In the early years of my descent into the proverbial rabbit hole, Le Labo‘s City Exclusives collection was available in September. I didn’t follow it closely, so I’m not sure when it changed, but this year I noticed that the collection opened for online orders on August 1st. I wonder if it’s the beginning of the end of that exclusivity idea. Anyway, earlier today I came across their “Last Call” ad: just 3 more days (until September 30th) left to buy one of these “special” perfumes.
Saturday Question #233:
Do You Own Any Of Le Labo City Exclusives Perfumes?
If yes, which ones? Do you keep trying new cities when they are added? In general, what do you think about this approach to rationing access to perfumes?
My Answer
I do not own a single full bottle of Le Labo perfumes, either from their Exclusives collection or their Classic line. With the Classic collection, it’s the brand’s “fault”: even though I like Rose 31 and Iris 39 a lot, I always thought their bottles weren’t attractive at all. Because of that, I wasn’t tempted to buy a bottle and instead voted for a much more economical (and not significantly less visually pleasing) decants from a FB splits group.
With the Exclusives collection, everything is even worse: not only are the bottles still the same ugly (for my taste, you might disagree), but the prices seem over the top. Le Labo’s regular perfumes aren’t the most affordable ($3.35/ml if you buy a 100 ml bottle), but the City Exclusives collection went even further charging $5.35/ml. And one has to jump through the hoops to buy these perfumes! I just don’t believe that raw materials for perfumes in that line cost more than for the regular line. And did I mention that I despise their apothecary-style bottles?
Still, I liked two of their perfumes enough to pay for decants. No, it wasn’t $5+ per ml. The first one, Poivre 23, I bought years ago for my vSO. Back then it was much cheaper. I think, there is still a couple of ml left in that decant. The second one, Vanille 44, almost made it to my full bottle collection, but in the wrist-to-wrist competition, Vanille by Mona di Orio won that spot in the end. Since then, after I finished the first decant generously shared with me by a perfumista friend, I bought the next one from Royalty Scents. I still don’t know how they could pull off the price I paid (they claim all their perfumes are authentic).
I said it before: I find stupid the idea of offering these days “hard-to-get” expensive perfumes in minimalistic packaging: times of niche scarcity are gone, and brands need to come up with something more dazzling and enticing to persuade consumers to splurge on that particular perfume out of thousands being released every year. For one, this consumer is not super interested even to drive 30 minutes to the boutique to try a new “exclusive” perfume for free.
How about you?
Undina's Looking Glass 
No, I do not.
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That was probably the shortest comment you’ve done in a while (if not ever) :)
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I know🤣🤣🤣 Unusual for me, the queen of verbosity….
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Nope. And I don’t plan on changing that stance. The snobbery of their whole aesthetic rankles. And anyway, the couple that I tested were underwhelming.
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It would be interesting to know the rate of like/dislike/indifferent customers when it comes to their aesthetic.
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I don’t own any Le Labo except a tiny Rose 31 body lotion from a Boston hotel from maybe 2016? The price always put me off a little and not having a place to try in person…
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These days I rarely feel compelled to try new perfumes from brands that I do not consider “my.” I mean, buy samples. For free I’m ready to test almost anything :)
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Heya Undina,
Funny. I love that bottle. It’s my favourite shape for perfume. Miller et Bertaux, Le Labo, original Grandiflora, early Slumberhouse and a couple of other brands I can’t think of all used it. Functional, fits in my hand and built sturdy to not fall over. Yeah, I’m a fan.
Le Labo. No, I don’t own a full bottle but I do have a couple of their 10mls. The whole making “FRESH” gives me the irits. So I have to wait a year for it to smell like the tester? GRRRRR!
Portia xx
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WOW! I’ve never thought about “freshness” from this side. I mean, now when you mentioned, I’m with you! It seems odd to pay that price and then wait for your perfume to macerate before starting wearing it!
I like the shape of the bottle (I wish my Grandiflora was the old bottle!). I don’t like that it’s plain (transparent), and I don’t like the label.
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Yeah, bloody Grandiflora changing their bottles. GRRRR!
Ah! I get that. Clear. The label is pretty bleach too.
Portia xx
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No City Exclusives for me – I can’t justify paying more for similar quality “just because.” Fortunately I haven’t loved any of them enough to even be tempted (although Tabac and maybe Cuir were quite nice). I used to make a point of smelling the new one every year, but haven’t managed to yet this year, and who knows if I will in the next 2 days?
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I wonder if you did smell the latest ones this weekend :) I had vague plans to do it – and then other plans interfered. Maybe next year.
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Nope, didn’t manage to go after all!
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No, I don’t. They were available at Liberty in London when we were there, and I looked at them but wasn’t that interested.
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When I am visiting stores like Liberty, Harrod’s or Selfriges, I also “triage” brands I’ll sniff from nozzles, try on paper and, rarely, on my skin.
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It’s so easy to run out of skin “real estate”! And one doesn’t want to have the scents mingling.
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I don’t own a single one of Le Labo’s city exclusives. None of them really spoke to me.
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Nope, though I do have an aging bottle of Labdanum 18. I also love Poivre 23, and wish I had a sample again.
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