You Have 27 Days Left to Shop Le Labo’s New City Exclusive Scent, Before It Goes Back to Kyoto Forever
An ode to one of Japan's most alluring and oldest municipalities
Le Labo has been part of my olfactory life since it began, aged 15. Their iconic Santal 33 (fondly known as the scent of the Big Apple) was the first fragrance I bought with my own pocket money, after saving up all summer; and in the years since, I have been lucky enough to amass quite the collection. It's a brand that stands out in an oversaturated market thanks to their enduring ethos of simplicity; Le Labo doesn't shout—the closest they get to an "event" is their City Exclusive Collection, which has just seen another city, and scent, join its ranks.
The latest release is Kyoto's Osmanthus 19, which launched in the city nearly a year ago, and saw shoppers queue for hours under the sun to get their hands on a bottle. The overarching collection launched in 2006 to give each Le Labo city a signature scent, and since then, there have been 18 City Exclusives, sojourning from Leo Tolstoy's Moscow to the vibrant streets of Miami. They are pretty hard to get your hands on; they're usually only available in the labs of the cities they belong to—nowhere else, including online. That is, except for September. Currently, you can shop Osmanthus 19 and the other City Exclusives in their full-size form until the 30th, when they all return to their respective homes.
It's worth it: Osmanthus 19 is one of the best fragrances I have smelt all year. Inspired by the delicate, short-lived bloom of Kyoto's Osmanthus flower, it features enveloping notes of incense and aromatic lavender, before the flower takes the fore; with a burst of creaminess. This gives way to autumnal-feeling, woodier tonalities.
"The composition is pure Kyoto, a nuanced scent for a town where traditional machiya houses sometimes harmonise with concrete and neon, where video game arcades can be found a stone’s throw from the gardens of emperors long past," says the brand in a release, noting that Japan has been a "profound source of inspiration" since their inception.
You can shop Osmanthus 19 and Le Labo's other City Exclusives, here, until the 30th September.
