Poivre 23 (2008)
by Le Labo

The most stunning perfume I experienced thus far on my fragrance journey. Superlatives could fill the page with this one and then do the same over and over. An absolutely sublime creation that takes the concept of transparent almost ethereal permume artistry and anchors it to a spiritual caress of the soul. Really, no other fragrance has had this profound effect on me. Poivre 23 has it all, and does so in a manner that befits its almost transendental agency.....Again a marvel in the niche world and so well constructed that I bypassed the need for smelling salts when confronted with the hefty price.... Superb !!!!!!!!!!!!!

P.S I have found that given the relatively long stages of evolution in the overall development that many focus on the vanilla prominence in the drydown.
Well wait and wait a little longer. For there is a surprising final drydown bringing a labdanum and dry patchouli concerto at approx 14 hours that is heavenly.

12nd December, 2011. (Last Edited: 13rd December, 2011.)

The best juice in my 200+ bottle collection. Starts off with a blast of smooth and creamy pepper, withing 15 minutes this fragrance transitions into a sexy and a very well done incense fragrance with vanilla as its backbone along with an olive note which some people can and some people cannot detect, this fragrance lasts about 15-20 hours and finishes off with incense and vanilla. The concentration of the aromatic compounds in this fragrance is 30% makes this an eau de extrait. The best creation from the house of Le Labo in my opinion.

28th July, 2011.

WOW, this stuff simply rocks! It truely is one of the best creations by Le Labo house. Starts off with sexy and exotic pepper which stays for about 15 minutes or so, dries down to a very sexy incense mixed with australian sandlewood! Truely a masterpiece!

14th February, 2011.

It's the only city exclusive for Le Labo that I think is worthy of the hefty price tag.

The scent itself is a combination of various scents I've tried before. There's at least three or four themes present. It's cedar woody in a pencil shaving way, very much like Gucci Pour Homme, the Tom Ford creation. Peppery in a Piper Nigrum way. Sweet vanilla in a Serge Lutens way. And there's this really weird oily olive note in the top that disappears quickly. So, oily, sweet, peppery, and woody.

Very complex and interesting, gives off the color brown. It's a heavier fragrance that's best worn in the Fall and Winter.

2nd December, 2010.

I would've said "bull!" if I knew that Poivre meant pepper because I don't get any pepper. I get an odd mix of synthetically and naturally smelling notes in here. It's powdery but it smells a bit like a plastic powder. It's got vanilla, too, and combined with the other drydown note it's slightly woody which is probably where the powdery notes get in. It's stong and longevity is rather average. Short version: powdery vanilla woods.

13rd July, 2010.

This one is actually very distinctive. As with many Le Labos. the Poivre (pepper) label is kind of misleading. The pepper only stays around for the launch party.

For me, the unifying thread here is vanilla. It's strong at the start and stays for the duration. Beneath that, the fragrance tells a story about how pepper, vanilla, olives, and cedar all lie on a single olfactory continuum. Although the vanilla is strongest, the olive accord is the most notable and gives the scent its character.

I find this to be a much more pleasant olive accord than the one found in Eau d'Italie's Sienne L'Hiver. That one seems more like a stunt; this one is an olive you might enjoy smelling like.

I'm afraid I'm not very partial to vanilla, so that dampens my interest in Poivre 23. But for vanilla-heads, I'd give this a strong thumbs up.

14th April, 2010.