Today a brand called MINE Perfume Lab liked one of my photos on Instagram. Since their name was new to me, I automatically clicked over to their profile and glanced at their photos. And then glanced again.
Something looked more than a little familiar.
Yes, that’s what I thought, too.
MINE seems to be an Italian brand, since all their text is in Italian, and unfortunately I can’t read it. But the visuals speak for themselves, no? Take a look at these bottle profiles and the label designs.
The French [edited: New York-based!] company Le Labo made a name for itself more than a decade ago with its industrial-chic aesthetic and its process of blending and bottling fragrances on site, at the time of purchase.
You can read my account of a visit to New York’s first Le Labo boutique (written in 2008) here.
Looks like Le Labo’s distinctive style has become “influential.”
It’s not just the perfume atomizers, either. Here are perfume oils in matching amber dropper bottles. And I’m sure you’ve caught the similar title + number format of the perfume names.
Two fig-scented candles, packaged in similar faux-crushed metal cans with personalized labels. Guess who did it first?
Oh, but wait! MINE Perfume Lab photographed some of their sketches and notes on a drawing table, so all is well, right? They came up with these packaging designs and the customized concept on their own, and the similarities are pure coincidence?
No, I don’t think so, either.
Photos via Le Labo’s website and MINE Perfume Lab’s Instagram feed.
PERFUME PROFESSOR ( 
Thieves lurk everywhere and in any venue. Sadly, the world has become a dog-eat-dog kind of planet.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I posted this in a FB perfume group and someone (I don’t know her) said, well, the important thing is how these fragrances smell! But I completely disagree. I wouldn’t even try this line, just on principle.
LikeLike