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?

Do You Own Any Of Le Labo City Exclusives Perfumes?

Recently, while preparing the SQ about Serge Lutens perfumes, I was looking through their current offerings and discovered that now they offer something called confit de parfum. The investigation revealed that it stands for “oil perfume” (which wasn’t obvious from description on the brand’s site).

Saturday Question #231:

Do You Own Oil-based Perfumes?

Do you have any in your collection? When do you wear them? Do you like them in principle?

My Answer

Over years, I tried several oil perfumes when a sample came my way, and some of those that I tried weren’t bad. Even though I think that perfumes in high concentrations (extraits) are better when applied dabbed, for some reason oil-based perfumes aren’t “my thing.” But I do have several.

First, I bought a mini bottle of Milk by Ava Luxe. It reminds me my favorite Sweet Milk by Jo Malone, and I enjoy wearing it in colder months.

Two years ago I bought a sample set of Amouage attars. I brought it with me to the vacation in Sedona, and since then revisited them several times, but I haven’t warmed up to any of the six attars enough to want more.

How about you?

Do You Own Oil-based Perfumes?

One would think that working a “short week” after a three-day weekend makes it easier. But somehow, days after holidays and vacations tend to be so busy with additional tasks that would have been completed in that extra day, that by the end of the “easy” week I wholeheartedly welcome a weekend. This after-Labor-Day week was one of those.

Saturday Question #230:

Do You Differentiate Weekday and Weekend Perfumes?

Do you reserve certain perfumes for weekends, or does your mood dictate what you wear regardless of the day?

My Answer

In pre-pandemic times, when I worked mostly from the office, I used to classify some of my perfumes as office-friendly and wore them for that purpose. Additionally, I had “special occasion” perfumes that I wore predominantly for said occasions. The rest of my collection consisted of perfumes that I thought weren’t suitable for work but at the same time weren’t “special” enough. Those I wore “after hours,” on weekends and while traveling.

These days, working from home, I still lean toward “SFW” scents during the day (if I remember to put anything on at all) – probably out of habit, which was further reinforced by my concerns that strong perfumes could bother Rusty when he wasn’t feeling well or wanted to spend time on my lap. So, on weekends, especially if we leave the house, I try to “air,” so to speak, all my bolder favorites. Tomorrow, I’ll probably go with Encens Mythique d’Orient.

How about you?

Do You Differentiate Weekday and Weekend Perfumes?

We all try to be considerate when applying perfumes before going to a theater or boarding a plane (well, at least we try). Sometimes, we find ourselves in the company of a scentophobe or in a fragrance-free work environment. Today’s question is not about those situations.

Saturday Question #228:

Do You Think of Others When Choosing Which Perfume to Wear?

If there are no limitations, you do not expect any objections, and you can choose any perfume from your collection, do you think of people you’ll be meeting in terms of whether they would like what you plan to wear? Or do you go with what you feel like wearing regardless of the potential “audience”?

My Answer

For many-many years, the main driver of my choices was how I felt about the perfume, how it fit the event, my outfit and my mood. I would consider the specific preferences of particular people (as in “what not to wear”), but other than that, I was at the center of all considerations.

In recent years, I started catching myself trying to figure out which of the perfumes I could wear might please people I was going to spend time with. I consider many of my perfumes great. But I would be trying to choose the one that I thought others might consider pleasant, beautiful or at least nice. It’s not that I want people to like me (they already do – we’re friends), but rather I want them to like my perfume. At least partially, I think, it’s because I know that they know about my hobby, so, in some sense, I don’t want to disappoint them or miss an opportunity to impress them with some rare beauty.

How about you?

Do You Think of Others When Choosing Which Perfume to Wear?

This question was suggested by Portia in response to my comment on the Arancia Di Capri by Acqua di Parma: Blu Mediterraneo Series post.

Saturday Question #226:

What Do You Mispronounce In Perfumeland?

Are there any perfume names, brands, perfumers or notes that you know now that you used to mispronounce?

My Answer

As I told Portia, for years I was reading the brand’s name as Acqua di Pharma. Not only I read it like that, I also recorded it in my database. And partially because of that I felt somewhat dismissive towards their perfumes. I didn’t avoid them completely and tried several, but I weren’t too motivated to seek them out.

Since then, I’ve corrected both my perception and database entry, but that initial feeling is still somewhere deep in my mind.

How about you?

What Do You Mispronounce In Perfumeland?