£75.00
The perfume's aim is clear: to transform the famous Grasse Rose, a symbol of voluptuousness and unqualified femininity, into an assertively virile fragrance that can be worn by men and women. The result - an alternating feminine/masculine with the disturbing ambiguity of the Centifolia rose, quickly picked up by a chorus of warm, spicy and woody notes such as cumin, olbanum, cedar and a touch of amber. In the background, the declared sensuality of Gaïac wood and cistus highlighted by a distinctly physical animal note, give this perfume a disconcerting sense of mystery.
Le Labo hand-blends every fragrance to order in its boutiques, stamps the date and the customer's name on the label and sends them home with something genuinely personal. Santal 33 has become one of the most culturally omnipresent fragrances of the past decade; the broader collection, from Rose 31 to Bergamote 22, rewards those who explore it.