Santal 33 Le Labo 2011Eau de Parfum

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7.9 / 10 220 Ratings

Santal 33 (Eau de Parfum) is a popular perfume by Le Labo for women and men and was released in 2011. The scent is woody-spicy. The longevity is above-average. It is being marketed by Estēe Lauder Companies.

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Perfumers

Frank Voelkl, Firmenich

Fragrance Notes

Australian sandalwood, Papyrus, Cedarwood, Cardamom, Iris, Violet, Ambrox, Leather

Ratings

Scent

7.9 (220 Ratings)

Longevity

8.2 (187 Ratings)

Sillage

7.5 (186 Ratings)

Bottle

7.3 (168 Ratings)

Submitted by Kankuro, last update on 22.09.2020.

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Reviews

05/21/2020

8.5
Scent 8
Longevity 7
Sillage 8
Bottle

Turbobean

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Turbobean

Top Review 15

A signature scent for all occasions

Since I like to miss trends, I have only just discovered Santal 33.

That's what you get when you just rely on your own nose and give influencers a wide berth. Otherwise I would have long since realized that this fragrance has an exclusive fan base.

Seisdrum. Santal 33 convinced me right away. I love sandalwood and I perceive it clearly here. Especially in the top note
The ensuing cocktail of aromas is so diverse that individual odours are difficult to identify. I don't even know if the pleasant sweetness is fig or if a sweet fig aroma of wood and synthetics results.

In any case, I perceive dry wood, dill, honeydew melon, fig, iso-E super and also a fine ambroxan freshness.

The fragrance is round, pleasant and absolutely convincing. It is a very attractive and appealing blend, which I can imagine mainly on a man. Very attractive, but not ingratiating and not pushy either.

The field of application of the fragrance is manifold. I hardly know any other fragrance that can be used so universally. From the office to leisure time to the evening rendezvous. From spring to autumn, maybe even to winter.

A perfect signature scent when you are looking for the one for all occasions.

6 Replies

05/16/2020

10
Scent 10
Longevity 10
Sillage 7
Bottle

MissBiscuits
2 Reviews

MissBiscuits

My Birthday Scent

A dear friend got it for me as a present with a birthday message. The year was 2017, and I was probably the only person not to have heard of Le Labo. It smelled amazing on me - not too sweet, not too spicy, not too woodsy, not too green, not too "anything," but a little bit of everything and somehow just glorious. While wearing it, I felt feminine, powerful, and mysterious all at the same time. When I told those who asked what I was wearing, they would often nod in recognition but add that it worked especially well for me. I should confess that most perfumes turn sweet on me, which is why I gravitate away from perfumes that smell sweet straight out of the bottle. The same thing happened here; my body chemistry elicited the sweet notes from Santal 33 that are otherwise not detectible from the bottle. I began storing the bottle in my fridge because I had read somewhere that cold temperature makes the perfumes last years longer. Every morning before leaving for work, I would grab the bottle from the condiment compartment of the fridge and spritz twice on my neck. One such morning, my less-than-a-month old bottle slipped off my fingers. The shards went everywhere as did the liquid. I have yet to recover from the tragic waste that was Santal-33 all over my kitchen floor. One day we will reunite.

10/15/2019

8
Scent 6
Longevity 5
Sillage

Palonera

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Palonera

Top Review 49

L'île des fleurs et des rochers roses - or: Dialogue with nose

"Fig!" says my nose and raises irritated the neighboring brows. "Didn't you say something about sandalwood?"
"Actually, yes," I think and critically eye the sprayer.
It says "Santal 33" on it.
It comes from Le Labo like all the other sprayers we've dealt with before, nose, skin and me.
Usually it's what's written on it, at least about.
This time however: "Fig - still. The wood, the leaf, the milk. But no pulp, no sweet juice. And sea air - can it be? Just like that time on the Bréhat Island, remember?"

Yes, I remember it - rough, salty sea air, rugged cliffs, the wind blowing my hair into my face, pulling my clothes, desert and wild.
It seems so peaceful, the island, down in the south, with its thousands of bees and flowers around Saint Michel, the old chapel, with its almost kitschy green meadows, where a cow gave birth to her calf right in front of our eyes.
And the fig trees, the innumerable fig trees with their woody, tart green, which is bitter in its fragrance and yet the juice contracts in the mouth.

