Сhoose your region

Exploring Labdanum theme

You can order all perfumes featured in this theme as a pack of samples.

In this theme

Labdanum is a rich brown gum resin that’s sourced from the cistus shrubs of the rockrose and much like its resinous cousins benzoin and myrrh, labdanum helps to extend and anchor the impact of more fleeting notes. But labdanum’s real and exceptional worth lies simply in the way it smells.

A key ingredient in any amber based perfume, labdanum is a truly multifaceted thing. Both the spice and the sweetness it’s honeyed and still enriched with oriental elements.

It smells truly exotic yet comfortingly familiar. It’s leathery and yet woody at the same time conjuring up ideas of far flung luxury as much as it does dusty carpenter’s workshops and bustling shipyards. We’ve selected six perfumes from our range that use labdanum in decidedly different ways to give you a better idea of the manners in which it’s used in perfumery today...

muga-image
Muga Bravanariz A leathery and animalic take on the material

pg8-1-l-ombre-fauve-image
PG8.1 L’Ombre Fauve Pierre Guillaume - Parfumerie Générale Labdanum as part of the classic amber blend

marquis-de-sade-image
Marquis de Sade Etat Libre d'Orange A perfume purposedly built around labdanum

ELdO list only one material for this perfume: cistus (aka labdanum, aka rockrose) which makes it a perfect formula to discover each and every nuance of the material.

ithaka-image
Ithaka Mendittorosa Balsamic aromas of Greek islands

Labdanum as the fragrance of adventure, the aroma wafting of the shores of the legendary islands in the Mediterranean. As in Ithaka by Mendittorosa, a perfume poem about Ulisses and his travels, encounters and adventures.

panorama-image
Panorama Olfactive Studio An overdose of green

In a perfume that overdoses greenery, such as Panorama does, the labdanum adds a warm and spicy root note to the lower chord of the fragrance.

civet-image
Civet Zoologist Labdanum creating a cozy warm background

Labdanum, the gift of the sunny Meditteranean and rockrose (a plant actually more related to mallows than roses). In perfumes it is a base note, depending on the aromatic neighbours it can behave in a sweet and soft, very cosy way, or can smell of horse saddles, camp fires and adventure. In Zoologists Civet labdanum is the cozy lazy soft warmth holding (even cradling) other notes together.

More edits/themes