This week, I attended the launch of Le Labo‘s new fragrance, Santal 33 at Barneys NY. Le Labo Co-creator, Frabrice Penot spoke about the history of the brand and the process of creating their unique fragrances. So what’s so intriguing about Le Labo you ask? Well for one Le Labo does not stock any fragrances in their boutiques because each perfume is made to order. What does that mean? Well it means that the essential oil concentrate remains separate from the alcohol right up until the moment of purchase. Now that’s fresh!

Unlike wine, fragrance does not age well. The essential oils are volatile and when exposed to heat and light they can change the scent of a perfume. This is the main reason why Le Labo perfumes are not formulated until the moment of purchase to keep the fragrance fresh. Le Labo also adds a chic personal touch to their perfuming process by adding the date of expiration AND the purchasers name on the bottle.

The very charming Simone Doonan, Barney’s Creative Ambassador-at-Large, stopped by the event because he is such a fan of the brand. Le Labo also has other celebrity clients like Karl Lagerfeld who is a fan of Neroli 36 and Ryan Reynold’s who loves Patchouli 24. At the end of the night, each blogger choose a fragrance to be prepared specifically for them, I opted for  Santal 33!

Have you ever samples any Le Labo fragrances? If so, what are your thoughts?