Le Labo Lands in LA

By Tom Le Labo has opened a branch of itself on Los Angeles' trendy West 3rd Street at Orlando Avenue. I stopped in and sampled some of the line that I had previously but had been on the fence about including Labdanum 18 and Vetiver 46 (which answered the questions of my previous review- yes, they do lock in the great opening and the fab drydown after sitting for a while- the small bottle of Vetiver I bought is going to sit for at least a week before I try to use it, as the stores testers must have), enjoyed the fragrance "balm"; a silicone-based alcohol-free version of the scents, and chatted with Fabrice Penot, one of the founders. He was nice enough to tell me that Los Angeles will indeed get an exclusive, which he described as "an Angel, with a core of sin". I wrote him later: Fabrice- It was very nice to meet you at the Le Labo store in West Hollywood today, and I was thrilled to hear about the direction that you're taking with the LA specific scent. If you don't mind a little pontificating on my part, there are a few things you could do to get a feeling for LA. I mentioned driving Mulholland at night from Bel-Air to Hollywood. Have a drink or two at Musso and Franks on Hollywood Boulevard before catching a revival at the American Cinematheque at the Egyptian. Buy a hot dog at Pink's and brunch at the Hotel Bel-Air Tour the Gilmore Adobe at the Grove and the Huntington gardens in San Marino Take a Sunday and drive Sunset Blvd from seedy Silverlake to Simon-pure Pacific Palisades LA is a bizarre and wonderful place that pretty much didn't exist 100 years ago; unlike most other cities, it's beauty is kept well hidden from casual observation, hidden in the dark canyons or behind walls of bougainvillea, fragrant, with three inch thorns . It's the over-the-top glitz of the Beverly Hills Hotel a short drive away from the site of the Manson murders- the same tour bus will show you both. It's the Paps stalking Britney outside of Kitson, which sells $98 hoodies emblazoned with the image of the homeless man who dances on rollerskates down the block. It's beauty and madness and the knowledge that we all could be wiped off the map by the "big one" at any second. It is as you said, angelic whiteness with a dark core of sin. I cannot wait to smell what you do with it.. I'll be pawing at the door to try it when it hits in September Images courtesy of Fabrice Penot.