"Stop dreaming!" tears my nose out of memories. "Are you wearing the old leather jacket again? "The brown suede one whose sleeves once went in the Indian sauce?"
No, I didn't - but I know exactly what my nose means.
Leather is there, velvety wild leather, a bit stained apparently by spicy dark juice, who knows where from.
And smoke, a little bit woody, a little bit resinous, holy not so much - a little bit but yet, far back, imagined perhaps only.
"Did you say wood?" asks nose, suddenly with light eyes.
Yes, wood is there, for sure - dark, soft, polished wood.
"Sandalwood?!"
"If I wouldn't say so - it's not that soft, balsamic or not at all, much too dark in addition. Cedar...? Yes, but - a bit of pencil would get there, only without a lead," I think, my nose close to my wrist, breathing slowly and gently, "and powder - mauve-coloured smooth powder, very little, very fine. What do you say, nose? Am I right?"
"Did you," let me nod my nose, "and brine is there, sometimes peeking around the corner, playing hide-and-seek. And something from your kitchen that you put in the orient dishes, something with K."
"Cubeb pepper?"
"I don't know - could be. Maybe cardamom or coriander. Ask the tongue, it knows better than that."
But the tongue stays out and remains silent.

"Were you in the sauna?" my nose asks me a few hours later. "You smell like wellness, like essential oils, like camphor, eucalyptus - somehow healthy!"
She's right, I think, and I breathe deeper.
Cool and warm at the same time is what now rises from my skin, surrounds me like an aura, light and dark, leafy woody, smoky and at the same time ether-fresh, grated grain of spices next to a sea of green rocks.
Every day a little different, sometimes green, sometimes brown, always powerfully accompanied by a dull, rich grey.
A little bitter, bitter and brittle - not really tangible and of deep fascination.
Like L'île des fleurs et des rochers roses.
PS: Ergoproxy - thank you!

25 Replies

07/24/2019

9.5
Scent 9
Longevity 10
Sillage 6
Bottle

Carpintero

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Carpintero

Top Review 29

The Holy Grail?

I was in Chicago last Monday for work, it was hot, right, really hot. I didn't know what to do in my spare time, so I wandered into a branch of a very well-known high-end department store in the USA and sniffed my way through the perfume department. A lady asked me if she could show me her absolute insider tip. Sure, I agreed right away. She sprayed Santal 33 from Le Labo on my skin. It took about 10 seconds and happened before I could have sniffed the scent when a man turned around and shouted "OMG what's that smell?" completely euphorically. He literally ripped the bottle out of my hand, sprayed the scent on himself and when he noticed what he had just done, he apologized and walked away.
As far as I was concerned, the fragrance didn't convince me much at the beginning: a little too much of everything. Too much wood, too much spice, too much freshness. Just a little too much of anything good.

The lady gave me another test strip on which she had sprayed the scent and so I set off for the hotel without having achieved anything.
I put the strip somewhere on a table and took a shower. When I came out of the shower and was still standing in the bathroom, I smelled it: This scent that blew from the desk in the bedroom into the bathroom - it drove me crazy.
I got dressed and hurried back to the perfumery, I wanted this scent, I got it. It was love.

The great thing about Le Labo fragrances is that they are mixed and bottled directly on site for one, even more freshness guarantee is really not possible.

On the return flight I couldn't stop smelling this scent, I was like in a Santal 33 scent cloud surrounding me, protecting me and no one, really no one could have broken this scent barrier.

If I ran, I'd feel like people were watching me. And although I haven't received a single compliment for this fragrance to this day (apart from my partner, quote: "You smell disgustingly good!), I feel like I've found the Holy Grail.

Admittedly, this fragrance is certainly not for everyone, but for me it is exactly what I was looking for: a fragrance that underlines my personality, that reflects exactly what I represent: Santal 33 is strong, but never intrusive. He's tasteful, but never daredevil. He's cozy, but never confused. He's curious, but never tactless. He's extroverted, but never loud. It's mysterious and mystical, but never played and artificial. It's just my scent, just perfect.
I would describe him as urban-woody: a guy who lives in the city, loves the forest air and the freedom of the forests.

Durability and Sillage are definitely above average with me, the performance is so strong, as I was not allowed to experience it with any other fragrance yet.
Santal 33 seduces without becoming kitschy or even pushy, without much blah-blah, but with a lot of style and class.

For me the fragrance discovery par excellence, the holy grail, which I believe to have found!

