Vetiveria Animalis

By the editors · 2 min readCinnamon opens Vetiveria Animalis dry and crackling, its barky heat pulling vetiver’s rooty smoke into immediate focus while plum adds a bruised-purple sweetness that keeps the top from turning acrid. Civet arrives early, musky and warm, stitching the cinnamon to the heart’s white-floral trio—lily of the valley’s watery green, rose’s spiced petals, narcissus’s leathery pollen—so the accord reads as damp earth strewn with crushed blossoms. Sandalwood and ambergris soften the transition, letting castoreum’s beaver-fur musk ride on oakmoss’s cool lichen until patchouli darkens everything into a bitter chocolate hum. After two hours the fur-animal note relaxes into a suede-like skin imprint that smells of clove-tainted seawater and old library leather. Moderate sillage stays within arm’s length; cool fall nights or a crowded jazz club suit its shadowy presence.