Le Labo has announced that due to the closing of the Dallas Barneys, they will be discontinuing the city exclusive fragrance for that store, Aldehyde 44. While stocks last, the scent will be available in all Le Labo stores, including their online shop (although it does not seem to be available there as yet).
(via press release)
That was a nice fragrance, especially for us AldeHos. However, I think it’s considerably overpriced for what it is, and I’ve always thought the city exclusive idea a really stupid one in terms of marketing. I know they’re going for the “oooh, exclusive and expensive, I must have it” market, but Dallas might not have been the best choice for that.
I never liked the city exclusive idea either, & guessing this was not a huge seller or they’d move it into the regular line?
They now have many counters for which they never did a city exclusive — maybe they gave it up. On the other hand, long time since they did anything new at all.
That City Exclusive thing just irritated the living daylights out of me, especially with their snarky site copy. I’m also irritated because I fell madly in love with Ald44 upon first sniff – and my subsequent purchase went all sweaty on me. And every one I sniffed after that, too. Since they’re all hand-blended, I’m suspecting I got some genius, PerfectforMusette Version on the first tester sniff and every one after that was………..not.
sigh
xoxoA
Oh, what a terrible shame! That’s an expensive mistake
Wow, I always figured “hand-blended” was pretty prescriptive, like the way every batch of KoolAid is hand-blended.
Maybe you should tell ’em, hold the cumin. Or whatevr.
As I understand it, all they really “hand blend” in the stores is the pre-blended fragrance components + the alcohol. The most you could presumably do wrong is to add too much or too little alcohol.
I have generally f ind that when a brand does a location “exclusive” it is usually something quite not as good as their general line; if it is really good,they find a way to market broadly.
The exception are all those Neiman Marcus exclusives- the same stuff is available at niche boutiques.
Dallas certainly has a very high-end clientele. It somewhat surprises me that Barney’s isn’t making it there – I wonder if it’s just too much of a Neiman’s town???
I wonder if they’re going to do a Milan exclusive.
Don’t know. They haven’t done anything new since 2010 — that’s a long time in perfume years.
Good one, Robin! I don’t even want to think about how old I am in perfume years….
How does this one compare to TF Musk Pure (IK, IK, one’s purported a musk and one’s an aldehydic but are there commonalities?)?
Timely post! I was wondering what would become of Aldehyde 44. I love it, and it will be sad that I can’t replace it when my bottle runs out in about a hundred years. (Accounting both for my underapplication and the number of fragrances I rotate through)
If anyone has an interest in trying things at the Dallas Barney’s at this point, please call them first! I wasted lots of time on a road trip, detouring through Dallas, but the shop has already shipped off most of their inventory. They still have *some* testers, but not much on site to sell if you were looking to purchase. I tried something on skin that I can’t get locally, but it was not the Barney’s sniff fest I’d imagined. Sorry to see the store close on March 2. Be well.
Argh. I keep meaning to go to Dallas to do a perfume/family visit, and haven’t gotten around to it (I live in Austin, and although neither myself or my husband are native Texans, he has an aunt in Dallas). As an aldehyde lover, this was one the things I wanted to try, and now it seems I waited too long.
Luckyscent still have it
I am devastated. Could care less about Aldehyde 44 as I don’t like it, but I loved the Dallas Barney’s. A good number of years back, it was my gateway into niche fragrances, literally the first place I ever had the opportunity to sniff the good stuff
It will be missed.