Belle Époque

[Ina Garten Davita]

Belle Epoque: "The Pretty Era", France's Golden Time: an age of beauty, innovation and peace in France that lasted from the 19th Century through the first World War and gave birth to the cabaret, the cancan, and the cinema as well as the Impressionist and Art Nouveau movements. Sweet opium, Lily of the Valley, vanilla, mandarin and red sandalwood.

First Impression: Sweet vanilla and sandalwood.

Second Impression: Oh, I'm in love with this. It so perfectly fits the description. The notes blend so artfully together, the sandalwood plays harmoniously with the florals and vanilla. Just gorgeous. This is a light scent, perfect for slathering. This has much more depth than Tushnamatay.

Final Analysis: Big bottle for sure. It's a keeper.

[Lucretia]

at first I get sandalwood and lily of the valley (both of which I loove).

Then I'm hit head on with opium and a hint of vanilla. Very light and airy, but opium make it a bit heady at the same time. I feel like I could get high just from smelling my wrist, which I seem to be unable to refrain from doing.

 

I can totally see some elegant and sexed up, taudry yet glamorous, belle epoque era lady wearing this while living it up in an opium den or going to a tea party. It really has two aspects to it I think. The opium and sandalwood is a bit more sinster, while the lily of the valley and vanilla are very innocent.

I love it, I mean really, this would be a perfect straight out of the shower scent for everyday use.

[Caitfish]

Belle Epoque

 

In the Bottle:

Dominant notes: Sandalwood, opium and lily. Can't detect any mandarin yet.

Impressions: Hmm... this smells very fresh. Almost soapy.

 

Initial On:

Dominant notes: The sandalwood begins to dominate unfortunately, and it stays that way. Usually, I would continue in the review, but there is no need to. This settles into sandalwood land and stays there. How sad. I really, really wanted to get some vanilla and mandarin out of this, but nothing.

 

For someone else to love, I guess!

[linaerys]

I love this. The vanilla and sandalwood deepen and warm the florals and make them stick around. This is a sophisticated perfume. It makes me think of champagne, lilies, golden lace dresses, cheeks flushed from wine. Glad I bought a 5mL!

[Gemini noir]

This is an absolutely gorgeous and slightly decadent, sexy floral. It's sophisticated but still fun and free-spirited ... and maybe a bit wanton. I kept thinking about Belle Epoque the next day. I did a lousy job at remembering what notes were in it, or being able to pick them out, I just knew I loved whatever they were. An instant favourite.

[wolfie13]

In the bottle: Smells strongly of sandalwood and lily of the valley

 

Wearing: The mandarin really comes to the fore on me, which is surprising. The sandalwood, lily and opium blend together as a background to the mandarin. I don't really get any vanilla from this at all.

 

Overall, it has a light feel, the floral and citrus giving it a spring/summer/daytime aspect - the other notes giving it more depth and more of a "vintage" feeling than

your average department store floral of this type.

 

Nice, but not really me. I think I'd like it better if more of the sandalwood and vanilla made more of an appearance on me.

Edited January 25, 2005 by wolfie13

[ViolentKitten]

A bright and definitely pretty floral scent. Belle Epoque puts about a lovely aura, but unfortunately, until it dries down, something in it makes me sneeze, I'm guessing it's either the sweet opium or Lily of the Valley. The opium and vanilla are very sweet and reminiscent of Regan on me, but not as rounded and soft, as it has different florals surrounding it, and the sandalwood which also comes through very lightly, adding a gentle woods. Sometimes I feel I get a hint of jasmine too. As it dries down, it mellows out into a floral with a warm, orangey feel from the mandarin I think (though I can't discern it as that). Not a favourite, but a lovely floral all the same.

Edited December 29, 2004 by ViolentKitten

[Theravada]

Belle Epoque is one of those OMFGBPAL scents. I just can't rave about it enough

 

This reminds me of Hakkotsu just enough so that I am no longer so broken hearted about it being discontinued. It has that same gorgeous Lily of the Valley note that I love. It is one of the very few floral notes that I don't find icky. But here Beth mixes it with red sandalwood instead of white sandalwood so the dryness that many people didn't enjoy in Hakkotsu isn't an issue in this blend.

 

The vanilla note is not overly sweet or cloying for those of you who don't enjoy that in a scent. It is very, very subtle. This would make a fantastic spring/summer scent. It's also a good every day scent because it is very light and cheery.

 

This is just beautiful. I see a 10ml of this for me in the very, very near future.

 

ETA: The 10ml has been ordered and will be in my hot little paws very soon! Yum yum!

