Vetiver Oriental

Vetiver Oriental, a woody bewitchment signed by Serge Lutens

Vetiver is a plant that combines naturalness and elegance. Over the decades, it has become a great classic of perfumery. Yet it is usually a base ingredient in fragrances. Vetiver is rarely brought to the fore, and its presence tends to serve to enhance the structure and tenacity of perfumes. However, with Serge Lutens, you will have to forget everything you think you know about this raw material. The creator has chosen to revisit vetiver and craft a perfume around it. A focus on the enchantment of Vetiver Oriental.

Serge Lutens's oriental journey with this fragrance

As the name of this perfume suggests, Vetiver Oriental is an essence belonging to the olfactory family of oriental perfumes. This fragrance category finds its origins in a mythical ingredient: ambergris. This viscous raw material of animal origin transforms under the action of sea spray and sun to become a solid block with a rich and complex scent, simultaneously slightly woody, marine, earthy, camphoraceous, musky and tobacco-like. Then, in 1925, the oriental family took a new turn with the creation of the perfume Shalimar. Since that day, essences belonging to this category have displayed warm, exotic and often vanillic tonalities. These are seductive fragrances that take us on a journey to the other end of the world. And it is precisely this change of universe that Serge Lutens presents to us today: «I have always wanted to change. As a child: family, friends, and later, country. Ah, I almost forgot! Sex! In short, everything, up to this vetiver which, when it moves away from Cologne, sinks lasciviously into an oriental velvet. It is in its own right that it presents its scent, on a cistus bitumen. A wax!»

The woody fragrance of Vetiver Oriental

Of course, the main ingredient of this perfume is none other than vetiver. Here, however, it reveals an unexpected facet. Chiselled with balsamic accents, it found its perfect place within the category of oriental perfumes. Like all of Serge Lutens's juices, Vetiver Oriental highlights numerous noble raw materials of perfumery. Its formula brings together guaiac wood with its smoky rose scent, iris pallida with its more powdery accents, and a more enveloping sandalwood. For added indulgence, these ingredients are also accompanied by dark chocolate. Shadow then wraps around the whole, making it warmer and more liqueur-like. Finally, for greater animality, Vetiver Oriental concludes with a bewitching musk accord.

An olfactory composition by Christopher Sheldrake

Once again, for the creation of Vetiver Oriental, Serge Lutens collaborated with perfumer Christopher Sheldrake, also nicknamed «the second man of the house Serge Lutens». As you will have gathered, theirs is a long-lasting story! Since 1995, Christopher Sheldrake has delighted in working with Serge Lutens. For him, it is a brand that allows him to fully express his creativity without any constraints. Here, he has chosen to reveal the enchantment of a woody, sensual and deep perfume with extreme finesse.

I have always wanted to change. As a child: family, friends, and later, country. Ah, I almost forgot! Sex! In short, everything, up to this vetiver which, when it moves away from Cologne, sinks lasciviously into an oriental velvet. It is in its own right that it presents its scent, on a cistus bitumen. A wax! Serge Lutens.

ALCOHOL, DIPROPYLENE GLYCOL, PARFUM (FRAGRANCE), AQUA (WATER), BUTYL METHOXYDIBENZOYLMETHANE, ETHYLHEXYL METHOXYCINNAMATE, LIMONENE, CITRONELLOL, LINALOOL, BHT, ALPHA-ISOMETHYL IONONE, CITRAL, GERANIOL, FARNESOL, CI 17200 (RED 33), CI 42090 (BLUE 1), CI 19140 (YELLOW 5)