How to choose a fragrance + La Vie Est Belle L’Eau Légère.

If you haven’t smelt the original La Vie Est Belle by Lancôme, now might be a good time to do it. In my opinion LVEB was one of the most interesting scents realised last year. Lancôme has just launched a sister fragrance La Vie Est Belle Legérè.

Lancôme says it’s a lighter more luminous version of the La Vie Est Belle l’eau de parfum. It still has it’s distinctive sweetness, but not so powerful. You will still find it has a tasty iris though but with added veil of white musk.

I love the original so I’m not surprised I like the new one too. I find it less sweet and just a tiny bit fresher. It’s not L’eau de toalate! La Vie Est belle Legere is still an ‘eau du parfum. If you had a chance to try the LVEB l’eau de parfum and found it overpowering but there was still something you liked about it, I’d suggest you go down to the counter and try the new La Vie Est Belle Legérè.
It could also be a great day time fragrance, where the original, the slightly more intense La Vie Est Belle, could be a going out scent.

So how to choose your perfect scent?

There’re only a few rules really.

• It’s good to know what you like. Think what scents you loved the most in the past. Than tell the consultant about the fragrances you liked in the past to help them to show you fragrances that have some similarities. It will save your nose from a dozen of scents that are not up your street.

• Your nose is only able to smell about 3 different scents and then it’s not able to distinguish all the differences. There’s a trick though you can use. When you smelt a few scents sniffing onto some coffee beens helps to neutralise all the scents and unblocks your noses sense of smell. If there’s no coffee on counter for you to sniff, the best thing you can do is try your two favourite ones on your skin.

• Most fragrances will smell much better on the skin than on the blotter. Leave it for 10 to 15 minutes to settle, especially if you’re finding it difficult to decide on one. It will allow the top notes to settle and alcohol to evaporate, giving you a better indication how this scent will smell on you.

I loved the original LVEB so much, that I’m currently on my second bottle of it. I’ve had so many complements when wearing this fragrance that I’m quite excited to start using my La Vie Est Belle Légère, but I feel guilty to just retire the other one so I will probably use one for the day and other for the evening.

Fragrance is a very individual thing. So don’t make your decision on someone elses judgement. If you love a scent and your sister/friend doesn’t so much, it doesn’t mean it’s not lovely. She/he just has different taste than you and that’s fine. My sister will never go for a scent, which is sweet. I on the other hand love a bit powdery and flowery scents and don’t mind the sweet ones too. I love La Vie Est Belle and get enormous amount of complements when I wear it. She finds it far to sweet and it’s a big no for her. The moral of the story is to have a spritz, have a sniff and chose what tickles your fancy!

Have you got any tips on how to choose a fragrance? Please share them in the comments below.