Garage Picks: The City Exclusive edit

Led by Osmanthus 19, Le Labo’s once-a-year fragrance drop arrives in Manila

Every September, fragrance lovers anticipate what has become a quiet ritual in the perfume world: the rare moment when Le Labo’s City Exclusives step out of their hometowns and travel across the globe. For one month only, these elusive scents which are normally locked to cities like Paris, Tokyo, and Kyoto become accessible everywhere, including Le Labo’s boutiques at Greenbelt 5 and Mall of Asia in Manila.

This year, the spotlight falls on Osmanthus 19, Kyoto’s ode to impermanent beauty. A modern balance of incense, aromatic lavender, and the creamy radiance of osmanthus, it captures the harmony of tradition and progress—the hushed charm of machiya houses standing beside Kyoto’s concrete, neon-lit streets.

As Deborah Royer, global brand president and creative director of Le Labo fragrances, shares “Our homage to the harmonious wisdom we revere in Kyoto, Osmanthus 19 is a reminder to continually seek out impermanent, untamable beauty and to be renewed by what is soulfully timeless. As it finds its way beyond the city, we hope it resonates with the same quiet spirit, transporting wearers to those special places that unfold slowly and reveal themselves like a personal poem.”

But beyond the warm embrace of Osmanthus 19, a few other City Exclusives caught our attention. Here’s our edit of the ones worth a spritz:

Mousse de Chêne 30 – Amsterdam
A chypre that’s equal parts classic and progressive. Pink pepper gives a refreshing, almost minty lift, while moss, cinnamon, and pimento bay oil keep it earthy yet bright. Perfect for our humid Philippine weather.

Aldehyde 44 – Dallas
At first, an aldehydic fragrance from Texas feels… unexpected. But the mix of sparkling aldehydes with jasmine and tuberose results in a musky, almost vanilla-kissed floral that’s surprisingly wearable and completely addictive.

Baie Rose 26 – Chicago
Think of this as a cleaner, softer cousin to the cult-favorite Rose 31. It’s more rose tea than spiced rose, with a powdery allure that’s equal parts jazzy and seductive. If Velma Kelly (yes, Catherine Zeta-Jones in “Chicago”) had a signature scent, this would be it.

Gaiac 10 – Tokyo
For the “your skin but better” crowd, Gaiac 10 is the ultimate flex. With four types of clean musk, it’s subtle yet magnetic like freshly laundered linen, only elevated and impossibly chic.

Vanille 44 – Paris
Forget dessert-like vanillas. This is refined, ambery, and smoky, with woods and incense woven through. Imagine a cashmere sweater in scent form: soft, powdery, and a little mysterious, lingering like golden dust in sunlight.

Each City Exclusive pays homage to the city it calls home, and outside of September, they can only be found there. But for one month each year, they travel the globe, and now’s your chance to experience them all.

Catch the full collection this September at Le Labo Greenbelt 5 in Makati and Mall of Asia in Pasay.