Fragrance love: Lancôme La Vie Est Belle and Alaïa Paris

I personally don’t need any excuse to indulge in the purchase of my favourite fragrances, and have quite the “wardrobe” to prove it! I love updating it each season, and there are a handful of absolute beauties floating around at the moment that I wholeheartedly recommend for yourself – or for (god forbid) Christmas gifting.

First up on my new favourites list is the latest from international beauty house Lancôme, and takes the form of the beautiful La Vie Est Belle Eau de Parfum Intense. The new fragrance for women is a deeper, more gourmand variation on 2012's original La Vie Est Belle Eau de Parfum, as was last year's La Vie Est Belle L'Absolu. Like the others it was developed by perfumers Dominique Ropion and Anne Flipo though, and notes include bergamot, orange, pear, blackcurrant bud, pink pepper, iris pallida, tuberose, ylang ylang, jasmine, orange blossom, and a nut accord. The bottle is also an absolute delight, and a hand-finished couture bow around the neck makes every one a little bit unique.

Another fragrance I’m loving at the moment is the heady, sexy Alaïa Paris, the first release ever from the legendary, diminutive designer Azzedine Alaïa. As you’d expect from ‘The King of Cling’, the scent has been created to go on like a sexy, second skin - just like his designs. It has animalistic tones of musk, blended with notes freesia and pink pepper, and is as provocative as any of the Tunisian-born, Paris-based designer bust-hugging, waist-cinching dresses. "Above all, Mr Alaïa did not want to be able to recognise a single ingredient individually," explained perfumer Marie Salamagne (she’s popular!) of the enigmatic scent. "Every time we were able to isolate an ingredient, we had to change something. In particular he didn't want to be able to recognise any flowers, and definitely not white flowers. The idea was not to be able to tell a "story" through fragrance, just to capture something of Alaia's vision." Misty, and mysterious, are definitely apt descriptions.