
Each perfume house has to have their own La Vie Est Belle… is the general consensus. Which does not mean one should shrug each new gourmand release off as superfluous! There really is the one and only La Vie Est Belle and brands should stop trying to ride that tide, is all I’m saying. Ever since 2014 perfume houses have been churning out fruitchulis left, right, and centre, and Givenchy jumped on the bandwagon back in 2015 with their Live Irresistible, a flanker to the original Very Irresistible. FYI.
The popularity of the aforementioned fruitchulis and gourmands does not seem to fade over time, as each year brings on a new trend. For the last few years it was all about the almond (think Poison Girl or Girl of Now, for example) – this year, along comes the cherry. Even Tom Ford is all over it! So it is no surprise that Givenchy decided to revamp L’Interdit (for the fourth time) in vein of the latest fashion. I am not going to comment on the fact that the new L’Interdit is a re-release because I never had the fortune to smell any of its predecessors; I am solely going to review the perfume per se.
So… What do I think? The first impression smells like sticking my nose into a bag of Haribo gummy bears. It’s sweet, slightly sour, and sticky. I can immediately pick up some
fresh pear and sour cherries, as well as patchouli. Slowly, some caramel makes an apparition, with vanilla rounding it all off. After about 20-30 minutes, white florals emerge to stay. Essentially L’Interdit is a sweet tuberose and vanilla scent whose drydown is very different from the opening. If you are not a fan of the opening – not everyone wants to smell like Haribos – , stick around for the drydown, it’s downright heavenly. I am a huge fan of tuberose these days, and this one is really well done.
Givenchy describes this as “the first underground flower”, depicted by Rooney Mara diving into the depths of the Parisian metro: a great advertising campaign, in my opinion. There is a dark undertone provided by some patchouli and vetiver, and the cherry is delightfully succulent without coming across as too gourmand. L’Interdit smells like someone mixed La Petite Robe Noir with Twilly and the result is wonderful for a cold winter day. This perfume is great for the upcoming holiday season, and I totally see myself wearing this to Christmas gatherings and even for more formal occasions. L’Interdit is a festive fume, good enough for a little black dress event, and more suitable for younger crowd.
The more I wear it, the more I like it – I got two samples from a very kind sales assistant in Corte Inglés (hashtag “not sponsored” – it was genuinely great to talk about perfume with a knowledgeable sales clerk) and I have been wearing the heck out of them. Do I want a full bottle though? Not for the time being. The opening is really a bit too much for me, but let’s wait and see – maybe next year it will bring back some good memories and I’ll be dying to have it. It will not be money down the drain if you like this type of fragrances as the quality is excellent and you will get some real bang for your buck!

Disclaimer: Featured image Moviepostersgallery. Image 1 Lively Profumerie Milano. Image 2 Boots.