Le Labo expiry dates

[matildaben]

Also, keep in mind that the majority of the people who will buy their products are NOT like the typical motivated Basenotes poster, who takes the time to educate themself about things like fragrance ingredients and storage. Even if we know it's B.S., the marketing hype will still have its effect on a significant amount of purchasers.

[hedonist222]

Building on matilda's post.

The majority of potential Le Labo buyer's are not your typical BNers as rightly said above.
The common buyer would probably be impressed or find the lab coats & on site preparation comical.

When you market, you market to the mass/majority which is certainly not us BNers.

[Primrose]

Even with good scents, I am not impressed with dramatic presentations and costumes, nor manufactured tales of a company's origins.

[zliang]

So, can we ask their expired ingredients for free? I'm sure we can help keep their stock fresh.

[Duke Hunt]

So I'm only just under half way through a 50ml bottle of Rose 31 and low and behold, it's 2 months expired now! Trying to mentally analyze any changes, which I'm not sure are real or in my head! I definitely find the fragrance sweeter now and not as "bold".

[dollars&scents]

two words: planned obsolescence

@ Duke Hunt - ↑↑↑ seems to be a consideration with Le Labo.

This House has its shtick of fresh, hand mixing, warranting maceration/maturation processes and expiration dates, wherein the bouquet begins to deteriorate. See, at a minimum, the relevant March 17, 2012 Thread http://www.basenotes.net/threads/297...smell-the-same

[hednic]

Always thought those expiry dates were strange on that line.

[Oupavoc]

It's all marketing

[Beranium Chotato]

This House has its shtick of fresh, hand mixing, warranting maceration/maturation processes and expiration dates, wherein the bouquet begins to deteriorate. See, at a minimum, the relevant March 17, 2012 Thread http://www.basenotes.net/threads/297...smell-the-same

In spite of owning not a single Le Labo, d&s is on some weird crusade to prove that they have batch problems or deteriorate quickly. He posts a link to that thread at every opportunity, even though, if you read that thread all the way through, the OP ends up totally satisfied with his bottle. There are a number of people who've reported their decants of Poivre 23 being off (including me), but I have never read a single case of a person thinking their bottle is off (also including me).

The expiration dates are totally gimmicky and unnecessary. Some people let this bother them to the extent that they refuse to buy their fragrances. I just ignore them and enjoy what seems to be an otherwise well run, thoughtful niche company that has excellent scents and excellent customer service (see thread above). I especially appreciate that Le Labo have a well-edited, focused collection and are not constantly rolling out new perfumes. I have always gotten the impression that they are a company who values quality over quantity, and I say this as someone who now owns six Le Labos.

Additionally, the expiration dates seem recently to have been upped to two years (either that or Isaac can't do math).

[cameron]

agree with Brian.

[socalwoman]

My Jasmine 17 expired May 2008. I still wear it. I tear off mattress tags too.

[Beranium Chotato]

There was a woman on Hoarders whose criterion for throwing anything out of her fridge was that it had to be "puffy." And by puffy, I mean so teeming with bacteria that the container became swollen. As her counselor tried to help her clear out the rotten food, she'd snatch it back while crying, "It's not puffy!"

My criterion going forward with fragrance is exactly that: if it's not puffy, I'm keeping it.

[Kron]

I wonder how many potential customers decided not to purchase a bottle because they think it'll expire in a couple of years? I find this 'feature' totally self defeating for a brand that exists to sell a product.

If LeLabo made cars there would be an LCD panel on the dashboard telling you your engine would implode 4 years after purchase.

[hedonist222]

Brian, I'm unsure whether you read an old thread of mine regarding an issue I had with Le Labo.

To put it succinctly

I'd gone to my local LL boutique (within a larger, very large, perfume store) to have two of my 100ml perfumes refilled as it clearly said on their website thy do refills. Anyways the LL boutique refused to refill so I sent them an email. Some rude obnoxious noob customer rep replied basically saying - too bad , go f*^% yourself.

