Horace’s new men’s scent is the linen shirt of the fragrance closet

Vetiver Primavera – the new fragrance from men’s grooming brand Horace – has spring in its name, but it is a scent that conjures the feeling of summer. A fragrance both solar and earthy, it is composed of sparkling lemon, yuzu, and mandarin tempered by delicate, honeyed orange blossom and dry, woody vetiver.

As perfumer Meabh McCurtin describes it, ‘the fragrance all started with the vetiver, which is a fragrance in and of itself – it's earthy, it's woody, it has a peanutty part, and it has a sparkling citrus touch on top. So, if you imagine that as a jewel at the centre, then the other notes that are added in are like different facets that highlight the vetiver underneath.’

Those other facets include not just the citrus notes and orange blossom mentioned above, but also incense, cashmere and ambroxan, which give the final product a modern and, in McCurtin’s words, ‘addictive’ quality.

Each batch of the Vetiver Primavera fragrance is mixed at the International Flavors & Fragrances (IFF) factory in Grasse, a gleaming facility just a short drive away from the fields where IFF – which creates scents for some of the biggest brands on the market – grows its ingredients, from roses to vetiver and irises.

At the facility, perfumers like McCurtin work in offices formulating products for the likes of Horace, Calvin Klein and YSL, while downstairs a team of expert technicians work in a laboratory filled with vats of precious fragrance extracts, crafting the perfumes according to the noses’ formulations. The artisanal, exacting process of making this Horace fragrance comes across when you smell it; yet, the price point remains relatively accessible.

This is in keeping with the defining ethos of Horace, which launched in 2016 (and opened its first Horace London store in 2024) with a simple mission: to create grooming products for men that have elegant packaging, quality results and affordability. That might sound like a slightly uninspired aim, but when founders Marc Briant-Terlet and Kim Mazzilli debuted Horace in their native France, they had been unable to find a grooming brand that spoke to men like themselves and their friends, men who are concerned with looking good and appreciate refined, considered products, but don’t necessarily want to spend a lot of time or money on either.

Instead, the grooming market of the time was flush with brands that marketed a simplified, outdated masculinity (of the Old Spice ‘smell like a man, man’ variety), and luxury fashion houses selling male grooming products alongside their female beauty offering (think Boy de Chanel and Dior Homme). Horace filled the gap between the two, creating everything from skincare to beard products, sunscreen, haircare and, of course, fragrance.

Vetiver Primavera fits naturally within Horace’s growing fragrance catalogue. The brand’s first scent was &Horace, a clean blend of bergamot, sandalwood and tobacco designed to be easy to wear and universally appealing, like a white T-shirt. Then there was the far punchier Oud Rose, the olfactory equivalent of wearing ‘a leopard-print tuxedo to the opera’, with notes of rose, patchouli and oud. Then the limitededition L'étiquette, a debonair blend of lavender, tobacco and tonka bean that, to stick with the sartorial metaphors, is like wearing a well-tailored suit. Vetiver Primavera, then, is the linen shirt of the fragrance closet – comfortable, versatile, casual but elegant.

According to Briant-Terlet, the brand’s fragrances have been such a success that they often sell out before they even launch, suggesting customers trust the brand enough to know they will like whatever it produces. It’s a reputation Horace deserves and one that has made it the number-one men's skincare brand in France. As Briant-Terlet says, ‘we want Horace to become the go-to beauty brand for men – the first one that truly covers all their needs, from skincare and fragrance to deodorant and beard care. We’ve built that position in France. We’re well on our way in the UK. Next up: the US.’

Horace Vetiver Primavera is available at horace.com, £62 for 50ml