Brand: Alkemia
Scent Description: A complex floriental blend of Jasmine Sambac, Tuberose, Iris, Rose, and Lily of the Valley blended with Plum, Apricot, Tahitian Vanilla, Blonde Amber, Bitter Almond, and Oakmoss on a soft bed of delightfully powdery musks.
Belle Époque is one of those perfumes blended so well that I really can’t pick out the individual notes. I don’t amp the rose and the jasmine never goes fecal on me…amazing! The only notes that truly stand out on my skin are the powdery musks, lily of the valley and the oakmoss. Thankfully it never veers into baby powder territory. I’m of the belief only babies are allowed to smell of baby powder. This just skirts the edge of being cloying (a lot of florals come across this way on me) but settles down nicely with some wear time. This reminds me of something mainstream from decades back but exactly which scent escapes my mind. It does have a vintage kind of vibe for sure. Lasts around 5 hours on me before it fades away.
Oh boy, maybe I should’ve shaken or at least inverted my vial a few times. Is that something I should be doing with my perfume oils? What does everyone else on here do? That’s something I never see mentioned in reviews on scents. To shake or not to shake (or invert) perfume oils? This time around is a totally different experience with Belle Époque. In the short and sweet, the jasmine in this turned skanky (not fecal but more towards animal urine). Whew, this is not good. All I have on is some unscented body lotion. Wow wtf is wrong with my skin chemistry? I’d swear this was an entirely different perfume oil if the vial wasn’t labeled. I’m also amping an awful baby powder imposter note…it’s baby powder and burnt plastic, ugh. No lily of the valley or oakmoss. Skanky burnt plasticky baby powder. I’ll give it another hour to change or I’m caving and scrubbing it. Phew!
I adore this scent! The first time I smelled it I was a little taken aback, it was kinda unsettling. The moss and musk are both pretty strong you get a very musty/dusty vibe. It’s a very powdery heavy old fashioned floral. Smells like vintage perfume spritzed on dried flowers pressed inside a dusty old book. If you are a vintage/floral/powder fan you must try this one!
Warm, hazy, and powdery, very much like a mainstream perfume. It’s difficult to pick out the individual notes; the sweet, gourmand base mainly consists of almond and vanilla, with the heavy florals of jasmine and tuberose at the forefront as it opens, soft instead of narcotic, on a backdrop of powdery, slightly spicy iris. Quite a bit of inky oakmoss is apparent in the musky drydown, tempering the cloying sweetness a little, but not enough.