7 Replies

06/14/2019

8.5
Scent 4
Longevity 6
Sillage

FvSpee

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FvSpee

Top Review 22

Wood from the Labo - Part 2 (Sandal)

Apart from the unbearable tropical-humid heat of Berlin, it was probably also the nervelessness of the notoriously poor shelf life of all Le Labo fragrances I have tried so far that led me to Neroli 36 here instead of a serious review only a borderdebil-demideliranten verbiage could deliver. Unfortunately, my hope is that the wood fragrances will last longer than the citric ones
When spraying on about half a vial of a sample each, i.e. 0.75 ml or about 10 small sprayers on the neck and wrist (I don't find it stingy, do I?), I would actually have to lie, if I wanted to say otherwise, both with "Oud 27" and with "Santal 33" after four hours of scythe, end with funny, shift in the shaft. And that means a very close residual fragrance restaurant. Projection is well past. My nose is fine, as it appears when testing other scents (and because my wife confirms my findings), the samples are not superimposed. What are they doing? Incorporate a secret ingredient into all your fragrances that activates four hours after application and triggers fragrance self-destruction?

I don't care, I won't let you get me down and I'll continue to comment unabashedly, even if I take revenge now. Because I'm doing the same thing with my comments now and I'm using extender! I recycled this introductory part from "Oud 27"!

To the point: Santal 33 is something like the flagship of the Le Labo range. In the Le-Labo store in Berlin at the Ku'damm there is a sample of all the fragrances for testing, only from Santal 33 there are two or three, and the sellers have explained to me that this is the fragrance that made the company famous, so to speak, and anyway the absolute bestseller. I personally can't comprehend this soooo now; qualitatively I didn't find it better and not worse than e.g. "Oud 27" at the first test now. But to be fair, I have to mention that this was the first Le Labo where my wife recorded the weather unasked, put the nostrils in the wind and exclaimed enthusiastically: "Hmmmm! What smells so good here?!?" When testing other scents of the house I always had to ask actively, and the answer was then about: "Yes, hm, quite nice; if it's not too expensive" (which is unfortunately the case with LL). Maybe under this influence I liked it better during the second test (than before and as the Oud).

Similar to "Oud 27", "Santal 33" also impresses as a wood scent that is brushed against the grain of expectations, atypical because it is dry and absolutely damenkompatibler: in this case, it is not only damp young green wood, but light green, soft and flexible (you can almost feel the willow catkins). I can't detect a larger development, nor can I isolate individual notes nasally, but at least as much: In this very light green forest (perhaps a tree nursery?), which is a steaming one (a steaming forest, not a steamer, mind you), because after an early summer rain the sun bangs on it again, so in this forest flowers definitely bloom. I wouldn't have come alone with violets either, but I think they are absolutely plausible, just because they sound so cute because of the diminutive (they're not violets). I cannot confirm the dill suspected by some pre-reviewers. I like dill in salads, maybe sometimes in scents (in Goutal's Ninfeo Meo I thought I smelled a dill), but there's nobody in here (I say so) and wouldn't fit either. What has absolutely forced itself upon me (even before looking at the other reviews) is: Fig. Prominently, actually. Whether there is really real and in real fig contained or the warm-soft-vegetable of the fragrance has only condensed to a fake fig, may remain to be seen.

Conclusion: An annoyingly ephemeral but very beautiful light green soft sandal girl with fig violet willow stroking appeal.

16 Replies

04/20/2019

3.5
Scent 8
Longevity

N471v3

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N471v3

The olfactory axis of evil - live commentary

Waaa... ur not. Not at all. Really not...!

So from the opening Santal 33 should rather be called "Die-in-olfactory-Pain 666".

Baahh!
Such a pompous mixture of notes that somehow smells how much too sweet coconut without really being it.
That's ruthless.
Where I imagined papyrus as such a great note, which it alone might be (I like old books),- it seems to be amplified too much by sandalwood and ambrox as an olfactory axis of evil, which has fatal consequences!

Fortunately, it is not so strong that I can continue my breakfast and do not have to interrupt for an emergency shower. (1 Sprayer!)

I suspect the sample I own has been passed several times. Probably in the 3-digit range, the number of unreported cases is certainly high here.

The opening somehow wavered between old carrot (but without the beautiful iris powder) and sweet coconut!
Pffff no pain no gain, I guess?

The crazy one is... some part of me even wants to spray it now. "For science!"
But I feel more like an onlooker than an epicure :N

Well, maybe just before we jump into the shower. But I'm already sure that you can't get rid of the smell with it...

For the fans of this fragrance, this was a live comment of my real impressions, inspired by the spontaneously flashing repulsiveness of this fragrance sample.
I ask you to accept it as a subjective scent impression, I will extend the comment if my impression changes in the course of the washing in 20 minutes Don't let me spoil the scent for you! In my defense I would also like to say that I have a difficult relationship with coconut.

