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Sheva777 – :
I’d been avoiding this one for years. Sweet and with pear as the main note? *shudders* But this month the theme for the Sens Unique box was “Sweet” My heart sank when I opened it, sure I would hate every cloying, synthetic one of them.
I approached them like the toxic waste I assumed they were and decided I would spray them all on paper at once and get it over with.
Sure enough, the space filled with that sour, synthetic berry smell, whatever chemical it is used for “caramel” notes and the dread laundry musks that seem to underpin all sweet perfumes. I fled.
Returning later with a fog like the fruity breath of Hell still hanging in the air, I found the smelling strip for Belle Helene sitting in the midst undaunted and smelling demurely, neatly and devastatingly pretty.
This thing is so well put together, it’s honestly amazing. It easily held it’s own against the loud cloying sweet things without ever being loud, synthetic or unbalanced. I kept thinking I couldn’t possibly like something this girly-pretty but I kind of do. I kept thinking “It’s just so pretty.” The name is perfect too. Maybe it will replace Narciso in filling that hypothetical “date with a younger man” niche in my wardrobe.
After living with the smelling strip for a week (it literally lasted that long) I ventured a test on skin and reader, it did not go well. Rather than the beautiful, sparkling aldehyde and pear opening, I got canned pear syrup. There was no trace of the gorgeous sweet osmanthus middle. Or the lovely subtle resins and woods. Instead it went straight to a flat, distorted laundry musk type thing that was unrecognizable from what was on the smelling strip. I tried again on fabric, and it was kind of in between paper and skin but the fabric itself (cotton) seemed to react with the perfume and created it’s own smell so short of spraying it on paper and tucking the strip in my clothes, I can’t figure out how to wear it.
Still, it was nice meeting you, Belle Helene.
Vendaningorne – :
I’m not one for fruity, sweet, floral perfumes, but this one kinda surprised me: I don’t know why, but to me it smells like paper, brand new books and lipstick!
Plus, after a while, it loses part of its sweetness and becomes more bearable.
Not something I’d buy, but a nice surprise.
djon1972 – :
“La Belle Helene” begins quite mildly fruitti with white floral, some pears, osmanthus, sandalwood, and hidden jasmines.
Now when it goes calm, the jasmines goes quite dominant with some linden, musk, & i believe hawthorn for being sharp.
This is enormous, and stays quite long (24+)! i need to test it again.
dmitry22775 – :
benchè il nome possa trarre in inganno, non si tratta di un profumo dedicato alla più famosa elena della storia ma piuttosto ad un dessert francese (Belle Hellene) a base di pera. e di pera sa, quanto meno ai primi spruzzi, questa gradevole combinazione fruttata in cui compaiono anche mandarino e agrumi vari, che si sublima in pura astrazione grazie alle fresche aldeidi, arricchendosi di fiori (tiglio e ylang ylang ben distinguibili). il fondo si assesta, in modo assai canonico, su muschio di quercia, patchouli e vetiver, in una una maniera tale da ricordare uno shampoo fruttato. un vero peccato, perchè l’inizio è notevole e diverso dai soliti fruttati, ed anche perchè si tratta di un profumo costoso.
niusa – :
Oh, La Belle Helene, how I long to love you. So close to being fantastic, what happened? The initial fragrance as it meets your warm beating pulse point is luxuriously sensual and sweet. It’s unbelievably good. It grabs you by the collar and drags you down into an embrace that wraps around your very heart. It’s so damn good. But then, it began to linger a bit, turning from a bright bursting pear shimmering with aldehydes and a hint of citrus into an attempted bouquet of flowers… You ask yourself, what is that smell? It’s not bad, certainly, the rose and the ylang-ylang are lovely notes, but it’s cosmetic smelling. I get lipstick, I get shampoo. What happened? It continues to dry down with some woods, patchouli, and amber holding it together. It’s so damn near close to perfect but it loses itself somewhere and never recovers. 7.5/10 what a great first 30 minutes I’ll certainly be on the lookout for further MDCI samples, there is such a lovely story waiting to be read here.
walter1729 – :
The Face That Launched A Thousand Ships
La Belle Helene is an homage to Helen of Troy the most beautiful woman of the Ancient World who started the Trojan War. For me this is a more expensive more full bodied version of Byblos which also recreates the Mediterranean Ancient World. This is a sexy sweet feminine scent, literally like smelling the perfume oil in the home of a Roman noblewoman. She has long luxuriant dark hair and eyes that speak of seduction and yet there are days she doesn’t even want to be touched. She walks in her garden under the moonlight waiting for something longing for something. She’s enigmatic and inscrutable. This fragrance opens with delicious aromas of fruit like pear and lime. The lime is jumping out at me and it mingles with the very strong Chanel style aldehydes. It’s fresh very fresh at the first spritz. Then I get some floral notes like iris rose and ylang-ylang. There is also some green shrub like flowers of hawthorn and osmanthus. The base has the most going on: licorice, patchouli, oak moss, woodsy notes, sandalwood,vetiver myrrh, incense. It smells very aromatic toward the end and decidedly more masculine, stronger. This is an evening cologne very unisex but perhaps more on the feminine side because of the fruit notes. Delicious, seductive and mine. This is sure to make a bold statement. The first time I wore it I was in SoHo and a stranger, a guy, was following me. I don’t mind when that happens as long as the guy doesn’t follow me all the way home LOL
soldat34 – :
Whereas most of the line, despite smelling at least 300 years old, have a high degree of focus, this one’s more panoramic. It’s cotton candy, lipstick, and a mix of fruit notes, all shot through a hazy lens. There’s a green pear that’s fleshy and ripe, but it’s subtle in the mix, and threaded with a slight shampoo quality that’s draped over the whole thing. This, I think, is coming from a phantom apple—which has inevitable associations to hair products for me. Then it deflates into an affable, but tiresome milky fruit. Wearing the scent almost feels like being at a great party (in the 18th century, of course) and then being taken hostage twenty minutes by an absolute bore that can’t get away from. Like pretty much every other scent from this brand, La Belle Helene should come with an accompanying powdered wig.
