Where’s Wally? – Le Labo City Exclusives – Osmanthus 19 & Coriandre 39

Osmanthus 19

Stop the presses! Stop the presses! Le Labo returns with another City Exclusive, and now that it’s September, everyone with access to a Le Labo store can sample it. However, good luck finding the hero ingredient in this latest offering. I couldn’t help but chuckle as I sprayed the Kyoto-inspired Osmanthus 19 in-store during the week. While there may be a minute amount of the telltale velvety stone fruit aspects of osmanthus at times, I primarily sense patchouli married to a resinous incense accord. The patchouli in particular lends it a damp, earthy quality. Interestingly, the perfume does possess some spa-like attributes that create the illusion of a peaceful garden in Kyoto.

Osmanthus 19 isn’t particularly sweet and reminds me of a softer version of their Moscow City Exclusive Benjoin 19. The blend of resins and woods, combined with patchouli, gives the fragrance a cold, dark, aloof quality. Among the other notes in the fragrance, the one that sticks out the most is, perhaps predictably, frankincense. This note amplifies the resins and woods, and most likely suppresses any chance for the osmanthus to assert itself. Overall, it’s not worth the price, nor is it worth rushing out to try, especially if you’re familiar with the benzoin exclusive.

Coriandre 39

Coriander, the most divisive of herbs, serves as the theme for Le Labo’s Mexico City Exclusive from 2024. Many of my friends and family dislike coriander in their food due to its soapy taste. I don’t mind it, but only in small doses. In the opening stages of Coriandre 39, its distinctive characteristics are quite prominent. It’s soapy, metallic, earthy, and herbal. A sparkling aldehydic citrus accord (lime) joins it, creating a green and invigorating collusion.  

For about an hour, I find Coriandre 39 more intriguing than Osmanthus 19. Its grassy, herbal, botanical quirks evoke the vegetal savouriness of Eau de Gentiane Blanche by Hermès, or even the spicy green strangeness of Voyage. The soapy, clean citrus aspects harken back to CK One. Eventually, the musky, citric facets take over, blunting the more interesting coriander, vegetal facets. These duller floral and musk base notes arrive too early, making the scent feel too familiar. Coriandre 39 completely loses any of its sparkle and intrigue once you realise you would have to part with one of your kidneys to afford a bottle. 

Summary

Neither fragrance is worth the crazy asking price. There are many more interesting scents in Le Labo’s regular line. I find compositions such as Rose 31, Ylang 49, Thé Noir 29, etc, to be much more nuanced. In case you weren’t aware, Le Labo names their fragrance after the ingredient that makes up the highest percentage of their formula. The number that follows the name indicates the total number of ingredients in the perfume. I’m often left scratching my head when I sample Le Labo.

At this point, I shouldn’t be surprised; this is the way Le Labo rolls. Frustratingly, it’s often like looking for a needle in a haystack searching for the titular note. It’s akin to buying a Where’s Waldo? or Where’s Wally? picture puzzle book, only to discover they’ve forgotten to draw him in. I was looking forward to the osmanthus, but I was swindled. Alas, I couldn’t find Wally anywhere in Kyoto. Coriandre 39, unlike Mexico City, doesn’t rise to any great heights. I bought two samples at a ridiculous price; therefore, it’s evident that I only need to look in the mirror to see the real Wally.

Last year, I wrote about various other City Exclusives; if you’d like to read about them, you can find those here. Their myrrh fragrance even inspired a poem. First Impressions – Le Labo City Exclusives, Ode to Le Labo

Note: Samples purchased by me. Images are my own.