Beyoncé spent all of 2024 putting pressure on our pockets. This past year, the singer launched a hair-care line, whiskey, and another fragrance at what felt like lightning speed. Cécred, the hair-care collection she unveiled last February with her mother, Tina Knowles, has been well-received. It’s scooped up a few awards, including an Allure Best of Beauty prize. Sir Davis, Bey’s whiskey made under Moët Hennessy, nabbed four rather prestigious awards before it even touched shelves in August. And she didn’t get them because of her name, either—she submitted anonymously, presumably to avoid any bias over being a celebrity-backed endeavor. Most recently, she released another fragrance, Cé Lumière, the sister to her 2023 Cé Noir scent.
Queen Bey isn’t the type of celebrity to drop a ton of products on us, so these launches felt a little out of character for the singer. If you consider yourself a member of the Beyhive, your bank account has likely felt overwhelmed with all the newness she’s been putting out. The year 2023, alone, was a very expensive year to be a Beyoncé fan with the (well worth it!) cost of the Renaissance tour. If you thought 2024 would offer a 12-month breather, you were sorely mistaken. The good news is that no one is forcing you to spend money on anything, and that includes Cé Lumière. But if you were to fork out the cash, in my humble opinion, it would be money well spent.
Cé Lumière is tied to the world Bey’s created for Cowboy Carter, act two of three in the multi-album work she’s still in the process of rolling out. For over a decade, Beyoncé has released music in a way where it is to be experienced—savored, even. From visual albums to tours, she breathes longevity into her projects by making them multi-sensory events.
Her new fragrance, Cé Lumière, is the scent of Cowboy Carter, but this launch came with less fanfare than Cé Noir. We didn’t get a cute video of her talking about the scent. Just two Instagram stills alerting us to its arrival. But that was more than enough to spark my interest.
The Packaging
Cé Lumière comes in the same packaging as Cé Noir, this time in a metallic gold colorway. Just like the first scent, it’s nestled in a little holder, which I could do without, but I understand the vision. I’m a gold girlie through and through, so I’m more partial to the look of this new version. It complements the visual story we’ve gotten (so far) from Cowboy Carter. And no, there still aren’t official visuals — just YouTube visualizer, but the golden tone does remind me of the sun on a parched desert landscape, depicted in many of the videos we do have for the album.
The Experience
Both Noir and Lumière include notes of jasmine sambac at the heart and citrus at the top, but Cé Lumière is definitely not a flanker for the first drop. This fragrance is completely different—warmer, more sophisticated, and alluring. It has the intensity and mystery Cé Noir lacks.
