Are they dupes? PS... Love Noir, versus Lancome La vie est belle.

I tried Love Noir from PS... [Primark's own brand] as I really enjoy Lancome's La vie est belle, but the speed with which I went through two bottles meant that it was time to look for a cheaper 'everyday' version, so that my third bottle can be used more sparingly. 

The reviews on Fragrantica pointed me in the direction of Love Noir as being a dupe for La Vie est Belle, so lets find out if it's as good as they said it is...

Like in LVEB there is soft vanilla present throughout Love Noir, which adds creamy sweetness and warmth to the fragrance and there is also some patchouli is also quick to develop, so whilst everything is sweet, it's not cloyingly so. The floral notes used are powdery and rather indistinct and I can't say for sure what any of them are, so they just provide a softly powdered background for the sweetness and warmth.

After around an hour the sweetness of the fragrance deepens and becomes slightly nutty and even creamier as the [what I think is the same base of Tonka bean and caramel as LVEB] base to Love Noir develops. The faint undertone of powdery floral notes remain too, and softly fade away with the base notes as everything dries down within another four hours. 

I've previously reviewed La Vie Est Belle, so I won't go into much detail here - not that I feel I need to, as both fragrances are extremely similar, so everything would be pretty much a word for word repeat.

I was shocked by how similar I find Love Noir to be to La vie est belle, when it is such a low price; the iris in LVEB isn't recreated here and the lasting power isn't as good, but it is still a very close interpretation and has pretty good longevity [six hours].


PS... Love Noir EDT is sold in 50ml bottles for £3.50 in Primark stores.

Lancome's La vie est belle EDP variants cost £69 [50ml] or £89 [100ml]. For certain holidays they sometimes make 30ml bottles and giftsets too. La vie est belle is available through most perfume retailers.


There are 50ml bottles of LVEB available in larger stockists in a EDT concentration for £56 - tis review is based around my expeiences with the EDP variant.