La Bella Figura Perfume Oils

The ladies at La Bella Figura offered to send me some of their natural, hand-blended perfume oils to try recently.  The three fragrances are inspired by the travels of the two Bella Figura creators, Victoria Fantauzzi and Karen King, and each is a tribute to a different city. These are my thoughts on them after wearing them for a while.

Description of Paris from La Bella Figura:

Paris perfume oil is inspired by the city in all her splendid glory. Romantic and feminine with delicate complexities, it unveils like an olfactive memory of strolling through the scented gardens of Parc De George Brassens. This perfume is designed around its heart notes of tuberose flowers, rich, earthy orris butter and sweet cognac reminiscent of the grape vines of pinot noir that adorn the apiary in the park. The dry down trails off into a wonderful abyss of gentle woods and spicy sandalwood with slight balsamic kisses of vanilla and amyris. A truly lovely and impressionable perfume for floral lovers.

Paris is a well-balanced slightly woody-herbal floral fragrance. I love a good magnolia, and it works beautifully here with the other tarragon and lavender top notes to give a clean and fresh floral opening. No note dominates, and the perfume moves smoothly into the floral heart and warm woody base. I'm not usually a big fan of either tuberose or sandalwood but again, these notes don't dominate and never become oily or cloying - I get more orris than tuberose, which suits me well.

If you like Strange Invisible Perfumes Magazine Street this is worth sniffing, although Paris is more a chic city garden than the swampy beauty of Magazine Street. Paris is clean, chic and pretty without being soapy or forgettable, and I'm surprised by how much I love it (I expected Buenos Aires to be my favourite by a mile, but I'd actually buy Paris instead, and it's the sample vial I've used up first).

Description of Buenos Aires from La Bella Figura:

Deep, dark, and mysterious, Buenos Aires perfume oil is an exotic dance bursting with sensuality. Tobacco offers traces of suede and smoke with layers of rose, violet leaf, and orange blossom unfolding into soft, elegant roundness. Refined Argentine mate, vanilla and peru balsam intensify with bourbon and forest woods, revealing a most beguiling and intoxicating perfume.

Buenos Aires isn't particularly dark on my skin; I do tame smoky scents considerably though. On me, it's more fresh golden tobacco, not pipe smoke, and it's a golden spiciness rather than the dark green stickiness of a tobacco scent like Soivohle Meerschaum. The yerba mate in Barcelona adds a fresh herbal tea-like note.

It's definitely darker and more nighttime than Paris or Barcelona, but it's not overpowering; I'd describe it as a clean woody fragrance, and one that a man could comfortably wear too.

Description of Barcelona from La Bella Figura

Barcelona perfume oil is crisp, bright, and uplifting with top notes streaming rays of sunshine and sparkling cava. Its heart is pure gold and sensuous like an exquisite summer evening. It finishes with great warmth caressing skin with a touch of creaminess and blonde wood. A beautiful sophisticated fragrance full of discovery and awe.

Barcelona is lovely warm citrus. It has orange and lemon top notes (more orange than lemon to my nose) with pink peppercorn for added sparkliness, then a waxy jasmine heart that lays over the La Bella Figura soft wood base I recognise from the other two fragrances.

These are lovely fragrances that are a pleasure to wear and smell. The perfume oil lasts pretty well on my skin, although it does benefit from a lunchtime refresh. They are $90 for 0.25oz, so priced along the lines of other artisan natural perfumes. I'd like to see La Bella Figura selling the small sample vials I was sent; it is good to test a fragrance before buying the full bottle if you are buying online at the higher end.

Available from www.labellafigurabeauty.com.

Disclosure: samples.