Fabrice Penot, one half of the duo behind cult perfume label Le Labo, was the center of attention at Barneys New York earlier this week to launch their latest scent, Santal 33. Each bottle is hand-mixed when it's purchased, and Penot walked us through Le Labo's unique on-the-spot creation process. Even Barneys's creative director at large, Simon Doonan, was excited to see what Fabrice and the shop's on-hand perfume mixer, Marcus, concocted before our eyes.
If you're a fragrance lover in Gotham, you'll want to be at the Anthropologie in Rockefeller Center every evening from March 31 to April 1. The store is hosting a series of fragrance workshops run by some of the industry's finest noses. On the 30th, Le Labo will be talking about "The Art of Perfume" from 6-7pm, followed by "Botanical Essences" with Strange Invisible Perfumes from 7-8pm. To find out what else is on offer, and how to sign up, just keep reading.
By the Creators of Le Labo, the brand's new collaboration with Anthropologie, is the very best kind of atavism. The solid Concrete Parfums ($28) are concealed inside pretty old-fashioned brass weights, and the Spray Parfums ($62) come in faux 18th century poison phials. All the scents in the collection have an antique aspect as well, and they smell old-money luxurious even though they're less costly than other fancy Le Labo brews. I tried all five fragrances, so to see how each rated, just keep reading.
I've long loved Le Labo's elegant formulations, and its Jasmin 17 is one of my all-time favorite perfumes. So it's understandable that I'm swooning over its new Anthropologie collaboration fragrances, By The Creators of Le Labo ($62). The five new scents are at a much lower price point than the average Le Labo creation, making them accessible if this is your first time trying the line.
Plus, they're gorgeously packaged. Each comes in a burnet-glazed apothecary vial made to look like an 18th century poison bottle, and they have charmingly old-fashioned labels. Le Labo founder Fabrice Penot says the collection is "shaped for the kind of woman we'd fall in love with — a woman you don't necessarily notice right away, but you're desperately looking for once she's gone." I'm going to have a sniff and update you next week.
