Frederic Malle and Le Labo are two of the largest, most well-known niche houses in the game. When they release a new fragrance, I’m always interested in testing them out. Over the last couple of weeks, I sampled their two new releases, Rose and Cuir and Baie 19, and I was underwhelmed by them both. My first impressions are below.
Frederic Malle – Rose & Cuir – Last year’s pineapple / lavender concoction, Music for a While was not one of my favourite Frederic Malle releases, so I was excited to hear that Jean-Claude Ellena had been brought back into the fold for 2019’s Rose & Cuir. Hopefully this would be a return to form for the house, after all Ellena had authored some of my favourite Malle creations, Angeliques Sous La Pluie and Bigarade Concentree, however, my first impressions of Rose & Cuir are not so positive.
My main gripe with the scent are the rose and leather are so muted they are almost imperceptible. Instead the main note is a minty, green toothpaste-like geranium and a fruity blackcurrant that renders the fragrance into a pale, watery mix that might well have ended up in the Hermes Un Jardin Series. In fact, it reminds me very much of a cross between Un Jardin sur le Toit (a scent I like) and Geranium Pour Monsieur (a scent I struggle with). A rose and leather scent from Frederic Malle might well have benefited with a heavier hand than Ellena, a master perfumer know for the lighter touch and water-colour scents.
Rose and Cuir is astringent, mentholated, and most certainly not one of the stronger Malle scents. As a scent, I think it will find its fans but rose and leather aficionados will probably not be among them. Rose and Cuir lasted 6-8 hours on my skin with moderate projection for the first 2 hours.
Le Labo Baie 19 – I quite enjoyed, Le Labo’s 2018 musky, cedar, citrusy Tonka 25, the first Le Labo I have enjoyed for some time. So, I went in with high hopes for the brand’s 2019 release, Baie 19 which was designed to capture the many scents experienced during and after heavy rain after a prolonged dry spell. Though, what I get from the scent is a cloying, somewhat metallic, green, ozonic, juniper berry, patchouli combination with an almost sweaty musk note. It reminds me of Ice Men from Mugler, so if you like that fragrance, you’ll probably enjoy the Le Labo. It has a heavy initial feel on skin, but it didn’t last long, disappearing within 4 hours. Petrichor Plains from Australian house Mihan Aromatics does this “crisp, wet, after rainfall” type scent rather better.
If I had to pick a favourite out of the two it would be Rose and Cuir, I find it more wearable and perhaps more versatile. But neither of these two scents will be going on to my highlights list for 2019.
Have you tried these two scents? What did you make of them?