I’ve always had conflicting feelings about Le Labo. I really like some of their scents and their aesthetic was truly refreshing when the brand launched. Their gimmicky ways can be irritating, though. I understand that insisting on ‘fresh’ mixing of the perfumes and the confusing naming practices are a marketing strategy (and a pretty successful one, I guess), but I find it annoying. The whole song and dance about their city exclusives is the most ridiculous part of it all in my view.

In case you are not aware, Le Labo has a number of perfumes that are sold only in one specific city after which they are named. They are also considerably more expensive (330 euros for 50ml and 475 for 100ml) than their already rather expensive regular line-up. Once a year, in September, you can buy all these scents online from Le Labo website*. But you would either have to buy blind or find a way to test the fragrances beforehand, which is not easy to do.

So, while visiting the original Le Labo store in Brooklyn I had the brilliant idea to buy samples of all the 17 exclusives and providing you with mini reviews, in case you are considering a purchase**. Unfortunately, my main conclusion is that I would really try to avoid buying any of these blind, unless you know you love most Le Labo fragrances and/or money is no object. But having spent more than 200 euros on samples, I am going to share my views with you anyway, even if the turn out to be profoundly unhelpful.

San Francisco/Limette 37. Let’s begin with the city where I started my US trip. I really enjoy this one – it’s a fresh and fizzy citrus, which isn’t always my thing, but this just smells lovely to my nose. Officially, the main note is lime, although I wouldn’t be able to tell you whether it’s lime, lemon or one of their relatives. It’s not a pure citrus, though, there is enough complexity from light florals, musk, vetiver and other supporting notes. I get strong Eau Sauvage vibes from this, especially in the beginning. Which is on one hand a compliment but on the other, raises a reasonable question to which I will return repeatedly when talking about city exclusives: why not simply get a bottle of Eau Sauvage for five times less money? It is of course possible that you would like this one more than the Dior and overall, I think this one is difficult to dislike. It’s also perfectly unisex.

New York/Tuberose 40. Moving on to the city where our trip ended, this was a disappointment. I love tuberose and I love NYC, but to me, this doesn’t smell like either of them. Personally, I find it harsh and jarring – one online reviewer mentioned ‘detergent’ and another ‘chemical abstractionism’ and I can totally see where they are coming from. It’s a divisive one, though, some people do love it. Keeping that in mind, I would strongly advise not buying this one without trying first. If you are drawn to this because of the tuberose, I think you will be disappointed – if there is one thing most people seem to agree on, it’s that the scent not particularly tuberose-forward. Even if I try setting my personal preferences aside and assess it more objectively, this just doesn’t come together for me.

Chicago/Baie Rose 26. In typical Le Labo fashion, the ‘rose’ in the name refers to pink pepper, while the scent is in fact clearly a rose perfume. The good news is that this is a very modern, transparent, slightly woody rose. So if you are allergic to more old-fashioned, rich rosiness, you may well really love this. The bad news is it’s incredibly boring. It smells like watery rose and nothing else happens for hours. In the realm of linear roses, Stella McCartney did something much more interesting in 2014 with her – sadly discontinued – Stella for much less money. As a rule, I am not a rose lover, but there are so many roses on the market that I guarantee you can find something better.

Shanghai/Myrrhe 55. This is much more to my taste – a dark, sticky white floral. But more importantly, considering that taste is such an individual thing, I think this is one of the city exclusives that is if not unique, than at least pretty interesting. If you are going to pay hundreds of euros for a perfume, it’s not unreasonable to expect not only good quality, but something that you cannot find at every brand. I am sure that there are better comparisons, but from my own collection, this reminds me most of Sarrasins by Lutens, a dusky jasmine (when I wear them side by side, it becomes clear that Sarrasins is much more floral and Myrrhe more woody-resiny-sweet, but a resemblance is still there). It will most certainly not be for everyone, big white florals rarely are. But if you are an admirer of the genre, this one is worth sniffing.

Los Angeles/Musc 25. My first thoughts on this were extremely negative – I smelled an overwhelming amount of soapy musk with some soapy aldehydes. I was already composing a scathing review in my head, but after giving it some time, I understand why some people like it. Musc 25 develops into an intimate skin scent that just smells like your skin on a good day. I still don’t find it exciting by any means, but if you like clean white musk, this could be your thing. I only get a little bit of dirtiness from it, just enough to make the scent skin-like, but reading online reviews I see that the perception of the skankiness level varies significantly. This isn’t surprising, as people have different sensitivity to different musks and personally, I cannot smell some of the more potent ones. So unfortunately again, the only way to know what you would get from it, is to smell it yourself – I suspect it smells much more complex to some people than it does to me.

Moscow/Benjoin 19. I really didn’t want to like this one, because yes, I’m one of those people who cannot see any mention of Russia without being triggered. But it is one of my favourite city exclusives – woody and warm, with a strong contribution from benzoin (a resin) and amber. The latter doesn’t always work for me, but here it’s done in a way I can get behind; I didn’t even notice the amber at first, as it all comes together in a perfectly blended, comforting, deep glow. The one distinct smell I get is pine, but without the sharpness that this note can sometimes have. It would be an obvious choice for autumn-winter, although far be it from me to imply that perfumes can only be worn in specific seasons. I guess it would traditionally be classified as a more masculine sent, but who cares. Someone compared it to Ormonde Jayne’s Tolu, which I don’t have at hand, but it’s another amber that I really enjoy.

Tokyo/Gaiac 10. This is another nice woody scent, although I expect it to be more polarising than Benjoin 19. Where you fall may come down to whether you get a meaty note from this or not. But let’s start from the beginning: Gaiac 10 opens with a strong smokiness that reminded me a bit of Bois D’Ascense by Naomi Goodsir – a great but rather assertive perfume. I do get a little hint of barbecue in the beginning, but not enough to put me off. Some people seem to get full-on bacon, others no meat at all, so as always, your mileage may vary. After a while, on me it calms down to a nice woody incense that stays close to the skin. As far as olfactory interpretations of Japan go, I think I prefer Gallivant’s Tokyo – it does have a woody heart, but also captures the modern side of the city with yuzu, wasabi and other less obvious notes. For more traditional Japan, Comme des Garcon’s Kyoto is hard to beat.

Mexico City/Coriandre 39. I am going to end part 1 on a somewhat meh note – I really wanted to like the newest city exclusive, as I’m a fan of coriander and it seems an interesting note to explore in perfume (Le Labo is not the first, it seems to be a bit of a trend, as DS & Durga also have a coriander scent and there are a number of other niche perfumes with a prominent cilantro note). And it’s not bad, I enjoy the opening blast of aldehydes, coriander and general greenness. But as it develops, there is simply something about this that rubs me the wrong way. Some people get a very unpleasant soapiness from coriander in real life, which I don’t, but when wearing this fragrance I sort of understand what they mean. For a similar idea, although less green, I prefer Le Labo’s Matcha 26, which is much more wearable for me. That said, I can imagine that if this smell hits you right, it can become addictive, just the way coriander can in real life.

Have you tried any of the city exclusives? Any views? There will be seven more mini-reviews to come in the near future.

*It’s even more ridiculous that once you have bought a bottle, you can refill it in all Le Labo stores, which means they could sell it to you in many more places – they just don’t.

**I was planning to publish this in September, when you could theoretically have bought the perfumes online, but turns out that testing almost 20 fragrances that are new to you is a much longer process than I anticipated.