Let there be (love and) light: Love & Light edp by Jennifer Lopez...

"With Love & Light, I wanted to create a fragrance that was less about the world around you and more about your inner light and your spirit. It's about how you feel inside, it's not about your outside world" - Jennifer Lopez 

Love & Glamour had promise, but I think that the very strong note of sandalwood in it let it down, as it overwhelmed the other scent notes. So I was excited to try the new flanker - Love & Light - to see if  the issue has been smoothed over this time...




I was surprised from the very beginning with Love & Light as all of the previous J.Lo perfumes [except the original Glow] pack a fruity punch on first application, whilst this just has a light spattering of mandarin and apricot before the floral notes and patchouli develops. The fruit notes are so gentle that they don't stick around more than a few minutes, and even for those few minutes I have to paying specific attention to them to really notice them.

The patchouli mixes fully with the soapy yet powdery florals, so I don't feel confident guessing what different notes may have been used apart from the listed rose, and some neroli. The powdery florals give Love & Light a old-school, vintage feel which is stronger on me then the soapy ones are, so the clean feel to this fragrance is much more subtle than the usual J.Lo fare. Overall I found the mixture of the clean and soapy florals combined with the delicate powdery florals has almost the same feel to it as J.Lo's limited edition release Live Platinum, so if you enjoyed that release and wanted to try something similar then Love & Light is a inexpensive option - just be aware that I'm not saying that florals in Love & Light smell the same as those in Live Platinum, it's just that the contrasts within the florals are reminiscent.

The musk begins to develop fully somewhere between one and two hours on me, and the creamy praline note comes through soon after. The mix of the fresher musk and creamy/sweet praline leaves me with the impression of a coconut scented suntan lotion, which lasts for hours as the perfume slowly dries down. For me the best thing about Love & Light is definitely the lasting power. It burns down within six hours [on average] on my skin. It does go fairly close to the skin after three hours, but other people still notice it. Not fantastic generally speaking, but for the price you can't complain.

Official scent notes; mandarin, pomegranate, red currant, rose crystal absolute, velvety apricot, jasmine petals, patchouli, sensual musk and praline.

I was surprised by how versatile I've found this to be, since it was made as something light and airy to wear in warmer weather; now that it's winter I still find myself wearing it. As the fruits are subtle and well-blended with the florals and gourmand aspects of the fragrance it doesn't seem out of place for autumn/winter, and is nice and clean, but not cold. As well as being wearable all year round I also happily wear this perfume for casual days, work and some evenings out. The fragrance is long lasting, but is non-cloying and won't irritate other people, so makes a good choice for just about anywhere, anytime.