Onda by Vero Profumo

Swiss-based perfumer Vero Kern's Onda is not for the minimalist. It's a big bouquet of spice that will precede if not exceed you, and you'll need a glittering personality to go along with it.

Onda has a distinct, clear-the-decks entrance that can be chalked up to the eye-watering mace on its ingredient list. The herbaceous ginger and coriander (cilantro) elements buttress this note while simultaneously working to build a bridge to the leathery, grass-root scent of vetiver that brings up the rear, creating a sliding scale of a perfume that starts off in the stratosphere before descending to earth.

There are also whiffs of mown hay plus a bit of musk, though the musk lends the fragrance an on-again off-again soapy quality I could have done without.

Nevertheless, Onda is a refreshing change of pace among big, contemporary perfumes, appearing to prize intellectual curiosity over the easy, blatant sensuality of the increasing number of patchoulis, sandalwoods and ambers cluttering the market.

Not that I'm against patchoulis, sandalwoods and ambers (au contraire, mon frere), it's just nice to encounter a recent perfume that's not stuffed to the gills with one of them . . . or all three!

Onda is not overtly feminine or masculine, so can easily be worn by both sexes, but I have noticed that the girls tend to succumb with more abandon to its musky charms.

You can order Onda directly from the Vero Profumo website.

UPDATE:

I just recently did another run-through with Onda. I wanted to see if my first impressions remained my impressions, and I was also thinking I might want to pick up a bottle (or two) as potential Christmas gifts.

The conclusion: yes and no. Yes, my first impression stands (I like the bright intro, then the descent into grassy hay and vetiver root), but no, I won't be purchasing any as Christmas gifts. The soapy quality of the musk used in the formula is a deal-breaker for me -- it drags the entire thing straight out of its really nice earth and grass territory and dumps it into the corner laundromat.

Too bad, really. It starts off with such promise.