Florals, flowers, fleur…whatever you want to call the beautiful blooming blossoms, we’re all in when the word terrible (said with a French accent) is attached to the name, as in Jean Paul Gaultier’s latest eau, La Belle Fleur Terrible EDP Légère.
Roughly translated to mean the beautiful, terrible, flowers, this velvety, carnal bouquet is as decadent, feminine and unpredictable as its name suggests. So obviously, we’re spritzing with abandon. Why wouldn’t we? We haven’t breathed in a floral perfume this heavenly in ages. It’s so not your mother’s garden-variety scent.
“It’s a slightly aquatic, incredibly carnal, powdery fragrance,” says Quentin Bisch, describing the scent. As a Givaudan perfumer, he mix-mastered the parfum for Gaultier. “The blossoms herald the sensuality of vanilla,” he adds, “which offers this floral bouquet its comforting, sensuous blanket.”
While its sensuality reigns, La Belle Fleur Terrible is also sultry and luscious. Its exotic qualities enhanced by the blue glass, bust-shaped flacon adorned with a pretty flower and bird applique. The iconic Gaultier tin can packaging is as equally couture-esque with illustrations of exotic butterflies, flora and birds of paradise—the perfect visual counterpoint to the glorious fragrance, which opens with notes of fresh water lily. Elegant, earthy and intimate notes of iris blooms soon make their presence in the lily pond, before creamy, heady vanilla notes waft forward. The overall effect is seductive, empowering and blooming with opportunity.
Jean Paul Gaultier La Belle Fleur Terrible EDP Légère, $158 for 100 ml, available at Hudson’s Bay store and online at www.thebay.com.
