C'est La Vie

Just adore this fragrance - have worn it since it was first issued when I fell in love with the description of the bottle shape - it is supposed to be reminiscent of the curve of female hips - and the colours of the box. I have worn it every day since and have had nothing but positive feedback on it. It seems to smell very different on other people who have tried it, and I must say that perfumes tend to fade very quickly on my skin. Men seem to love it too! I have spent a small fortune on it over the years, I'm still managing to find it despite it going out of production years ago - have to look online, I've bought lots on mini bottles which have gone into a glass atomizer, bought a bottle with a faulty spry which I purchased a cool pump filling bottle to decant it into - you have to really love a perfume to go through what I do to still use it. It is a stunning sugary floral scent, quite powerful and heady, but settles into a beautiful subtle 'feminine' scent. I think it has a 'cat like' quality to it, quite musky, but it is a definite woman smell. I have been told of several 'alternatives' - Apres L'Ondee being the closest in my opinion - but it doesn't do it for me in the way that C'est La Vie does. Unfortunately the perfume got slated when it was available, it is a love or loath scent I think, and unfortunately it bit the bullet. For me it will always be the perfume of my life - I wore it the first time I was kissed, on my wedding day and whenever I need a reassuring reminder that I am a confident, independent and sexy woman I put on a spritz. I am so pleased to find other people who love it too.

It is like an orchestra playing, lots of notes coming and going. It is very strong, very dense, very opulent, right the type of scent I appreciate best. The notes I can smell most distinctly are Ylang Ylang, Jasmin, Carnation or Clove, Tuberose, Sandalwood and Amber. It has a clear duality, actually threeality, very sweet and full on one hand, but on the other it has the carnation hasrshness balancing it, and the woodiness seems to give it an aereal side. It is one of the few scnets I know where sandalwood smells like sandalwood. In most fragrances, sandalwood just smells of common wood, while in itself it is a really precious scent, with a very peculiar and sprecial aereal character, very light and etereal, rising one does not even know from where. Well, in my opinion, that character is totally lost in almost all fragrances. Overall, although the notes are noticeably different, it is very much a scent of the type of Poison and Red Door. I still have several bottles of it, EDT and EDP and do really treasure them. Luca Turin says in 27 years He only came across one person who liked it. Well, I do like it and in much shorter time came across lots of people who also do. Some people forget that we are all different and that taste is a personal matter and try to impose on others their taste. While in a matter like this that is of no importance at all, a frivolity really, and very provincial, in other ways the assumption that you know what is better for other people is at the root of all dictatorships and intolerance in this world.

Its just a delight. I really like perfumes of this era, still full of exuberance and myriads of notes and some real blending and interplay. Its like analogue music in todays digital era. I was happy I was able to find a reasonably priced vintage on eBay to enjoy C’est la Vie again. Its heart shaped bottle with the arteries on top pull out to reveal the juice. There is this beautiful what I call soapiness to this scent, I have not been able to figure out what it is precisely that creates this effect found in C’est la Vie and, for example, Salvador Dali original and Diorella, two very different perfumes in other ways, but I love it, it creates this incredible comfort to a fragrance - a wearable quality like a high quality natural fabric. This is a joyous, brightly fragrance, full of heart - if you like Christian Lacroix’ multicoloured, whimsical but stylish fabrics you will like this. Such a great balance of florals fruits amber and a balsamic quality AND the brightliness of just right proportion of aldehydes. Its a joy.

19. January 2011 This fragrance started this journey for me!!!! I wanted to try it for a long time and had a feeling it has to be good. I was always fascinated by Lacroix ́s fashion, his creativity and admired it deeply. What can i say! I am totally in love with this one! it is very different from C`est La Fete which i also love, but totally got me falling for this! This is such a classy smell, that makes my soul sing! Quite sweet, a bit powderly, i think i will work best on windy autumn or spring days and evenings and best for frosty winter days. Yes, definitly best during winter days and evening which a re filled with snow! Dress up to nines, put your best jewerly on and spoil yourself with this beautiful fragrance on an evening out in the restaurant or at the theatre! C`est La Vie! C ́est ma vie!! I also use it as a bed time fragrance: just a small dap behind my ears gives me very sweet dreams :)

C'est La vie is a fragrance which belongs to after-war time by its spirit. Its bright smell of woman's hairdressers colognes, has design of antique flowery wallpapers and image of feminine woman admiring herself in front of table-dresser while brushing her hair. 100 strokes by natural brush only of course! Beautiful solo of spiced carnation with osmanthus, cheerful, energetic, long-lasting, dancing mood under vintage gramophone C'est La Vie should receive an Oscar from Perfumery Award for such a beautiful vintagy-vintage composition which was made in 90-s (by smells like 50 years earlier) by Edouard Flechier