Vetyver (Jo Malone: Vetyver, Eau de Cologne)

Member Name: Whizz11

Product:	Jo Malone: Vetyver, Eau de Cologne
Date:	11/08/09 (110 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Nice smell, different, great packaging

Disadvantages: A bit expensive

Jo Malone produces a range of colognes, bath oils, candles etc all with very different smells and combinations. She has a number high end stores in London, as well as outlets in various airports and also sells her products via the internet at www.jomalone.co.uk. To me, her products are synonymous with style and luxury. They are expensive but very good and for a treat or a special occasion I think they make the perfect gift.

According to her website, Jo Malone started in the business well over twenty years ago when she began to make products out of her home to use when giving facials to a handful of clients. Like most good quality products and people, word got round about Jo and she soon had over 200 clients all asking for her services. Fast forward a couple of years to 1994 when the first Jo Malone store was opened in London.

On a recent trip to London I decided to have a browse around one of her stores. I love looking around as there are so many lovely beautiful smelling products set out in a really stylish way so it's great fun to just look and smell at all the products. I normally go for a fruity smell, like something from their citrus range and saw that this fragrance actually had some sweet orange so this is partly why the Vetyver perfume caught my eye. However, I had never heard of this product before but apparently it is legendary scent of India. Upon reading more I found out that it is a perennial grass, native to India. There they spell it Vetiver. Veryver is actually a French spelling of the word. Vetiver is mainly cultivated for the fragrant essential oil distilled from its roots. Vetiver is used widely in high end perfumes. It is contained in 90% of all western perfumes.

The smell is quite spicy, as you would expect a fragrance from India to be. Jo Malone describes it as a modern interpretation of a spicy aromatic classic. It is blended with sweet orange, nutmeg and tarragon to create this powerful, mysterious fragrance. I have some of her oils that have nutmeg in and I love the strong nutty smell it gives so I was also quite excited to try this perfume because of that. You can smell the nutmeg but the main smell to me is the spicy almost musky smell. It's quite hard to describe apart from that. It's definitely an acquired smell as I think it's quite strong so you do have to like it to wear it. It lingers quite well which is nice too.

On the Jo Malone website they say that, ""Beautiful packaging and thoughtful presentation is synonymous with the Jo Malone brand." THis perfume is no different. It is packaged classically in a glass perfume bottle and has a cream sticker on the front with Jo Malone written on it as well as her logo and the smell of the product included. Then the product is gift wrapped in a cream heavy paper bag with Jo Malone written on the front and a black border drawn around the name. A black ribbon is added to the top to close the bag and also, in my opinion to add a touch of glamour.

The cologne does not come cheap unfortunately and is actually a bit more expensive than some of the others I have bought. It is very long lasting which is nice, a little goes a long way. A 30ml bottle is £32 and a 100ml bottle is £6

Summary: Vetyver Perfume - Jo Malone