Vetiver: the woody, earthy root oil of fine fragrance
Vetiver is an essential oil distilled from the roots of a grass native to India, smelling woody, earthy, green-tinged and sometimes smoky. You will find it mostly in the base of woody, chypre and fougère fragrances.
Where does vetiver come from?
Vetiver is Chrysopogon zizanioides, a perennial bunchgrass in the Poaceae family, originally from India and known in northern India as khus. Only the root matters to perfumers. According to Wikipedia's article on the plant, the oil is steam-distilled from the roots in a process that can take up to 24 hours, and the best oil comes from roots 18 to 24 months old. The oil holds more than 150 components, including alpha-vetivone and khusimol.
What does vetiver smell like?
Vetiver smells deep, sweet, woody, smoky, earthy and balsamic, and its scent develops and improves with age. Origin matters: oils from Haiti and Réunion read more floral, while Java oil is smokier. The French Wikipedia entry on vetiver singles out three classic sources, Bourbon vetiver from Réunion, Haitian vetiver and the slightly smokier Javanese one, and describes the distilled oil as thick and almost resinous.
What does vetiver do in a perfume?
Vetiver is prized as a fixative and works as a base note. In the woody family it sits with sandalwood, cedarwood and patchouli; in fougères it is one of the most common additions to the lavender, coumarin and oakmoss accord. Try it next to sandalwood, patchouli or lavender to hear how it grounds them.
What should you know about vetiver?
One vetiver derivative is regulated: the IFRA Standards restrict acetylated vetiver oil, sold as vetiveryl acetate, with a maximum concentration for each product category. If you want to place vetiver on the wider map of scent families, our class on the seven fragrance families lays it out.
Often paired with
Further reading
- Chrysopogon zizanioides (Wikipedia) en.wikipedia.org
- Vétiver (Wikipédia) fr.wikipedia.org
- Perfume (Wikipedia) en.wikipedia.org
- Fougère (Wikipedia) en.wikipedia.org
- The complete IFRA Standards, up to and including the 51th Amendment (January 2024) ifrafragrance.org
Vetiver in the feed
nnamdi.vetiverin Welcome to the Club · Nottingham ·
IntroductionBus mechanic in Nottingham, vetiver on days off
I keep Nottingham's buses running, so it's engine oil and grease all week. On days off I want something else on me: vetiver mostly, a bit of black pepper. Early days.
nnamdi.vetiverin Woods, Mosses & Roots · Nottingham ·
TipStep outside between woods
When vetiver, cedar and sandalwood start smelling the same, I go and stand in the yard for a minute. Comes back every time.
aroha.rain It's olfactory fatigue: the Wikipedia page on olfactory fatigue says sensitivity comes back once you leave the area. Works heaps for me.
big_dan_vetiverin Wearing Fragrance · Leeds ·
QuestionScent after a sweaty shift: shower first?
Long shift moving pallets, and the warehouse heating's on full now it's turned cold. By the end I'm sweaty and my morning vetiver smells sour on me. Do I just spray more over it before I drive home, or is that daft?
hamish_heather Aye, a long shift does that to anyone. Spray over it and you'll just loose the vetiver under the sour, ken.
aroha.rainin Welcome to the Club · Wellington ·
Introduction
Kia ora from the Wellington ferry terminal
Kia ora, I sell tickets at the ferry terminal in Wellington. It's spring here, and after a southerly the whole bush smells wet, green and a bit peppery, kawakawa leaves mostly. Pretty new to fragrance and keen to learn heaps.
harriet.hay Hello and welcome, aroha.rain. Spring for you while we're raking leaves in Bristol, I do love that about this club. Wet, green and peppery after rain…
juniper_julesin Woods, Mosses & Roots · Portland ·
Scent diary
A vetiver strip pinned by the wheel
Studio notes: I pinned a vetiver strip to the shelf by the wheel and smelled it every morning before opening the clay. The first day it was raw and rooty, like a carrot pulled with the dirt still on. By the weekend it had dried to something smoky and almost…
aroha.rain Its the carrot for me too. Pulled one in the garden this arvo and thought of vetiver straight away.
nnamdi.vetiverin Wearing Fragrance · Nottingham ·
Question
Vetiver gone by lunch for me, not my mate
Two sprays of vetiver before work and by lunch I can't smell a thing on me. My mate at the next bay says I still smell of it when we clock off. Who's right?
frankie.incense Wikipedia's page on olfactory fatigue, also called noseblindness uses the restaurant example, the food smell that fades for you a while after you…
In the Classes
Class no. 1 · 6 min read
The seven fragrance families: how French perfumers sort scent
French perfumers sort fragrances into seven families, following the Société Française des Parfumeurs: citrus, florals, fougères, chypres, woody, ambers and leathers, each split into sub-families. You'll be able to place a scent on that map, translate it into the Fragrance Wheel used in shops, and spot where a family label stops helping.
Class no. 12 · 6 min read
How to gift fragrance: read their taste, narrow it down, let them try
To give fragrance without guessing, start from what the person already wears, stay in that fragrance family or the one next door, and let them try before anyone commits to a full bottle. You'll learn to read someone's taste without asking, set up a proper skin test and know what you can and can't return.