Bitter Cocoa Angel: The Best of the Bunch

By Marla I’ve had time to sample all the new series of gourmet/gourmand Thierry Muglers, named Taste of Fragrance, and I have to say, they go way beyond the usual flanker sniff-and-run. For the most part, the series exceed the originals. I strongly urge every perfumista, even those who can’t bear or wear the House of Mugler, to give these a sniff. I actually bought a bottle of the dark cocoa laced Angel Taste of Perfume. Now my regular readers know I wear Angel and am very fond of it when used “delicately”, meaning, in minute quantities. When I am alone. This new Angel is just chocolate bliss. The patch has been toned down a little, and the “dewberry” type fruit notes are loud and up front for only a few minutes. Then Chocolate Paradise is mine! This is a strong and bitter chocolate, not sweet. For those who love Angel, I think you’ll love this, too. For those who can’t stand it, it’s still worth a sniff. I think it’s the best of the Angelic Chorus.

"Chopped" Champion: Womanity by Thierry Mugler

By Marina Do you watch Chopped? The Food Network show "challenges four up-and-coming chefs to turn a selection of everyday ingredients into an extraordinary three-course meal." The selection of ingredients in a basket for each round is always unexpected: mint liqueur, canned chicken, raspberries and edamame for an appetizer round...frankfurters, chocolate, arugula and uni for dessert...you get the idea. The seemingly incongruous mix of notes in Womanity made me think of the show..."For a dessert round, in your baskets, you have strawberries, figs, black pepper, caviar and rye bread... Figs and caviar are the "official" ingredients, the rest are just what my nose smells in Womanity, so don't quote me on that. To be honest, I could not make myself page through the elaborate PR materials looking for more details. PR materials had passages like: "Beyond mirrors, beyond that reassuring glance at our own image, What if femininity meant feminine solidarity? What if women spoke out about the pleasures of femininity – of being women, together, in the world today? And what if women built for themselves the community that unites them?" What if we skip that and go straight to the juice, it's interesting enough on it's own. Here is how it goes on my skin: the smell of strawberry jam, brightened by citrus, then the ripe, sweet, chalky scent of figs, then suddenly a very distinct aroma of warm, freshly baked rye bread...then lots and lots of black pepper...then a salty-woody accord, within which, way towards the drydown I can intuit rather than really smell something ...very subtly animalic, which, when taken in the context of the saline accord, allows me to conclude without feeling too foolish that it must be the "caviar"... Basically, Womanity had me at rye bread, I am a sucker for doughy notes in perfume. I am intrigued by a savoury take on a gourmand (On Chopped, Womanity as a dessert entry might be criticized for not being sweet enough, it would fare better in an appetizer round). I like the way all ingredients stand out, as if afraid to truly mix and mingle with each other and yet somehow seamlessly flow. I like that, despite much brouhaha about women power and such, the scent is actually unisex. I like how the fragrance is possibly even stranger than Angel, but is a little bit more low key. I like how its bizarreness doesn't make it unwearable. But most of all I like the rye bread... To sum up...very strange, very Mugler, very well done despite or perhaps thanks to the odd selection of ingredients... Available at Nordstrom and Bloomigdales, $58.00-$98.00.

Perfume Review: Thierry Mugler Mirroir Mirroir Collection

Thierry Mugler decided to do a Malle of sorts and invited perfumers, Alexis Dadier, Fabrice Pellegrin, Christine Nagel and Domitille Bertier, to create, for the company's new Dare the Metamorphosis line, fragrances that would be appropriately quirky. The perfumes may not be to my liking, as the reviews below will show, but I do think that they are interesting nevertheless and worth smelling, if only to discover that (Perfume The Movie Coffret and Cologne aside) Mugler can produce perfumes that don't smell like some kind of variation on Angel. A Travers Le Miroir (Through the Looking Glass), a juxtaposition of feminine (tuberose) and masculine (woods and absinthe). Who doesn't like a good contrast? And this one could have been good if the "masculine" side did not completely overwhelm the "feminine". The usually not shy tuberose doesn't dare to raise her voice, and lets the aromatic, nose-tingling "absinthe" notes dominate her. Love the wintergreen notes, don't love the dill ones. A waste of tuberose. Dis-Moi, Miroir (Mirror Image). No amount of "milky notes" will turn snow-queen-cold lilies into "nurturing" flowers. The juicy sweetness of orange blossom compliments the dazzling-white lily accord beautifully, but whatever it is that gives the otherwise lovely floral scent its milky-chocolate undertone bothers me. A waste of lilies. Miroir des Envies (Mirror of Desires) is probably the one that sells the best. Soft, creamy, delicately gourmand and even more delicately floral, it blends not too sweet chocolate accord with clean-smelling jasmine. It is a little on the bland side and overall not my thing but I would get it for my little one, there is something charmingly child-like about it...and therefore the name puzzles and disturbs me a little. Miroir des Secrets (Mirror of Secrets) begins rather Angel-like (and is the only one in the series that reminded me of Angel), with an addition of a big, bright grapefruit note. The juicy sprakle of grapefruit is soon cleverly replaced by the powdery sparkle of an aldehydes. The patchouli note is there alright, but it is not the kind that I like and not the kind that should have been chosen to hint at "secrets" hidden in the depths of the perfume. It is not dark and earthy in the least. Instead it is squeaky-clean and pale. A waste of aldehydes. Miroir des Vanites (Mirror of Vanities). Delicious, sweet-and-tart citrusy top accord unfortunately very quickly dissipates and is replaced by a mix that is, I suppose, meant to be "dark", and is instead rather generically masculine in that annoyingly sharp and syrupy way that masculine scents with licorice have to my anti-licorice nose. If you have enough patience to wait till the very last stages of drydown, you will be rewarded by an ambery-incensy accord of a very handsome, if austere, kind. Available at Saks, $150.00 for 1.7oz. Image source, lexpress.fr

