What makes a better gift than fragrance, especially chosen by yourself? Only a new fragrance which surprises you. That’s what Lancome La Vie Est Belle is to me. I wasn’t really going to buy it, since I’m more into light and airy scents with low sillage. Sweet scents never impress me, plus they are so popular, and I want my signature scent to be unique.
Once, I was in a perfume shop, sorting out beautiful bottles, inhaling their contents, and they made me dizzy. I put aside the idea of immediate purchase and left the store. After a while, I smelled something extremely nice.
I gazed around at the girls, looking for the one wearing such a perfume. Only when I got on the transport, and the sillage was still there, I realized that that mysterious woman was me. I made up my mind and decided to buy that perfume, and very soon, the desired bottle was in my hands, and I was anticipating the new fragrance in my collection.
It turned out to be the most memorable and unique in my collection.
Description:
La Vie Est Belle, French for "life is beautiful", represents a choice—the choice to create your own path to happiness. Made with the most precious natural ingredients, the fragrance entwines the elegance of iris with the strength of patchouli and the sweetness of praline. Floral notes of sambac, jasmine and Tunisian orange blossom are added in the form of sublime absolutes.La Vie Est Belle is the fragrance of joyful femininity that makes life more beautiful. It is for the woman who lives in the present, who is filled with honesty, truth, and gratitude, and who is free of social constraint, to blaze her own unique path.
Ingredients:
Composition:
Notes:
Iris, Patchouli, Gourmand.
General information:
The bottle is lovely and attractive, with a single accessory. It hints that the fragrance itself is supposed to be rich and versatile, but before we smell it, we only see the simplicity of the bottle. The famous brand logo - a rose - is to be found both on the box and the bottle.
The fluid is the color of high end whisky and looks elegant and sophisticated. The rose can be spotted near the sprayer, and there is also this little bow. It makes the bottle look more French, I’d say.
I only found the bow when I was searching through the box. Earlier, it would have never occured to me that there is a possibility of finding something besides the bottle in that box.
The fragrance is deep and defiant, like France in the times of Queen Margot. It combines wildness and passion, it’s welcoming and repulsive at the same time. The fragrance is sweet and enveloping at the beginning, but it turns bitter when it opens up on the skin. It’s rich and languid, and 1-2 drops are usually enough, otherwise its sweet sinfulness may be suffocating. It can really make you dizzy or even cause a headache.
I like to wear this fragrance when it’s cold, usually in late fall and winter, when the air is fresh and wearing too much perfume can be forgiven. In summer, due to the charming patchouli, the perfume may be repulsive to those around you. It’s like night-blooming flowers that are so fragrant by night that it feels as though you’re being captured by them.
I don’t wear this fragrance every day because of the dizziness and headache it may cause. Even one drop, especially when I feel sick or have high blood pressure. It’s only for special occasions when you have to seduce someone and carry into your world, and even so, don’t apply more than two drops, otherwise you may end up repelling your date.
I think this perfume is more for mature women. The fragrance opens up gradually yet lasts really long
I smell all notes throughout the day: from sweet and attractive ones to those of a poisonous carnivorous flower that first lures its prey then clenches its deadly petals. There is something bold and predatory about this fragrance.
The longevity is up to six hours, which is amazing. The smell fades gradually, but the sillage is high and those around me smell it even from a distance. The fragrance lingers on my skin until I take a shower. Once, I was sorting out my clothes in spring and realized that the fragrance still was on some of them.
If you spray the perfume over your head, it will linger on your hair for a long time.
According to my observations, the fragrance fades from wrists faster, than from neck and collarbone. In any case, it is one of the most memorable and long lasting sillages I ever had.
Everything from the box to the bottle is thought through and unique. I was curious why there was a rose, and found this:
Lancôme's founder, Armand Petitjean, was mad about roses; he grew them in his garden at Ville d'Avray near Paris, and the original logo was inspired by the roses that grow around the ruins of the Château de Lancosme, and watercolours by the Belgian botanist Pierre-Joseph Redoute.
Actually, roses are my favorite flowers too, and it’s really nice to see them on this lovely perfume, which delights not only my eyes, but also my touch. This perfume fosters so many feelings in me, from adoration to repulsion. This isn’t just a fragrance, it’s the signature of a certain mood, views, season and simple human happiness.
Conclusion:
I’m so happy to find such an interesting fragrance that has a high warm sillage and amazing notes. It’s lovely and bold at the same time.
I love this bitter note in the sweetness of this fragrance, it’s like a zest that makes the perfume so unique. It’s like a French femme fatale, which is strong and gentle at the same time, and so is her fragrance.
Pluses:
- unusual
- long lasting
- warm sillage
- intriguing
- design
Minuses:
Thank you for reading my review!
