2025’s Labdanum Siren: D:Sol MMXVI Ládano by Delphine Thierry

If resin had a pulse, it would beat like this. D:Sol MMXVI Ládano arrives for 2025 with a confident focus on labdanum, not the sugar-glazed amber of the algorithm, but the real thing, the sticky heart of Cistus ladanifer that smells like wind-blasted cliffs, beeswax, and leather rubbed warm by the sun. Perfumer Delphine Thierry treats rockrose as a living cycle - green, bitter, then honeyed and smoky - rather than a background hum.

On skin, I get a taut opening that suggests crushed leaves and resin threads tugging at your wrist, almost saline. It tilts quickly into a balsamic glow that is more animalic hum than shout, with that intriguing beeswax-labd sting I associate with harvesting resin from rough bark. No vanilla cushion, no powdery shortcuts, just a slow-blooming amber that feels mineral and human at once. It’s contemplative without getting churchy, smoky without bonfire theatrics.

The texture is the hook. You can almost feel the chew of labdanum as it warms, leathery and slightly tarry, yet it stays surprisingly buoyant. Projection sits close, then flares with movement - the kind of aura that turns heads when you lean in, not across a room. If you’re tired of cookie-cutter “amber” and want the backbone of the note itself, this scratches the itch in a very adult way.

Credit where it’s due to Delphine Thierry for keeping the structure lean so the resin can breathe. The result reads Mediterranean scrubland more than spice market, with salt, sunlight, and shadow trading places throughout the wear. It feels unisex, cool-weather friendly, and dangerously good on a scarf.

There’s also a Resinous Rockrose giveaway tied to the release, a playful nod to the plant that makes this perfume sing. I’m calling it now - labdanum lovers and incense fans will clock this as one of 2025’s must-sniff resin studies.

If you want labdanum without the candy, if you crave that dark honey-leather glow that sticks after the sun goes down, D:Sol MMXVI Ládano delivers. It’s rockrose with a heartbeat.