La Vie Est Belle L’Absolu

This was a blind buy a few weeks ago. I finally caved and ordered it off the Lancôme website, since I could not find it in any of the stores here in Ottawa, Canada. I have the original LVEB, which I absolutely love. This has been screaming my name for months, especially after reading all of the reviews you lovely ladies have thoughtfully written. I really needed to wear this a few times to properly put my thoughts into words. I strongly feel this perfume needs a good hour to really fuse with your skin. Others have mentioned they smelled an odd top note, to which I wholeheartedly agree. To my nose, it's a tinny, almost metallic smell that is rather unpleasant. This odd top note lasts for a good half hour to 45 minutes, after which I am left with an absolutely stunning, rich, heavenly scent. I wouldn't say this is ground-breakingly different than the original LVEB. No, they are of the same ilk, but L'absolu is richer, and with more depth and luxury. It's still very sweet, but the sweet isn't syrupy, like the original can sometimes be. Instead, it's a super rich, praline dream, enveloping you in the most heavenly cloud of deliciousness. It smells of absolute quality and luxury - you are most certainly getting what you pay for with this beauty. On me, the projection isn't as enormous as many of the votes here. It was fairly heavy for the first few hours, after which the projection became moderate to heavy. I get wafts of this juice all day long, and others can definitely smell this on you (but it doesn't enter a room before you do). On clothes, it lasts for days and days, and on my skin, a good 12+ hours. I should also mention that the colour of the fragrance is nowhere near the picture on Fragrantica - in fact, it's not pink at all. It's very similar to the original, except with L'absolu, it's a richer, deeper peach colour. Overall, this is a gorgeous fragrance, and I am very happy I bought it. It's a beautiful addition to my collection, and if you're a fragrance collector like me, and own and love the original LVEB - you need this in your life! EDIT - October 26,2016 I've been told by several people now this is actually indeed very strong and can be a room filler. I got a little trigger happy this morning and sprayed two sprays on me, and my coworker said she could smell me from a mile away. That was awkward. I would highly recommend you spray this at LEAST an hour before you have to be somewhere. That first hour is seriously strong, and even after that first hour, it projects quite strongly and leaves an obvious trail. I still adore this though, and adore it even more for its strong projection. So many fragrances do a disappearing act on me, and I like the option of having others smell my fragrance if I want them to. Only now I know to go easy on the button - woops! This is even better than I originally thought - smells incredible and of pure quality.

Alright, I could not resist trying this one in the end, and now I have to say, this just blows all the other versions of LVEB out of the water. The start is not great and smells like stale candy for awhile (give it 20-30mins), but after that's gone...goodness! This version is as potent as the original and actually PROJECTS until your next shower. It was still going strong on me after 12 hours! On me, it is just as gourmand as well, just as thick, very similar, but smoother than the original, more velvety (the cashmere wood I guess?), rounded around the edges...imagine the texture of soft vanilla fudge. Rose makes a glorious addition to this scent, and iris is amped up in this absolu version (whereas in the original, the floral note I detected more clearly was the orange blossom), I love that, it gives the fragrance a more decadent, luxurious feel. The iris and rose combo gives it a very sensual, buttery 'lipstick' vibe, except this lipstick is a rich Barbie pink hue and made of edible ingredients like praline, vanilla fudge and blackcurrants. I tried one spray of this on a warm night and it's beautiful. The original on the other hand, I would only wear when it's very cold because of the patchouli, as much as I love that one, it can be headache-inducing when worn any other time of the year. For a pink-candy scent, this is as refined and as sophisticated as it gets, and wearable enough all year round (go easy with it, you don't need more than 2 sprays), I can't repeat this enough, the quality is EXCELLENT, quality-wise, it is better than any mainstream Chanel that has been released (or reformulated) within the past few years (or past decade!) for sure (it completely obliterated any trace of Chanel no5 edp I had generously spritzed on just prior to testing it), and it's better than some of those pricier niche gourmands I've tried which either smell great but don't last, or they last forever but do not smell quite right. I LOVE it and urge gourmand lovers to atleast give it a try(particularly those who are looking for quality, real quality), do not just dismiss it as another flanker. I immediately bought it in the largest available size, I get the feeling that this version is not going to stick around for long, so grab it while you still can. It may have just been released, but I am already considering stocking up, because we all know that it is always the good stuff, the 'real' perfumes, that get pulled off the shelves too soon or watered down and reformulated.

