Until recently, I never really felt the need to invest in new fragrances — once I found a perfume I liked, I would religiously stick to it until I moved on to the next. However, over the past year I’ve found myself gravitating towards certain fragrances depending on my mood, or even when I was going to a specific place.
Founded in New York City, Le Labo is a fragrance specialist that freshly hand-blends their scents when selected by a consumer. Each fragrance is created with a purpose, with every part of the process meticulously handled and prepared — with this comes one of their most unique collections, City Exclusive fragrances. Made specifically to represent iconic locations like Tokyo, Los Angeles, Dubai and more, these fragrances are only sold in the boutiques within the cities they’re made for, and no where else. However, once a year, every Le Labo boutique is allowed to sell these exclusive scents, and this special period is right around the corner. Their selection of 14 scents will be available at the Le Labo store in Singapore, from 1 September.
CITRON 28 – Seoul
The newest edition to the City Exclusive line is CITRON 28, dedicated to Seoul, South Korea. Expect fresh notes of lemon, ginger and jasmine, over deeper cedar and musk notes. Simple, pure and original, the citrusy scent represents the tradition and history behind the city, but instills the developing modernity with more bohemian aspects of the fragrance.
POIVRE 23 – London
Another scent we have our eye on is POIVRE 23, a spicy fragrance made for London. Literally translating into Pepper 23, this is Le Labo’s way of putting the spice in the limelight — the warm scent represents the wide variety of cultures in the city, and is composed of Bourbon Pepper, a smokey version of the spice that will leave just enough of a trace when spritzed on the skin.
TUBEREUSE 40 – New York
Of course, we can’t leave out TUBEREUSE 40, a scent created just for Le Labo’s founding home, New York City. Although the fragrance is filled with the floral scent of its namesake, tuberose, you can also expect strong notes of bergamot, tangerine and orange flower that you’ll find with an initial whiff of the fragrance. The scent continues to develop throughout the day, as the floral notes evaporate to make way for fragrance favourites cedar and sandalwood, along with a final, intense introduction of oak moss, ambrette and musks.
BIGARADE 18 – Hong Kong
Unfortunately, Le Labo has yet to create a signature scent for Singapore, but hitting closest to home is BIGARADE 18, a Hong Kong-dedicated fragrance. Described by the brand as a “schizophrenic perfume”, its base consists of traditional scents of bergamote and neroli, along with notes of musk and synthetic ambergris that will no doubt bring the smell of the ocean to mind. Mixed with a woody drop or two and you have the final result, a long-lasting fragrance filled with just enough familiar smells to trigger old memories, but with an underlying tinge of mysteriously dark scents.
For the entire month of September, City Exclusive Eau de Parfums will be available in all Le Labo boutiques. All 14 scents will be available in freshly-mixed 15ml, 50ml or 100ml bottles ($185, $450, $675). From 1 August, 1.5ml sample sizes ($17) and a Discovery Set ($85) with 5 sample sizes will be available as well.
Le Labo Flagship Store:
391 Orchard Road, Ngee Ann City, #B1-31, Singapore 238872
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