I’m in Chicago for a meeting and then a class tomorrow (for another rabbit hole 😜) While walking around the city this morning I ran into a Le Labo store. I’ve not heard a whole lot about them and checked the brotherhood here (previous posts) and decided to take a look inside. After paying attention to @Lon Chaneyfield and his deep Love of Niche and while I have been exploring some Borderline niche fragrances myself I thought this would be a great opportunity. The fragrances on display come in a couple of different varieties. 1- their everyday collection 2- their “City Scents” They have some unique profiles and some seemed like they will develop very nicely but they seemed “young” kind of like wine or a pot of my wife’s Italian tomato sauce. It’s always better after a day or so 😎. It’s always good fresh but something about how the flavors meld together over time is what really makes it work. I feel it’s the same with fragrance. Since I’m in Chicago without adult supervision I took the plunge on a few. 😬 Now the fun part! They didn’t go behind the counter and grab bottles in the box and hand them to me. Carlos went behind the glass and actually mixed each scent for me! It was wonderful to watch how he weighed and measured everything in a beaker then put of a vibrating plate to mix then bottled it. Then they made custom labels for my bottles with my wife’s and my name on it as well as who mixed it. They can be refilled online for some or in person for all. Since I’m from NY where they started refilling will happen there. I’m really curious what everyone else thinks about this Niche brand. I have coming the Oud 27, Poirve 23, Myrrhe 55 & Tubereuse 40 plus some samples for my best girl at home!! I’d love to know your thoughts but the experience was wonderful

Hey guys, Joe A. here with today's Scent of the Day : Amouage Jubilation XXV Man - Day 365.Parfumo lists it opening with blackberry and frankincense, moving through honey, clove, cinnamon, and gaiac wood, then settling into myrrh, oud, cedar, moss, musk, ambergris, opoponax, patchouli, and immortelle.I get a rich, smoky, sweet, spicy-woody scent that feels warm, regal, and perfect for celebrating 365 days of spinning that wheel.First Sniff: Like walking into a room and realizing that the party was just for you.https://www.youtube.com/shorts/-M45Oqj9l7U

Today's SOTD is Dunhill Icon, although this sample isn't really auditioning for anything. I've already managed to track down a full bottle, so I'm simply finishing the travel spray and clearing one more space in the sample box. Now discontinued, Icon opens fresh and aromatic, with bergamot and neroli providing plenty of brightness before the pepper, cardamom, vetiver, and woods begin to emerge. The drydown is pleasant and easy to wear, although there's occasionally a slightly synthetic quality that keeps me from loving it quite as much as some of my other fresh fragrances. Still, this is a very nice scent: clean, masculine, versatile, and just distinctive enough to remain interesting. Would it have become a must-buy if it were still widely available? Maybe not. But knowing it's discontinued made me happy to grab a bottle while I still could. Current status: Sample nearly finished. Full bottle already secured. No regrets.

I tried a sample once of Angels Share OTR and found it a bit too sweet for my taste. But I kind of liked the combination of spices, woods, orange and aldehydes. So tonight, I tried to replicate it with some stuff I have lying around… on each arm, I put: - Three sprays Zara Sand Desert At Sunset Intense, for the angels share DNA - Two sprays Rayhaan Cedrus Blanc, for the aldehydes - Two sprays Rayhaan Adonis Icarus, for some more orange (it occurs to me I should’ve tried two sprays of YSL L’Homme EDP for its bitter orange and cognac) I can’t say that the result was a perfect dupe of the OTR, but yeah, it kind of reminded me of it and regardless, it smelled fantastic and maybe a bit less sweet (or at least, a kind of sweet that I prefer) than the OTR. It was definitely addictive, I was sniffing my arms all night like a monkey, which is usually a good sign for me I’ve been testing out Cedrus Blanc, it’s definitely interesting (and slightly weird, but not in a bad way) and I think it can stand on its own, but I think it’s even better as a layering scent to add some bright, soapy lift to other fragrances

Today's SOTD is a first-time sampling of Dior Homme (2020), and this one surprised me. Reading the notes beforehand—woods, musk, vetiver, patchouli—I expected something considerably darker and heavier. Instead, this is wonderfully smooth and restrained. The woods are certainly there, but they're clean and airy rather than dense, with enough citrus freshness up top to keep everything bright. And perhaps what I like most: it doesn't smash you in the face. There's a quiet sophistication here. It smells masculine and mature without feeling old-fashioned, and has enough presence to be interesting without demanding everyone's attention. This also strikes me as a legitimate four-season fragrance. I could see wearing it casually during warmer weather or dressing it up on a cool evening without it ever feeling particularly out of place. I've still got several wears left in the sample, so I'm not ready to put it on the full-bottle list just yet. But this was a very good first impression. Current status: Keep testing—and definitely interested.