Itasca / Le Vetiver Itasca
Lubin (2010)

Green conifers, vetiver, and spices, developing toward a more woody-incense base. Very green, earthy, and woodsy. This is quite well done and probably my favorite release from this house.

I was in the habit of wearing this each time I would visit Minnesota while traveling for my old job. It really fits the atmosphere of Lake Itasca there, where the Mississippi River begins as a mere trickle that precedes its long journey toward the Gulf of Mexico.

Like walking through a lumber mill with various types of wood being milled in your presence. Itasca is like a cross between an 80's macho scent and a so-called old lady chypre. It's a winter forest-fresh smell. Spicy and cool. You think of very cold of dark green and blue colours when smelling this. It wakes your senses without being overly powerful. You can feel the smell of resin, some green, but mostly the wood. Can be a perfume deep and simple at the same time.

It starts powerful & green with some citrus and juniper. The shrill piquancy of nutmeg and clove smoothly transitioning to a smoky & bright vetiver and resin. Fragrant woody resins floating in your personal space. It stays fairly linear and gets softer and a little spicy/balsamic on finish, which surprisingly exudes a sophistication met in niche formulas. This is very masculine. conveys the essence of a confident but very approachable man. It's masculinity comes from the fresh green notes, herbs, juniper, and woods. Can be used for all seasons.

I like this more than Lubin's Le Vetiver Bluff, and find it at least on par with their regular Le Vetyver/Le Vetiver, although different.

Le Vetiver was more of a soapy vetiver. Le Vetiver Itasca is more complex, and smells part classic, part well done modern niche.

Having recently sampled Le Labo's Vetiver and Dior's Vetiver, I'm feeling like this one is my clear preference over those two.

Whereas I found Lubin's Le Vetiver similar to Guerlain Vetiver, Le Vetiver Itasca is more in the style of the Le Labo and the Dior.

The Elie Saab Vetiver is still my favorite of the ones I've sampled (including others such as Sycomore edt and edp, and Malle's Vetiver Extraordinaire).

Le Vetiver Itasca has great development. It stays nice and interesting all day, completely wearable. The kind of thing that would be safe to wear in the office, but still interesting.

I really like it a lot with more wears. A woody vetiver seems to be the focus though there are several other elements present such as pine, spices, smoke, tobacco and musk. It's not a fresh woody scent nor a dark scent, but a rugged lumberjack fragrance. Masculine, complex and attractive.

Itasca opens on my skin slightly fruity and boozy but it is also grassy and earthy. While the boozy accord stays, the vetiver seems to be pushed in the background rather quickly. Here and there, I pick up traces of vetiver, but the heart evolves into a watery (not aquatic) coniferous tea-like smell. Itasca is not sweet nor resin like and after some time it shifts again by adding a fresh pine needle and, by this stage, it is slightly smoky while retaining the freshness and boozy, green, herbal.
Itasca is a well done and mixes the smell of a forest after the rain, forest fruits, spices, green and earthy elements. I think it complements a man very good, having the earthy elements backed up by unsweetened fruits, good longevity and close projection.

Le Vetiver Itasca is a high-quality fragrance with one jarring accord that sticks out to my nose just enough to keep me from giving it a thumbs up.

The top is great, and refreshing. I mainly get a floral grapefruit with a backbone of something slightly nutty, smooth and satisfying. I wish this phase lasted longer. It's unique and really works for me.

Scent Detective mentioned astringent note in the middle, and that sums up the problem for me. It might be the mixture of clove and nutmeg, very sharp spices that complete with the lingering grapefruit in a kind of sour tug of war that I don't find pleasant. This phase lasts too long.

The base is a perfectly nice woody, somewhat spicy, fougere-ish barbershop-ish vetiver that's very versatile. No fireworks, but a really high quality accord. Longevity and sillage are both average.

I'm on the edge of a thumbs up, but can't fully recommend Itasca to the extended astringent/sour phase in the heart.

Itasca is a gem of a fragrance. It's not a vetiver fragrance as such. Neither do I find it particularly piney, herbal or astringent.

Consider all the fresh, sporty aftershaves and fragrances for men that flooded the market before things started to become calorie laden. Think of all the Gillette aftershaves and the Cool Water inspired fragrances. Some of them were green, some aquatic, some a little woody. All were fresh.

Now take all the good renditions of that style. And then take all the best elements of those good renditions, create a proper blend, and bottle it as an eau de parfum.

That is Itasca. It is invigorating, fresh, green, foresty and smells wonderful. It is neither juvenile nor mature. Perfect for all seasons, and almost all occasions. It successfully evokes an aftershave vibe due to its associations with fresh modern aftershaves, but is much classier.

Great in slightly warm weather, even better when it's slightly cool.

Good projection and longevity. Excellent stuff.

4/5

I've been waiting to review Itasca until I'd worn it for a while. I didn't love it the first two times I wore it. So, I thought to be fair, I'd give it some additional wearings and let it "soak" in, so to speak. Well...I don't hate it. I get the juniper berry in round 1, and I enjoy that. The rest of the notes duke it out from there. In round 2 the notes also fight it out for dominance I'd prefer a little more straight juniper in the opening and less competition from the other notes in the opening and middle notes. There's an almost astringent quality that is slightly off putting to me. The bottom line is this juice feels like the notes are competing with each other a little too much. It sort of fights it's way through the day duking it out with itself and just wore me down by the end. Unfortunately I can't smell the Red Pine or the Canadian Fir Balsam in the melange of other notes in the bottom notes either. With all that said, I still don't hate this juice. I'm somewhat intrigued by the sheer busyness of it. The longevity and sillage are impressive. About 9 hours for me.

Very nice variation of vetiver. It's "modern classic". As someone said - it has notes of barber shop but it also have fresh part. Good stuff to wear all year long. Nowadays it's my No 1 fragrance

Itasca is one of the most refined masculine fragrances I have ever had the pleasure of wearing. It's a combination of boozy citrus, geranium flower, vetiver and woods. Not a green scent, but a evenly balanced "forest" like fragrance.

Itasca opens with rich pine, citrus and juniper berry note, that develops a slightly boozy accord, as geranium flower and nutty spices replace the opening citrus. Pine is still the main theme and carries the fragrance forward, however Itasca never becomes a spicy wood scent, as the perfumer deftly balances the coniferous pine, fir, balsam and cedar with a warm vetiver, incense and myrrh. The fragrance evolves very subtle and warm, and evokes a hike in the Cascade Mountains conifer forest. Not a heavy scent and would be safe for the office or anything casual, especially fall and winter. Somewhat reminiscent of a better quality Azzaro in the later stages, but slightly sweeter with much lower amplification. Excellent longevity, with 3 sprays lasting 10+ hours.

Thumbs Up, but maybe not bottle worthy.

Barbershop in a bottle. Reminds me of my teenage years when all I could afford were ‘after shaves' – they smelled of a mixture of conifers, citruses, spices and were inevitably sweet and salubrious. Well, Itasca is at the apex of that genre, perfectly pitched and balanced, with the added benefit of not being gone in a flash, bringing that sense of freshly shaven well-being. A perfect gift for trad man.
It's a perfume style I've outgrown, but I can admire this iteration nonetheless – the smooth vetiver base, the sweet and juicy tonka-geranium combo peeking through the fir trees, the restrained but discernible spicing. Itasca is a lithe young thing in a white towelling bathrobe.

Great fragrance. Has a barbershop vibe the way the vetiver is blended in with the other notes. The vetiver is very fresh and clean. This one can be worn all year round IMO. The vetiver in Itasca reminds me of Encre Noir Sport. An elegant pine note is in there also. 8/10