Le Labo is a relatively new niche perfumery in New York City. Last week I posted some background on Le Labo along with a list of their fragrances, and today I am wearing one of the offerings for men, Rose 31, by perfumer Daphne Bugey. The fragrance notes are Grasse rose, cumin, pepper, clove, nutmeg, olibanum, cedar, amber, gaïac wood, oudh wood, cistus, vetiver and animalic notes.

Rose 31 is one of my early favorites of the Le Labo line. The list of notes include cumin, so I was fully prepared to hate it (and for that matter, I was prepared to remove it quickly if necessary); instead, I was charmed. It starts with light citrus and strong, dusty spices, and for anyone who is as cumin-phobic as I am, I will say that the cumin is quite noticeable, but the effect is buffered by the other spices — I guessed coriander and maybe cardamom, but as you can see from the notes above I was quite off…

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