Essence Labdanum Donna Karan for women

A beautiful perfume, and almost pure labdanum, unadorned with other incense ingredients. It has a smell of wood shavings, but an exotic wood ?hinoki cypress, not just pine. There is an element of smoke as well, but it doesn't smell like burning wood to my nose. My only criticism of this perfume is that it doesn't last terribly long on my skin. 8.5/10.

I wonder why Donna Karan stopped making good perfumes and turned to the DKNY line of mediocre (at best) commercial fragrances. Labdanum is one of the older, good perfumes. It actually smells like labdanum - what a wonderful surprise! It also smells like smoky incense-infused leather.

The scent starts out mostly as labdanum unadorned and stays that way for the better part of an hour, after which it transitions into a burnt wood and incense scent. I really like the combination of labdanum, wood smoke, and incense. This isn’t the very best labdanum I’ve ever smelled, but it’s pleasant and natural, softened with traces of other notes.

I wonder how I would react to this perfume if I didn’t use pure labdanum in my own perfumes. I’d probably love it with a passion. As it is, the DK version seems quite tame, a labdanum for those who don’t like to get too far out there with their perfumes, but do want something out of the box and very different from the mainstream.

In my experience, labdanum is a love-it-or hate-it note, so that’s how it likely will be for anyone who tries this creation. I highly recommend it to anyone who likes to avoid the usual florals, and especially to anyone who loves the scent of labdanum.

I'm not too familiar with particular resins and their scents, so discovering Donna Karan's Essence collection has managed to broaden my horizons in terms of recognizing certain notes.

Essence Labdanum is quite an interesting and simplistic fragrance. I would define this fragrance as being very unisex and rich. It has a lovely, smooth and spicy leather quality with a subtle touch of sweetness.

Ambery in nature, Essence Labdanum, (while very linear), is beautiful when layered with other amber-based scents or anything really. On its own it smells woody and leathery, however when blended Essence Labdanum has an interesting smoky incense quality that comes to the fore.

This fragrance tends to remind me of the Middle East, somewhere exotic and culturally rich. The lasting power is not bad, lasting at least six hours, and longer when layered. The sillage is only moderate however.

I do believe this same fragrance was released in a body lotion and a candle, which intrigues me greatly. Having a home that smells like this beautiful fragrance would be breath-taking.