Hermessence Vetiver Tonka Hermes for women and men

Vetiver Tonka starts off very woody and slightly smoky (think of a way better Aventus smoky vibe). And I got a very very slight hint of citrus, which reminded me of TdH. Pretty nice opening. But the magic really happens once the sweetness and nuttiness comes in. I didn't get much tonka like the name implies but I did get this roasted nuts smell with a bit of sweetness. Not too sweet, which is perfect for my taste. I love it because it's sexy, sophisticated, and very classy. It's masculine and it fits my personality. Lasts a good 8hrs on my skin.

A vetiver masterpiece from Jean-Claude Ellena.

An absolutely glorious vetiver. Vetiver extraordinaire by Malle has always been my favorite followed by les nombres d'or. This is now #1. A gem by Hermes

This is wonderful.
This collection is amazing Hermessence, Jean-Claude Ellena do well knew their fragrances. It is very similar to Bal D'Afrique say they are almost twin sisters, just think Vetiver Tonka is thicker in vetiver, but less than the projection Byredo.
But just a Great Perfume that is worth having in your collection.

I classify it thus:

Smell: 1000/10
Projection: 9/10
Longevity: 9/10

A stunning and unique fragrance from Hermes. It opens with very prominent Vetiver and Tonka bean notes. There is a light veil of roasted nuttiness surrounding around the two notes. It later introduces the tobacco which intensifies as the frag develops. The tobacco blends perfectly well in yielding this woody, smooth and gourmand ambience which just beautiful... The sweetness is half-baked but i like that it is not actually sweet but it leaves you hanging later for you to enjoy the other notes. Rate: 4.5/5

Wow, is this vetiver note ever realistic. I believe the last time I ever smelled such a great vetiver was... well, it was in... Terre!

This might well be the vetiver I've been looking for my entire life.... but I still have to experience Guerlain's vetiver for women... anyone can help me with this? :)

Not overly sweet and woodsy as in Encre noir or manly and orangey as in Terre, this one seems to have a dualistic nature. I can smell the sharp pungent almost acrid vetiver note floating ATOP of a warmed up tobacco and tonka combo with a soft, nutty and sweet sandalwood finish.... but somewhat, these notes also seem to be sitting next to each other instead of working as a pyramid. So strange!! All the notes standing as individuals instead of flowing together. They all peak and then go soft again, the scent being different ever time I take a sniff! It has that Hermes signature and for the weirdest reason, I almost feel like I can smell their signature "pamplemousse" note in the very opening, but of course, it contains no grapefruit!! Must be an association my brain is making!

I love love this and I am looking forward to sharing it with my BF. A unisex beauty of a perfume, like a unisex soft Terre. I've always wanted to wear Terre but it's way too strong for my little nose...
Bravo Ellena, bravo!

EDIT
BOTH my Vetiver tonka and Iris Ukiyoe fell on the floor recently and got smashed to pieces. Ouch. I'm looking for more of VT.

Went from loving it to hating it. Made me sick, had to leave work earlier to go home and shower. It is overpowering with tobbaco. Anything more than one spray is dangerous.

What about one of the best existing vetivers? Create a creamy vetiver is not for anyone, had to be the wise teacher Ellena.
Vetiver giving the woody touch with earthy mineral scent across, fava with the fitness of sweet spice vanillic , tobacco behind, blurring precisely this elixir that gets to have a vibe of roasted coffee in my nose, superb!

Sort of an odd opening. Definitely vetiver and Tonka right away, the Tonka smells like a roasted vanilla bean, not sweet dessert-like vanilla. The vetiver gets a little bit too reminiscent of nail varnish remover. Not sure I like this on me, but it has potential for the husband.

The only reason I don't wear this 24/7 is that it's pricey and I save it for a treat. Incredible. dry and warm and sexy all at the same time
NOTHING but compliments when I'm wearing this, I fear I have to buy another bottle sooner than I expected and the damned exchange rate sucks on imported items like this.... but well worth it

Vetiver Tonka is probably the best of the Hermessence line and one of my favorite Hermes fragrances.

