The golden era of Etro

Three scents in their early and only magnificent version.

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Messe de Minuit (EDC, 1994)

Messe de Minuit opens with a really balsamic, vibrant citrus-herbal accord of aromatic herbs, candied citrus notes which manage to smell sweet and sugary but at the same time much bitter and fresh, on a resinous base of olibanum and "something" which I am unable to identify which smells quite dense, sticky and carnal, like a lighter version of castoreum. The scent is undoubtedly unique and intriguing, it's a dusty, Oriental, mystical blend, really luminous (in a rather unusual way – a "grey morning" transparent luminosity, forget any predictable "summer" light) but at the same time dark. The balsamic is all over: balsamic herbs, balsamic resins, balsamic incense. Finally the sugary feel is also peculiar and compelling, it's not a gourmand sugar and not fruity, it's more a really spicy, resinous, almost "fizzy" sweet note, with just a taste of citrus. A lot of interesting contrasts and nuances going on. In a way it's surely an "incense" scent, although more earthy, organic, spicy, herbal than most of others – plus the incense is resinous, thick, Oriental, so don't think of any dry, synthetic, austere incense à la Avignon (to which Messe de Minuit, at least this early version, has not really much in common). The incense here smells more of dry myrrh, church woods, stale nuances of dusty furniture, old books, with a thin breeze of cold air. It fascinates me a lot how this scent recreates a mystical mood avoiding a bomb of incense, it's rather a really well played harmony of other "ambiental" suggestions – woods, furniture, flowers, dust... really meditative and captivating, surely a memorable and unique fragrance. The only "con" is that it's quite bold and long-lasting, and being fairly peculiar, it may not be the safest scent for a blind buy – in other words, it's not really versatile and "crowd-pleasing", better try it. Surely worth it!

8/10

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Palais Jamais (EDT, 1989)

Incredible, unique opening of oak moss (great, earthy, stale), vetiver, herbaceous notes, tobacco, a light leather note, dense and humid floral notes (the typical "masculine" ones, like lavender and carnation), a genius tea note providing a beautiful thin fruity aroma, then a nuance of licorice, which I also smell in Etro Vetiver. A real triumph of natural mysticism, hard to describe but easy to love, powerful and deep, "rural" somehow but incredibly charming and refined it its woody silkiness. There is also a slightly salty-animalic base note which adds ambiguous and dark sensuality to an already decadent and elegant carnal scent – a concoction which effortlessly manages to appear Oriental, exotic, savage and mysterious but at the same time, amazingly sophisticated, gentle, "European" in its austere, aristocratic meaning. The notes themselves may appear common, but this scent is truly unique, enigmatic, elusive, dense – to sum up and give you a "rough figure", however, a mossy-woody-tobacco Oriental blend with resins, flowers (as I said, the typical fougère ones), and an aromatic fog comprising nuances of leather and licorice. A bit linear and quite long-lasting, so be sure to try it before wearing it – otherwise you may get bored after a while. To me, an incredible gem totally worth at least a try (one of those scents which truly smell "niche" to me... you need gallons of today's niche stuff to reach such a creative zenith!).

9/10

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Vetiver (EDC, 1989)

My favourite from this trio. What an incredible vetiver. A salty, incredibly earthy, slightly humid vetiver note, warm and mysterious, with fascinating nuances of coffee, tobacco, incense, rich woods, a rarefied and captivating fog of smells and a thin sheet of old tanning leather. Utterly elegant, pleasant, refined, an oriental elusive potion with a bold modern personality, there is a slight contemporary feel (the salty note, the transparent incense) which brilliantly and silently flows among the timeless and romantic mysticism of the more "traditional" ingredients. While the very first opening reminded me of Annick Goutal's vetiver because of its humid and raw earthiness, the evolution is one of a kind, peculiar and superb, opulent and nondescript, with all these nuances brilliantly melting together. What fascinates me most is a veil of dusty, smoky and dense sweetness, somehow tobacco and somehow talcum, really noble and melancholic, narcotic and romantic, filled with the same Oriental elegance of Etro's patterns (at least, back then). Beautiful mineral/salty and discreet drydown. A solid scent, with a clear inspiration and great materials. Straight on the top of my favourite vetivers ever!

