Vetiver 46 by Le Labo

Vetiver 46 is the third fragrance I’ve tested from Le Labo — the first two (Patchouli 24 and Labdanum 18) were both clear winners in my book: casual, smooth, easy to wear and they last for most of the day. The Vetiver 46 is my least favorite of the three as it comes across as needlessly complicated, or maybe I just don’t like the scent of vetiver as much as I like the scents of patchouli and amber . . . ?

The vetiver entry on Wikipedia states that vetiver oil is smoky, earthy and sweet. Now, I love smoky, earthy and sweet, which leads me to believe that I should be liking Vetiver 46 a lot better than I am, so it’s more likely that it’s the 45 other ingredients that aren’t rocking my boat.

Vetiver 46 starts off a bit sharp and medicinal, like wild grasses and pepper (which is fine by me), but then appears to veer off into a focus on wood tones rather than the earthy vetiver root, focusing in particular on cedar wood before it winds down into a musky clove finish. To me, cedar is a tricky note to pull off in a perfume; it has a sharp, distinctive quality that can throw an entire formula off-balance, overpowering the rest of the ingredients if it’s not reigned in properly. Armani Prive Bois d’Encens utilized cedar perfectly, perhaps because the formula, said to consist of only five ingredients, was so simple and straight forward that the cedar came across as relaxed and confident, but that’s not the case with the rather muddled Vetiver 46.

With a list of 46 different oils in Le Labo’s Vetiver 46, the resulting concoction is like the adage of too many cooks in a kitchen — smoke, earth, cedar, gaiac wood, amber, bergamot, vetiver root, vanilla, pepper, clove and so on (all of which are rather strong, distinctive scents on their own) — the kitchen is decidedly high class and the cooks are all top notch, but because of their sheer number, they’re tripping over one another and getting in each other’s way.

Motto of the story? Don’t order the soup.

UPDATE:

Okay, well — I’m not totally dissing Vetiver 46. It has a lot going for it, but it doesn’t fully click for me; with all its full-bodied ingredients, there’s a bit too much Clash of the Titans action going on. That said, there are noses I respect who really dig it, and my overall experience with Le Labo has been positive.