Vetiver Imperiale

Described as an “elegant explosion of gentle woods with a touch of spice and a dash of citrus. This fragrance is fresh, refined, and enlivening.” It’s certainly lavishly uplifting and is £270 for 100ml.

This was almost love-at-first-sniff, as it has all of the factors I look for in a fragrance; fresh, woody, aromatic and uplifting. Initially I was intrigued and quite taken with this refreshing spritz. The bergamot, neroli and vetiver opening is stunning and makes me feel revived and vibrantly fresh. There’s a similar aromatic, spicy greenness to this, as found in Creed’s ‘Royal Oud’ and Thameen’s ‘Noorolain Taif’ but the marked difference here is ‘Vetiver Imperiale’s smoky side. There’s a cool-white smoke, that pushes this scent over to the masculine side for me. It smoulders like the white hot burning woods of a Finnish sauna. This (unlisted) smoke note doesn’t sit well with me - it’s the cardamom oil. Unlike cardamom in cooking that gives a woody, fennel-like accord, cardamom oil has a much bolder personality – it’s spicy, resinous and incense-like. At first I couldn’t work out where the smoky note was coming from, since none were officially listed, but then I realised the smoke came from the cardamom oil. It’s like a lemongrass style incense with smoulders with a white-hot ash. The overall scent reminds me of the smell of Thai-fusion restaurants that burn incense when you first walk in, then you smell the distinctive aromatic lemongrass with fresh zesty lime ingredients that you eat with bamboo chopsticks.

This is so much better quality than the usual men’s cult-status fragrances like ‘Aventus’ but this is unmatched quality and refinement. My favourite fresh/aromatic male scent from ‘Boadicea The Victorious’ is still ‘Explorer’ but ‘Vetiver Imperiale’ is a close second and then ‘Imperial’ third.

‘Vetiver Imperiale’ is a fresh, grassy, woody and herbaceous citrus with an incense smoke.

TOP – Bergamot, Neroili

MIDDLE – Black Pepper, Patchouli

BASE – Vetiver, Amber, Cardamom