For the first time, Lancôme gathers its family around La Vie est Belle and its muse Julia Roberts.
A disruptive celebration of women supporting and inspiring each other, the new campaign celebrates Lancôme’s strong bond with the La Vie est Belle community around the world. Julia Roberts invites the whole Lancôme community of ambassadors to stand together for a united declaration of happiness: Amanda Seyfried, Isabella Rossellini, Lily Collins, Penelope Cruz and Zendaya Coleman join her along with 2 new muses yet to be revealed. What other fragrance could have had the power to unite such inspiring women around a unique message? This iconic cast of happiness activists – an echo to the intensity of the fragrance and to the infinite smile adorning its bottle – introduces an aesthetic shift and proudly affirms Lancôme’s new take on its emblematic feminine fragrance: more diverse and more inclusive than ever, its message has never been so powerful.
While legendary fashion photographer Mario Sorrenti signs the pictures of this iconic campaign, a film shot by rising director Emmanuel Adjei celebrates the unstoppable power of sorority. Powerful, world-renowned song What a Wonderful World is featured as the campaign’s soundtrack thanks to an exclusive reinterpretation by SebastiAn (Ed Banger Records): sung by women and for women, it becomes a rallying cry and an anthem of happiness. Will you sing along?
Building a strong emotional resonance with women throughout the world, Lancôme introduces a series of video portraits: speaking heart-to-heart with the camera, all the House’s ambassadors share their authentic and spontaneous vision of life and what makes it beautiful to them. As they authentically open their hearts, they invite each woman of the La Vie est Belle community the use her own voice and to take part in this worldwide celebration of the beauty of life. A reminder that life is what we make of it, so let’s make it beautiful. Together.
Vibrant, emotional and universal, this iconic campaign celebrates the intensity of togetherness while a new fragrance helps spread across the world the genuine happiness radiating from the very heart of Lancôme’s iconic fragrance: La Vie est Belle Iris Absolu.
A message of happiness, more powerful than ever
More than a fragrance: a message.
In 2012, Lancôme declared, “Life is beautiful.” Three words with a universal meaning. Speaking across eras, across horizons, from the four corners of the globe, the beauty of this French expression has never needed translation. By its simple joy, the name chosen by Lancôme has resonated with millions of women worldwide: La Vie est Belle.
In 2023, “Life is beautiful” resonates with hope and a deliberate choice to see life with optimism. To find Happiness in a world ever more in need of a brighter tomorrow. To celebrate the courage of those advocating for a time where all can say: “Life is beautiful.” Happiness is collective, but very individual and unique for each of us. Mirroring the lines of this evolution, La Vie est Belle addresses its feminine community today with a new olfactive variation placed under the sign of generosity, authenticity, and sorority. Inspired by a collective vision of happiness, this new fragrance celebrates the power of Lancôme’s message and translates its unique vibration into scent.
A majestic ode to the emblematic flower of the original Eau de Parfum, La Vie est Belle Iris Absolu demultiplies the emblematic ingredients of its success: signature iris, now 10 times more concentrated than in the original Eau de Parfum; the iconic crystal smile on the bottle, turned into an endless wave; but also the smiles of Lancôme’s ambassadors themselves, all gathered for the very first time in a unprecedented iconic campaign. Following their inspiring example, each woman is invited to open her heart, share her story, her life lessons… and take part in a global redefinition of happiness. One that includes every woman and grows even bigger when shared.
A vibrant tribute to La Vie est Belle’s iris signature
La Vie est Belle pays homage to its iconic iris in a new variation. With an unprecedented concentration, La Vie est Belle Iris Absolu reimagines the olfactory signature of its classic Eau de Parfum.
“The inspiration came from Mediterranean smells and the gardens of Lancôme’s Domaine de la Rose in Grasse”, explain perfumers Anne Flipo and Dominique Ropion (IFF), who co-signed the House’s iconic fragrance as well as this new variation. “We wanted a more vegetal version, with smells of fig trees and vegetal notes evoking wild herbs”.
Ten times more concentrated than in the original formula, iris takes center stage in La Vie est Belle Iris Absolu. This root, one of the most precious ingredients of perfumery, gives an unprecedented intensity to this composition and a shimmering vibrancy to its trail. Inimitably elegant, “the blue gold of perfumery” reveals all its nuances on the skin after a sparkling opening: a juicy blackcurrant accord gives a fresh twist to a milky fig accord, warm like a sunny summer. Uplifted by the deep sensuality of a patchouli accord and the highly addictive character of the gourmand note quintessential to La Vie est Belle, this new variation induces a persistent feeling of joy, irresistibly spreading around.
Authentic and generous, La Vie est Belle Iris Absolu draws from the sources of the original fragrance the inspiration of an intensely captivating scent, vibrant with happiness.
An infinite crystal smile forever engraved
For this new variation, Catherine Krunas, designer and creator of the original bottle reinterpreted its emblematic crystal smile. Inspired by the waves created by a drop falling on the surface of the water, she met the challenge to give a new pattern to this iconic object, multiplying its signature smile while preserving the inimitable sensuality of its volumes. Combining creativity and craftsmanship, La Vie est Belle Iris Absolu features an unprecedented design. Forever engraved in the bottle, its demultiplied smile radiates outwards like an endless wave. Echoing the smiles of all the Lancôme women spreading happiness in the new campaign, it translates the vision of happiness according to La Vie est Belle Iris Absolu: an emotion that grows endlessly when it is shared.
An ever-contemporary happiness
Lancôme has always nurtured a keen understanding of what makes contemporary women happy. Perfumer and founder of the House Armand Petitjean believed it was an imperative to imagine creations that would meet their real aspirations. Staying true to the singular legacy of the House’s founder La Vie est Belle contours the lines of a Happiness in constant evolution. Resolutely contemporary, it became a phenomenal success. Marking its 10th anniversary in 2022, the IPSOS institute conducted a significant study for Lancôme about the state of Happiness in 7 European and American countries.
The study highlighted the fact that the pursue of happiness was not an easy mission, due to existing personal and external constraints that we have to free ourselves from: freedom is the most important ingredient of happiness for more than half of people interviewed. Other key fact the study underlined is the need to be a collective journey for it to happen, especially when it explains that each of us is the first instigator of our happiness. This is where La vie est belle comes in, giving us the impetus we need to dare to try.
Moreover, this unprecedented study revealed that in a world always more digitalized, three quarters of them believed that real-life sociability was the most important, which inspired Lancôme to place social ties at the heart of a new chapter for La Vie est Belle. While an updated study is coming up in March 2023, the House celebrates what has become a universal emblem of happiness, optimism and togetherness, loved and shared by millions of women across the world.
Forever guided by Lancome’s observation of what makes women happy and linked to the consumer state of mind, believing life is better together, La Vie est Belle 2023 campaign writes a new page in the story of this iconic fragrance. Supported by a disruptive campaign celebrating a collective and diverse vision of happiness, resonating with contemporary convictions, this fragrance embodies the idea of a happiness that grows bigger when it is shared, from its intense trail to its captivating bottle.
More than ever, Lancôme’s icon proudly affirms that it is much more than a fragrance: it is an emblem of rallying. An olfactory anthem for an ever-growing community of women across the world. Will you sing along?