JEAN PAUL GAULTIER
La Belle Flower Edition
2025
apricot
magnolia
jasmine
vanilla
La Belle ‘Flower Edition’ is released alongside Le Beau EDP Flower Edition.
This is quite a weird flanker in my opinion, especially for the name ‘flower edition’, which makes it sound like it’s some limited edition bottle, instead of an actual new scent. But the latter it is and… I don’t know how to feel about it.
I can imagine the apricot vibe in the opening, but it’s dry, almost powdery, with instantly a lot of sweetness. As for the flowers, Jasmine and magnolia are listed, but those don’t come through as such on my skin. It feels more like a yellow floral, sun-tan lotion-ish scent, but again, dry, tart and sweet, like sugar powdered candy mixed with dusty old florals. It reminds me of a potpourri.
The best part is that fruity tinge, like an unripe outside of a peach or apricot, but that gets dominated completely after some minutes. You keep the tartness, but overall, there is absolutely nothing juicy or refreshing about La Belle Flower Edition to my nose. It has the sweet floral aesthetic of a The Harmonist Moon Glory, with something that reminds me of hay and beeswax in it, but downgraded to a tart, screechier and more transparant consistency.
You get more sweetness and some earthiness. It has that tart musky vibe that I’ve come across a lot lately, for example in Torino24 and to some extend in Amouage Love Delight. I actually think that Love Delight is a decent indication of liking La Belle Flower Edition; personally, I prefer the Jean Paul Gaultier, as I strongly disliked how sugary the Amouage became and at least here, the sweetness lives alongside some of the other facets instead of quickly being all that’s left.
I’m conflicted about this one. There are parts that I quite enjoy, like the dry, hay-like vibe; at least it’s something a bit different. On the other hand, it doesn’t wear nicely overall in my opinion; it’s harsh, dry, bitter and purely looking at texture, it almost feels like it’s not a finished product yet. As if it’s a powder sachet to mix with water (and in the case of perfume, alcohol) and it’s not been diluted properly yet. I wouldn’t enjoy wearing this more often.