Peace!

I'm out!

4 Replies

11/10/2018

7.5
Scent 7
Longevity 7
Sillage 6
Bottle

DonJuanDeCat

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DonJuanDeCat

Top Review 12

A cowboy standing in the woods

Today I introduce a Le Labo fragrance. So far I only knew the brand by its name, but I didn't know much about it. As I have now learned, the special feature of this niche fragrance manufacturer is that each fragrance is mixed and bottled by hand directly in the shop, including a personalised label. A lot of these fragrances of the actually quite new label (just 12 years old) are only available exclusively in a certain city, which makes it more interesting.

Well, Santal 33 does not belong to the city exclusive fragrances, you can get it in every branch of Le Labo. The inspiration for this fragrance came from the almost typical romantic image of a cowboy from the Wild West, which means you think of a cowboy sitting next to his horse in the wilderness outside at a campfire. It's evening, the sun goes down reddish and the cowboy just rests. Hm... to make things perfect, the cowboy would have to say that he prepares delicious chili beans in a pan for dinner, which he then shares with his horse and eats both together from the same pan :D

Be that as it may, the Wildwest-Theme is supposed to use fragrances like wood, leather, but also spices.

The fragrance:

The fragrance begins with woods and leather, with green notes in the background that initially smell a little like plant juices and later become more herbaceous.
Then there is the iris, which smells more like an iris root to me at the beginning, so a little green-juicy, and that it reminds a little of grated carrots or carrots before it becomes more flowery-powdery. I think, the iris and other, not further determinable soft scents let the leather appear a little softer, so that the leather smells like suede for me especially from the heart note. The cardamom gives it a spicy, somewhat herb-intensive note, if it were stronger I would even call it pungent.
And of course there's the wood. You can smell woods at the beginning, but I think, only a little bit later you can recognize it as sandalwood. I can't (yet) smell the cedar, but wait and see.
So... later it smells mainly still woody and also spicy. The spicy one is now something more like pepper, which I prefer to the cardamom. I also think it's nice that the scent later exudes a quite fresh woody scent, which means it's a nice mix of woods, general green notes, (forest) soil and herbs/bushes.
In the base it remains as usual with woody woody notes and spices, which are now a little softer. A very light sweetness appears, which should come from the amber or ambrox, but reminds me more of a mix of amber and musk. From the woody notes one can now also smell out a little cedar, while the more intense wood notes continue to be the softer sandalwoods. A little later, the sweet notes get a little stronger, and that's it,... a nice scent if you like woody perfumes.

The Sillage and the shelf life:

The Sillage is good, one is wrapped in a fragrance cloud that is not big, but nevertheless good, and that others can also smell well from a medium distance. So in a small room, you'd have to be sniffable from every corner.
The shelf life is also good, the fragrance lasts about ten hours well. Even a little more.

The bottle:

The bottle is cylindrical and ends at the top of the neck like a dome. It is finished with a silver and cylindrical lid. In addition to the name and brand, the label also shows the place where the fragrance was bottled and the name of the person for whom the fragrance is intended. Nice, but also very puristic.

So, Santal 33 is, in my opinion, one of those rather exceptional wood scents. Because it smells not only of woods, but also of many other scents you can find in the forest, including soil or damp earth, herbs, green notes, etc...
Well, it seems to me that way. I think it's nice, because it's not an unpleasant scent, especially not really an everyday one, but that's why there might be a problem, what kind of occasion you could wear such a scent for. To go out it fits in my opinion rather less (whereby,... with a little patience, the later base smells right for going out because of the beautiful sweet scents...), doesn't it? Well, I don't know. For my spare time in autumn I can imagine it better if you want to smell something of wood and nature, as well as a little bit of leather. By the way, it's nice that all scents are very natural and therefore also smell high quality.

Soo, I think that there are more beautiful forest scents, but this one is one of the well done ones, that you could have a look at it, if you should have the opportunity.

And since I was talking about cowboys at the beginning, I have to let the little nerd or gambler out again... and tell you that the scent somehow came at the perfect time,... well, or rather I discovered it at the right time, since only recently the sequel to the best cowboy video game of all time, expected for years, has appeared: Red Dead Redemption 2, and I could still not gamble it,.... Aaargh! DD

12/03/2014

9
Scent 7.5
Longevity 7.5
Sillage 5
Bottle

Drseid
742 Reviews

Drseid

Helpful Review 2

Maybe Not A Strict Sandalwood Focused Composition, But Who Cares?...

