Skip to content

Top Navigation

Food & Wine Food & Wine
  • Recipes & Cooking
  • Drinks
  • Travel
  • Holidays & Events
  • News
  • F&W Classic
  • Video
  • Kitchen & Home
  • F&W Pro

Profile Menu

Your Profile

Your Profile

  • Join Now
  • Newsletters
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Give a Gift Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Wine Club
  • Podcast
  • Logout
Login
Subscribe Subscribe
Pin FB

Explore Food & Wine

Food & Wine Food & Wine
  • Explore

    Explore

    • F&W Cooks

      Food and Wine presents a new network of food pros delivering the most cookable recipes and delicious ideas online. Read More Next
    • Our 22 Best Crock Pot and Slow-Cooker Recipes

      Looking to amp up your beef stew but unsure where to start? A slow cooker can can take your comfort food to the next level. Read More Next
    • 50 Affordable Wines You Can Always Trust

      We’ve assembled a list of 50 of the world’s most reliable, inexpensive wines – bottles that offer amazing quality for their price year in and year out. Read More Next
  • Recipes & Cooking

    Recipes & Cooking

    See All Recipes & Cooking
    • Chicken Recipes
    • Comfort Food Recipes
    • Breakfast & Brunch Recipes
    • Salad Recipes
    • Dessert Recipes
    • Vegetable Recipes
    • Pasta & Noodle Recipes
    • Chefs
    • Meat & Poultry Recipes
    • Soup Recipes
    • Appetizer Recipes
    • Side Dishes
    • Fruit Recipes
    • Seafood Recipes
    • Special Diets
    • Cooking Techniques
    • Steal This Trick
  • Drinks

    Drinks

    See All Drinks
    • Wine
    • Cocktails & Spirits
    • Coffee Drinks & Recipes
    • Juices
    • Beer & Brews
    • Champagne & Sparkling Wine
    • Tea Recipes & Ideas
  • Travel

    Travel

    See All Travel
    • Wine Regions
    • Restaurants
  • Holidays & Events

    Holidays & Events

    See All Holidays & Events
    • Valentine's Day
    • Halloween
    • Passover
    • Hanukkah
    • Christmas
    • Gifts
    • Super Bowl
    • Easter
    • Thanksgiving
    • New Year's Eve
    • Holiday Entertaining
  • News
  • F&W Classic
  • Video
  • Kitchen & Home
  • F&W Pro

Profile Menu

Subscribe this link opens in a new tab
Your Profile

Your Profile

  • Join Now
  • Newsletters
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Give a Gift Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Wine Club
  • Podcast
  • Logout
Login
Sweepstakes

Follow Us

  1. Home Chevron Right
  2. Kitchen & Home Chevron Right
  3. 4 Scents That Will Transport You to a Sunny Place

4 Scents That Will Transport You to a Sunny Place

By Food & Wine
Updated July 28, 2015
Skip gallery slides
Save FB Tweet
Credit: Courtesy of InStyle.com
You’re most likely reading this from the comfort of your over-air-conditioned office or cubicle (or picnic table as I like to call the new “open plan” arrangements taking over the world), dreaming of the outside, summer-splashed world and all it has to delight the senses: blue skies, a gentle breeze, and scents to yearn for all year.I keep a rolodex of perfumes on my desk to revive me mid-day—for a hit of sandy shoreline, I go for the incomparable Maison Margiela Replica Beach Walk ($125; barneys.com), and for a fancy ocean spritz it's Tom Ford Neroli Portofino ($140; sephora.com). But the summeriest type of smell, for me, comes in the form of vetiver, a grass that’s native to places like Haiti and India, and that’s far from super-green, fresh-cut-lawn. It’s earthy, dirty and unbelievably sexy, and reminds of lying, eyes closed, in a sun-drenched field, heat radiating, with absolutely nothing on my mind. Warning: it can be intoxicating and heavy, so apply in small doses. And then, when fall arrives, mist with (almost) abandon to get an effect more akin to smoky fire pit. These four iterations couldn’t be more different, but they’re each so very satisfying.This article originally appeared on Instyle.com.
Start Slideshow

1 of 4

Save FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message Print

Frederic Malle Vetiver Extraordinaire Eau de Parfum

Credit: Courtesy of InStyle.com

My first ever vetiver-laced perfume, it’s potent—the fresher notes of bergamot and bitter orange only slightly lessen the intense power of the vetiver mixed with sandalwood cedar and oak moss. I wore this exclusively on a trip to Amsterdam, and now, whenever I wear it, it reminds me of meandering along the canals. ($190; fredericmalle.com)

