There was a time when I thought I'd never ever enjoy smelling cloves again. The reason for this is a trip to Malaysia me and some fellow exchange students did 20 years ago. Somehwere I'd read about Kretek, Malaysian cigarettes made of tobacco mixed with cloves. At the time, they sounded amazing! And, with the power of initiative only found in teenagers about to something that's bad for them, we did manage to get some. I can't say they were that spectacular. Yes, they did induce a spinning feeling in my head and the cloves made my mouth go numb. From a "smoking-weird-stuff"-point of view they were very lame but what they DID do was making me sick every time I smelled cloves for a very long time afterwards.Fortunately, this has now passed. Le Labo Baie Rose 26 opens with rose, pepper, allspice and lots of cloves. It's a spicy rose fragrance, not soft spicy in the way orietals are spicy, full of vanilla and cinnamon, this is sharp and spiky spicy. The peppers and cloves are contrasting against the rose like a new punky haircut and a fresh facial peircing look on an otherwise sweet and innocent looking 15 years old.
As the scent wears the pepper dissappears, the spices soften, but they never leave completely. After about one hour, there is a metallic phase when I can almost feel the taste of iron in my mouth. This might not sound very pleasurable, but I don't mind. The rose part of Baie Rose 26 is deep red and prominent.
During the long dry down the rose softens and melds into the wooden notes. The scents mellows and matures just like I imagine the girl in the picture, first hanging out with her edgy emo friends at school but then going home, removing the eye liner, slipping into somthing comfortable and at the end of the day she's in bed, reading Nietzsche.
Official notes: aldehydes, clove, pink pepper, rose, pepper, musk, virginia cedar, amber
And, yes, I couldn't resist this image that came up when googling for kretek:
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| This guy has very little to do with the smell of Baie Rose 26 |
What a great review! A very vivid image of 20-years-ago you. Thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteThis is one of Le Labo perfumes that I do not like. I don't have strong feelings against it but it doesn't interest me enough to go beyond trying it at the store.
You're lucky then, as it's a city exclusive :)
DeleteI'm debating with myself weather I should get a decant and I must say I'm very tempted!
Echoing what Undina said, this was a terrific review, Sigrun -- your analogy to the girl in the photo made me understand exactly what to expect from this perfume when I get around to trying it.
ReplyDeleteUntil this year, I didn't want much to do with clove-heavy perfumes, but now that is changing. I really love the clove note in Vamp a NY ... actually, Olivia Giacobetti's scents (Idole by Lubin is another) got me started craving spicy perfumes in general and I've been going deeper and deeper into that territory. Perhaps too it was just a matter of getting bored with my former scent choices and being ready to branch out, but at any rate, I'm loving spice lately and will definitely check out Baie Rose 26.
Yes, I can definately recommend Baie Rose 26! I like it a lot and it keeps me focused while I'm wearing it (which seem to be true for all the Labos, for some reason). If you like cloves Serge Noir is another great choice. No flowers in there, but lots of wood, spices and a hint of smoke. It might be more on the wintery side, though.
DeleteI LOVE the smell of clove, as for me it has associations with baking instead of cigarettes or dentistry - which I hear is a French thing. Clove figures prominently in my Black Cashmere, so it'd be interesting to try in this Le Labo.
ReplyDeleteYes, Baie Rose 26 is highly recommended, especially if you like rose scents (as the rose is the dominant note, after all). Serge Noir (as I mentioned in Suzannes reply) is also great. And there is even a Kretek scent (though I haven't tried it) from Ava Luxe for the really brave :)
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