What is the Perfume Project?

This blog is a constantly evolving forum for thoughts on perfume, perfume-making, plants (especially orchids and flora of the Pacific Northwest) and life in general. It started out chronicling the adventures of Olympic Orchids Perfumes, established in July 2010, and has expanded in other directions. A big part of the blog is thinking about the ongoing process of learning and experimentation that leads to new perfumes, the exploration of perfumery materials, the theory and practice of perfume making, the challenges of marketing perfumes and other fragrance products, and random observations on philosophy and society. Spam comments will be marked as such and deleted; any comments that go beyond the boundaries of civil discourse will also be deleted. I am grateful to all of you, the readers, who contribute to the blog by commenting and making this a truly interactive perfume project.

Wednesday, June 8, 2016

GRASSROOTS SCENTS: VETIVER

The weather here has been warm and sunny for the past week or so. Whenever I go outside I smell flowers, especially jasmine, which is all over campus,  and roses, which are right down the street in abundance. The grass is starting to dry out and turn brown, but due to the long break from writing this spring I haven’t finished with the “green” perfume materials for my Wednesday posts. In keeping with the theme of grass and green, I’ll push on with the ever-popular grassy material, vetiver.

Chrysopogon (formerly called Vetiveria) zizanioides is a large, clumping grass native to India, where it is known as khus. If you ever see “khus” listed as a perfume ingredient or note, it’s just vetiver. Because of its extensive, deep-reaching root system it is used in some places for erosion control. I have read that it can also be used for pest control when planted around other crops because it attracts a stem borer that lays eggs on the vetiver plant, but when the larvae hatch they are so impeded by the hairs on the vetiver leaves that they cannot move and feed, so they die. This is yet another example of how amazing plants’ defense mechanisms are.

Vetiver is one of the most renewable of the natural base perfumery materials. Like any grass, it grows quickly, spreads, and is propagated via offshoots. The roots are distilled for oil that is used in food flavorings and perfumery, but the green tops can be used as feed for livestock, so the entire plant is useful. Vetiver is also used for water purification, especially for removal of industrial chemicals and heavy metals. The leaves can be used to weave mats and other textile products.

DNA tests have shown that almost all of the vetiver grown throughout the world is from the same source in India, but growing and distilling conditions result in a variety of different nuances. Indonesian vetiver has a smoky note, but Hatian vetiver has a cleaner, purer scent, as does the Indian ruh khus. Most vetiver oil is fairly viscous and light golden to amber or brown in color, but vetiver from India is typically green, supposedly because it is distilled in copper, but I wonder if artificial color is sometimes added, especially to the low-end versions. Although attars are traditionally distilled into a base of sandalwood, some distillers have started to use vetiver oil as a base. It seems to work quite well, and is a better choice than the phthalates that are often used to make cheap attars.

Vetiver essential oil is one of those materials that improves with age, so I like to buy in bulk well in advance and keep the oil for some time before using it. Vetiver oil has an earthy, greenish, slightly sweet, rooty scent that makes an excellent base ingredient for any green and/or earthy fragrance. It fits well in a variety of blends – in fact, it can blend pleasantly with just about anything, which is probably one of the reasons why it makes a good base for modern natural attars. Compared to some of its relatives, it is fairly subtle, so won’t hijack a blend, but rather acts as a fixative and provides an earth-toned background. I’ve used it in quite a few of my perfumes.

Vetiveryl acetate is a derivative of vetiver, with a softer, crisper, drier, and purer scent than the complete oil. It is extremely tenacious, drying down to a minerally-woody scent that is really beautiful. A little bit goes a long way. To date, I’ve used it in one of my perfumes, but now that I have a supply, will probably use it more in future.

Just as the plant has a multitude of uses, so the essential oil of vetiver has a multitude of uses in perfumery.


What is your favorite fragrance that contains a clearly detectable vetiver note?

[Vetiver plant photos from Wikimedia; vetiver mat and "ruh khus" photos from retailers' websites.] 

12 comments:

  1. I have a small decant of Vetiver Fatal which I love. I like the grassiness of the vetiver combined with the sweetness of the orange blossom.

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    1. Anne, I have not tried Vetiver Fatal, but should get a sample. So many things to try ...

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  2. I don't think I've really tried many vetiver forward scents - but I should sniff some out so I can figure out what 'vetiver' really smells like.

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    1. Sun Mi, Next time you win one of the drawings :-), remind me to send you a sample of vetiver.

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  3. Ellen,
    There are so many fragrances I like that include vetiver but the first that comes to mind is Bourbon French Perfumes Kus Kus (must be the name). There is more to this Kus Kus than vetiver - mainly powder (orris?) and heliotrope. I usually don't like really powdery scents or heliotrope, but the light, citrusy vetiver in Kus Kus manages to make it work. This stuff smells really old fashioned. It could have been my great, great grandmother's perfume!
    Azar xx

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    1. Azar, I guess vetiver does have a lot of old-timer connotations. I think I have a sample of Kus Kus somewhere - I'll have to find it and smell it again.

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  4. I love vetiver notes in perfume. My favorites are The Different Company Sel de Vetiver (which I wore today!) and Hermessence Vetiver Tonka.

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    1. Yuki, for a while I was wearing Sel de Vetiver a lot because it's very work-friendly (not perfume work, but the day job).

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  5. I always found vetiver too connoted old perfumes for men but there has been in recent years some very beautiful original creations. My favorite vetiver is the one by Mona Di Orio because very softened by labdanum, almost like a liqueur, and I have also great admiration for Salamanca (but it is not easy to wear).
    There is a lady in Brussels that organizes fragrant meal. For my birthday she prepared a meal just around vetiver (not a good first reaction by me). She makes you breathe absolute she uses as a note in a perfume fixed thanks to fat. As a starter some cheeses including a vetiver-camembert with roses-honey or peppers perfumed with musk or amber. For the main course a salmon smoked with cedar and vetiver and even the dessert a preparation with petit-beurre perfumed with Davana and vetiver. It was really delicious and funny, never queasy. that reconciled me with vetiver:-)

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    1. Frederic, That vetiver-themed meal sounds amazing! I would like to organize something like that here. I like almost all of the Mona di Orio perfumes that I have tried.

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    2. Hi Ellen, about perfume in a meal i've also try recently a dessert that really impress me. A lemon sorbet with a basilic syrup! The mix in mouth give something that directly make me think about something totally different: fresh rhubarb! (sour and soft green)

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  6. Too many vetiver perfumes to name, but I get a tuberose/vetiver attar from India that is so unique and intense, even Guerlain can't match it! I grow vetiver in my yard and I can attest to the fact that it really anchors fragile soils- we are using it a lot in the Bahamas to prevent erosion. One of my favorite types of vetiver for perfumery is the variety from Madagascar, it is very leathery/smokey, great for masculines or to pair with strong incense. But I haven't seen it often on the market- it was a startup project in Madagascar several years ago, hope it is continuing. Great post!

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