Vetiver de la Reunion
L'Erbolario

A no-frills no-nonsense sparkling citrus and vetiver, that about sums it up. Good value for the money, but nothing special really.

I was looking for a classic no-brainer vetiver after having been disappointed by many "niche" vetiver that after the initial illusion always turned out to be a salad of chemicals, sold at a nightmare price.
I was almost giving up tu buy the ususal bottle of Guerlain's when i bought this by chance in a green-cosmetics store.
I found a real and persistent natural essence in an intelligent combination with citrusy opening. The longevity is very good, the vetiver is real, dark, fresh and even pungent, very masculine, serious and dry.
The big surprise is the fantasic price of 20 euro that makes it an enormous value for money. From that day it is now my fresh start in working days, i tried several disappointing chemo-vetivers (Sel de vetiver, givenchy, lalique) and few good ones (guerlain, il profvmo). This sits proudly among the best in my personal ranking, at a funny small fraction of the price. No smarter buy in vetiver's field, at least in italy in 2015.

L'Erbolario Eaux de Vetiver de La Reunion is a conventional woodsy vetiver with a citrusy opening, the insertion of several green-boise aromatic notes and a detectable presence of (finally slightly powdery) cedar and sandalwood. I don't detect flowers in composition. The woodsy harshness is evident for long even if there is something resinous and musky that finally tames a bit the dryness. A budget solution for the lovers of vetiver without a lot of money to invest in fragrances.

This is quite a harsh cologne with no detectable Vetiver to my nose. It was so vile, so repellent, that I returned the bottle. I usually sample this line by trying the inexpensive soaps, but none was available for this vetiver, thus requiring me to purchase a bottle. Never again.

By the way it is the identical scent to their Myrtle Cologne, which I also bought and returned because I depended on their Mytle soap scent being identical to their cologne scent - not so. The Mytle soap has a lovely "fern" scent, reminiscent of the Magno line - the cologne has nothing to do with it - a rip off in misprepresentation.

Perhaps they just create one scent and give it different names and packagings. Very disappointing.

L'Erbolario is a phyto-cosmetic factory located in Italy, and has a wide range of perfumes and of treatments. This Vetiver, is quite surprising, due to the strong note of truly natural essences,(Cnfirmed by the R&D laboratory I contacted) and to the relative small number of compunds, with while making it not so balanced, give a pure idea of nature. The start up is with citrus, cedar and bergamot, very fresh and a sort of waking up after the shower. After, you can find Slvia sclarea merging with the dryness of vetiver, laid down on a sandal pavement. Unusual, but enjoyable for the persistence and quality of the row materials used. Not sure that is a glamorous eau de toilette: it isn't at all. But if you wear parfume for your own taste, and are relatively "od fashion" style, let's give a try, it can nicely surprise you.