Vetiver is not an easy note to like for many people, here, it is delicately sweetened with a refined Tonka note making it a high quality, really sexy and warm scent with a very subtle and nice tobacco note in the background, absolutely delicious.

Longevity is good, projection could be better, scent is amazing.

Just another Jean Claude Ellena win!

O i love it sooo much, it is not my type of fragrance, but im in love with this, it is so unusual and sexy

Interesting fragrance. It smells green/earthy and gourmand at the same time. At the begining tonka and tobacco notes are quite pronounced which gives a darker aspect but after a while scent becomes creamy gourmand (reminds me a little bit of nutella). It really reminds Bal d'Afrique and Vetiver Fatal but this one has bolder and brigter character than previous two. Great longevity and moderate sillage.
One of the best 10/10.

This is lovely beyond words. My decant is almost finished and it´s going to be hard to find another one I guess. Woody- gourmand treasure. Unique!

I purchased this based on all the reviews and was excited to try it but when I first sprayed it what I got was wave of synthetic/plastic which is odd since these scents are based off essential oils I thought.
I figured that was just the initial spritz and once it melded with my chemisty then it would show its true self.
However, what I ended out with once my body chemistry mixed with this scent was...Dawn dish detergent (the original formulation)! I kid you not!! It's the most bizarre thing. I can't even articulate because all I can smell is Dawn.
I do not detect anything that smells remotely like vetyver, tonka, tobacco, praline, or hazelnut. The closest I get to any of the described notes is a faint, faraway floral that doesn't resemble anything I've ever smelled irl.
Is it perhaps a compromised bottle? How else could it be so far off from anything anyone else has experienced with this perfume?
For anyone this works on, it lasts 10+ hours

Very unusual. For women I think this would be best for fall and winter. For men, so so sexy!!! I agree with someone else who said this is a cozy scent. I can smell just a hint of the tobacco right away. It's just so unusual!! I couldn't see grabbing this every day but it will be nice to have in my mix. If you are looking for something different give this a try!!!

Ok so I received three bottles of this as a gift and I have fallen in LOVE! I don't know why, but it reminds me of truffles on a fall day. Maybe too feminine for a man, but perfect for a woman. It's very calm and earthy. THe woody fragrance is simply amazing. I am used this at a dance, and I got so many compliments! Wonderful. SImply wonderful. Also gives me a very strong and independent feel, but it can also give a very warm, cuddly vibe. I love this so much, I don't know what to say!

This is very pleasant, and my husband says he can still smell it 3 hours after I applied the entire 1/2 ml sample vial. Yet, to me, it is much too subtle. I won't be going for the full bottle.

If you cant afford this,do yourself a favour and grab Collezione Privata Viaggio d`Africa Pal Zileri for half the price as they are practically the same smell.you will be left with a huge sense of waste when you buy both hoping for a significantly different experience.the vetiver in this is slightly more prominent while the tonka features more in Viaggio.I can only tell them apart from the top notes.Viaggio has that burnt smell and that's it.In the dry down,VT just slightly edges Viaggio with the vetiver.
Both last long on my skin and smell rich.

You will have to be a huge Hermes fan or be really loaded to want this when you can get Viaggio .they are both that similar

An understated fragrance that smells exactly as the name implies, like vetiver and tonka. It’s a light, sweet, grassy-woody, slightly powdery scent with hints of violet, fruit and spice, but never departing significantly from the vetiver main theme.

As it dries down it strengthens a bit, although it is never more than a low stage whisper. A slight tobacco leaf aroma joins the other players to produce a light veil of powdery, gourmand vetiver, and the whole stays quietly linear for 5-6 hours, gradually fading away.

V-T is an easy, comfortable scent to wear, with just enough presence to make itself known, but not strong enough to intrude into the space of others, at least not in an obvious way.

