Day to day, week to week, there are fragrance launches, and then there are fragrance launches. Lancôme‘s La Vie Est Belle is one of the major launches of pre-fall 2012, complete with big-name perfumers, Julia Roberts as its “ambassadress,” a gala celebration in the south of France, a soon-to-be-unveiled commercial directed by Tarsem Singh, and more. Lancôme is promoting La Vie Est Belle as its next “iconic” fragrance, hoping it will match Trésor in popularity and longevity as a pillar of the brand’s fragrance collection, and no expense or effort has been spared in this campaign.

The fragrance, whose name translates as “life is beautiful,” was developed by perfumers Olivier Polge, Dominique Ropion and Anne Flipo. Its composition includes notes of Florentine Iris pallida, iris aldehyde, jasmine sambac, Tunisian orange blossom, Indonesian patchouli, and a “gourmand accord” of vanilla, tonka bean, praline, black currant and pear. According to Lancôme, La Vie Est Belle represents “a new era” and “the choice to live one’s life and fill it with beauty.” (You can find more information on the fragrance’s philosophy at the Lancôme website.)

I was immediately skeptical about Lancôme’s assertion that La Vie Est Belle is “the first ever iris gourmand”…

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