Vetiver!

There's a very vetiver karma in the air for me this fall. I've been faithfully entering draws to win samples since crossing into this West Wing* of perfume, but have not been selected for anything. Until this month, when both Ayala Sender of Ayala Morel Perfumes and Helg of Perfume Shrine drew my name for...vetiver scents!

So, here are initial impressions of Ayala Moriel's Vetiver Racinettes and Andy Tauer's Vetiver Dance.

First of all, there's no denying the vetiver in either. But the Tauer dances in the light of the sun, while the Moriel pulses in the shade of the forest. (Ah, let the perfume talk begin....)

Vetiver Dance has a somewhat aldehydic feeling, and does indeed do a light-footed "dance" in the upper portion of your nose. A hint of something sweet, yet totally grounded by the vetiver. This to me is a new realm of green, which bridges the span between the (somewhat medicinal) grass of vetiver and bubbles of an aldehyde, with whatever simple syrup holds them together.

Vetiver Racinettes is something else entirely. Whereas Vetiver Dance is going to have you feeling all clean and sparkly, Vetiver Racinettes will set you down in the humus under the ferns, give you a bracing whiff of vetiver, and wash it down with one of the roots under the dirt--sasparilla!! It's the craziest thing; like someone mixed the syrup for a homemade root beer with this thick earthed vetiver, and stroked it onto your skin.

It's funny. I had received the Ayala sample first, and used it a couple of times--once in the midst of my flu-cold, when I hoped it would somehow bring comfort/relief. And, it did. But it didn't engage me as a perfume...until I tried the Tauer, just today. While there is a faint hint of something detergent-like in the Tauer (give me time, I'll nail it down--and it nearly disappears after the opening), I immediately took a shining to it. And smelling it gave me a deeper appreciation of what the Racinettes was accomplishing. In the same way I am happy to have multiple incarnations of my beloved iris, I am pleased to have both of these vetivers on hand.


*That's not a White House, but a "Dark Shadows" reference...ah, the days of youth, walking home for lunch, finding my Mom watching Barnabas Collins and ironing.