My heart skips a beat every time I catch a whiff of this! It's that sweet, slightly salty tonka that does it. I get exactly the same feeling from Byredo's Bal D'Afrique, but Vetiver Tonka is smokier, heavier, stronger... I feel aroused and seduced! The unisex ambiguity is provoking and challenging, but in a gooooooood way.

One spritz on my wrist lasted ALL DAY which I think is amazing considering that this is an EDT. Lasts longer and has much better projection than many EDPs I've known. In fact, if I wear more than a couple of spritzes it can bring on a headache, which tends to happen to me with heavy vanilla- or tonka-based fragrances.

Sublime, I love it. I'd wear it all the time if my man were a little more enthusiastic about it!

Sweet vetiver is not that common in my experience of perfumes, but Hermès offers precisely that in Hermessence VETIVER TONKA. Intially, I was unsure what I thought about this combination of tonka, nuts, and vetiver, which seems more oriental than chypre (though not quite gourmand). I do think that the habit of smelling savory or woody or green or salty vetiver, is just that: a habit.

Still, I suspect that I am not alone in tending to associate the smell of vetiver with aromatic men's colognes such as Lalique ENCRE NOIR. As a matter of fact, I kept thinking of the Lalique while wearing this composition, though their only overlap is the strong vetiver note.

I could definitely see developing a taste for this composition, but it would take a few more wears. At this point, I feel a bit as though someone sprinkled salt on top of a piece of hazelnut cake!

Read the down belows, have been smelling Vetiver Tonka for the last 3 hours--I don't think it is going anywhere soon--parts of it are and have gone perhaps. I love a good vetiver. I love vetiver straight up, I love vetiver shaken not stirred, I love vetiver with salt, I love vetiver with flowers, I love vetiver with smoke. I can't say I love Vetiver Tonka, as Ambrosia8 hit the nail on the head with "smells like vetiver flavoured crème brulée to me" --I'll add with a twist, and a zest of a clementine orange(it does sound wonderful), until the drydown, now it is a vetiver I love. Vetiver Tonka: orange crush soda pop cotten candy with lurking vetiver saltwater taffy waiting for the circus to leave, when it did there was peace, woods, and the quiet forsest floor. Fine I love Vetiver Tonka too.

This is a perfection in a bottle. It is just amazing, but the lasting power is not worth the price. On me it lasts a bit under an hour.

Absolutely fantastic scent! I won't re-tread the other reviews that address the notes nicely. I just simply wish that it had some longevity and any sillage at all! It's a stupendous concoction worthy of Jean Claude Ellena's legacy, but it just doesn't last or carry much - at least on my bod. For those of you concerned about a strong tobacco note - don't be - it's quite subtle IMO. GORGEOUS juice, Hermes. Kudos! Please figure out how to make it l a s t :-)

Vetiver Tonka is an amazing fragrance, that I can say for sure!

It opens up with a sensational vetiver note. Pure, earthy and resembling Encre Noire from Lalique (in a matter of fact this entirely fragrance seems to be a corpulent version of this designer fragrance).

After a couple of minutes, the tobacco note kicks in together with vetiver giving to this particular fragrance a slight smoky aspect.

Unfortunately the chocolate aspect of it it's not so evident on my skin, but this doesn't take away points from this wonderful fragrance.

WOW! Very nice. The tonka bean, and nuts really soften this, and make it far less green than your average vetiver. Very creamy,and musky but still earthy and lush. This would be fantastic on a man. Lasts forever and has great sillage.

Impressive. subtle, deep and sophisticated. Vetiver and nutmeg with a hint of tobacco creates a wonderful composition of the smell. Charming. It makes me smile.

Vetiver. Tonka. Together forever.

At first the tonka is stronger than the vetiver (with an anise note), and then the vetiver takes over during the drydown. The vetiver in this one is really nice, and has a smooth "nutty" aroma.

Good, quality, long-lasting stuff that actually kind of reminds me of Yohji Homme (of course not as smooth as Yohji). Would I buy a full bottle of this one? I dunno yet, but I definitely enjoy it.

