Terre de Lumiere

Very natural luxurious sweet smell. My lovely boyfriend knows I love perfumes so he surprised me with a date to the local L'occitane store, I asked the woman working there for a gourmand scent and she showed me this. It kind of reminds me of Red Door by Elizabeth Arden, but a more luxurious version and not as powdery. I got the travel/purse size because its a lot cheaper compared to the $90 bottle which is more of a commitment, L'occitane sadly doesn't do sample sizes so I couldn't test it with my chemistry/dry down; but I think when I finish this I'll get the full bottle. I can see myself wearing this in any season, probably not much in the summer but it's good for day or night, date night or school. The dry down is a honey/lavender smell and I love it, if you like Red Door I believe you would love this. I think the price is very reasonable because it lasts a long time, has a unique but familiar/homey/comforting smell, and the dry down doesn't change a lot from the initial spray. The initial spray you can smell the bergamot note so clearly and that's one of my favorite smells, so if you don't like bergamot I would definitely try to test this first. Update: WOW, I think this is my new favorite everyday fragrance. So I am a housecleaner right? And I wore this to work (applied only on my pressure points) and cleaned two houses, a oven and a refrigerator, I sweat plenty through the day and had my hands in trash/toilets/greasy ovens and when I tell you I was flabbergasted when I smelled my wrist a minute ago, still there and smelled delicious, the dry down is a realistic and beautiful lavender and honey smell, just as gorgeous as the initial spray. I wore it on my pressure points today to test the longevity and wow am I impressed, L'occitane I don't know what you're doing, but PLEASE keep doing it, you make the best smelling floral scents I have ever tried, I used to hate floral scents but you've changed my mind, thank you L'occitane, thank you.

Well, I kind of didn't expect to love this to high heaven but I do, so shame on me. Why is it so expensive? I am not a devoted collector (yet), nor do I like to splurge too much (have tried, hangover of guilt afterwards), so I am torn. Send help. This is truly different from the usual L'Occitane offerings, which nowadays tend towards the flowery-fresh-dewy route, and I must say, L'Occitane does this very well. The natural feel of their perfumes is what draws me to the house in the first place. The compositions are not overblended, they are not too 'perfumey', they pay homage to their respective elements. I have several L'Occitane miniatures and they all, while unique in their own way, retain this signature pristine touch. This release retains the aspect, and that is truly an admirable thing. Terre de Lumiere is promoted as a 'gourmand', a 'first' to the house (I would object to that, as I can remember Ambre and some of their older stuff). I would not describe it as such. It is sweet enough, but not gourmand sweet as I understand it. It is a breezy sweetness, not candy-like at all. This perfume plays on the theme of lavender honey, and that is what I get in all its glory, a wheeze of a natural scene. In the opening, a soft, spicy and very natural lavender pops out, quickly followed by a parade of sweet pollen. The lavender fades somewhere in the first hour or so, and you are treated to a honey and almond feast with some light musk for the rest of the journey. It is really that simple. There is ample beauty in this simplicity. Projection is good for the first hour, later sticks somewhat close. Longevity is quite good, it does not altright disappear, it just melts into the skin. I suppose I will get this sometime. I'd like to. I need a good occasion and a great deal on top of that.

I absolutely adore this perfume, it's my signature scent right now. For so long, I've been looking for a young, fresh, and unique gourmand scent. Most that I would smell would either be too heavy or too candy- or cupcake-like for my taste. But when I went to an international L'Occitane store and tried this one out, I instantly fell in love. This is such a gorgeous, beautiful perfume, and I've personally never smelled anything like this before. The beginning is so fresh and slightly spicy, and I could already smell the lavender just from the initial spray which I love. About an hour later, it develops into this beautiful lavender honey scent with hints of almond. It's so so gorgeous, and I would not stop smelling my arm every time I would put it on. My friend described this scent as "pure happiness," and I couldn't agree more. Also, this pairs perfectly with the L'Occitane almond line with the bitter almond base note. This perfume showed me how much I love almond notes in my fragrances. The Terre de Lumiere line seems to be discontinued at the moment, which is incredibly disappointing since there seems to be so many fans of this collection. However, there are rumors that it's coming back, so let's hope it reaches the states soon!

The only gourmand fragrance I have ever loved, Terre de Lumiere somehow takes honey and vanilla and turns it into warm, golden sunlight instead of a cloying, cakey sugarbomb. It opens with a zesty citrus followed by green notes and florals. Then a bit of rose (and perhaps a hint of woodiness?) follows to add depth. Underlying it all is honey and sandalwood, with vanilla only hours later after the main notes have faded away. The sweetness here is like the warm coziness of a favorite sweater, “cashmere” at its best. The name, Terre de Lumiere, perfectly captures the combination of golden glow and the heady sense of walking through a blossoming grove without the indolic nature of many floral scents. Definitely something to try if you’re not a gourmand fan but kind of wish you were. Edit: I was so impatient to smell this again that I layered it over the Chanel Coromandel I was already wearing and wow — the combination of incense and this warm honey scent is just incredible! I love both fragrances even more now. I’ve never gotten into layering before but I will definitely try this combination again.

I tried this perfume in store yesterday. Admittedly I was partly swept up by the story- this is a fragrance based on the twilight hour in Provence, with gorgeous visuals drenched in golden sunlight. The price point is high for L'Occitane, but for that you get elegant packaging and a fragrance that seems more high-end than I was expecting. The top notes are bergamot, ambrette seed, and pink pepper. This starts you off with some citrus but it is warm rather than sour. The heart notes are "lavender honey". This is what evokes the fields of Provence, and the perfume develops to become floral and a little sweet- but the honey element prevents it seeming powdery. After a short while the base notes start to come through powerfully, with acacia flower, bitter almond, tonka bean, and white musk. This was the point when I fell in love with the fragrance- it has that soft, warm, cashmere sensation which makes me feel like it would work well for Autumn or Winter. The fragrance lasts a fair few hours, and to me it was not until the end that it faded to more generic sweetness.