{"id":4617,"date":"2021-10-18T18:05:52","date_gmt":"2021-10-19T01:05:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/housefragrance.com\/?p=4617"},"modified":"2021-10-18T18:05:55","modified_gmt":"2021-10-19T01:05:55","slug":"le-labo-candles-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/housefragrance.com\/le-labo-candles-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Le Labo Candles Review: Are They Good?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Can a luxury brand be so good that it speaks for itself? Le Labo has shunned the traditional marketing approach to allow their craftsmanship to connect customers to their company. So I thought I’d do a candle review to see what this company is all about. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Le Labo is an upscale parfumer unconcerned with the traditional approach to creating fragrances for the masses. They don\u2019t simply present a brand, they live and breathe the complexities behind each fragrance. Their artistry is truly mesmerizing and their approach to creating fragrances and candles puts them in a class all on their own.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stick around for this Le Labo candles review to learn more about the company, their practices, and why you want to consider burning their candles in your home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Le<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

All About the Company<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Headquartered in New York City, Le Labo, French for  \u201cthe laboratory,\u201d was founded by former L\u2019Or\u00e9al executives Fabrice Penot and Eddie Roschi in 2006. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Est\u00e9e Lauder has been their parent company since 2014. But Penot and Roschi have maintained a high level of autonomy over business operations, inclusive of selecting store locations and facilitating their own product development. They have been allowed to manage the brand without many directives from the multinational cosmetics company.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Company Ethos<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

This company was born out of the co-founders\u2019 personal resolve to be socially and environmentally responsible. You won\u2019t find preservatives, parabens, artificial colors, animal products, or any unnecessary ingredients in their products. While most companies widely advertise their sustainability efforts, Penot and Roschi feel that sustainability should be a given for any company that\u2019s dedicated to their customers for the long-term. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They\u2019ve maintained a lean business model to avoid injecting the \u201csmell of fear\u201d into their fragrances. It can take a year or more for them to create a new scent. But they take their time, experiment, and allow the process to unfold without concern for how the market will react to their products. For instance, their Tonka 25 scent took three years to develop.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The entire process seems deeply personal. Penot has once said that when creating scents for Le Labo, they are sharing parts of their soul, \u2026 joys, struggles, discoveries, and visions with their customers. When making new scents they start with the science – the ingredients, and then they imagine how customers will feel while using the new fragrances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Retail Ethos<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Their first retail location was in Nolita, a charming neighborhood of New York City. Now they have expanded to over forty flagship locations globally and hundreds of stand alone stores and retail spaces worldwide. Even though they are part of the Est\u00e9e Lauder catalog, Le Labo is still a boutique perfumery. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In their retail locations, fragrances are blended in-house, personalized for each customer. It\u2019s an explorative atmosphere where customers are given space to test and tinker around without constant hovering from sales associates. <\/strong>They refer to their retail associates as Souls and go to great lengths to guide them towards being empathic towards customers and only speaking when necessary as a service to them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to their company manifesto, they believe that craftsmanship is the future of luxury.<\/strong> You will still find that there\u2019s limited product availability for their artisan products because they want to focus on developing the product, not advertising, packaging, ambassadors, and media exposure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some product fragrances are exclusively available in its inspired city. For example Gaiac 10 is only available in Tokyo boutiques and Baie Rose 26, named for Chicago, is only available in Chicago boutiques.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Le Labo Product Lines & Features<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Le Labo was founded with ten perfume fragrances and one candle. Currently, they have nineteen perfume fragrances in their classic collection and a dozen home fragrances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As mentioned, the scent-making process takes time. Initially the co-founders worked with multiple perfumers but have since reduced down to two:  Daphne Bugey and Frank Voelk. They both work for the Swiss fragrance company Firmenich.<\/strong> More importantly, they understand the rhythms of Le Labo, so working with them is a seamless process. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roschi is originally from Switzerland and worked for Firmenich after completing a chemical engineering degree at university. After some time with the company, he also earned an MBA in order to better understand how to communicate and negotiate with clients. Later on, he joined L\u2019Or\u00e9al where he met Fabrice Penot who had already been with the company for years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact the two of them worked on creative projects together for L\u2019Or\u00e9al<\/strong> but felt stifled by corporate expectations.<\/strong> Over time they decided to create a company that helped them feel the opposite of all the frustration they felt going to work everyday. They even downsized and chose to be roommates in a New York City studio apartment at the beginning stages of developing Le Labo. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When testing out fragrances, they are worn.<\/strong> Test swatches are not used. Instead, the co-founders want to experience each scent as it is developed.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Classic & Home Fragrance Options<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Classic fragrances include scents like, the infamous Santal 33, Lys 41, and Oud 27. Some of the Oud 27 fragrance notes include agarwood, patchouli, saffron, black pepper, plus 23 additional ingredients. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the Le Labo naming approach. The fragrance is named for the most dominant scent note and then the number of ingredients. There is one exception. Another 13 was named for Another Magazine, using 13 ingredients.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are eleven formats to their classic fragrances:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Bar soap <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Body lotion<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Body oil<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Detergent<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Discovery*<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Eau de parfum<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Liquid balm<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perfume oil<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shower gel<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Solid perfume<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Travel tubes<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

*Through their discovery sets, you can sample multiple product fragrances to help decide which one you might like the most.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Personal care items that are not attached to their classic fragrance lines are: beard oil, body creams, body scrub, face lotion, face mask, hair mask, hand pomade, lip balm, shampoo and conditioner, shaving cream, shower gel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These plant-based products have singular scents like basil, mandarin, and hinoki, but unscented versions are also an option.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Home products include:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n