1 of 4

Advertisement
Advertisement

2 of 4

Save FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message Print

Chantecaille Vetyver Eau de Parfum

Credit: Courtesy of InStyle.com

Although vetiver is used in a lot of unisex and men’s fragrances, this is the perfect, feminine interpretation. The fresh-squeezed lemon top notes calm the headiness of the nutmeg, sandalwood and vetiver. It reminds me of some tall cocktail you’d get at a rooftop bar that has a bunch of ingredients in it you’d never think would go together (like absinthe and…anything), but blend together seamlessly to make something exquisite. ($175; nordstrom.com)

2 of 4

3 of 4

Save FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message Print

Carven Vétiver Eau de Toilette

Credit: Courtesy of InStyle.com

A reissue of 1957 classic (which the design house Carven claims to be the first vetiver fragrance ever), the lavender and citrus at the top makes it a surprisingly clean—and masculine—vetiver concoction. This is what my dream man—an odd combination of Christian Bale and Zach Galifianakis—smells like after a shower. ($80; saks.com)

3 of 4

Advertisement

4 of 4

Save FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message Print

Heeley Vetiver Veritas Eau de Parfum

Credit: Courtesy of InStyle.com

This is composed entirely of natural (as in not synthetic) ingredients, which is seriously rare in modern perfumery. And it also disproves the theory that natural fragrances disappear quickly on your skin—this one lasts all day. Mint, lavender and grapefruit brighten the vetiver up, but it’s got unapologetic, raw earthiness. ($195; luckyscent.com)

4 of 4

Replay gallery

Share the Gallery

Pinterest Facebook

Up Next

By Food & Wine

Share the Gallery

Pinterest Facebook
Trending Videos
Advertisement
Skip slide summaries

Everything in This Slideshow

Advertisement

View All

1 of 4 Frederic Malle Vetiver Extraordinaire Eau de Parfum
2 of 4 Chantecaille Vetyver Eau de Parfum
3 of 4 Carven Vétiver Eau de Toilette
4 of 4 Heeley Vetiver Veritas Eau de Parfum

Share options

Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message Print

Login

Food & Wine

Magazines & More

Learn More

  • Subscribe this link opens in a new tab
  • Books from Food & Wine
  • Contact Us
  • Media Kit
  • Content Licensing

Connect

Follow Us
Subscribe to Our Newsletter
Other Meredith Sites

Other Meredith Sites

  • 4 Your Health this link opens in a new tab
  • Allrecipes this link opens in a new tab
  • All People Quilt this link opens in a new tab
  • Better Homes & Gardens this link opens in a new tab
  • Bizrate Insights this link opens in a new tab
  • Bizrate Surveys this link opens in a new tab
  • Cooking Light this link opens in a new tab
  • Daily Paws this link opens in a new tab
  • EatingWell this link opens in a new tab
  • Eat This, Not That this link opens in a new tab
  • Entertainment Weekly this link opens in a new tab
  • Health this link opens in a new tab
  • Hello Giggles this link opens in a new tab
  • Instyle this link opens in a new tab
  • Martha Stewart this link opens in a new tab
  • Midwest Living this link opens in a new tab
  • More this link opens in a new tab
  • MyRecipes this link opens in a new tab
  • MyWedding this link opens in a new tab
  • My Food and Family this link opens in a new tab
  • MyLife this link opens in a new tab
  • Parenting this link opens in a new tab
  • Parents this link opens in a new tab
  • People this link opens in a new tab
  • People en Español this link opens in a new tab
  • Rachael Ray Magazine this link opens in a new tab
  • Real Simple this link opens in a new tab
  • Ser Padres this link opens in a new tab
  • Shape this link opens in a new tab
  • Siempre Mujer this link opens in a new tab
  • Southern Living this link opens in a new tab
  • SwearBy this link opens in a new tab
  • Travel & Leisure this link opens in a new tab
Food & Wine is part of the Meredith Corporation Allrecipes Food Group. © Copyright 2021 Meredith Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policythis link opens in a new tab Terms of Servicethis link opens in a new tab Ad Choicesthis link opens in a new tab California Do Not Sellthis link opens a modal window Web Accessibilitythis link opens in a new tab
© Copyright . All rights reserved. Printed from https://www.foodandwine.com

View image

4 Scents That Will Transport You to a Sunny Place
this link is to an external site that may or may not meet accessibility guidelines.