Samphire

A bright and fresh aromatic citrus. Samphire moves from a fizzy lemon sherbet to a clean, steamy spa. 🍋🌿 The scent is clean and refreshing, lighting me up whenever I smell it, with a nostalgic aura that feels timeless and high-quality. While I'm not familiar with the old-school barbershop scent angle, I have a few family members who worked in the beauty industry when I was a child. I vividly remember oils and products that smell almost identical to this, which always made me feel calm and safe. It's an easy unisex option for mild to warm, spring and summer days, and breakfast appropriate, so you can chuck it on early in the morning. The performance is also quite good for the profile, lasting well throughout the day, with a decent projection that stays bright and fresh for a good few hours before I would want to reapply. I think this is the most underrated in the Laboratory Perfumes line for sure, showcasing how a classic profile can still be done very well with high-quality ingredients, at a great price, from a niche brand. While I only tested this out, I could see myself owning a full bottle for sure. 9/10 ❤️

This is very nice. I made the assumption with the name Samphire that I would smell the sea. I love munching fresh samphire when I can find it along the coastline. Its salty like the sea. Ive got to admit this makes me think of mens aftershave. I can see the fellas loving this. Im surprised it is not classified as an old fashioned fougere. It is though very aromatic. Lots of aromatic herbs with a bit of bite from the vetiver. The opening of citrus fades very quickly. Im sure the ladies would love to wear this on a hot day but I still cant quite shake the image of a barber shop cologne out of my minds eye. Above moderate longevity and low silage.

Signature scent and quite literally perfection in a bottle. For me at least. It's a nod to the great gentlemen scents of the 70s/80s like Dior's Eau Sauvage or Armani's Pour Homme. Very sophisticated, barbershop-ish, a gentle mix of herbs and citrus with a woody, mossy base. Is it unique? Maybe not, but it's blended in such a perfectly nuanced way that it's almost addictive. In my small and focused collection I reach for it often and I can safely call it my 'signature'. Longevity well over 10 hours, projection such that it creates a nice bubble but won't fill a room. 9.5/10

Citrus and aromatic herbs and spices - always a winning combination. Slightly mystified by the name (not containing any samphire, or sea salt accord for that matter) but it does bring to mind a brisk walk by the sea.

Pops off in the air like an effervescent blast of sherbet lemon candy and with little evolution or complexity it pretty much stays that way until the fade. A touch of juniper hints at gin and tonic and would have helped the fragrance have a bit more heft has its presence been ramped up a tad more. Don’t get me wrong I like it just fine (I first purchased it in 2015). It’s clean and fresh and inoffensive for as long as it lasts. An afterthought : It reminds me a little of the the original Monsieur Balmain (1990), a juicy little lemon fantasy by Calice Becker.

Great summer scent, prefer for the hottest day. Smells like walking through an orange lemon farm while raining. Unisex, leans a bit towards feminine, IMO. 90% citrus, 3% floral and 7% vetiver. If you are looking for masculine citrus, terre d'hermes is a better option. Get the same citrus feel, bit more masculine. Test before you commit to a bottle. - May be a BUY for me (not a must have)

Fresh yet rich. Citrus and herbs blend nicely with some spice. Makes me think of cut grass.

Got this as part of their discovery set. It's mostly a fairly unremarkable, citrussy cologne, but as some weird undertone that reminds me of stale breath. Suffice to say, I don't like it.

Smells mostly like Gorse without the gourmand aspect. Nice as an ice lolly but not a fragrance in my opinion

Sherbert lemons at first spray, fizzy and sublime. I approached this as I have a thing about salty fresh frags (not so much the calone versions), and naivety expected to find actual seaweed. I did not. I did find that as the frag dried down, it became slighty salty and herby, so much so that I wanted to run the flat of my tongue down my arm and taste the fragrance. Sometimes this happens, sometimes, I need to inhale so deeply, that I taste the scent. This is one of those times. There is a delightful barbershop lavender and citrus eau de cologne feel about this too, you can, in your mind's eye, envisage steam, hot white towels and those amazing bristle brushes and those Wilkinson Sword soap sticks wrapped in foil. An amazing clean, invigorating, comforting scent, and although I have no point of reference re: decent father, I would probably associate with clean dad face and a lemonade sparkle lolly on a summer's day. A contender for stepping some way into the gap left by the loss of Penhaligon's Racquets Formula, though not a copy by any means. For me, FB worthy, no question.

Some on other sites (e.g. Bassnotes) have compared this to some cross bread of Creed Silver Mountain (SMW) Water & Original Vetiver (OV). Having had samples of SMW and smelled OV in Harvey Nicholls, I don't get either in this. The opening is Sherbet Lemons - this lasts around 15mins on me with the dry down being very clean & fresh. This lasts a good 6-8 hours. Projection is moderate - you won't offend anyone with this. Nothing spectacular and would perform well as a Spring/Summer (warmer climes) fragrance.

I've been having fun working my way through a Laboratory Perfumes sample set I picked up last summer. This is very refreshing, like a gin and soda or a Campari spritz on a hot summer day. Very herbaceous, lovely, and would work well on any gender. If you love Jo Malone's classic Lime Basil & Mandarin then this is your vibe. If you need further visual references think of a perfectly tanned, natural beauty (any gender) wearing a white linen button down.

Notes acc. to Laboratory Perfumes: TOP: Juniper Berry, Black Pepper, Bergamot, Cedrat, Lemon, Lime HEART: Lavender, Grapefruit, Mandarin, Lemongrass, Basil, Ginger, Rosemary BASE: White Amber, Cistus, Iriswood, Oakmoss, Jasmine, Tonka Bean

Smells to me like Eau Sauvage Aftershave from the 80's. Worth it just to remind me of that.

Worth it when the price was 70. Now 90