Edited January 27, 2005 by Theravada

[ipb]

i haven't tried it on yet, and with all the sniffing i've done, its quite possible my nose has quit on me, but i smell NOTHING in the bottle even though i see the yellow-tinged oil inside. i shall try again tomorrow, and update accordingly...

 

day2

 

in the bottle: verrrrrry light. and sweet. i really can only smell it when it's moving. i'm not sure if it's vanilla or the sweet opium that i'm smelling, but it's very faint -- i can see why i smelled nothing yesterday.

 

wet: it's still that faint sweetness. hardly there. i can't smell it enough to pick it apart. i rubbed it in my skin and added some more and i still can't smell it more than a few inches away.

 

drying: the sandalwood peeps out, but it's still very faded and light.

 

dry: more of the same.

 

 

conclusion: what i can smell is nice, but it's so light that i had to use a huge amount, rubbing it into my skin and adding mre, before i could smell it on me. and i'm NOT a slatherer, my skin's on the dry side so just a little oil sinks right in usually. i may use this to help tone down the queen as her sandalwood can get quite agressive, but otherwise, it's going in the swap pile.

[phaedrine]

This one is very pretty!

 

In the bottle, and for the first bit on, it is as the other reviews have said, sandalwood and lily of the valley, warmed by some very subtle vanilla.

 

It doesn't last very long on me, which makes me a bit sad. After 4 hours, all I had was a very faint, sweet mandarin scent left. I reapplied, and now, not quite two hours later, it's going fast.

 

Still, a lovely blend.

[orangepoppy]

My nose is not altogether familiar with lily of the valley, so my first impression was "ooo, honeysuckle!" which makes me think of summers as a kid roaming along the vine-bordered stream that ran behind all the houses in the neighborhood, stopping to pull the stamen out of a blossom here and there to get the little drop of nectar out.

 

Applied to my wrist it goes a bit sweeter for a moment, then the sweetness becomes tempered by the sandalwood once dry. After a few minutes, I can barely smell it at all. I'm going to save this and try it again in the summer when I favor light scents, and perhaps it will have better staying power. But first, I think I'll do some slathering. The orange is coming out for me now. This is so lovely! It's very happy, feminine and fun.

 

ADDED June 22:

 

I'm so glad I tried Belle Epoque today. It's really lovely for a hot summer day like this one will certainly be. It's clean and fresh without being ozoney or soapy - I'm supposing that's the attributes of lily of the valley. I love how vanilla and sandalwood complement each other and there's just enough mandarin to make this orange-lover smile.

[lorajc]

I've been wearing this all day, and at this point, I'm undecided on it. I'm not generally a floral person and the lillies in this are the prominent note. I can't detect the vanilla or mandarin, but I think I can smell the opium which gives this depth and strengthens it. I put quite a bit on this morning because of an above reviewer stating this was weak, but I actually think it is quite strong. Right now, when sniffing my wrist, I just get a muted opium/lily scent. I thought this would be warmer and softer with the vanilla but I think the opium keeps it sharp on me.

 

ETA: After I had this on for many hours, in the last part of the drydown, you could smell the vanilla and touch of mandarin but at that point, it was almost gone. It seems to grow on me each time I sniff it too.

Edited January 4, 2005 by lorajc

[Belladonnastrap]

A very lovely and sweet lily and sandalwood scent however the sandalwood turns the scent into a bit headshoppy for me. Its a very nice floral but if you're not a fan of lily you may not like it. I get NO vanilla at all as I wear this....it actually reminds me of a stronger more potent version of Queen of Hearts

[lunalight7]

Belle Epoque is very pretty but I do not detect vanilla or snadlewood at all....only light, soapy, flowers. It smells like a fine French milled soap. The scent is VERY faint and I can barely smell it if a inhale deeply from my wrist. It might appreciate this more if I could detect other notes and if it had more staying power...after 15 minutes, it's almost gone... I will try it again.

[miss apple]

Belle Epoque - I admit that I bought this mostly for the name. It's my favorite period for art and design so it immediately piqued my interest. In the bottle it's a light sweet floral and no specific notes stand out.

 

Once on, it's very soft and a bit powdery. I'm mostly smelling a mixture of vanilla and sandalwood and maybe a hint of lily. Something gives it an exotic edge, a whisper of decadance, the opium maybe? It's all quite lovely and I'm glad I decided to buy a big bottle of this.

