Perfume Pen Pals: Le Labo Baie Rose 26 and Santal 33



Dan,

I went to Le Labo to smell the sample bottle they had of their Chicago exclusive, Baie Rose 26. I like it! It's a rosier, softer Rose 31, and it smells great on my skin.

The listed ingredients are rose, pimento berries, cloves, cedar, pepper, aldehydes, ambrox and musk. It's slightly metallic/salty, with plenty of dirty spice, but not as up front as in Rose 31. It boils down to a salt'n'pepper musky rose. The aldehydes are sharp and chemical-y, but it's appealing, in a harsh kind of way. It has some of the engaging weirdness of Frédéric Malle Dans tes Bras.

Katie



Katie,

I'm wearing the extremely mediocre Le Labo Santal 33, which goes on and on and on. It's like wearing all ten seasons of Friends.

My problem with it is whatever Santal 33 smells like, it smells the same for hours. It's like that last note in "A Day in the Life." Except longer. And without the great song before it. It makes me grumpy.




Santal 33 is like someone constantly humming in your ear. Someone with lungs the size of Kansas. If you were a dull person with dull tastes and a dull job, I suppose you'd do well to wear Santal 33. But only then.

Dan




Dan,

I found Santal 33 a dry, figgy leather with the olfactory consistency of peanut butter: thick, no flow. It's tenacious and a bit booming to start. It's a zhushed-up version of their very popular Santal room spray, which also makes me think “wooden figs.”

Looking back in the archives, I see that when you first tried Le Labo 33 (at Frederic Malle's appearance at Barneys), you'd said it was: “incredibly nice, but I've read online that all of its charm is apparent in the opening and then it shifts into a long boring musk. So I don't know what to think.”

So I guess you really don't know what to think.

Katie




Katie,

Ah yes, that was it, I'd smelled it on paper and it smelled good, but the word "on the street" wasn't so good. See, I can't even remember what I think about things, how am I ever going to make good decisions? There really are too many perfumes and it's all finally starting to catch up with me.

Dan

8 comments:

  1. My love affair with Le Labo is over and I haven't even tried Baie Rose. The only fragrance left in their lineup that I love is Poivre 23, which requires a trip to London and deep pockets. I used to love Patchouli 24, but it's the victim of reformulation and the new one is a little flat.

    As for Santal 33, it's one of the newer Le Labos that, along with Baie Rose, proudly lists ambrox among their featured notes. I was a test subject at the last Sniffapalooza for one blogger's review. Although he fared well, a couple of us amplified the ambrox until its nose hair-burning, migraine-producing qualities threatened to send us to the nearest bathroom for a douse in the sink. Well, at least I reacted that way. The reviewer described it as fine on him, but "scenery chewing" on one of us.

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  2. Fabrice Penot, one of Le Labo's founders, knows well my love for Labdanum 18, as he witnessed several of my in-shop full body sheep-dips of the stuff (before my husb took the hint and gave me a bottle for Xmas). I think of L18 as "the girlier Musc Ravageur." I've tried Poivre 23 in London, and it is indeed beautiful. Patchouli 24 is one of Dan's top 5 perfumes, and it smells wonderful on him. I'm perturbed to hear about the reformulation, and I know Dan was rushing to get a bottle of the old stuff before it was gone.

    So that's my personal Le Labo love-fest (Dan also loves Vanille 44 and Neroli 36), but whether it's the ambrox or not, some of their newer releases are certainly on the harsher side.

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  3. Katie & Dan:
    You guys inspired me to trek downtown to Elizabeth St. for a little Le Labo quality time myself...and you know, I was fully expecting to be walking out with a bottle of Labdanum 18...but rather surprisingly, it didn't unseat Musc Ravageur, in my heart, anyway...What did I walk out with? Well....two 50ml bottles....one of that arresting Rose 31...and another of friggin' Tubereuse 40! Oh geez. My next two faces were Jasmine XX (I forgot the number) and Fleur D'oranger...also I avoided smelling Santal 33 after your neg. review. The two spots on my hands where I sprayed (and then scrubbed off) L18 and Patchouli 24 smell very nice as well. Yours in fragrance,
    Fleurine

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  4. I think my iPod is substituting weird words in what I am writing by the way...

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  5. Ah, I forgot Labdanum 18 which I used to own, swapped for something else and completely regret giving up. And Vanille 44 is one of very few vanilla fragrances that I'll wear, after OD'ing on that particular note six or seven years ago. Wait! And Vetiver 46! It's not something I'd wear every day, but I wouldn't turn down a bottle if someone dropped it in my hands. Okay, I won't give up! I'll keep hoping that the next release will be a new LL favorite.

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  6. Fleurine, that's an impressive Le Labo spree! You're loving your white florals, but have provided a little spicy/cumin/hint o' oud in the shape of Rose 31 just to prove you can't be pigeonholed.


    Haha, m61, look how you've come right around! Vetiver 46 is nice, but I already own a bottle, and it's called Comme des Garçons 2 Man, also created by Mark Buxton.

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  7. These perfumers are a shrewd bunch...they make what is essentially a flanker of an original scent but change the niche brand, bottle, name and make it uber-exclusive...and voila sell it to the same customer twice without it ever being an uncool cool flanker like Rose 31 for Her, Musc Ravageur pour Femme, Comme Des Garcons 2 L'Ete, you know where I am going with this...

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  8. Hey guys, check out my review on Baie Rose 26 (Also you can find my review of Poivre 23)

    http://youtu.be/HYj0nsNy7rI

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