For those who follow Le Labo’s annual City Exclusive event, September marks a ritual. Once a year, the fragrance house opens its vault, allowing a global audience to experience scents otherwise restricted to the cities that inspired them. This year’s most anticipated release is Osmanthus 19, a new City Exclusive tied to Kyoto, available worldwide from September 1 to 30. At once understated and arresting, this new entry speaks softly, an olfactory homage to a city defined by silence, space, and the passing beauty of the present moment.
FRAGRANCES
While osmanthus is a flower rarely given center stage in perfumery, its subtle profile, often described as creamy, fruity, or apricot-like, finds a new voice in Le Labo’s hands. Osmanthus 19 opens with an airy accord of incense and lavender, gently diffused like the quiet scent of temple wood in winter. These top notes form a meditative prelude before the osmanthus reveals itself: not showy or overly sweet, but luminous, grounding, and just fleeting enough to remain elusive.
The base deepens into woody and resinous tones, adding structure without turning heavy. Here, Le Labo captures the contrast of Kyoto’s urban rhythms and sacred stillness, a city where centuries-old machiya homes coexist with neon-lit alleyways and minimalist boutiques. The fragrance’s overall mood mirrors the Japanese concept of wabi-sabi, embracing imperfection, transience, and depth. Osmanthus 19 doesn’t build to a crescendo; it unfolds, lingers, and then recedes, leaving behind something quietly resonant.
Le Labo’s connection to Japan is not new. The brand opened its first lab outside the U.S. in Daikanyama, Tokyo in 2007, followed by the launch of Gaiac 10, a City Exclusive for Tokyo that has since gained cult status. In 2020, the brand deepened its presence in Kyoto with a lab inside the Ace Hotel, and in 2024, it opened a traditional machiya space in Nakagyo-ku, preserving Kyoto’s architectural legacy while merging it with Le Labo’s utilitarian design language. Osmanthus 19 emerges from this evolving relationship with Japan, a fragrance shaped by place, memory, and craft.
Like all City Exclusive fragrances, Osmanthus 19 will only be available year-round in Kyoto and globally for one month only. During the September window, the scent will be available in 15ml, 50ml, 100ml, and 500ml formats, along with samples and discovery sets. Refills are offered at select Le Labo labs at a 20% discount.
What sets Osmanthus 19 apart in the City Exclusive collection is its mood. While other city-inspired scents in the lineup lean into intensity, indulgence, or contrast, think Poivre 23 for London or Myrrhe 55 for Shanghai, Osmanthus 19 plays in a subtler register. It doesn’t demand attention, but rather invites reflection, much like the city it represents. The experience is more poetic than performative, less about projection, more about connection.
In a market saturated with maximalist blends and bold declarations, Osmanthus 19 feels like a breath of clean air. It doesn’t strive for universality; it simply asks you to be present. Whether worn as a daily signature or saved for quieter moments, it functions more as a fragrant meditation than a fashion statement.
With Osmanthus 19, Le Labo adds a new dimension to its City Exclusive canon, one grounded not in spectacle but in subtlety. It’s a reminder that sometimes, the most powerful scents are the ones that speak in whispers. And for one month each year, the world gets to listen.
