Eucalyptus 20 Le Labo 2025

Eucalyptus 20 definitely isn't a recreation of eucalyptus essential oil or what eucalyptus usually smells like in perfumery. That scent is the scent of crushing eucalyptus leaves between your fingers - an uplifting, camphoraceous, highly aromatic, almost minty type of scent. But here, I don't think Le Labo are too far off the mark of recreating the sensation of being in a eucalyptus forest: yes, the aromatic notes hit you from the leaves, but the main component is the dry wood and green freshness.

Eucalyptus 20 opens fresh-soapy but this quickly dries down into an intense woody scent, with facets of smoky frankincense and white musk. I can see the comparisons to Le Labo's own Hinoki scent, which they only use in their skin/shower line. Just like that scent the dry woods penetrate, and give the feeling of being in a woody sauna. But there is more freshness and musk in this fragrance and that differentiates it a bit. But if you want to find an EDP version of the Hinoki scent, this is the closest you're probably going to get, at least from Le Labo.

First off, I feel the urge to warn you know that the words in this scent’s title that aren’t ‘Le’, ‘Labo’ or the number 20 is one of the words that I have trouble spelling. Anyway, Eucaluputs 20 smells great and also a bit redundant if you own any of these Comme des Garcons perfumes: Hinoki, Avignon, Black, maybe even a little bit of Kyoto. Euclptus opens with its titular note, except it’s more camphor than straight up eucalyptis, a bit wet and smoky and green, reminding me a little of the camphor in Feu Secret (Fzotic) or Bohea Boheme (Mona di Orio). I love this note because it always make me think of hiking through evergreen forests, fresh air, and far-off curlicues of delicious smoke, like when someone throws pine needles on a campfire.

Underneath this camphor or euycalptous, there is a fantastically dry, smoky frankincense lifted into the air by a shower of sparkly Coca Cola-ish aldehydes, which definitely gives off a very Avignon or Black (Comme des Garcons) vibe, to the point where they are eerily similar. About fifteen minutes later, I feel this accord tilting more definitively in the direction of Black than Avignon, as the bubbly soda pop aldehydes fade away and a sooty, smoky accord takes over, that nubbin of pine-like frankincense having burned all the way to ash in the censer.

For the rest of the ride, I am convinced that Le Labo Euocapliptus is a dry, smoky-hoary, whiskey-ish vetiver, with a scratchy wool sweater texture that is almost identical in structure and aroma to the wonderful Vetiver Insolent (Miller Harris), a perfume I wear an awful lot and with which I am therefore intimately familiar. It means that the slightly abrasive woody note (Iso E Super?) that bothers me in parts of Vetiver Insolent also bother me here, in the case of Eucapyptus 20.

But I have come to terms with its use in Vetiver Insolent, because I admit that its scratchy, cedar-adjacent obnoxiousness is essential to recreating the rather irritating ‘steel wool’ volatile esters that are naturally occurring in real cedarwood and vetiver distillates. I guess what I’m saying is that it’s not really a deal-breaker for me in Eucalptus 20 either. That said, my need for this sort of sour-smoky-woody incense accord is more than adequately fulfilled elsewhere, so I am happy to sample this and move on.

Unfortunately, a miss for me from Le Labo. While there may be facets of eucalyptus in this fragrance, the material itself is not conveyed. That is to say, there are some camphoraceous qualities present, typical of eucalyptus. I enjoy Le Labo so know this isn't necessarily surprising; however, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't excited for a more confident eucalyptus release.

This feels dense and stuffy rather than fresh and uplifting, like eucalyptus tends to be. This isn't eucalyptus that is alive. If anything, it smells like a fallen branch that you brought inside, dried and smelled after a month or two.

I can see the comparisons to Hinoki by CdG and Hwyl by Aesop, both of which I thoroughly enjoy. Hinoki is much more interested in airy canopies and damp wood while Hwyl focuses on wafting, acerbic smoke and the forest floor. Eucalyptus 20 sits timidly in a far less interesting space somewhere in between.

As a lover of Le Labo's hinoki products, I'm sorry to say that while Eucalyptus 20 may come closest to that scent out of all their parfums, it is sadly not the same to my nose. Still, that may be enough for some to sample, as it was a significant pull for me.

Having said all of that, Eucalyptus 20 smells like a convincingly natural, easy to wear spicy woody fragrance which many may enjoy. For me, it's a profile I've smelled before, in far more compelling forms.

As it has been noted,
Eucalyptus 20 is a dominant incense fragrance.

...and that seems to be primary throughout it's wear.

The first thing that popped into my mind when I applied this, was The Year's End Festive Season.
This smell like The Festive Season; -the regality of The Festive Season.

So there is a definite green aspect to it. Pine , Eucalyptus, something?? ..but the mix with incense gives it such warmth...that is ..well...festive.

This was release right around the vicinity of Black Lacquer and Hinoki & Cedarwood, which led to sharing marketing space with them (well, in my mind) and also upon my own discovery of Infinitoud.
They all have that throughline of burning incense/frankincense!
Also, when I smelt Eucalyptus 20 on my skin, comparison to Fille en aiguilles automatically started.

Nevertheless , I'm putting this on my imaginary wish list and imagine myself wearing this during the festive season.

Good Stuff.

"Eucalyptus does make an appearance, for the briefest flash of the open, sharp, minty, camphorous. Then it's gone, flash in the pan. And we get frankincense. Little else at this stage. Pretty dense for incense In a frag. Not the super light approach CdG took with their series. This is not heavy yet either though. It's just more present.

Cedar starts to make an appearance now (we're in The 10-15 minute mark ). The scent gets a bit sharper. More depth, backing and enhancing the incense. Starting to warm it a bit, make it a bit more full bodied, with almost a blast of pepper at times. Thyme makes an appearance adding a savory roundness to the aroma.

30-45 minutes in we get some smoky resin notes happening , still largely in support of the incense and cedar. These make the scent cozier, ground it further.

Projection is light, this stays pretty close to you. About what you expect from this kind of scent.

This really reminds me of zoologist Macaque in a lot of ways (I've tried the Yuzu version). Both are strong and incense forward. The opening here is more just incense though, where Macaque had a beautiful yuzu and juniper opening. I feel there was a bit more to 'see' in Macaque, but whether that is a good thing or not will be subject of personal preference. This is more resinous and smokier in the drydown. This one is also a bit more polite avoiding the slight funk if Macaque.

Stays with you long enough that you'll get tired of it, the lack of truly interesting supporting notes has the incense eventually wear me down, and I enjoy a good incense note."