Le Parfum de Lolita Lempicka

I guess I was born an obsessive sniffer just like so many of you here. I remember my kid-self often wondering how come nobody has made the most beautiful perfume ever, yet. Like, how hard can it be? Why don't they just do it? Like, there must be something so universally pleasant and, well, just absolutely Devine. That kid didn't know any better, but hey she had a vision. And I think that this particular fragrance would finally match that particular vision. It's just so incredibly beautiful. In a kind of universal way, if I may be the judge of that. It's impossible for me to imagine there is anyone alive who wouldn't find it exquisite. I'm trying to think of a real person who nobody could possibly tell is anything but beautiful, regardless of their personal taste and affinities. I don't know, I guess this is Adriana Lima of perfumes. There's a bit of all the influences and origins within, and she ended up looking out-of-this-world pretty. She may or may not be your kind of beauty, but one can't deny she is one. Striking, almost unfair for being real, beautiful. This is LL Le Parfum to me. It's just so beautiful overall that I cannot dissect it or even describe it other than making a comparison to something or someone incredibly pretty. This really is fantasy bottled. I think that the child I was would be satisfied with how "the most beautiful perfume ever" is finally successfully executed. She would probably exclaim proudly "There! You see?". And as a bonus, she would probably adore the very bottle, too. It certainly does match the magic within. It is also the prettiest of them all Lolitas I've got. It doesn't make it my favorite, because I love my "dirty" Lolitas equally, it's simply fairest of them all. More beautiful in terms of being sleek and feminine. It has some sort of syrupy base, unlike the powdery almost dusty woods of Premier and Illusions Noires. It's also less dark, it's brighter and sweeter if you want, and smoother. Definitely creamier. No less complex, but no goth vibe here. She is a real beauty queen.

Le Parfum is a total morpher. The initial wet phase, mid drydown, and deep drydown shift between notes so you get three different perfumes at each phase. The initial wet phase is thick, with an almost boozy sweetness. There is a heaping dose of licorice candy, vanilla extrait, tonka, and extremely fruity violet. It's a bit generic at first, and I feel like I've smelled it elsewhere. But, it is fit for a sugar plum fairy. The mid drydown is where the magic happens, as a surprisingly vivid orchid scent appears. It's an amalgamation of violet, sweet jasmine, and strangely enough, ylang. It reminds me strongly of African Orchid by Olympic Orchids. Intensely sweet, heady, humid, floral. Nothing like the polite blooms in the other LL flankers. The deep drydown is a gorgeous sugared incense. Lots of dry, ambery, labdanum, plus smokey cedar wood incense, all on a bed of vanilla-anise. I absolutely love this phase. While none of the scent smells like Hypnotic Poison EDT, this deep drydown does occasionally remind me of Hypnotic Poison EDP. Le Parfum does perform like a parfum should, lasting and projecting many hours on skin and days on clothing. Two sprays choked me out even during cold weather. It can work in the heat, especially during the mid drydown, but only with a very light hand and buried under clothing. I have to talk about the bottle too. It's super cute. Opaque, metallic, deep, indigo-purple in color, with a cool-toned gold stem. Beautiful, and it fits the scent.

Just picked this up today, it's beautiful! I hated the original as it was all ivy and no cherry on me. I'm really not keen on perfumes that steer toward the greener side so I was pleased to see that wasn't a problem in this one. Yes, you can definitely tell it's an LL, it is very heavy on the licorice and it just has that familiar smell that they all seem to have. It's a cross between licorice, lemon and vanilla to my nose. I can smell the cedar in the background which gives it that magical 'walking through a forest' smell. But here's the thing- I am not a huge lover of violets and in this, it seems to stay almost hidden to me, unless it just melds so well that I can barely smell it. This pleases me immensely! Obviously, as with most LL's, it could smell totally different on others' skin and the violet note could be huge! I can really smell the lemon in this, which took me by surprise as I thought it would be a less obvious note. This gives it quite a fresh smell at first, till the benzoin comes through and gives it that warmer, comforting feel. It has lasted all day on me so far, but the sillage is only moderate, it acts more like a skin scent after the first hour, but again- it could be different on others as my skin does tend to eat perfume. All in all, a very beautiful perfume with that obvious LL smell behind it. Quite hard to get hold of by all accounts, so I am very happy I have managed to cop hold of a bottle!!

I am quite surprised by this perfume. I usually stay on the side of buying unisex or more masculine fragrances because I don't prefer overly floral or too sweet compositions. I got this as a sample with an order. I actually kind of love it. It is floral as I can smell the violet and jasmine quite well, but it is balanced with the anise and other more "masculine" or dry elements. I think those spicy elements keep it from seeming too sickly sweet or the assault of cloying sweetness along with the floral bomb it otherwise could be. I noticed that the sillage was pretty good as I kept getting waves of smell from it. (I sprayed from the sample, just one spray, and it was still pretty potent.) Also I think the longevity is pretty good as well. It seems like a good value overall with good performance. I will be considering getting some after my sample runs out!

This is the jewel of the whole line. While the tops give you a bit of citrus as it dries down it's intensely sweet, creamy & spicy because it focuses more on the vanilla and incense of the myrrh on the base..oh what a gem this really is! I can't recommend it enough. I have 2-3 back up's of this that's how good it is. It comes in a smaller 1.7oz size since it's in pure parfum form. It really doesn't focus that much on the licorice as much as the others do, but I really love this for being so different. This is the most sophisticated and most mature scent out of the bunch besides the deeper Minuit Noir. The bottle is a deep shiny plum purple and the box is pretty matching the bottle. It lasts a long time to anywhere from 6-8 hours strong and then on your clothes even longer for days. I never want to be without this