider it a terrible shame to deprive the world of this masterpiece. In an overburdened society that often values unnecessary complexity and gratuitous living, I believe that we could all do with a little more simplicity in our lives. In my humble opinion, Terrarossa is the scent that embodies that virtue - an effortless country breeze; a silky companion; in essence, a perfect unisex vetiver.
Terrarossa begins with a wonderfully understated chalky breath of fresh, yet rooty Haitian vetiver (the same used in Guerlain’s famous Vetiver edt to my nose) underneath a fine veil of sweet neroli, tangy green cypress and a bed of damp ylang-ylang petals. You can immediately tell that the ingredients are quality right from the first whiff. Nothing stands out from the blend, and yet, with each sniff, it’s almost as if you can feel your nose hairs tenderly parting the notes with the softest of touches, to come away with a different experience each time.
The Haitian vetiver is not unkind. It’s powdery, graceful and spreads out like a silk blanket to shelter a nursery of delicate flowers at dusk, covered in evening dew and unperturbed from a soothing day of soaking up the sun. There’s a basket of oranges somewhere nearby, but certainly not close enough to mask the beautiful aroma of greenery and florals that evoke an almost buttery texture. In all earnestness, I never truly appreciated just how well ylang-ylang can complement the earthy facets of a rooty vetiver until I experienced it in this fragrance.
Within 15 minutes, the image of an underlying parched, red topsoil begins to emerge, as a dry and dusty nutmeg joins the mix - perhaps not enough to steal the spotlight, but certainly enough to add a dash of spice. Once again however, it’s so masterfully blended that it could easily be passed up as a characteristic of the vetiver – a smoothness that some people may even liken to a quasi-aquatic.
Finally, after about 2 hours, the smoky, slightly burned Java vetiver comes in, replacing the neroli and cypress almost entirely and giving the composition a final murky quality before its late night farewell. Projection and sillage are not stellar if I’m honest, but I’m not sure that this is a scent that necessitates or even warrants a loudspeaker. Instead, it’s one of those fragrances that keeps your nose coming back for more – never too green, too floral or too spicy, but juuuuust right.
Simple, elegant and so marvellously natural smelling, Terrarossa is quite possibly the best blended unisex vetiver scent that I have ever encountered. In a surprising synchronicity, I was somehow lucky enough to scoop up one of the last bottles of this discontinued gem in the UK. If Mr. Galardi is reading, I would consider it a terrible shame to deprive the world of this masterpiece. In an overburdened society that often values unnecessary complexity and gratuitous living, I believe that we could all do with a little more simplicity in our lives. In my humble opinion, Terrarossa is the scent that embodies that virtue - an effortless country breeze; a silky companion; in essence, a perfect unisex vetiver.
