Labdanum 18

Update: Having this for a while and loving woody fragrances: The Gurjam balsam, is a fantastic fresh, spicy, and woody note here. I have both Musc Ravageur and Labdanum 18. So I will make some comparisons. The opening of MR is more aggressive, dark and masculine. Lab 18 has a smoother opening. In the mid they become most similar. Lab 18 is less gourmand than MR. Lab 18 is a spicy, peppery "like", Labdanum; with the nice anamalics. The musc is about the same in both, more understated, especially in the opening of Lab 18. Lab 18 is modern. I appreciate that it's unusual for a Labdanum fragrance. The Labdanum is in a spicy fragrance accord, so it doesn't really smell like any Labdanums, of the many I have tried. I enjoy the smooth castoreum. It makes it exciting, adding a piquant note. It's in some of my favorite Winter orientals, Tom Ford "London", and TF "Tobacco Oud Intense". This is overall very smooth and conforting. It's not heavy, so it can work for any season, except very hot Summer days. The soft baby powder smell balances the peppery spiciness. The best fragrances balance contrast really well. Lab 18 does it beautifully. The projection is softly moderate, some call it a skin scent. The opening 30 minutes it's louder, then when it began to fade, I thought it was going to disappear and just have poor longevity; But no, the longevity is pretty good, it just gets soft for a long time. It has nice gourmand aspects, with the cinnamon, tonka and vanilla, giving it a bit of a gingerbread cake smell. The spices, musc and Labdanum keep things in a nice enjoyable balance. I have 4 Le Labo now, Santal 33 still being my favorite, and this would be my #2. This has the least synthetics/ aldehydes of any Le Labo; Mostly good natural notes and original modern blending here. Rating 9/10 God bless. John 3:16

I purchased a bunch of factory samples from Le Labo and the fragrance that I thought I would like the least I wound up liking the most. I've never smelled Musc Ravageur, so I couldn't compare it to that. But on first spray, and throughout the dry down, this strongly reminded me of 3 perfumes I already have. On first spray this smelled just like Moschino Moschino to me, with its sweet, resinous, spicy opening. It then morphs into a lighter Le Lion, with the same labdanum I love but with a much softer profile, more feminine, and a barely there leather note. The heavy amber aspect also reminds me of Shalimar to a degree too. Even though birch is listed in the notes, it doesn't smell like the typical birch tar leather note that is in a fragrance like Le Lion. What it smells like is castoreum, as I've smelled that same type of leather note in a vintage bottle of Floris's Edwardian Bouquet. Castoreum has an animalic oiliness to me, almost like oiled leather or the oiliness of the coat of a wild animal, and this has that same note to my nose. On final dry down it reminds me of softer Fendi Asja, with its ambery, balsamic, lightly sweet powdery vanilla musk. Pretty good silage and longevity too. I might just purchase one of the smaller bottles in the future.

I first tried this one 4-5 years ago and loved, but I'd sort of forgotten about it until recently trying it again at Le Labo, and I fell in love with it all over again. I recently purchased a bottle of this one from a trusted seller on Mercari. I chose it over Musc Ravageur, and although I like that one too, the newer formula doesn't feel dirty enough. I also tested Le Lion but my skin amplifies the smoke into the stratosphere with that one. This is an old fashioned elegant perfume in the same vein as Shalimar but less woody, and despite the old world powdered feeling, reads more like a masculine dandy perfume with my skin chemistry. There's a big dose of benzoin that smells creamy and delicious along with a bit of cinnamon and banana that combined with the musk and animalic notes, make this one a show stopper. It starts dirty and progressively gets ckeaner as time goes on. I have to be very careful in warmer temps as it becomes extremely animalic, moreso than Musc Ravageur. Old world charm, and a joy to wear. ------------------------------------------------------------- Scent 98/100 Performance 80/100

One of the best oriental fragrances I've ever tried. I was tempted to buy this, but I want to compare this with musc ravageur first before deciding on which one to get. After all, musc ravageur is by the same perfumer and he made it before he made labdanum 18; also the former is much more successful and well-known. So about why this is one of my favourite orientals. Firstly, you can never go wrong with labdanum, vanilla, amber, and tonka bean. It's just one of those combinations that you cannot dislike unless you hate vanilla and amber (unlucky you, you're missing out). Secondly, I love how the labdanum is blended with the civet and castoreum; the animal facets aren't overbearing, but are noticeably there. Thirdly (and lastly), this oriental masterpiece reminds me of my grandparents' apartment (they live in China so of course their apartment smells oriental) and triggers my nostalgia like crazy. My only complaint for this fragrance is that the opening smells like Chinese food, but not in a gourmand way, in a strangely strange way.

I left a review for this when I first got a bunch of Le Labo samples. I wound up buying one of the 15ml. bottles. I don't need more than that now because once on, you have to wash it off to remove it. So, performance is spectacular. Every time I wear this, I get something else out of it, and I love it more and more. On me it opens with a lot of birch and leathery castoreum which sticks around for quite some time. Slowly it evolves into a spicy, vanilla, ambery, labdanum elixir that I really love. I'm surprised that I like the vanilla here, because I am so done with that note, and even though the vanilla is strong it's lightly spicy from the cinnamon, so I am having an easier time with it than I do with most dominate vanilla perfumes. The longer this wears on, the more it reminds me of Shalimar extrait with a dusting of cinnamon and also Fragonard's Grain de Soleil. It shares many of same notes of both. It's really a great fragrance that smells wonderful on these cold winter days.