The Estée Lauder-owned French perfume brand Le Labo has just honoured Shanghai with a tailored fragrance in what is the latest addition to its city-inspired collection.
The new fragrance, which will be available throughout the month of September, was announced on WeChat and Xiaohongshu on August 1. The brand dropped a teaser video showing one corner of a plane ticket to Shanghai on which the passenger name section reads “MYRRHE 55” – the name given to the exclusive Shanghai fragrance.
The product is so-named because its key ingredient is myrrh – a resin utilised in traditional Chinese medicine for its blood-moving properties – partnered with jasmine and patchouli. Le Labo describes this formula as “dark and electric, old and new. Just like Shanghai”. As the newest addition to the City Exclusive Collection, Myrrhe 55 has also been included in the Discovery Set, which offers customers the chance to try out 1.5ml samples of five of the brand’s most loved fragrances.
Shanghai is the first mainland China city whose essence has been captured in a bottle by Le Labo and joins the ranks of 15 other world cities including London, New York, Dallas, Dubai, Amsterdam, and Seoul. Fragrances in the City Exclusive Collection are ordinarily only available in their city of inspiration, but once a year Le Labo makes them available at selected stores worldwide, creating an exciting one-off event for globetrotting fragrance enthusiasts.
Le Labo opened its first mainland China store only a few months ago in Shanghai’s leafy Xintiandi shopping hub. The store, which features the brand’s signature distressed wood décor, includes a vegan café and reading lounge alongside the fragrance workstations, which bring an immersive feel to the retail experience.
