When it comes to iconic fragrances, La Vie Est Belle by Lancôme is right up there for me and it is just beautiful, quite apt as “la vie est belle” translates to “life is beautiful”.
Part of the Floral Fruity Gourmand family, this fragrance was released back in 2012 and has been one of the brand’s best-selling fragrances ever since, if you haven't come across it before, the face of the product is Julia Roberts, who looks just stunning and the idea and inspiration behind the scent was to create a timeless, classic fragrance that would appeal to women for its simplicity and ease of wearing both during the day and also at night.
Opening with top notes of Iris, Blackcurrant and pear, you are given a real hit of those fruity notes, the sharp and crispness being all too evident but as the heart notes start to make themselves known, the mixture of Pallida Iris concrete, Orange Blossom and Jasmine Sambac absolutes and it is here that for me, the fragrance wows with the fruity notes of Orange Blossom and flora notes of the Jasmine Sambac push themselves forward to ensure they are noticeable as the base notes of Patchouli essence brings its eathiness and sweetness to the forefront to ensure that mixture of sweet and floral work well together. For Lancôme, their star ingredient is the Iris, the one which binds all of the notes together to create a fragrance it is - well incredible.
Packaged in a very solid heavy glass curved shaped bottle, La Vie Est Belle features a silver ribbon to give it that added sophisticated look and with a short spray, it produces enough fragrance with each spritz, without overpowering. This is also the best fragrances ive come across for its sillage, with it lasting a good 2-3 hours before it finally begins to wear down some 5-6 hours later.
For me Lancôme La Vie Est Belle is just stunning from its bottle to its notes as well as its longevity. If there is one fragrance that I can wear all year around and get compliments on it, especially from my Husband, then it is a keeper. Priced between £95 for 50ml rising up to £155 for 150ml and the refill is priced between £80 and £100, a bottle will last a good year, even if you use it daily and the refill also helps with the savings too.