I’ve got wood! Well, as long as I’m wearing Le Labo’s ‘Santal 33’ then I’m cloaked in wood which resonates in a comforting haze all day.

 

About 4 years ago, The New York Times dubbed ‘Santal 33’ "that perfume you smell everywhere." This is interesting, as in my town, local sket’s either smell like ‘Angel’, ‘Le Vie Est Belle’, chain-smoking or diabetes (or a combination). Smelling like anything that wasn’t stolen from Superdrug would be a novelty. But as it transpires, outside of the bubble of my inbred town, the rest of the world has fallen for the cult status of ‘Santal 33’. A few years ago, a publication polled those working in the fashion industry about what their signature scent was, and guess what, ‘Santal 33’ came out on top. Even the high-street fashion store Zara has recently brought out an almost flawless £9.99 dupe of ‘Santal 33’ called ‘Scent#1’. Its cult-like status seems only continued to grow.

 

Le Labo become iconic for their unconventional handmade products. The bottles with their external labelling have a simplistic, laboratory design, so appear far from luxurious or couture. ‘Santal 33’ was developed in 2011 and is "born from the memory of an old Marlboro advert - its defining image of the spirit of the American cowboy and all its implied ideals of masculinity and personal freedom". In olfactory form, it opens with cardamom, iris, violet and ambrox, while spicy, leathery and musky notes "bring an addictive comfort". I personally don’t get the whole macho cowboy thing, but I appreciate its aroma of spicy, leathery, musky notes and agree that it has “enough sensuality to intoxicate any man or woman.”

 

To me, it smells like freshly sawed rosewood and has tremendous longevity. It’s warm, zen-like and calming, like the heated wooden floor of a yoga studio in a barn-conversion. It’s like the soothing hot coals of an alpine wooden sauna (but without the sweaty naked men.)

 

I first smelt this, working wonders on a fellow female, but it’s perfectly unisex and I wish more men would smell like this. On a man it smells reassuring, anti-anxiety, trustworthy, reliable, comforting - it smells like husband material. So I’d tell that ‘Santal 33’ cowboy to get off his horse and concentrate on getting wood.