This one is the best of LVEB line IMO. LVEB L'Absolu is more refined, deeper and even longer lasting than the original. It's like a rich, scrumptious dessert, one you should indulge in! At the same time, it's elegant and flirty. However, I must say that some of the notes are incorrectly listed here on Fragrantica, and one particular note was omitted in this case - patchouli. According to Lancôme official website (USA), the notes in L'Absolu are: Transversal Notes: Iris, Fine delicacies accord Top Notes: Pear, Blackberry Middle Notes: Pallida Iris concrete, Jasmine Sambac and Orange Blossom absolutes Base Notes: Heart of Patchouli essence, Vanilla, Cistus Labdanum. On Lancôme France website the notes in L'Absolu are: Notes transversales : Iris, Accord Gourmand Notes de tête : Poire, Mûre Notes de cœur : Concrète d'Iris Pallida, Absolus de Fleur d'oranger et de Jasmin sambac Notes de fond : Essence de cœur de Patchouli So, on the one hand the official websites mention patchouli as a base note in this fragrance (and indeed, whenever I tested L'Absolu I could definitely detect the patchouli note in it!). On the other hand, neither one of the official websites mentions the cashmere wood and rose (which are listed on Fragrantica) in L'Absolu. Therefore, I think Fragrantica should update the perfume pyramid to fit the official formula of this fragrance.

Flankers. Original - Like Intense - My nose reject it Absolu - Absolute Love I like the Original one, but it feels like there something not complete in it. Not sure what is it but L'absolu complete everything that the Original lacks of ! It's like a fully completed version of La Vie Est Belle line. Everything I love is there. The longevity, the sillage, the projection, the sweet yet sophisticated no tacky smells at all, the sweet bitter smooth but not too bitter smells. It's a love for me !! This is a one squirt per day kind of perfume. It will fully supply you the beautiful scent for the whole day up until night. Trust me on this. I thought I will love the intense version because it has good amounts of LIKE & LOVE fans, but my nose don't agree with me. It reminds me of a dusty, old damp wood in an old abandoned house smells. I haven't own this, but this will be my monthly perfume purchase for Dec after payday that's for sure plus this will be my first Lancome perfume ! And yes this will be on my 2nd favorite perfume rotation too. The magic, went to Sephora last night and get a squirt of this on the paper tester strip put it in my room and imagine just one squirt can scented the whole room air. That's how remarkably this perfume is. This is a must get perfume to be added in the personal collection.

This is the queen of all gourmand perfume in my opinion. It's like she is the new heiress of throne in gourmand sweet perfume kingdom which in the previous was owned by the legendary Shalimar Guerlain. This perfume reach the finest and break the highest level of gourmandish scent where the Black Opium YSL, Si Giorgio Armani, Flower bomb V&R trying to achieve but never gotten to reach that level. Another creation of gourmandish sweet perfume were created which I think closest to the finest as La Vie Est Belle l'absolu is also by Lancome. It's La Nuit Tresor. This also smells very amazing only that this one has the Rose fluffiness to it. Smells as good as L'absolu, but L'absolu has something that La Nuit Tresor don't have. Extreme seductiveness ! Wear this and leave your trail and the people who smelled this will automatically force to glance or simply wanted to know who's that goddess of seduction. Even if they don't want to because of their envy on you. But it's already too late, because once they have sniff this, it will entering their smells nerve sense and trigger their brain and force to react and stare at you. They surrendered. Just one squirt, yes one squirt is enough to bewitch or hypnotize the crowd. It's Magic, seductive and remember Life Is Beautiful in absolute way.