La Belle Fleur Terrible

Okay so I've posted here about this scent before. It is my favorite fragrance ever. My signature scent. I bought a bunch of backups when it was released. But, BIG NEWS! Yes, Macys and other retailers did rerelease a limited batch in late 2023. Many came in a plastic & cardboard box instead of the can. I bought one. Same exact juice. I just tore it open out of fear from seeing another review saying the Macys release was reformulated and smells different but mine smells exactly the same as the last 3 full bottles of original release I finished. However, it looks like it's getting officially released for real later on this year (2024). Theres already another page on fragrantica for it. Looks like it went through a slight reformulation. I can't speak to the quality, but it appears they switched the water lily note for lotus. Frankly, I always have thought Lily and Lotus are quite similar smelling, and all the other notes match, so I'm hoping it will basically be the same scent. Wondering if this had something to do with the fragrance restrictions that recently took effect in Europe - I know some lily of the valley notes were banned. The name of this scent is changing also, it no longer will be fleur terrible, it's now named "La Belle Paradise Garden." Frankly, I liked the old name, as *my* name is the name of a type of flower, so it made me laugh a bit when I wore it to think of myself as a "terrible flower." Same bottle, mostly the same packaging, some websites are showing this will come in a can instead. It appears that it will more or less be the same juice. Hasn't officially been rereleased in the US yet but I am finding a few foreign websites selling it (many in Brazil along with a few Brazillian reviewers who claim they've had it for sale in that country for more than a month already). I'm waiting until the official US release as I just spent all my perfume money blind buying other Quentin Bisch frags. I have problems, lol. Happy shopping, frag heads! Also, just to be obnoxious and throw my 2-cents in regarding a few other recent reviews I've seen for this scent: This is one of the longest lasting fragrances I own. The original La Belle only lasts 2 hrs max on me and the La Belle Le Parfum lasts about 6-10 hrs. This lasts 12hrs+. I can smell it on clothing several days later. It isn't a very loud, sharp, "LOOK AT ME" type scent, so it won't slap you across the face to remind you it's there. It's a very powerful skin scent (legere), more of an "aura" that radiates 1-3 feet or more off you, but feels intimate and cozy. In warmer temperatures this smells a bit more tropical to my nose and in the winter, the powdery iris stands out more, so that may explain inconsistencies in the reviews. It sticks to my hair for more days at a time and I can still smell it after I shampoo my hair. I'm usually a big oversprayer and frequently complain of poor performance or my inability to smell soft subtle frags, but this is one of the top 3 best performing fragrances in my 100+ scent collection. I only require 6-8 sprays for this to form a scent bubble around me all day and into the evening with a drydown I still smell in the morning. Almost every other perfume I own requires 10-20 sprays to get them to last half this long. Occasionally I will go a bit nose blind to this if I wear it too much day after day, but every time I think it's mostly disappeared, a stranger will approach me from 5+ feet away to ask what scent I'm wearing. I have people interrupt their conversations to stop me and talk about how good I smell. It's my #1 most complimented fragrance I've ever owned, and I've only owned it for 2 years and worn perfumes for 25+ years. Clearly not for everyone, though I am baffled by the criticisms.

This was on my wish list for awhile but the prices were too jacked up, so I finally just received a bottle I scored at a reasonable price. I like it, though it's a bit of a strange fragrance I know some people wouldn't be super into. It smells very nice. The notes listed here are incomplete, as with most JPG scents. Upon spraying, I got a spicy fig scent. I think this is the note some are calling "coconut," as many people seem to think fig and coconut smell the same, but my nose reads them as quite different. I'd say it's a fig similar to womanity, as another reviewer mentioned, but more of a common spicy fig that I've sampled in a few other scents (Voluspa's Forbidden Fig, Katy Perry Indie, Angel Eau Croisere 2020). The fig mellows out pretty quick and transitions to a spicy vanilla scent that reminds me a lot of the original La Belle & La Belle Le Parfum. The spices are pretty much identical. I love the spices in those fragrances, La Belle Le Parfum is one of my fav scents. Once it dries down a bit more, the powdery play-doh nutty iris begins to come through, giving it a warm spicy nutty fragrance that I think is where the Hypnotic Poison comparisons come in. Theres a sweet aquatic water lily note that plays in the background giving it a fruity tropical feel. There's a lot of different notes that don't seem cohesive when I try to list them, but I can pick them out separately and they blend together to make a unique fragrance. I'd say overall, it comes off like a fruity spiced fig scent, which to some others, would come off as more of a fruity spiced coconut scent. It does remind me of the original La Belle, but the lily makes this read as more spiced tropical fruity and less like the spiced pear fall/winter vibe of the original La Belle. It's a gentle fragrance. I feel like I could wear it all year as it doesn't read as purely sunscreen or summer, also spicy fig scents tend to make me think of fall and winter more. The iris gives this a chic maturity that breaks it away from the youthfulness of the common teen/20something fragrances. Though it definitely reads like a La Belle flanker to me, it almost reminds me more of Classique in the way JPG made a sexy intimate scent that feels more suited to grown women than young girls. It's a lovely scent. Sticks close to the skin, but lasts and radiates nicely for a long time. It has GREAT longevity. It lasts on clothing for more than 8 hours, and my sweaters smell amazing sprayed with this, giving me a nice scent bubble. If I spray before bed, I wake up smelling like I just sprayed this an hour ago. It lasts way longer than the original La Belle on my skin (OG La Belle only lasts an hour or two max on my skin, which is why I prefer the Le Parfum flanker). Hopefully it will be rereleased, it's a great addition to my collection and I like it a lot more than other scents with a similar note profile. I feel like I was trying to find something sweet to layer with angel eau croisere to make it smell more like this. I will be buying a backup bottle once I can find another one for regular retail price.