okm09 – :
Yumm, smells like Parfum Sacre from Caron spilled on fresh cut pears. Got a sample today in swap with lovely Finanna and being so overwhelmed, that I have to write the review after 3 hours of testing.
The review of Cereza is so close to my opinion, as she said – pears and iris with an old lipstick. It is a cold scent for me, smells so fresh and lovely.
zz999zz – :
A rather disappointing experience I must say.
It started promising with a fresh note of pear and a lovely iris with an “old lipstick” sort of touch to it. Unfortunately after half an hour I am left with a sour smelling sweet pear and vetiver combo reminding me much of some sort of shampoo or bubble baths.
I do think this might be appealing to many, but unfortunately for me – I am not ready to spend my money on something that will make me smell like a fruity shampoo.
aliko.70 – :
Based on the notes, I shouldn’t like this, but I ended up with a sample and I just love it. It is not the gourmand scent I had feared, and on me is not food-y at all. The pear is beautiful, but not in-your-face fruity, and there is a sweet softness to it that I love, and seldom find. It’s warm and rich without being heavy, cloying, or sugary (I HATE sugary!). So although it was described as a “dessert”, on me it is far from it (thank goodness!). This would definitely be full bottle worthy if a bottle didn’t cost seven million dollars. It is a really beautiful scent.
Edit: I waited a year, then bought a decant of it, and it was so much different. Still sweet, but with a huge dose of dusty old lady perfume that took over the whole thing. Tried it several times, but no way. I was so sad when i pitched it in the trash–it’s rare for me to truly fall in love with a scent, and I did with this one. What went wrong????
Mebqy866intitytek – :
Al igual que “invasion barbare” LA BELLE HELENE no me ha impresionado en absoluto. Un perfume débil y suave, sin nada especial que lo haga destacar o diferenciar de otros. Fácilmente confundible con otras muchas fragancias femenias existentes en el mercado (y mucho más baratas).
Melanie_fromAC – :
I ordered a sample of this as it was getting a lot of love on a few fragrance forums, I did not, in all honesty, expect to like it, i have never searched for a pear perfume and have never felt there was a gap in my collection for a pear fragrance, how wrong was I, this was love at first sniff for me, I have now ordered the coffret set with 2 bottles of La Belle Helene in it and I intend to order a full bottle in September when the company is back from their holiday break.
It is not overly ‘pear’ smelling IMO, the opening is very bright and fruity but settles down to a comforting fragrance, I can pick out the sandalewood, a tiny amount of ylang ylang and a touch of Iris. it lasts a good 8 hours on me and works beautifully in the heat but I can also see it working just as well when the weather is cooler. It may be expensive but I love it enough to justify a full bottle.
salam05 – :
Overbearingly chypre on me for the first 5 minutes then it does down and reveals a luscious fruity pear with plum and the hint of osmanthus. It is now a full bodied fruity scent but not sweet just rounded and robust. Still not something I’d wear often nor do I really think it really suits me, it comes across as a bit old for me but still a quality scent.
The dry down is a warn sandal-vetiver-oak moss. Nice but out comes that chypre feel again that I’m not a fan of.
qyk480speagoessenda – :
Very much like in Traversee du Bosphore, Duchaufour has proven once again that he can be a master of olfactory subtlety. I don’t find the two fragrances similar otherwise, not in the way they smell at any rate. In terms of notes, especially because of the cedar and the plum nuance, I actually found La Belle Helene to be the younger, softer sister of Serge Lutens Feminite du Bois.
La Belle Helene opens, as promised, with the fruity note of pear. The pear is not juicy, however; it even feels dry, more like the delicate smell of a winter pear. In fact, everything about this scent seems tastefully understated. The cedar is understated, and the white musk is gentle in the dry-down. I look at the array of notes, and it is difficult to identify them, especially the patchouli (don’t let the patchouli note scare you off if you are not a patchouli lover).
I was hoping for more osmanthus, but if it is here, it doesn’t stand out. The base is superbly blended and, given the ambitious list of notes, surprisingly mellow. I can detect a delicious plum note in it.
This is a reflective fragrance, which feels very modern. It behaves surprisingly well in the hot, humid summers here, and it lasts for a whole day on me! Initially, I called it ”underwhelming,” but I have learned to appreciate the way it manages to be subtle and bright, fruity and woody at the same time.
mar2008 – :
Nice! After a few minutes there is a more earthy smell. very fruity! But very expensive; that is the reason I won’t buy it.