Welcome to this month’s installment of “Notes on Notes”, a monthly collaboration between this blog and Australian Perfume Junkies! Every month, we pick one fragrance note and write about it, posting on the first Monday of the month — fragrances we like that feature it, what we like or don’t like about it, anything else we know about it, whatever takes our fancy. For February, the note is vetiver.
I have been eagerly awaiting the US launch of Zara’s collection of fragrances, Emotions, in collaboration with perfumer Jo Malone. I love some of her fragrances under her own brand, Jo Loves, so I was curious to see what she came up with for Zara, well-known as a destination for budget-conscious shoppers. Zara has released many, many fragrances under its own name, some created by famous perfumers, such as Vibrant Leather, created by Jerome Epinette. The Emotions collection launched in Europe in late 2019, but it took another year to become available in the USA. Luckily, it arrived in time for the holidays, and I treated myself and one of my daughters each to the sample/discovery set. It costs $25.90.
The discovery set is a nice size: eight long, narrow vials of eau de parfum, each holding 4 ml of a different fragrance. The collection consists of: Amalfi Sunray, Bohemian Bluebells, Ebony Wood, Fleur de Patchouli, Fleur d’Oranger, Tubereuse Noir, Vetiver Pamplemousse, Waterlily Tea Dress. The vials are “dabbers”, not sprays. Each fragrance lists only three notes, and I think they would be ideal for layering, with each other or with other fragrances. In fact, the Zara website sells “layering sets” with various combinations of the collection’s fragrances, with one scent in a 15 ml “paintbrush” format and two more in 10 ml sprays. The sets offer some ideas for layering which I plan to try with my discovery set.
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Although the fragrances I normally review and enjoy are traditionally classed as “feminines”, I do occasionally try and enjoy more masculine scents. I’m not sure why, but I became intrigued by the idea of trying Zara’s Vibrant Leather, and set off in search of it (the version “for him”, not “for her”). The eau de parfum formulation came out earlier this year, and the prior EDT version was reputed to be an excellent cheap substitute for the popular Creed Aventus. I’m not a huge fan of Creed, although I have Fleurissimo and I like it very much, so there wasn’t a compelling reason why I should try a dupe of one of its masculines, but there you have it — I wanted to. Anyway, I live not far from a Zara boutique and was in that mall on another errand, so I popped in. And yes, they had small 12 ml sprays of Vibrant Leather, priced at $6.90. I tried it in the store, liked it enough to spend $6.90 to play around with it, and brought my purchase home.
As someone who is less than familiar with most of the great classics of masculine fragrances (my husband mostly wears Old Spice and Brut), my thoughts on Vibrant Leather will be somewhat arbitrary. First, it has a great citrusy opening, with a lively top note of bergamot and almost a medicinal vibe, but not too much so. Almost immediately, that starts to fade (as citrus notes often do), as the middle emerges. It is described as being “bamboo”, but I couldn’t tell you whether that is accurate or not. The middle stage is pleasantly woody with a greenish tinge, and that’s close enough to “bamboo” for a fragrance this inexpensive! Although a bamboo-eater might disagree …
Great panda eating bamboo and fruit in hot weather; image from http://www.dailymail.co.uk.
As the citrus and greenness fade, next comes a leatherish base, that lasts a pretty long time on my skin although faintly. I sprayed a bit on my wrists (one small spray each) one night while reading in bed, and when I woke up, 8-9 hours later, I could still smell it. Perfumer Jerome Epinette has this to say, according to the text on the packaging:
Vibrant Leather is a perfect balance between the peace and romantic side of woody notes and the vitality and intens[ity] of leather.
I can’t speak to the many comparisons to Aventus, which I haven’t smelled, but this strikes me as a good, light, leather-like scent for summer and hot weather. I like it a lot, though not for myself, so I’ll be passing it along to my husband or teenaged son (who is probably the target market). And for about $36 for 120 ml of this 2018 EDP version by Jerome Epinette, what’s not to like? If it doesn’t last long on your skin, you can spray more without guilt!
Serenity Now Scents and Sensibilities 