Le Labo will launch Baie Rose 26, the new city-exclusive fragrance for Chicago, this month.
For many people, Chicago still evokes the Prohibition-era, the decadence of the speakeasies filled with gangsters and pretty ladies, enjoying jazz music, smoking and sipping martinis until dawn. With that in mind, we decided to focus on the uplifting rhythm of jazz...
There is a direct correlation between the sharp pimento berries and some of the more upbeat sounds of jazz, the soft back representing the simpler, soothing side of the music. Either way, the uplifting effect of the music seems to carry you away, the same way the music of the spices, aldehyde and musk playing with the pimento berries, brings your spirit away.
Baie Rose 26 was developed by perfumer Frank Voekl; the notes include pimento berries, ambrox, clove, pepper, rose, musk, cedar and aldehyde.
Le Labo Baie Rose 26 will be available in 100 ml Eau de Parfum (I am checking to see if there is a 50 ml as well). It will be exclusive to the Le Labo counter at Barneys in Chicago. (via lelabo)
Update: Baie Rose 26 is named for the pink pepper note, although the fragrance also contains pimento berries (allspice).
Wahoo! If this isn’t a benefit of living in the the Garden City, I don’t know what is. Although I think thanks to “Boardwalk Empire”, Atlantic City could easily compete for the title of most glamorous Prohibition-Era burg.
On another note, does anyone know if the “pimento berry” being referred to in the list of notes is the same as the ever-popular pink pepper note? In my mind they’re the same fruit, with one just being a particular shade.
I have asked and not yet gotten an answer. Pimento berry usually means allspice, but baie rose translates to pink pepper.
“For many people, Chicago still evokes the Prohibition-era…”
Yeah, for our 80+ year old perfumista friends! 😀
LOL! What gave it away? The aldehyde?
Hey, someone’s finally addressing the 80+ demographic! This is good news! 😉
Miss Kitty –
I have something on it’s way you may be interested in…. a certain impossible to find and probably never to be made again. 🙂 Email me at promiseevans at gmail dot com.
🙂
Haha! Yes, out-of-towners mostly think of Al Capone, etc., there are dozens of companies that exist ONLY to do bus tours for that sort of thing. Us Chicagoans are not terribly jazz-y (that’s New York!), but we’re modern and have a style that’s distinct from the other big cities. This scent soundls lovely and I will definitely try it (and probably buy it), but it would have been nice to have them try to create something that’s true to the current spirit of the city.
Rose 31 is a HUGE fave. I can’t wait to try this one. Is it a unisex fragrance?
I think all of the city-exclusives are unisex? But don’t know for sure.
So far have managed not to try any Le Labos at all except Fleur d’Oranger 27, which I didn’t enjoy at all. (Not surprising, since I really don’t care much for orange blossom.) LL has always struck me as being smart and urban, but irritatingly smug and way overpriced, even for what are generally well-regarded fragrances. As a member of the perfume proletariat, I protest the pricing by not testing their stuff HA HA, LE LABO YOU THINK YOU’RE TOO COOL FOR SCHOOL I’LL SHOW YOU
Ahem. Let me shove my inner child back into her padded cell. There. Sorry. (Shut up, you! And no more chocolate!)
Aaaaanyways, this is the first LL, besides Aldehydes 44, that has tempted me in the least. However, I can just take another look at their pricing and lay the lemmings to rest…
(I said no more chocolate!)
You did not try one of their better scents!
Can’t disagree on all the rest, but so many brands are like that — don’t see them as any worse than the others. And I’d have nothing left to smell if I held grudges against them all, LOL…
They’re probably no worse than anybody else. I think I probably hate ELd’O’s market positioning just as much.
But they certainly make me appreciate Andy Tauer’s “Here, I made a nice smell… want to try it?” attitude all the more.
Oh, and just for research purposes, what are their better scents? Everyone seems to love Rose 31, and AldeHos like Aldehydes 44… what else is good?
By Kilian is the one that annoys me. Juliette Has A Gun got added to the list with “Not A Perfume”. But whatever, I’ll try anything.
I think Rose 31 is LL’s best, followed by the Patchouli and the Gaiac & the Vanille & the Tubereuse. Lots of people loved their Iris but I hated it. I also like the Bergamote. Of their initial launches, I just thought the women’s scents (Fleur d’Oranger, Jasmine, Neroli) were pretty average, the men’s (Rose, Patchouli, Vetiver, Bergamote) were much better.
With you on the BKs. JHaG annoyed me too, which is disconcerting because my Citizen Queen decant is getting low, and I had toyed with the idea of buying a bottle. My conscience is prickling, though. (Guess I could buy another decant and still sleep at night.)
Thanks for the LL list.
Interesting. LL is way up at the top of my annoyed-by list, mostly because they combine that “we’re just scientists” stuff–white coat, plain brown box with customized label, “just mixed” fragrances (come ON!)–with a colder-than-thou concrete boutique, and then on top of that they deliberately misname their frags (things rarely smell like the title ingredient). If people are going to be ridiculous and misleading, I prefer for them to do it in a joyous, over the top way. 😉
HAHAHAHAHAHA. Well, there you go, I love Fleur d’Oranger & Iris best (oh, and Poivre 23), but Rose 31 and the Patch really don’t do much for me. I like the Labdanum also, and Ambrette would be nice if it lasted more than 15 minutes.
Lady Vengeance has been on my “to buy” list for a while, but since the “Not a Perfume” incident, it’s been relocated to the dusty bottom shelf. That stunt felt perversely disrespectful, as if RR were saying, “Hey suckers, buy my dreck because it’s niche, and hip, and I have no respect for the art of the perfumer, take that!”
Ok, maybe he doesn’t really think that, but it made me mad anyway.
I actually like the Neroli quite a lot and the Jasmin more than a little. I do see what y’all are saying with the prices, marketing, etc. I try not to sample the pricey stuff (Amouage, I’m lookin’ at you) too much just in case…
I did that too, for a long time… and then got a sample of Dia in a swap. Didn’t like it. Sampled Lyric. Was hooked. (15ml decant, ooh, ‘spensive, worth every penny.) Sampled Ubar. Was further hooked. (5ml decant, ‘spensive, still worth it.) Sampled the Jubilations… meh. Sampled Epic… meh. You never know what’ll float your boat. 🙂
I think the Amouages bother me less because the company’s attitude is, “Here, we made some beautiful smells. True, they’re expensive, but they smell beautiful! Try them and see!” instead of Le Labo’s “We’re so hip we name our fragrances misleadingly and limit the places we sell them!”
Why the irritation with By Killian? Inquiring minds….
Explained here:
https://nstperfume.com/2008/10/06/by-kilian-prelude-to-love-slightly-cranky-perfume-review/
My personal beef is the uber-expensive packaging. You can get “refill” bottles cheaper, but even then… wow. I do have a small very plain 7ml travel bottle of Beyond Love, which I bought slightly-used for about $20, and which I really enjoy, but which I would NOT have enjoyed at a higher price level. Even discounted, the thing was still $3/ml.
Oh, man. I just fell in love with Le Labo Oud 27, now I have to hike my rear end all the way downtown for this too? YES! Yes, I do. 🙂
close 400 bucks? really, what a farce,.
For me, it was Oud who made me fall in love…