8,5-9/10

Vetiver by Etro

Year: 1989
Nose: Unknown

What an incredible vetiver. A salty, incredibly earthy, slightly humid vetiver note, warm and mysterious, with fascinating nuances of coffee, tobacco, incense, rich woods, a rarefied and captivating fog of smells and a thin sheet of old tanning leather. Utterly elegant, pleasant, refined, an oriental elusive potion with a bold modern personality, there is a slight contemporary feel (the salty note, the transparent incense) which brilliantly and silently flows among the timeless and romantic mysticism of the more "traditional" ingredients. While the very first opening reminded me of Annick Goutal's vetiver because of its humid and raw earthiness, the evolution is one of a kind, peculiar and superb, opulent and nondescript, with all these nuances brilliantly melting together. What fascinates me most is a veil of dusty, smoky and dense sweetness, somehow tobacco and somehow talcum, really noble and melancholic, narcotic and romantic, filled with the same Oriental elegance of Etro's patterns (at least, back then). Beautiful mineral/salty and discreet drydown. A solid scent, with a clear inspiration and great materials. Straight on the top of my favourite vetivers ever!

8,5-9/10

(my review is based on a vintage EDC bottle)

Vintage/Discontinued Galore #2 - Some picks!

Some other vintages I like.

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Cabochard by Grès (1959)

My review is for the vintage EDT. The opening is beyond classic, a dirty, animalic chypre comprising salty aldehydes, dark, gloomy, wet and almost rancid flowers, a subtle camphor-stale indolic aftertaste, a load of musk, a velvety balsamic breeze all over and a general, palpable funereal, austere, but at the same time vibrant, carnal, utterly sensual and self-confident personality. A humid base of herbs, woods, oak moss and leather like in the darkest male fougère complete the composition. The similarity to many fougères for man is quite bold, basically here's more about flowers, there's more woods and green notes, but the heart of oak moss, aldehydes and leather which gives that precise "austere" and dark personality is quite the same. That is why nowadays this can be clearly considered more a man scent, and even quite challenging for its boldness and its darkness – we're so used to "azure-aquatic-green-sport" bullshit. To be really honest, like some other chypres, this also smells a bit outdated to me, meaning that it is a powerful madeleine of a past era which strongly connotes the person wearing it – perfectly for nostalgic people or however to smell "like" that, but on the contrary, it lacks in the "timelessness" I personally value in scents. Other than that (which I'm not even sure if it's clear, however it's my personal opinion) it's a sure milestone for perfumery, superb from any point of view.

8,5-9/10

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Versace l'Homme by Versace (1984)

My review is based on the early version of 1984. Must say I completely blind bought this, and I was really happy once I sniffed it, as this quite comprises all the features I was looking for in a fougère scent. The opening is already great and captivating, a modern and "young" fougère, with citrus, neroli, carnation, jasmine, fresh herbs (basil!), spices (cloves, cardamom), perhaps a drip of castoreum, on a beautiful, dense, smoky base of tobacco, hay, soft smooth leather, oak moss, a few woods. Mandatory aldehydes, but quite light and transparent. Basically an "ordinary" fougère, but quite different from the more "adult" ones: it's more tasty, soapy, almost juicy, more bright and playful, more mellow, still totally elegant and refined, just more relaxed and as I said, "younger" in a way. Extremely cozy and pleasant, dense but light, with a great persistence and a great evolution. More modern than most of his other fellows back then. Masculine and versatile. Great!

8,5-9/10

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Montana Parfum d'Homme by Montana (1989)

Montana Parfum d'Homme smells exactly like an elegant and self-conscious man should: cozy, bold, at the same time austere but friendly, chilled, with just a hint of exoticism, slightly dark too, and above all, "good". The opening is a beautiful, mellow, flawless blend of lavender, pine, cloves, juniper, red pepper, carnation, aldehydes, woods, leather, oakmoss and tobacco, some classic fougère accords but with an overall more sophisticated floral-exotic mood if compared to other rougher and more "shouty" powerhouses (this is not, in fact: it's a classier and more gentle fougère), mostly due to flowers and the tobacco note - which is brilliant: dusty but humid, exotic, tasty, "brown". Refined, relaxed and sophisticated, with the cozy, but enigmatic natural exoticness of tobacco, and the gentle manliness of some typical eau de cologne notes – flowers, bergamot. I keep recalling the evil characters of some Hitchcock's spy movies, or more broadly other noir movies, with those secret dinners in dusty, humid and warm exotic bars and restaurants – this is quite that smell: different eau de colognes melting together, flowers, sweat, well-cut suits, cigars... a blast of flavours and aromas, with the aldehydes and the woods even providing the setting – rusty tables and woody humid furniture. Like many other well-made fougères, this is perfect all year, everywhere, with every company, without smelling generic or crowdpleasing - just terribly "good". Also still quite cheap, I got my vintage "red-boxed" bottle (new) for some 25 EUR/75 ml. Strongly recommended.

