Murasaki Scent
Jasmine, Matcha, and Vetiver
Dirty Labs’s newest scent is just as special and complex as their signature one I initially fell in love with. While I think the Signature scent, which I review below, may be more of a universal crowdpleaser, the Murasaki fragrance is almost more timeless. It’s the more feminine scent of the two and is straight up heavenly the moment you uncap the container. When my husband smelled it, he declared, “It smells European,” and I thought, he’s so right. I think of the Murasaki as the sophisticated scent and the Signature as the cool and current scent. The smaller size of the Murasaki is the only scent on sale, and honestly, you’ve got nothing to lose by trying both!
Signature Scent
Magnolia, Bergamot, and Cedar
The brand’s signature magnolia, bergamot, and cedar scent is truly straight from heaven. I can’t picture anyone not falling deeply in love with it. It’s literally the smell of luxury. The cedar adds a delicious woodsiness that is cut by the clean, fresh scents of citrus and floral. It’s subtle but has staying power. As I mentioned before, it smells as high-quality, special, and nuanced as a Le Labo scent. As a girl who lives in L.A., where that’s essentially the perfume brand of choice, trust me when I say it’s comparable. In other words, if you told me this was a Le Labo detergent, based on the smell alone, I’d say yep, that checks out.
Clean Ingredients: Honestly, the scent matters the most to me, but it’s also a big bonus that the formulation is clean. If you’re trying to use more clean products, I’ve heard that laundry detergent is one of the best categories to start in in terms of impact because you’re wearing your clothes washed in the detergent all day. Conventional detergents have a lot of toxic chemicals, and this has nontoxic, biobased ingredients that are safe for sensitive skin, babies, and pets. It also happens to be cruelty-free, vegan, and hypoallergenic.
It Works: I know laundry detergent is also supposed to clean your clothes, not just make them smell good, and for me, Dirty Labs delivers in this category, too. It cleans my clothes just as well as the detergents I’ve used before.
Environmentally Friendly: The formula is super concentrated, unlike more traditional detergents, so you can get the same number of loads out of a much smaller bottle. Smaller packages equal a lower carbon footprint, and the aluminum bottles can be infinitely recycled too. As someone who is suspicious of using only a small (concentrated) amount of detergent—Will my clothes be clean enough? Will they smell nice?—I can confirm the answers are yes and yes with about a third the volume of detergent I would use with other brands.
The cost of Tide at Target right now is 23 cents a load. The large size of Magnolia, Bergamot, and Cedar is 33 cents a load, so yes it’s more expensive, but to me, I think the bonuses of the truly incredible scent and the fact that it’s not full of toxic ingredients is absolutely worth an extra 10 cents a load.
