Cuir Vetiver 
Yves Rocher (2016)

Yves Rocher seems to bring the quality and depth at a decent price point, and Cuir Vetiver is no exception. The leather is really just a subtle supporting note as this is primarily vetiver and tonka, with some woody radiance and even an incense impression in the dry down.

I appreciate that it is a sweeter, softer alternative to far more earthy, grassy, or citric vetivers that are currently in my arsenal (Guerlain, Carven, Terre d'Hermes, etc).

While softer, it is however, substantive, lasting six plus hours and hovering a couple feet from the skin in the most pleasant manner. Quite nice!

Like sitting at a table by a mediterranean coast,and a gentle wind through the trees mixes the smell of old woods sitting in front of you.for a great price this is something that really out shines most male fragrances I've tried.it provokes a deep earth and soil connection that puts the wearer in a calm state of awareness about their existence and well being.real women love this juice.fresh,woody, masculine,cozy and elegant.

First of all,this starts with strong vetiver.it is not a soapy vetiver neither dark,is more fresh like fresh cut wood due to the iso E super.there is also cedar note that is very encapsulated with the vetiver and makes this a more masculine yet alluring scent.after two hours the warm leather-tonka combo will appear in the dry down.i definitely think it is more suited towards a more mature man but i do think a younger man with the right personality could pull it off as well.worth for blind buy if you are a vetiver note lover.

On this forum there is very little love for Yves Rocher. Or perhaps even worse, little interest. You know, the only thing worse than being talked about, is not being talked about?
Combined with my cultural love of the underdog and the seemingly desperate measure of offering this new product at a massive discount, I for one wanted to like this fragrance and so I placed my order.
I am so pleased l did. Packaging is a no frills affair, the bottle has a mock wood cap in a light oak colour. The glass is plain and blocky with unfussy helvetica lettering.
The fragrance, I loved from the first spray. For me this seems to be the way; Fragrances I like will grow on me, fragrances I love seem to grab me at the outset. Warm and gingery, sweet smokiness. I've found it lasts very well on my skin. I will perhaps apply twice during a typical day. A definite thumbs up for me and a welcome addition to my collection.

One of the most honest, worthwhile and affordably good releases in a long while. I am not a fan of Yves Rocher usually, as despite I respect the brand, none of their releases seemed that interesting to me so far (not even for the price); but Cuir Vetiver quite got me. It is by no means inferior to many decent designers easily showing double the price tag – Hermès, for instance: for the similarity of the notes, the composition and the quality, this could have easily been a budget-mainstream release by them. In fact Cuir Vetiver is basically a cheaper, yet absolutely solid sort of fresher Vetiver Tonka meeting Terre d'Hermès with a thin shade of some smoky tonka-infused suede (and that's the only “cuir” you'll get), and also some tangy cardamom nuance which reminds me of another Hermès scent for men – Voyage.

A poor man's Hermès digest, shortly, with a surprising good quality and a not-so-ordinary texture. Specifically I detect here a more than compelling sort of fresh-woody-powdery transparent clarity dangerously close to Ellena's style, and despite Cuir Vetiver smells quite close to the stuff I mentioned above, for some reasons it doesn't feel just like a blatant ripoff of it. I don't get what precisely, but there's more than that. It's like if more than a simple passive carbon-copying activity to monetize on other brands' ideas, this was just more a genuine “tribute” simply taking inspiration from them with enough skills and budget to elaborate the brief a bit. It's still 90% close to Vetiver Tonka and the other couple of Hermès I mentioned, but the remaining 10% is, well, a little sparkle of uniqueness (after all, it's fresher than Vetiver Tonka, and smokier than both Terre and Voyage – unique, in its own and a bit derivative way).

So, all in all, totally recommended. It smells good, classy, versatile, smoky yet fresh and breezy enough to be perfect for any climate and circumstance. And surprisingly natural, too, considering the level of flat syntheticness you usually get at this price range. Sadly the persistence is a bit weak, but it's so inexpensive that you can simply reapply it on and on. For 29 eur/100 ml or so, a total winner in my “everyday-replacement-for-more-expensive-stuff” book.

8/10