[nevermore]

This is nothing like what I expected, but I love it anyway. On me, Belle Epoque is a quite light vanilla/sandalwood, with a touch of something insense-y that I assume is the opium. I was expecting more floral, but I can always layer it with my lily of the valley eau de toilette to make it a little stronger. I think this is the perfect everyday sort of scent for me - not too strong or too dark. I'm so glad I bought a 5ml unsniffed. Yum.

[luxuria]

This is a very light and strong floral. I smell the absolute barest hint of sandalwood, which grounds this a little bit, but the rest is all the lily. I don't smell any vanilla or mandarin. This definitely isn't the rich and decadent floral I was expecting. It gets kind of soapy and powdery on the drydown. Nice if you're a floral kind of person, but alas, that person is not me. From imp to skin to drydown, this is pretty linear and doesn't change.

[diabolique]

first whiff, nothing. second whiff, mandarin and sandalwood. on my skin? LILAC SOAP.

 

what the bloody hell? this is pure soap and nothing else. ugh. definitely not a winner. i wanted to love you, belle epoque. all of your notes sound delish. unfortunately, you are not.

[velvet]

the starts off very lilly of the valley sandalwood

elegant is the best word to describe it.

i can see how some one would get a soapy scent out of it. but i think its the mix of florals.

im expecting the opium to jump out and ground me at any moment.

mmhmm i like it. its a keeper.

its a clean scent... but it is hiding some sinister in the background

[voodoobaby]

In the bottle: A very faint scent. Kind of generic, not too memorable.

 

Wearing: Uh oh, I can already see where this is going. The mixture of orange and sandalwood, for some reason, always goes cloyingly sweet and creamy (?!) on me. And, uh, why do I smell almond? I think I'm likening this too much to Seraglio. Still, this blend kind of gives me a sick headache.

 

Later: Well, this is a slight change. Something in here, after it's been on for a few hours, is turning woody? That's not a bad thing--in fact, it's quite nice. However, by the time it gets to this stage the throw has already worn off, so I have to sniff directly from my arm to get it.

 

Overall: I don't think this is really worth it for me. The bottle isn't completely full, but if I feel I have enough in it to swap out, I will.

[darkling]

Belle Epoque was very light and floral. The image that it brought to mind was that of faded fabric kept in a closet with a saucer of popourri. It was very faint. As such, I could not identify any particular notes; they all seemed to blend together.

 

This scent was very short-lasting. It had no throw and faded from my wrist completely in the course of an hour.

[Gin]

The Lily of the Valley is is in the spotlight, with the vanilla, mandarin and sandalwood giving it an incredible backdrop. It's sweet and floral and a bit powdery, anchored by the opium and sandalwood. Quite lovely.

[Penance]

Preconceived notions:

 

I'm not sure whether this will work for me or not. I adore red sandalwood and I like opium and vanilla and mandarin are okay by me but the lily of the valley could ruin this whole thing for me since florals are generally not something I like wearing.

 

First sniff:

 

So far, so good. I get red sandalwood the most clearly in this, probably because I know exactly what to sniff for. I also get the sweet resin smell of opium, a hint of deep vanilla and a touch of orange. I like this a lot so far.

 

Wet on skin:

 

The sandalwood isn't the dominant note anymore which is a bit of a letdown, but Belle Epoque still smells lovely. It's much softer and more feminine now that it's on my skin, which isn't such a good thing for me, but I still think it smells nice.

 

Dry down:

 

Much softer around the edges now. The opium is dominating now, but the lily of the valley is putting in a strong appearance, too. I still get a bit of vanilla and a tiny bit of sandalwood, but Belle Epoque is mainly soft, slightly powdery, sweet opium over a background of lily of the valley.

 

The bottom line:

 

This isn't quite what I normally wear, but it's certainly quite pretty all the same, so I'll be hanging onto my imp.

[requieminblack]

First sniff from the bottle- Opium and oranges.

 

After 10 minutes- This is very perfumey, but not in a bad way. I think this is what I was expecting Mata Hari to smell like. It is very gourmand. The Opium is dominant with the mandarin and the vanilla swirling around it.

 

After 30 minutes-This is a gorgeous oriental spicy scent. It smells very much like popular perfume that has been around for ages but I can put my finger on which one it is.

 

Summery- Belle Epoque is very grown up and sexy

[HappyLoveJoy]

Belle Epoque- This doesn't sound like it would smell like a green scent but it does on me. It's a beautiful rich perfume with a leafy green fringe. It's probably the tartness of the mandarin that's making me think that. The vanilla and sandalwood round it off nicely, allowing it to be a little sweet and soft. Very beautiful.