I then made it public here on BN and members like kbe and mr.reasonable helped me out with well written responses. In the end I had Eddy, the co-founder, responding with an apology and, after a lot of BN exposure, a peace-offering of a free 50ml bottle. That was another poor decision on their end. I was walking in to refill two 100ml bottles and had plans to buy a third and in the end they offer me a measly 50ml. I said I'd pay the difference between a 50ml and 100ml but he said not to worry about it and sent me a 100ml. Then a few months later I needed a refill of rose 31, they then told me I'd get a call from the London LL. A lovely SA called, took my CC info and billed me for a rose 31 sans approx 15% discount (refill incentive) and I got it 2 days later.

Sure they screwed up in the beginning but they made it up and continued with good service. I am not hesitant to buy more LLs. Oincidentally tonight I smelled A44 and RB26. Mmmm lovely.

[Beranium Chotato]

I do remember that, hedonist. It sounds like the Abu Dhabi boutique had a very rough start. I hope it has since gotten sorted because you shouldn't have to call London to get a refill.

The Bond No. 9 boutique is just a couple block from Le Labo in New York City, and I always find it an interesting contrast to go in one after the other. The Bond store is cavernous and confusing. There is a lot of activity that has nothing to do with helping people who've walked in. It's very easy to get overwhelmed and want to leave. LL on the other hand is inviting and cozy. The SAs are there to help you if you need it but are equally good at being hands-off while you sniff your way down the line. I appreciate that the line is also manageable in size. The prices are on the high side and the expiration dates are silly; aside from those two issues, however, I find everything else about Le Labo to be executed perfectly.

Incidentally, Atelier Cologne now has a store just a couple doors down from Le Labo in NYC. I would say equally glowing things about them in terms of how they run their business. And their prices are much better. Unfortunately, I just don't care for their fragrances very much.

I also got to try Baie Rose 26 recently. That one is really nice. Have not tried Aldehyde 44 yet, but I'm intrigued. Also want to try AnOther 13 and Gaiac 10. It seems that in November all the City Exclusives will be available again in the boutiques.

[Fraghead]

Expiry dates are a marketing ploy. Thankfully, we have basenotes to lean on. Joe Public will probably fall into the trap of throwing away the bottle for fear of some awful reaction once the product has "expired".

[RHM]

Funny this should pop up just now. I was rummaging around in my fragrance closet and found my Labdanum 18 perfuming balm which "expired" on 10/22/2007. If anything, it's gotten even better with age.

[ChuckW]

I just got a Rose 31 bottle in a swap that has a 2010 date. It still smells great! Wore it today and enjoyed it immensely.

[starshipvelcro]

I figure that by the time that the expiry date comes the fragrance has settled down and is just about ready to be used.

[vitaman]

My 5 year old Rose 31 is as good now as the day I bought it.
Love the idea of buying their soon to expire stock at deep discount.

[zatarain]

I have 3 Le Labo bottles that supposedly expired in 2009; they all smell fine and have not changed as far as I can tell.

I also recently bought a new one, and it doesn't have an expiration date, now it says "Compounded on [date]".

[shiba_inu]

I was wondering about others' experiences with Le Labo's expiration dates and different batches for the same fragrance, then found this thread. I don't pay attention to the expiration dates myself. Most of my Le Labo bottles I acquired secondhand otherwise, there is no way I could afford (or justify on my budget) to own them. They are all now officially expired. The only full size bottle I purchased new was a 50 ml Gaiac 10, that expired in 2012. It still smells great. I store it in a dark closet and had been using it sparingly, even though it is my favorite of the bunch. I remember when I purchased it, they gave it a year's shelf life. For $290 plus sales tax, that's pretty ridiculous. Still, if I could, I would have purchased the 100 ml for $440 plus sales tax. For some reason, I wasn't concerned about the already looming end date of my precious bottle. I was thinking maybe I would refill with the discount later on. The service in their boutiques is friendly and fairly attentive. I think the only thing I didn't appreciate was the expiration date, but noticed that they have since changed a lot of their labeling to follow as a general guideline instead. I also have some LL samples from way back when and those are all just fine.

[rynegne]

I can't imagine the expiration date on these being anything other than a reason for users to purchase more. As others have said, quite often if fragrances are kept in proper conditions they get better with age...like a wine or cigar :-)

[cazaubon]

Regarding the date on Andy Tauer's bottles, he addressed this some time back on his blog. Apparently it has to do with European labeling requirements and was not his choice.