LE LABO Tonka 25 Eau de Parfum

Woody, sweet, resinous...plus benzoin, vanilla, and musk on a bed of soft, sexy smoke. Has just a gentle, magical hit of something animalic (or could be oud) that alights gently upon the bed of smoke. So it's like wearing a cloud of bright, sheer innocence on top of a hot bed of sultriness. Le Labo Tonka 25 is beautiful but you're going to have to spray it heavily.

As usual for Le Labo, the fragrance is an absolute opposite to its name. It is citrusy, floral, with a big amount of crispy ambroxan.

It starts off with orange blossoms and other zesty citruses. The citruses merge into a combo of eucalyptus and modern tuberose (both are not listed). Tonka appear in the dry down making the fragrance rough (but not sweet!). The citruses zestness plays is alive during the whole life of the scents.

On my skin Tonka 25 smells as a mix of womens D&G Light Blue and Creed Royal Mayfair. Or as a very citrusy version of Perris Monte Carlo Cacao Azteque.

In the Le Labo line will play in the same niche as Bergamote 22 and will focus on the same lovers of fresh things.

Mesmerizing fragrance. Deep woody, musky notes that linger into the next day and wrap you with warmth. I can’t even begin to describe how beautiful this fragrance is. One of Le Labo’s absolute best.

Le Labo Tonka 25 is probably the first Le Labo release I can remember (since fragrances became a hobby) being quite excited for, certainly of the main collection, if not the City Exclusives as well. Tonka is a fun note and is central in some fragrances that I love--particularly, deeply rich and sweet gourmand fragrances--so naturally, I was curious to see what Le Labo did with it.

Tonka 25 does not seem like it'd be an opulent gourmand, though, from the note breakdown list, and the actual scent confirms this prediction. In addition to the eponymous note of tonka, sweet and subtly nutty, there are strong contributions from cedar and musk, rendering the blend, fittingly, woody and musky. The musk is definitely of the "sweet white musk" variety, not animalic, and the cedar makes a fitting partner for a smooth, easy dry down, an easy partnership of sorts.

In the dry down, it's darker, as well, the musk fading with the tonka actually becoming heavier and more enveloping, rendering the fragrance even more comforting as a whole.

As with most higher-end brands, Le Labo's increasing pricing makes, with each year, for more challenging decisions of the value and merits of its fragrances. The saving grace is that the main collection (contra the city exclusives) is sometimes discounted by store-wide coupons (at, for example, Saks Fifth Avenue), so there's some relief. The retail pricing of Tonka 25 is $270 for 100ml, $184 for 50ml. Le Labo at least retains the unique quality, among higher-end brands, of incentivizing the purchase of smaller bottles by offering to refill them at lower costs than the juice + bottle original price (exactly how much lower, I'm not sure) in lieu of buying wholly new bottles as replacements. Still, all of Le Labo's offerings now fall roughly into the category of needing to love them in order to buy them.

Tonka 25 is an easy one for me to love, despite it not pushing boundaries in terms of scent profile (it's agreeable, unisex, versatile) or performance (it's good, more than just satisfactory, but not outstanding), but this is a clear winner from the house as its scent goes, as far as I'm concerned, and I'll give serious thought to acquiring a bottle.

Oh my dear Lord… this juice smells amazing!!

It’s musky, it’s citrusy, it’s powdery, it’s woody, and it’s altogether fantastic!!

The Musk accord is front and center on this fragrance, slightly animalic and really delicious… enveloped in an intoxicating blend of citrusy Orange Blossom and a very restrained Vanilla… important to mention that I hate the vanilla+citrus combination, really hate it, both in perfumes and desserts, who knew it could be done in such a masterful way that even I would love it… but I digress, so let’s continue with the fragrance… it also has a slight sandal-woodiness coming from the Atlas Cedar… a balsamic quality from the Styrax… and finally, it does have a very faint Tonka, perhaps not enough of the stuff to lend its name to the perfume, but who cares what they call it, it smells amazing!!

Performance is quite good… longevity is 10+ hours, with projection being moderate for the first five, afterwards it becomes intimate but truly present for the rest of the ride.

Completely unisex and wearable all year round… maybe more of a daytime scent but still mysterious and complex enough to transition into nighttime.

This fragrance is a must-have for any fan of musk perfumery… definitely my favorite from the brand, and probably one of my favorite perfumes ever!!!