The Story
Why it exists.
The beginning
Koshu landed in 2024 from The Lab, composed by Mario Galindo. The perfume opens with cherry and ends with oud, and the distance between those two notes is where all the action lives. Galindo stacked a fruit-led top over a base that pulls no punches: castoreum, oud, myrrh, and Sumatran benzoin sitting underneath a heart of rose and musk. The result is a scent that doesn't pick a lane between the bright and the heavy, and that refusal to settle is what makes it worth paying attention to. Cherry on top. No apology underneath. It's a composition that takes the obvious note combination and treats it as a starting point rather than a conclusion, then loads the underside with the kind of material that gives the whole thing gravity.
What makes this worth your time is the deliberate friction between the top and the base. Cherry and mandarin open bright, almost cheerful, then the composition tips into rose, musk, and a base loaded with castoreum, oud, myrrh, and Sumatran benzoin. Galindo stacked the base with animalic and resinous materials that push the scent somewhere vintage-leaning, powdery, and slightly medicinal in the middle phase. The animalic and resinous materials do real work here, pushing against the candied fruit on top and creating a tension that holds the composition together across every phase of its wear.
The evolution
Koshu opens with a candied burst of cherry and mandarin orange that lifts quickly off the skin, then gives way to a rose and musk heart that turns powdery as it warms. The resinous base of oud, myrrh, and Sumatran benzoin begins to surface as the composition develops, anchoring everything in a deep, warm register. As the hours pass, the cherry thins to a faint fruit shadow, the powdery florals smooth out, and the oud-myrrh-benzoin accord takes over as a skin-close drydown. Parfumo's reviewer notes roughly six hours of total wear, with the base materials carrying most of the longevity once the top notes have evaporated. The transition from bright fruit to powdery floral to resinous base happens in stages, and each stage reveals a different facet of the composition.
Cultural impact
Koshu sits in an unusual space between vintage fruity-floral territory and contemporary oud-forward composition. The combination of a candied cherry opening with a castoreum, oud, myrrh, and Sumatran benzoin base puts it in a category that few other fragrances occupy. One Parfumo reviewer, LastWonder, described the powdery vintage phase and noted the slightly medicinal quality of the heart, giving it a thumbs up. The cherry-oud pairing itself is rare enough to make Koshu a talking point among collectors who track unusual combinations.
The House
The LabThe LAB Fragrances is a Singaporean niche perfume house that emerged in 2017, carving out a distinctive presence in Southeast Asia's growing fragrance landscape. The house takes its name and identity from the laboratory, positioning itself as a space for olfactory experimentation rather than conventional perfumery. Their collection spans a decade of output, from early creations like Lotto Cocoon and Fresh Vetiver in 2016 to more recent offerings such as Corinto Kush in 2024. Each fragrance carries a direct, often playful nomenclature that hints at its character without obscuring the complexity within. The brand operates within Singapore's artisan fragrance scene, offering an alternative to mass-market scents through formulations built on quality ingredients.
The Creator
Mario GalindoRich, enveloping materials define Galindo's palette. He gravitates toward warm ambers, dark tobacco, and bittersweet chocolate, often combining them in ways that emphasize their shared earthiness.
