Le Labo has launched the third fragrance in their series of city-exclusives, Vanille 44 for Paris:
Le Labo finally presents its fragrance, exclusively for Paris, since only sold at colette for the world: Vanille 44, created by Alberto Morillas. Just like all previous scents such as Rose 31 or Iris 39 who smell anything but rose or iris, Vanille 44 doesn’t smell like vanilla... It is a complex association of amber and woody incense that will unveil after its first taste of musk, a profound smell of vanilla. This fragrance is just a poem.
The notes include bergamot, incense, gaiac wood, mandarin, vanilla, muscenone, pipol and hedione; Le Labo describes it as "ambery incensy woody sexy". Le Labo Vanille 44 is available exclusively at Colette in Paris, and is not sold online. (quote via newsletter from colette, additional information via lelabofragrances)
See also: Le Labo Tubereuse 40 for New York and Aldehyde 44 for Dallas.
Update: see a review of Le Labo Vanille 44.
I love Iris 39, so I guess this gives me another excuse to go back to Paris, heh, heh! And Colette is a blast!!
Hugs and love!
Now this is something really exclusive.
Strange concept, a fragrance fo a city only.
The label looks even stranger: a bit like a doctors prescription paper.
I agree, but I just love that Iris 39! I wonder what fragrance they will create for Los Angeles when they finally open the LA store?
M, that is Le Labo's standard packaging.
Standard packaging? Hmm if the bottle is very small then it only needs a matching seringe to keep this doctors imago.
I love their website. Grasse is not so far away from here…and I didn't know about Le Labo last summer when I was at The Cote.:(..
M, I don't think they actually have a location in Grasse, just that the fragrances are “from” Grasse.
Yes you're right Robin. Well then it will be a while before I will be able to try any of their products.
Are they in Paris?
Paris is still quite a journey but at least not across the Ocean.
Is Le Labo French or English?
I am so confused.
~YaY~…I've been looking forward to this release! Now if I only had a Parisian buyer I'd be set! The notes sound fantastic and I had faith that Le Labo could create a unique and stunning vanilla after Rose 31 and Patchouli 24 which are amazing. I love the entire line though! Thanks for the great news…woohoo!
M, le Labo is a concept created by two Frenchmen with connections to Grasse. However, they set up their first boutique in New York, then a second in Dallas. Later, they set up a concession in the Colette store in Paris, and this year another concession was opened in Liberty, London. They're not noses, but they commission parfumeurs such as Maurice Roucel and Annick Menardo. One of their 'gimmicks' is to create a perfume for each new location which can only be obtained by visiting that store. In New York, it's Tuberose 40, Dallas – Aldehyde 44, Paris – Vanille 44. There's no scent yet for London. For samples, there's really only The Perfumed Court.
N, thanks, you beat me to the punch and anyway I couldn't remember if one or both was French
Ok, so I'm a grump.
I find the perfume created for a city that is just available in that city to be a concept that is too precious by half. They'd get a lot more sales if they made it more widely available.
And if they just want to be tres exclusif et tres chic, well, their bottle looks like the back of the shelf at Wal-Mart.
Consistency, guys, there is too much to choose from to make me want to travel to Dallas under any circumstance, let alone to pick up an ugly bottle of a perfume I can't try first.
Puh-leeeeze. All they need to add to this concept is to hire Tom Ford's ad agency.
Ah, that felt good.
Quinn, when did you buy Angels Cologne? Would love to try that one but don't see it anywhere.
If their fragrances were more widely available, then I suspect that their name and fame would be dimineshed by their ugly bottles…. I can already see a sales person putting them on the 'wrong shelf' next to the cheaper scents..
I admit that I have become a recent fan of this line following the opening of their concession in Liberty, one of my absolute favourite stores. You can just sit at the “bar” and sniff to your heart's content and they have the olfactionary to play with as well. I don't mind the basic style of the bottles/packaging which accurately portray what I assume is part of their ethos – it's the juice inside which counts (and I keep my bottles in a cupboard anyway!). They use interesting noses and high quality ingredients and don't go for the schlock value of silly names to hide inferior scents! OK this is a very subjective take!
I don't mind Le Labo's packaging at all, but I don't like the city-exclusive concept either.
I am a huge fan of Le Labo — I think they are one of the few new niche brands of the last couple years worth trying. Some of the scents are just brilliant, and while I haven't visited a store yet, I understand they're fun and the people are nice. And so agree on the “schlock value” point.
Just something I've been dying to mention but keep forgetting, and now the comment about keeping fragrance in a cupboard has reminded me: I hope anyone interested in preserving their fragrances will put them in the fridge! A small minority of naysayers says that extremes, including cold, will ruin scents, but, being a wine critic, I know that really the only way that cold is harmful is if the temperature fluctuates wildy — from fridge-cold to cupboard warm over and over and over again, for example. Otherwise, a consistently chilly environment, is just the thing to keep bottled liquids, from soy sauce to wine to anything else, from aging any way other than very, verrrry slowly. Chandler Burr concurred recently in an article in Vogue, if you're looking for a vote from someone more acceptably “in the know” than I am. Humidity is immaterial because your bottle, presumably, is airtight (and if it's not, that's an even bigger problem). Just FYI, cuz I've heard so many posters complain about their frags going off before they're close to being empty, and we know some bottles are not exactly easy to replace. Decants are more susceptible to rapid deterioration because more oxygen has been introduced in solution, and rollerballs/dabbers can age prematurely because of bacterial compromise. Just checked this with my microbiologist dad, and he's with Chandler and me all the way.
Omigod, I really should check my writing before submitting it!! An extra commas and the absence of a hyphen — my, my!!! What will our blog-mistress think???
No worries on the typos! I know cold storage is best, and if I had a wine refrigerator I'd use it for fragrance, but I don't. There is no way I could keep perfume in my regular refrigerator and still have room for food.
I hear you, R.! There is really no room in my fridge now for anything but a quart of milk and some condiments. Seriously! I even have a sealed black garbage bag out on my patio — winter in Vancouver is a pretty consistent fridge-temp — filled with the over-flow. MUST PRUNE STASH!!! I'm like one of those crazy cat women, only with frags instead of felines taking over my apartment!! I'm just glad that, through NST and your sister sites, we can all reassure ourselves we're not alone.
LOL at “crazy cat women” — at least we don't have to do the litter box
Decants, fragrances in the fridge, this is such fun ;). The other day I tried my ten year old (kept in the box and in the dark) Allure and it had gone bad.:(, it smells really terrible. Wanted to compare Allure with my 'buymistake' Allure Sensuelle.
What do you all do with frags gone bad and with those scents that just were wrong for some reason ?!?
10 years is a long time! Scents that were wrong I give away, usually. I know Kevin just uses them as room sprays. Scents that go bad go in the trash.