Update: Performance in warmer weather is amazing. The temperature has been 71 to 75°F for the past 3 days, I spilled some on some paper towels while I was making decants and the paper towels smelled so good that I did not want to throw them away— figured it would be a nice air freshener. lol. Every time I walked by that spot I’d smell it, today is day 4, walked by and went “wow what’s that? It smells amazing.“ It was this fragrance on the paper towels, projecting like crazy. 🟢🟢🟢 As promised, here's a bit more detail after a few hours of wearing JPG La Belle Fleur Terrible eau de parfum legere. Currently exclusive to The Fragrance Shop in the UK, couldn't find it in any other stores/sites, not sure where else it's being sold in Europe. I don't know if and when it would come to the US. Notes per JPG website: Iris, blue water lily, vanilla, ginger, aquatic notes. Opening-- initial burst of sweetness with a mild saltiness in there as well. Opening is floral which I'm assuming is the blue Water Lily (I suspect there are more florals in this that haven't been disclosed yet). There is also something I'm suspecting is the ginger that gives what I can describe as a bit of effervescence-- imagine chopping up fresh ginger, that burst of freshness that tingles in your nostrils. I don't smell ginger, I get the 'effect' of ginger in a sense. Iris shows up about the 15-25 minute mark and sticks around till the dry down but this is a very shy Iris, cushioned in again, a shy vanilla equally balanced with aquatic/watery notes in the dry down. This is 'legere' in every sense of the word, no one note is loud or overpowering. I applied 2 sprays on my inner wrist. It is overall a light fragrance, with moderate projection. Becomes a skin scent in about 3 hours but I expect it will last longer in hotter weather (Temp is mid 40s F today), on clothing or with overspraying. This would be great for hot summer days. If you hated the previous La Belles, good news, this has little in common with them. If you hate the typical beachy fragrances with coconut and yellow florals and sunscreen vibes, this might be your summer go-to.

I came back here to just say I think this is my favorite fragrance ever. I own hundreds of perfumes and have tried hundreds more. I'm 37 and have been into scents since I was 11. I don't LOVE all the same scents & designers & follow the same trends as most people, I have a quirky taste even though I own plenty of "basic" common scents. But I absolutely love this. I'm mad I slept on sampling it so long. I ordered 6 bottles and have still been hunting for more. Reviewers are all over the place when describing this scent, so let me jump in and add a bit more chaos: I find this scent isn't a dupe or super close smelling, but does somewhat remind me of JHAG Sunny Side Up and Katy Perry Indie. Both are sort of sweet, spicy, figgy coconut musky wood smelling with. When I wear Fleur Terrible, I think the combo of iris and vetiver give it a similar expensive femme-leaning unisex sweet and spicy woodsy vibe. I think this scent smells warm in the winter and cool in the summer. It's so versatile, I can wear it any time. But I do organize my frags by scent/mood similarities, and this sits with SSU and Indie and a couple of my other fav woody scents. SSU was a fav scent of mine but tended to lack the strength I require and would turn to pencil shavings at times on me. Indie was nice, but very weak and lacked complexity. LBFT has similar notes I appreciated from those scents, but with added sweetness, better quality and performance, and La Belle spiciness. Also, this frag lasts very long. Much longer than the OG La Belle and about twice as long as LB Le Parfum. It lasts for days on clothing, and makes me save my dirty laundry for sniffing. It was such a winner. I haven't seen any actual dupes or smell-alikes, the suggested ones here all seem very different from what I've tried, Please oh please bring it back!!

Blind buy influenced by Youtube. I will say the canister and bottle made me happy on their own. I love JPG classique and always have a bottle. I do not own any JPG La Belle other than this one. I was not expecting much but this is such a beautiful watery scent but not in the vein of Acqua de Gio. This is a watery floral. Florals are tough with me but this juice smells better on skin than in hair or on clothing which is very atypical for me. I think this will stand up to heat and shine in it actually. On first spray I thought meh, it's ok but after about 5 minutes in melded with my skin and became beautiful. In my hair and on the robe I'm wearing it does not smell as good. The atomizer on this is sooo good btw. I smelled rootbeer or Dr. Pepper on initial blast but it faded fast. The aquatic note is very present and takes a side seat to whatever DNA is there. I'm assuming it is "La Belle" but I have never smelled it. I dare say I can detect a smidge of classique in there. On my skin this was an initial "pretty" but bloomed into beautiful. I purchased the 3.5 oz for about $135 off Amazon and I think that is a good deal. I was expecting a small bottle tbh. Husband said "smells good" as he buried his head in my chest. Husband does not like or understand my fragrance journey most of the time. If you can get it just do so. Unless you hate watery florals, this is so worth the purchase.