Took the chance to get samples of some of the city exclusive Le Labo perfumes.

For the first two hours I thought they’d put the wrong stuff in my vial, smelt like lime to me (partner got Poivre which smelt nothing like how we remembered from smelling on paper in London which was odd too—). After that I got the pink pepper and patchouli clearly, and started to enjoy it. With hindsight I think that first phase was the oakmoss and pepper and patchouli all mixed up.

At first spray smells a bit old man-y, sweet vanilla leather . . .

Then I notice cardamom, patchouli . . . The cardamom is nice. It has that dryness on my tongue real cardamom does.

I’ve smelt this patchouli, cardamom, vanilla combo before and not sure how much I like wearing it, but I kinda like smelling it. I think it’s too stuffy for me. It has this airy, powderiness that I think is kinda interesting, but also smells a bit thin and plasticy, which is what I’m not into.

As the cardamom gets more dominant I like this more. Only took 5 minutes—patience me, patience…

Maybe nice outside in Autumn.

Opens sweet, acidic floral. Chemically lemon. Nothing concrete about it. Icy. Shoulda called it lemonade icypole.
Giving off public toilet flouro yellow hand soap now…yuck.

It’s sharp and cold. If that’s their interpretation of concrete that’s a pretty fucking unsophisticated one imo.

Had to wash it off, then my wrists smelt like urinal cakes for a while.

Comments I’m reading now make me feel like there’s the wrong perfume in my vial.

Tried two perfumes at Mecca today. Normally I just kinda forget what I tried in shops so don’t feel like logging them, but these’re both still on my wrists.

Actually, it’s pretty nice smelling them both together at once—

I like this a bunch, but not the kind of like where I would pay what this brand charges. Powdery, heady, musk stick scent. A bit of cinnamon?, very pink. I think the name’s a bit misleading, it’s a cosy, friendly perfume. Really nice to get close to a take a big smell. Makes my lungs feel nice.

Just two sprays on one wrist and it is quite strong. Partner says it smells like old lady perfume.

There’s a little bit of something sharp in there, not bitter like Powdered Veil, but more interesting than the Lorenzo Villoresi musk one.

Addendum: Apparently there’s no musk in this. That seems credible, as when I woke up there was no lingering muskiness, more just a marshmellowy smell.

I guess I’m going to compare this one to Lorenzo Villoresi too, because it reminds me a lot of his vetiver one, a very dry, sharp vetiver, with a little bit of background spiciness and some slight smokiness from the cedar. I don’t like it as much though. There was some kind of smooth, sweet component that faded after a half hour or so.

A lot like suncream for the first minute. When that goes it’s a generic moisturiser smell for ten minutes, then settles down to a smokey, powdery wood. Up close there’s a bit of cinnamon if you can get past the moisturiser. Quite nice, but not exciting.

Didn’t last long, but maybe because the sprayer on my sample is terrible.

Aldehydey then quickly floral, kinda buzzing between, sharp, I like it so far. Flower-scented bug spray. Goes well with a sharp breeze. I was worried it would go more floral but it’s got an almost chocolatey note. Oh, I think that’s the civet turning up. Thick, smokey, lavender-like floralness,

Wearing it outside in the cold I like it more, inside it’s more floral. It’s a kinda wearing a shirt and no jacket even though it’s cold smell, like maybe the perfume would warm you just enough.

Makes me think of a Gualtieri perfume but with more depth, less obnoxious sweetness.

I don’t think other people would like smelling this on me :)

The name is funny to me because ‘mai’ in Italian means ‘never’, but this is like a cat screaming it or something.

Hard to get a read on this because the sample comes in a silly vial with no sprayer.

I saw ‘green’ and thought it would be vetivery (all my vetiver samples are out on loan and I was craving it). It’s more like one of those Lynx-smelling perfumes, I can’t tell if I like it more than others or if it’s just because I can barely smell it. I tipped it twice on one wrist and once on the other and it was gone almost straight away.

I was also interesting in smelling green pepper, but turns out when perfume places say green pepper they mean green capsicum.

Notice I didn’t make this post green . . .

Looking at some reviews as I write this and I dunno if I have something else because all I get is jasmine plus some other flower.

I’ve been trying to think if there’s any situation where I’d want to wear floral perfumes like this, but I can’t think of one. I think I’m thinking that way because these seems like a nice floral, but they’re just not something I want to smell a lot.

Smokey—I think both patchouli and lavender—spicy, dry, and an artificial fruity or maybe floral sweetness. I kinda like smelling it, but think it’s a gross smell to wear. Reminds me of some Tom Ford a perfume shop person sprayed on me at an airport. Doesn’t seem to change over time. Actually, it reminds me of mosquito repellent.

Actually, at the end of the day, after I’d washed it off a little, it was really nice and sweet. Reminded me a little of the Powdered Veil one I like, a rosey musk with something a bit bitter in the background.

Perfumey, floral, neroli, patchouli opening; the kind of thing I don’t like, but I start wondering will I become a floral perfume wearing person, is this one I could wear?

After a couple of minutes some lolly citrus comes in, a bit artificial though. Still smokey and powdery, still almost sticks in my throat. I think the citrus does a lot to balance the smokiness, but it’s still that citrus I don’t like. People say grapefruit, I think I get why they say that, but it’s fake grapefruit with sugar on it.

Has the kind of harsh citrus I don’t like. That’s mostly what i get. Maybe vetiver contributes to that harshness?

Later in the day and the next day I really liked the smell of this on my clothes/cuff. Really lasted well, even from only a few sprays (but from a proper bottle).

Nice sweetness. Don’t know if I get tobacco, but there’s a warm woody earthiness so maybe it’s that.

Maybe slightly regret not visiting SMN when I was in Florence, as this was on my list of things to try, but it was super touristy and I already wasn’t enjoying Italian perfume shop vibes. Maybe too nice for me, but I’d like a sample. I think I remember not liking the vanilla so much later.

My fave of the 4? Not as vetivery as i was expecting (but my experience is pretty limited, I probably don’t really know what vetiver is, or different kinds anyway). Feels like balanced vetiver. Really nice kind of sweetness.

Nice caramel for a while, but real caramel, not like the Werthers one I tried the other day. Other smells I can’t identify, but I like.