Patchouli 24 was launched in 2006 by Le Labo, a New York-based niche perfume house founded by Eddie Roschi and Fabrice Penot in the same year.

The name and number of all Le Labo fragrances refer to the ingredient with the highest concentration – in this case, patchouli - which means that the fragrance's name might bear little resemblance to what the fragrance smells like. The number refers to the number of ingredients in the fragrance, so Patchouli 24 has 24 ingredients.

It opens with the smell of smoke from birch tar. That swirling smoke, snaking, is captivating and evocative. It’s the smoke from smouldering embers – not a campfire as in Lonestar Memories, and it lingers and lingers, the way smoke lingers on clothes for days. On me, the patchouli is hanging back, barely detectable, but I feel it there, dark and a little sweet.  Then comes the irresistible smell of worn leather, and I suddenly feel like I’m sitting in a library in an old leather armchair by a fire. Oh, baby, keep pulling me in! And it does when a whiff of balsam breaks through the smokiness. Then a note of creamy, custardy vanilla rises from my skin and balances the smoke, the leather and the darkness.

The drydown on me has a slight smokiness, but it really is about that vanilla/patchouli accord. The patchouli here is smooth, and some of the characteristics that it’s known (and loved for) the dirtiness, the rootiness and the earthiness, don’t stand out here. This is patchouli reimagined by the master of smoke, Annick Ménardo. 

Notes: patchouli, birch tar, styrax, vanilla.