The Story
Why it exists.
The beginning
Myrtle is the quiet backbone of Mediterranean life. It shows up in liqueurs, in hedges, in wedding crowns older than most countries. For 103 Mirto, perfumer Nadège Le Garlantezec didn't isolate a single facet of the plant. She built the fragrance around myrtle in its entirety: the camphorous snap of the leaves, the white-floral whisper of the tiny flowers, the dark jammy weight of the berries. The whole shrub, pressed into one bottle. Lavender enters as the aromatic frame, giving the composition its dry herbal edge. Tonka Bean anchors the base with warmth and a soft coumarin sweetness. LabSolue calls this an olfactory celebration of mirto, a study in a single botanical where the perfumer's vision treats every part of the plant as essential to the composition.
Le Garlantezec's decision to evoke the entire plant, leaves, flower, and dark berry, gives 103 Mirto a dimension that more reductive myrtle compositions can miss. The opening reads green and resinous. Within minutes, the berries emerge, adding a bruised-fruit sweetness that's closer to fig or blackcurrant than to anything floral. The lavender brightens the whole thing and keeps the berry from going too gourmand.
The evolution
The first ten minutes are the greenest the fragrance will ever be. Lavender opens bright and camphorous, almost mentholated, with myrtle's herbal bitterness cutting through. It smells like brushing past a hedge on a warm afternoon, the leaves releasing their oil into the air. The lavender softens fast, and the heart settles into its main character. Myrtle's floral-fruity side takes over, backed by the coumarin warmth of tonka. The berries come forward, not sweet exactly, but dark and pulpy, like a fig leaf crushed in your palm. This is the phase most people identify as the fragrance's signature. It's where 103 Mirto stops being a herbal opening and becomes something warmer, almost gourmand-adjacent without crossing into dessert territory. The drydown is where the tonka earns its keep.
Cultural impact
103 Mirto arrives as part of a broader interest in Mediterranean botanicals, plants that carry centuries of culinary, medicinal, and ritual use but rarely take center stage in perfumery. Myrtle in particular has deep roots across the Mediterranean, woven into liqueur traditions, wedding garlands, and folk medicine for generations. LabSolue's treatment gives the plant a serious platform, building an entire composition around it rather than using it as a supporting accent.