This is absolute heaven in a bottle! I dont want to use it because I'm scared I will never get my hands on another bottle!The price is high,but its worth it! Anyone loving tobacco scents has to try this! :)

my all time favorite frag i guess, its not a frag actually, its more something between aroma therapy and medicine for the soul, its a masterpiece.

I like this but it feels like a Prada. 1/3 Prada Prada and 2/3 Infusion d'Iris.Very nice though for anyone .The price is a bit steep -I'll be on the lookout for a good deal.

I love this stuff! A creamy, classy vetiver perfect for most occasions and seasons. I`m Impressed of the Hermessence line!

Nice release from Hermes. In the opening I get exactly what the name of this fragrance says: Vetiver and Tonka Beans. In the drydown things get a little more complex with hints of chocolate (praline) and green notes. Even if they're not similar in the structure it reminded me of a mash-up version between a lighter Comme Des Garcons 2 Man without incense and a sweeter French Lover. A well executed light and minimal gourmandic vetiver. Maybe a bit overpriced.

Rating: 7-7.5/10

All Hermessence scents are like journey - you never know how it will be a hour later. The true pleasure, they are like opera between usual perfumes.

I really like this, mostly the top notes, smells like vetiver flavoured crème brulée to me, if such a thing existed! Still, i find it quite hard to wear, the bitter aspect comes off a little more than i'd like it to on me. nonetheless, a great perfume that i love to wear, just not for everyday use.

Heavenly. Mostly vetiver for the first few minutes, but this quickly morphs into a soft, fresh, gourmand vetiver blend. None of the harshness of more traditionally masculine vetivers (though I love those, too), and not as overtly vetiver-gourmand as,say, Tom of Finland.

This is may favorite type of gourmand: not too sweet, not too foody, delicately blended. Delicious. I'm again under the spell of the Hermessence line, and words fail me.

The strength of vetiver and smooth,mouth-watering hazelnut.Supple,sensual.

Smelled wonderful in the sample vial, but oh dear! maybe my body chemistry but after the initial interesting coffee/nut/vetiver for 5 minutes, the bitterness came through and turned into a pungent, sweaty mess and I had to wash it off. I think it should be a masculine only.

This is in fact a very approachable vetiver, very easy to like for those who haven't experienced the more astringent and sleek versions or are put off by vetiver's aloofness if you know what I mean. The tonka beans, tobacco and coffee make it almost gourmandy, but not overtly so. A bit too warm and sweet on a man in my opinion, perfect on a woman, cosy, laidback and delicious.

WOW. This scent is stunning. It starts off as a very lush vetiver, which you'd expect to be paired with other woody green notes. . . but instead, this scent takes a totally unexpected turn into a sweet coffee note that lasts as a gentle, warm scent on the skin. It reminds me of a first date on a wintry afternoon - turtleneck sweaters and sipping hot latte's in a room with deep green walls. Very charming.

This one is at the top of my list. My mother gave me a sample and I fell in love immediately. Quite a few Hermes scents populate my collection, but Vetiver Tonka is always the leader. It's beautifully cool, a departure from the bulk of what I own (florals and sweeter fragrances).

Warm and calm, woodsy vetyver enriched with nougat-caramel-resin aromas, so delicate and perfect for my senses and sensibility. This composition is keeping balance of taste woody notes and bitter but gentle light chords. So simple, so natural but so good. I`m in love in this perfume:)

I oddly get almost no tonka at all. What I get is smooth, cool, woody vetiver start to finish. It's lovely and it's a touch masculine for what I normally wear, but I could wish for more tonka. How about ANY tonka. Sigh.

I remeber the first time i opened the sample vial,i found it nice, elegant but not extremely new.But now i wish i had the ability to spend the kind of money they ask because this is love.With a nicely judged sandalwood, the vanillic vetiver is bittersweet intelligent and melancholic like a Pina Bausch dance sequence with a surreal feeling.This is also a scent that gives me lot of good comments