Osmanthus 19 Kyoto

This kind of reminds me of walking into a shop who sells insence and trinkets, but at the same time it does not hit you in the face and does not overwhelm the senses. It is way more clean, soft and elegant, and the first frankincense scent I would actually be comfortable wearing. It start of a bit incensy, but soon settles into something warm and comforting. I do like woody scents with warmth. While they are not very similar I find this gives me some of the same vibe as Eau Duelle, or By the fireplace, or Le Labo 10, wich I all adore. It is not as short lasting as it sometimes seems. With this I mean that to my nose it comes and goes, and that the ending is very soft. Sometimes the drydown seem warm, nearly sweet, and sometimes ever so slightly sour. It sits close to the skin, something I personally prefer. Peoples noses percieve differently, and I have often felt nauseated if I am stuck beside someone reeking of a perfume I cannot handle. I really like it and battle with my self if I should buy it, it is faaar to expensive. Considering it needs more sprays than the other scents mentioned, I think I will not invest in a full bottle. At least not this year,

My friend in Kyoto ever so kindly sent me a small decant of Osmanthus 19. I hardly get any lavender, it's mostly ultra soft peach/apricot-y osmanthus and resinous incense with a slight woody-aquatic undertone (like juniper) to me. Very, very airy in a pretty way. At first I thought this was the weakest perfume I've ever tried - it just disappeared in a minute! But somehow it comes back to life, out of the blue, and gives me whiffs as if it just remembered what it was supposed to do. It continues to die and resurrect for about 6-8 hours. I usually hate osmanthus (or peach or apricot - I guess I don't like lactone?) in perfumery but I love this. Maybe because it's not so osmanthus anyway. It's unique enough but I'm just not sure whether it worth the City Exclusive price tag. It screams Frank Velkl so much so that I'd be gobsmacked if he wasn't the nose behind this.

Difficult to right a full review even though I have a full size bottle because I think it's more of a vibe than anything. I get the Benjoin 19 comparison especially with the opening but they're ultimately different. Not different enough though but I prefer Osmanthus 19. Ultimately this is a great fragrance... if they didn't have Benjoin 19 in the collection people might like it more. Due to the exclusivity we all know this is their next city exclusive best seller anyway.

In Korea, Le Labo is sometimes jokingly called "Gura-bo" (in English maybe "Le Lie-bo") “Gura-bo” is a nickname that calls out how Le Labo’s perfume names often feel like false advertising — This fragrance is no exception. They say Osmanthus, but good luck finding it.

I guess I came to Kyoto just when it launched, what a coincidence. I rented a bike to travel around the city, it started to rain, so I accidentally hid next door under a marquee. I peeked at the entrance and there was no line to the Kyoto Le Labo cafe, so I parked my bike and went in. Right at the doors I heard the words „osmanthus Kyoto sold out”, so my luck kind of ended here, but I still got a chance to test the fragrance. It’s mostly amber, in a sweet, slightly herbal resinous style, reminiscent of the amber of the l’artisan parfumeur, but sharper. There is a tiny tiny hint of a peachy osmanthus, but in a true Le Labo style, it’s not in the forefront at all (just like their Matcha is actually a fig fronting fragrance). I am certain that super humid weather and 26• degrees C stopped me from fully appreciating the complexity of the fragrance, in this weather it presented itself as an uncomplicated amber scent. I have a feeling it will translate well into a colder climate. EDT: I honestly cannot believe the trolling, like, what is this?!