Angel Garden of Stars by Thierry Mugler

Thirteen years after bringing upon us the great Angel, Thierry Mugler introduced Garden of Stars, three floral versions of the classic, Angel Lily, Angel Peony and Angel Violet. I do not wear Angel often, it is a difficult scent for me to pull off, but I do admire its dark gourmand composition; it is undoubtedly a masterpiece and one that launched a thousand scents. I must admit that I thought that the new trio will not be original enough to actually justify their existence. I still find it somewhat ironic that, after receiving much acclaim for creating a non-floral composition, Mugler decided to add flowers to the blend. I will start with the one Garden of Stars scent that confirmed my misgivings, Angel Violet (Top note: Violet Green, ‘Crystallized Sugar. Middle note: Violet, Woody Notes. Base note: Patchouli, Vanilla Notes). For some reason I expected to like it the most, but then I always imagine I would like violet fragrances and I am often wrong, perhaps the sad fact is, violets and I don’t like each other all that much after all. Do therefore take what I say with a grain of salt, but the fact remains that, on my skin, there is nothing left of Angel in Angel Violet, just dusty old violets that dry down to something reminiscent of the scent of sweaty skin…Angel Violet had a certain dull powderiness that I found rather disagreeable. Angel Lily is a different story altogether. The image of lilies dripping with chocolate comes to my mind whenever I smell Angel Le Lys (Top note :”Dew” Note, Green Stem. Middle note: Nutmeg, Lily, Honey. Base note : Patchouli, Vanilla Notes) . The chocolate note is much stronger in this composition than it is in the original. Chocolate and lilies flourish side by side for quite a long time, which I found to be a great and unusual effect. The luminous cool scent of lilies and the dark warm scent of chocolate are stunning together. Unfortunately, Angel Lily dried down to a rather pale, vague smell of lilies more than anything else, thus somewhat spoiling the effect. Still, it is a lovely scent and I wouldn’t mind owning a bottle of it at some point. I also like Angel Peony, in which Angel’s heady gourmand notes are made softer by the sparkly and delicate peonies (Top note : Airy Notes, Stem Green. Middle note : Peony, Pepper, Floral Notes. Base note : Patchouli, Vanilla Notes ). This is a pretty scent, no other word can describe it better. Pretty in a pink but not overly girly kind of way. Whereas lilies pick up and showcase the chocolate note of Angel, peonies emphasize vanilla and patchouli. This is a warm and soft composition, and I like the fact that does not lose its complexity in the drydown, the way Angel Le Lys does. Angle Lily, however, is my favorite “Garden Angel”, despite the fact that I am not a fan of lilies in perfume (or indeed in real life) and regardless of the disappointingly bland drydown. I admire the way it contrasts the cold incandescent lilies and the warm opaque chocolate note making it possible to smell them simultaneously, side by side. I found the new floral versions of Angel to be significantly softer and thus much more wearable than Angel The First (or Angel The Terrible, for some people). They don’t last on the skin as long as their formidable ancestor, neither do they leave a fearsome trail of sillage. Like it or not, Angel has Presence and Charisma, both of which were sacrificed in the Garden of Stars to perhaps make the new scents more wearable (less feared?). As I mentioned before, I am unable to pull off Angel as often I would liked to, so for me this is a positive development. Angel Garden of Stars scents are strangely expensive. They can be found at Nordstrom Online, $60.00 for 0,8oz each. Next, the scents that remind me of my icon, the incomparable Marlene Dietrich.