LE LABO Labdanum 18 Eau de Parfum

When i first smelled Labdadum 18 i thought it smelled very unisex and kind of interesting but it wasnt until i put it on that the magic happened.

At first it was surprisingly soft and warm and kind of melted into my skin to where i could almost feel it changing on me/ with me. I could not stop noticing the smell puffing up from under my shirt and so on...

Later in the day it smelled much deeper and amber-y and the feeling of intimacy grew. I kept thinking about the way this smelled and described to a friend as a deep warm hug. Its a strangely emotional comfort i find in this scent. It almost makes me cry there is something sweet and innocent and yet naked and smoldering. emotional. quiet yet not without voice

Im glad that i did not look at reviews before i tried this because i might
not have tried it on.

It's giving sepia-toned, 1940's Hollywood golden age GLAMOUR. I'm talking Lauren Bacall, Humphrey Bogart, starched shirts, kid gloves, hair pomade, and menthol cigarettes.

There's also something there which is a bit Chinese Apothecary - mystical herbs and spices in jars with labels you can't read. Medicinal, warm-spicy.

Lacquered woods. Warm, furry musks that never go skanky. Vanilla that cycles through boozy, airy, and powdery facets but is never gourmand.

MASSIVE LOVE!!! Nice soft, powdery MUSK/tonka/vanilla fragrance. Labdanum 18 has some similarity to Musc Ravageur and Shalimar (Roucel said Shalimar was a bit of a muse for this one). Beautifully blended and doesn't evolve a whole lot, it is fairly linear. But in a very good way. Very musky and sexy yet also soft and clean. Like grown up baby powder. If you love the dry down of Musc Ravageur but don't care much for the massive opening, this is a great happy medium. Maurice Roucel created both Labdanum 18 and also MR and his signature on both is clearly apparent. While both are unique, they share some similarities.

This is a fragrance that will draw a lot of compliments. It doesn't announce itself but can not be missed when someone is close. I hugged 3 people today and all three commented very enthusiastically about how good I smell.

Labdanum 18 is one of my favorites musky powdery fragrances of all time. I can not imagine ever tiring of it.

Update: Having this for a while and loving woody fragrances: The Gurjam balsam, is a fantastic fresh, spicy, and woody note here.

I have both Musc Ravageur and Labdanum 18. So I will make some comparisons.

The opening of MR is more aggressive, dark and masculine. Lab 18 has a smoother opening. In the mid they become most similar.
Lab 18 is less gourmand than MR. Lab 18 is a spicy, peppery "like", Labdanum; with the nice anamalics. The musc is about the same in both, more understated, especially in the opening of Lab 18.

Lab 18 is modern. I appreciate that it's unusual for a Labdanum fragrance. The Labdanum is in a spicy fragrance accord, so it doesn't really smell like any Labdanums, of the many I have tried.

I enjoy the smooth castoreum. It makes it exciting, adding a piquant note. It's in some of my favorite Winter orientals, Tom Ford "London", and TF "Tobacco Oud Intense".

This is overall very smooth and conforting. It's not heavy, so it can work for any season, except very hot Summer days. The soft baby powder smell balances the peppery spiciness.
The best fragrances balance contrast really well. Lab 18 does it beautifully.

The projection is softly moderate, some call it a skin scent. The opening 30 minutes it's louder, then when it began to fade, I thought it was going to disappear and just have poor longevity; But no, the longevity is pretty good, it just gets soft for a long time.

It has nice gourmand aspects, with the cinnamon, tonka and vanilla, giving it a bit of a gingerbread cake smell.
The spices, musc and Labdanum keep things in a nice enjoyable balance.

I have 4 Le Labo now, Santal 33 still being my favorite, and this would be my #2.
This has the least synthetics/ aldehydes of any Le Labo; Mostly good natural notes and original modern blending here.

The reviews for Le Labo CISTE 18/ LABDANUM 18 are really all over the map, and not without reason: this is an unexpectedly complex perfume. The opening salvo of baby powderish-diaper scent is bound to turn a lot of people off. But shortly thereafter a significant animalic facet emerges, apparently due to both castoreum and civet. Now there's a dirty duo!!!! The labdanum and vanilla together produce a very straightforward amber scent--that is, after all, one of the more common recipes for amber.

My best guess is that people are variably sensitive to these three quite different facets of CISTE 18. That's why some are complaining that this just smells like a talcum powder facsimile; others maintain that this is a skanky musk scent à la Frédéric Malle MUSC RAVAGEUR; some actually deny the presence of labdanum; and some characterize this as an everyday amber perfume.

It is all of these--and more--in undulating waves! I like this unexpectedly (given the name) complex creation. I love labdanum, so we were already off to a good start. The animalic facet is not overwhelming to me, and I do not believe that this smells like MUSC RAVAGEUR at all--which is a good thing, in my book!