Oh I tried to take a good photograph of this bottle, but it defeated me. It’s very understated, you see, in the flesh. Beautifully designed, but understated. So it just looks like a boring, plain bottle in my photo! Do you know, I hated this fragrance when I first tried it? Lancome’s La Vie Est Belle struck no chords with me whatsoever. I thought it was sickly and old lady-ish. I think, for me, it’s the Iris that does that. Anyone else have problems with Iris? To be fair, Iris wasn’t actually the first thing that I picked up when I smelt this fragrance for the first time; I got Jasmine and Vanilla. A huge, whacking great hit of Vanilla. Vanilla isn’t really my perfume element of choice – years of girls spraying Impulse in the school changing rooms killed Vanilla for me.

But wait. Because La Vie Est Belle is fast becoming one of my most-loved perfumes. (I’m hoping that lots of people hate it so that it doesn’t become too mainstream! But it will – it can’t not. It’s too nice.) It warms to this beautiful, snuggly, sexy scent that is sweet and powdery and fruity all at the same time. It appeals to me in the same way as Thierry Mugler’s Angel does, except that I like this much better. It’s more classic, I think. This fragrance from Lancome is actually version eighty-thousand and twenty-seven (or something) so it’s been a while in the making. Beautiful.

What do you think? Love it? Hate it?

La Vie Est Belle starts at £39 for 30ml with free delivery from FeelUnique.com