Victoria's Secret — Love is Heavenly
Essence
Love is Heavenly is a 2012 floral-fruity from Victoria’s Secret, widely received among wearers as a softer, fruitier sibling - or near-flanker - of the brand’s blockbuster Bombshell. It’s a bright, clean, “spring love in a bottle” composition: berry-citrus fruits over watery florals and a soft musky-woody base. Pleasant, inoffensive and youthful, it’s defined as much by its discontinuation and lingering fan demand as by any distinctive character.
Scent Profile
The opening leads with fruity-citrus brightness: mandarin blossom, orange, kiwi and blackberry, giving a juicy, slightly tart berry-and-citrus burst. Several wearers detect a faint pink-pepper-like spiciness and note the opening is “darker than the heart.” It reads fresh and sweet but, per most accounts, not oversweetened or sugary.
Performance
This is the fragrance’s consistent weak point. Despite the EDP label, the overwhelming wearer consensus is that longevity and projection are body-spray-tier. Skin longevity is commonly reported at just 2 - 3 hours, sometimes less; it lasts noticeably better on clothing and hair. Projection and sillage are light, described by one reviewer as “barely stronger than a body spray.” A few find sillage “above average” leaving a “delicate trace,” but they are the minority.
Wearing Context
Best in spring and summer, daytime, for casual and youthful occasions - work, errands, daytime dates, weddings. Multiple reviewers specifically peg it as a spring/summer daytime scent and a “June bride”/wedding-appropriate fresh floral. It shines as an easy, pretty, inoffensive crowd-pleaser and falls flat anywhere needing presence or longevity, or in cold weather where it evaporates fastest.
Comparisons & DNA
The single dominant comparison, repeated across virtually every review, is to Victoria’s Secret Bombshell - Love is Heavenly is “Bombshell lite,” “Bombshell’s sister,” or “Bombshell repackaged.” Versus Bombshell it is softer, fruitier, less sharp and less tart, with Bombshell described as crisper and stronger; the shared peony-and-sandalwood base is the link. Many reviewers explicitly say if you already own Bombshell you don’t need this. One reviewer likened the opening to YSL Baby Doll Eau Legere (shared shade and pink-pepper spiciness, though “totally different” overall). Within VS, it’s grouped with the broader fruity-floral stable (Body by Victoria, the Angel/Heavenly line) but is distinct from the musky-vanilla original Dream Angels Heavenly despite the shared “Heavenly” name. No designer or niche clones of Love is Heavenly exist; it is itself a mass-market interpretation of the fruity-musk-floral genre, and seekers are simply pointed back to Bombshell.
Reception
Wearer consensus is “pretty but flawed.” Praise: a genuinely pleasant, pretty, clean fruity-floral that draws compliments, with a devoted contingent who call it gorgeous and beg VS to bring it back. Criticism is overwhelmingly about (1) abysmal longevity/projection unbecoming an EDP, and (2) lack of originality - “smells exactly like Bombshell,” “same old, same old,” part of a wave of VS releases reviewers felt were interchangeable. Polarization is mild: almost everyone agrees it smells nice and that it doesn’t last; the split is whether the prettiness outweighs the weakness.
Versions & Reformulation
Love is Heavenly was introduced in April 2012 (EDP plus body mist, lotion and cream), discontinued within a few years, then re-launched in a 2016 edition with a redesigned bottle and a near-identical juice - reviewers who compared them said the 2016 was “identical to the original.” The note listings shifted slightly between editions (the 2012 base lists musk/sandalwood/mahogany/ebony; the 2016 marketing emphasized “water lily, mandarin flower and luminous musk”). Both are EDP, both share the weak performance. The fragrance has since been discontinued again and trades on the secondary market; it has resurfaced periodically at VS semi-annual sales. Beware conflating it with the separate, long-running Dream Angels Heavenly / Heavenly line, a different musky-vanilla composition with its own many reformulations.
Acquisition Notes
Pricing sits in Victoria’s Secret’s accessible designer tier. Love is Heavenly was sold through Victoria’s Secret in fine-fragrance and body-care formats depending on the release, typically EDP, mist, lotion, rollerball, or travel spray. For discontinued, limited, or renamed versions, verify the exact year, concentration, name, note set, and bottle before buying.
Notable Facts & Lore
- The 2012 launch was marketed as the brand’s most romantic fragrance, with pink liquid and copy built around spring romance, joy, and purity.
- Its defining lore is life as a discontinued cult favorite with a small but persistent fanbase asking for its return.
- The running joke in wearer discussion is the gap between the romantic name and the body-spray-level performance.
- It sits close to Bombshell in memory, but its softer fruit-floral profile gives it its own nostalgia lane.