Santal 33 opens with a blast of violet before quickly adding smooth iris to the mix with a slight cedarwood undertone. As the composition moves to its early heart the violet vacates, leaving remnants of the iris meshing with an emerging slightly harsh and dry Australian sandalwood that takes the fore early before gradually adding in sharp, natural smelling cedarwood that grows in its intensity through the rest of the mid-section turning into the star with the dry sandalwood only co-star. In addition to the more prominent heart notes, binding the dry sandalwood and natural cedar is a supporting mysterious accord that somewhat resembles coconut, but not quite. During the late dry-down the composition shifts back to the relatively sharp sandalwood, supported by slightly sweet and powdery amber joining the now diminished cedarwood through the finish. Projection is excellent to outstanding, as is longevity at well over 12 hours on skin.

Frank Voelkl has been on a roll lately. His other Le Labo mainline compositions Iris 39 and Ylang 49 both were favorites going into sniffing Santal 33, and outside the Le Labo family he also is responsible for the masterpiece caliber Javanese Patchouli by Zegna. With so many excellent efforts under his belt with no duds sniffed to date it was with relatively high expectations that I sampled his Santal 33 and I am happy to report that it can be added to his growing list of stellar accomplishments. Like many Le Labo compositions Santal 33 is not really a straight sandalwood composition. Early-on, the composition is about violet, and even more-so iris. I could immediately detect some early similarities for a short time with Iris 39 before the wood-centric heart set in... The heart accord really leans more towards the cedarwood than the Australian Sandalwood, but certainly both play a key role. The cedar is quite natural smelling, and the relatively dry sandalwood compliments it quite nicely. Only in the late dry-down did I detect the sandalwood as the most prominent aspect, and then only just, as a very smooth and slightly sweet powdery amber is almost as prominent though the finish. While Santal 33 may be more of an amalgamation of ingredients as opposed to a sandalwood focused composition, the most important thing is it is entirely successful. The bottom line is the $160 per 50ml bottle Santal 33 may not have a strict sandalwood focus, but this "outstanding" 4.5 star out of 5 rated composition should be on any fragrance lover's radar, as should any other composition by Frank Voelkl!

02/20/2014

10
Scent

Muskwood
5 Reviews

Muskwood

Surprising Development

When I bought Rose 31 by Le Labo, they gave me a sample of Santal 33. I remember smelling it briefly and immediately hating it. It was too masculine, too dry, and almost bitter/sour in its openings.

I recently stopped wearing Rose 31 and decided to try Santal on my skin. Again, the first 2-5 minutes open as too dry, too sharp; reminds me of salty air/marine smells- and algae. After the initial sharpness, the dryness still hangs but in a quiet way. These head notes actually remind me of having dried, crunchy hair because of the salt of ocean water-- as the ingredients seep in, that first hour also offers a soft, smooth leather feel on my skin. Nothing too masculine or aggressive.

An hour and a half in, a completely new layer opens up to me. The sharpness completely shifts to a comforting round smell, while still hinting at a nose tickling, subtle pepper. Someone said there was a hint of sweet peppermint candy in the heart notes-- I personally don't think that its actually peppermint; its a simple uplifting pepper that brings out the other components of Santal 33.

This is definitely a sexy, bold but quiet, skin scent. Although more "masculine", i think women (like me) can pull it off if sick of too sweet, "pink" perfumes. It's an edgy alternative. The drydown actually reminds of Sycamore by Chanel. It's a round, green woody perfume that is very unique and unusual-- especially for ladies.

I'm personally addicted to it now- even after hating it the first time I tried it. I learned from this perfume that love at first sight can be deceiving and vice versa; give it a try.

12/03/2013

8
Scent 7.5
Bottle

Sweetgrass
35 Reviews

Sweetgrass

Helpful Review 4

First impressions

I got my sample as an extra on a perfume purchase and decided to just try it. Wow. Thanks to Missk for pointing out this is Australian sandalwood with cedar, because the kind that I know is very different and I was confused at first. At first it reminded me of this very nice, very persistent smell of oiled juniper goods for sale in a local souvenir shop -- they scent the whole department, it is really pleasant. And definitely some high-quality vegetable-tanned leather.

But this is not a dried, dead piece of wood, this is a live and thriving tree or an entire grove. The woods and leather dominate it for me, I am not picking up a lot of spices. But anyway, these impressions are subject to change as I get acquainted with this fragrance. It feels very natural, not really perfume at all. Gorgeous.

1 Replies

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