8,5-9/10

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Nemo by Cacharel (1999)

This scent is unexpectedly hard to describe and "get". It's a sort of meditative, enigmatic fragrance built around a fascinating accord of mineral notes, slightly aquatic too, with contemporary and synthetic woody notes (Iso E, cedar, cashmeran), frankincense, violet/floral notes, perhaps bergamot and orange blossoms, nutmeg and other spices (mainly nutmeg, however), a hint of leafy notes, and a subtle white musks creaminess. It has a sort of overall slightly sticky and aquatic flawlessness which perfectly blends with the woody-incense notes, the spices and the floral sweetness, and makes the whole blend smell quite like nothing else. Plus the composition is really tight, dense, compact and harmonic, quite hard to "dissect". It has definitely a '90s vibe underneath, and honestly reminds me a bit of Le Male at some points, but all I can say is that this smells terribly good, pleasant, cozy, even captivating and haunting, in a really peculiar way. Don't know why exactly, but the blend of natural, almost "new age" notes (mineral, aquatic, incense, aromatic woods, addictive spices) with the bold synthetic feel - not plain or cheap, though - makes me think of 1990's virtual reality, that kind of exotic-natural, almost esoteric places and settings recreated with that fascinating, geometric aesthetics of primitive computer graphic of the Nineties – think of mid-90's videogames, animations, or again "new age" videos, or musical videoclips. That's a kind of heritage that has always intrigued me a lot – that lo-fi, post-modern, computer-driven "mysticism". A fascinating, and undoubtedly well-made scent. The only "con" is that it may get a bit cloying after a while (but more likely you'll crave for it, so not a problem). Delicate and sophisticated drydown. Happy to have blind-bought it for pennies.

8/10

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Moods Uomo by Krizia (1989)

Moods Uomo opens with a blast of aldehydes, a realistic, dark and dense leather accord, with juniper and carnation notes and a massive, sulphur-ish medicinal dose of pungent cloves, a camphor note and lavender. Herbal-mossy notes, somehow transfigured, vibrant but dark and immersed in a metallic-concrete kind of ambiance – earthy and rooty like roots and branches growing out a sidewalk. Utterly modern and for that time even almost avant-garde. Quite 1980's in fact, but not in terms of perfumery style, rather in more broad terms of the images and the suggestions that it brings – sophisticated hedonism, post-modernism, a sort of gloomy elegance, the general deep metropolitan, urban mood of pollution, translucent surfaces, an already-new way of interpreting leather, which tends more on a dark and androgynous territory. Krizia's visionary, chic and at the same time, "architectural" style at its best. As minutes pass some notes vanish and it focuses on a super dry, dusty leather-woody-mossy accord. A must for all leather fragrances lovers. Simple, beautiful packaging.

8,5-9/10

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and finally... the king of all times masculines.

Vetiver by Guerlain (1959)

My review is based on a vintage '80s bottle of the first EDC formulation of this (the bottle in the picture is mine!), although ages ago I bought a couple of vintage EDT minis too and I still sniff them from times to times (and in fact I notice quite a little difference between these two). I do not know the actual formulation of this and to be honest, I am not much interested in it, as I guess how it could smell – not saying it's worse as I don't know it. However, the EDC is simply stunning: unmistakable opening, elegant, fresh, zesty, full of earthy-rooty richness and tasty woods. A milestone for perfumery in general, for masculine "class", for vetiver scents. A totally refined, noble, elegant, cozy freshness rich in citrus, lavender, aldehydes, with an irresistible heart of great, aromatic tobacco, vetiver and cedar. As minutes pass it progressively gets more dry and a darker woody-leather base emerges. Light spices like cumin and nutmeg "fill" the higher notes of vetiver. Refined, versatile, mellow, simple but unique, cozy, pure self-confidence in a bottle. Longevity is discreet but long-lasting. Timeless!

10/10

Vetiver EDT by Lorenzo Villoresi

Year: 1994
Nose: Lorenzo Villoresi

The opening is just great: a powerful, invigorating, super-classic vetiver, harsh and savage, with a bold and earthy patchouli-oakmoss accord (I also feel some cocoa beans dusty sweetness), some delicate floral notes (lavender, neroli) which shape and restrain the rawness of the green/woody notes, and a refreshing accord of bergamot and citrus which then sweetens progressively. Straightforward, earthy and dense: a beauty. After a while you also feel some spicy/peppery notes, and the oak moss note emerges more clearly in all its barn-like splendor, together with a really pleasant salty note. But then, all of a sudden, here comes the downpart: it all sags down a bit. Too soon. It still remains great, pleasant, natural, vibrant, with a superb balance of components; but still, all just "tones down" far before you expected – and wanted, since as I said, it smells gorgeous, so you wouldn't really want it to wash away so quickly. This is the only "con"; apart from this I really like this scent. A pleasant, vibrant, elegant and persistent "eau de cologne" which deserves its place in the "classic heritage" side of vetiver fragrances.

8/10