Thierry Mugler A*Men

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Lots of thanks to Undina from Undina’s Looking Glass for the sample of this fragrance. A*Men has been one of those scents that I kept hearing about but never got around to trying.

A*Men

A*Men

In Bottle: Sweet and a bit dusty, I get a lot of woods out of this but at the same time, I’m smelling the gourmand too.

Applied: Sweet upon application, lavender with a bit of milk and honey and lots of caramel. The fragrance introduces its woodsier side rather earlier as I get patchouli mixed with cedar that blends in with the caramel and milky notes. The mid-stage is marked with a noticeable addition of spices and woods, I swear I can smell cinnamon as the fragrance gets a bit more coffee like with this dusty coating of woods following it. The dry down is warm with a sandalwood base and a sweet toffee-like backdrop. I’ve seen people absolutely love A*Men and other people who can’t stand it. I was all ready for a gourmand but I was more surprised by the prominence of the woods in this. It makes the fragrance more oriental in style with a creamy, sweet caramel scent accented with a lot of woodsiness.

Extra: A*Men was introduced in 1996 and comes in two bottle styles. One metallic bottle and a rubber bottle.

Design: I’ve never been much of a fan of Thierry Mugler’s bottle designs. I often found them too chunk or too alien-looking and I can’t say I really like the bottle designs for A*Men either. It just doesn’t strike a chord with my sensibilities.

Fragrance Family: Gourmand Oriental Woodsy

Notes: Coriander, lavender, fruits, spices, mint, bergamot, honey, jasmine, milk, caramel, lily of the valley, cedar, patchouli, sandalwood, tonka, amber, musk, benzoin, coffee, vanilla.

I don’t think I’m that big of a fan of A*Men. I wasn’t sure whether or not I liked the gourmand bits of it, or the oriental bits, or the woodsy bits. It just all melded together into one big “blah” for me, though it does have really fantastic longevity.

Reviewed in This Post: A*Men, 2012, Eau de Toilette.

Thierry Mugler Innocent

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While Thierry Mugler’s Angel didn’t hit it off with me, I was going to give Angel’s cousin, Innocent a try. I heard this stuff was lighter, easier to take, and lacked the patchouli that may have caused Angel to go foul on me.

Innocent

Innocent

In Bottle: Fruits and almond with a very smooth and very sweet personality.

Applied: Initial flare of sweet citrus. It’s a little reminiscent of juice on the initial application to me. Like a tall glass of freshly squeezed lemonade with a bit of orange added for more citrus flavor. The fragrance heads into its middle stages with a lovely almond note that plays nice with the sweet berry midstage and–I might be crazy–what smells like apricot. As things go, there’s a bit of caramel-like fragrance that seems to want to join the fray here and there. The dry down is also pleasant with a warm amber and clean nutty aroma.

Extra:  Innocent was released in 1998 and has been compared to Angel numerous times. I definitely see the connection there. Except, unlike Angel, Innocent is much easier to take. It’s all the pillowy softness and sweetness with none of the bite. So if you wanted to like Angel but thought she came on too strong with her patchouli note, then give Innocent a sniff.

Design: Bottled very nicely in a tall cylindrical shape, Innocent is one of the less oddly shaped designs from Thierry Mugler’s fragrance line. It looks slick, it looks less clunky that many of the other designs while still maintaining a unique and captivating look.

Fragrance Family: Fruity Gourmand

Notes: Bergamot, orange, blackcurrant, red berries, almond, praline, amber, white musk.

I was one of those people who just couldn’t like Angel as a fragrance. And I’m probably able to slot myself into some category of people who didn’t like Angel but like this. Innocent is basically a milder, easier-going version of Angel with a couple of tweaks, but the same base personality.

Reviewed in This Post: Innocent, 2008, Eau de Parfum.

Thierry Mugler Womanity

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I put off reviewing Womanity for a while so I could get used to her and how she smells and hopefully come to understand where it is she’s coming from and she’s still confusing the living daylights out of me.

Womanity

Womanity

In Bottle: Okay, this is just going to sound silly but I’m going to come out and say it because it’s the honest truth. Womanity reminds me of lobster. A big old dish of lobster with that slightly salty, slightly fishy, slightly sweet and buttery smell to it. There. My opinion is out. It’s lobster.

Applied: I’m hit with a strange mixture of woods and spices with a mingling hint of sweetness all layered over this tangible saltiness in the fragrance. It’s strange because you can almost taste the salt. The caviar might be what I’m attributing to the saltiness in this and I think it might be messing with my image of the fragrance because, once again, Womanity makes me think of lobster. There’s a slight fishiness to the fragrance upon first application that does eventually go away as you continue to wear it. The fragrance digs into this sweeter and fresher territory as it ages into a lovely mixture of scent that I can only describe as clean and briny. I know how bizarre my description of Womanity is right now. I’m all sorts of confused at this point which is when Womanity heads into its base with a slight amp to its spiciness to add to that clean brine smell. If I had to make this as simple as possible, I’d say the opening is salty and reminds me of lobster. The midstage is a fresh and slightly salty fragrance with a hint of spice settled with a sweet figgy note. The base is spice, fading fig and brine. It’s weird, but it doesn’t smell bad. I wouldn’t stretch it and say I like how it smells either. It’s certainly unique but I don’t know if I could wear it.

Extra: So Womanity’s given me a run for my money. I still don’t know if I could classify it as okay, all I know is that I appreciate it’s bizarreness but I wouldn’t wear it as a fragrance. It’s fun just to sniff now and then though, just to give my mind something to think about.

Design: I do like the design. It reminds me a bit of punk rock meets cyberpunk meets Barbie. The pink juice is clearly the Barbie part. One of the better designed Thierry Mugler bottles, in my opinion. I love just holding this thing too. It’s like holding a weird alien artifact. The bottle has a nice weight to it. I love the feel of it and the sprayer is fantastic.

Fragrance Family: Fresh

Notes: Citrus, caviar, fig, woods.

Am I the only one who doesn’t like the smell that money leaves in my hand after I’ve handled a bunch of coins but I always end up going back and smelling it just for the sole purpose of confusing myself and reaffirming my dislike for how it smells? It kind of feels like that with Womanity. In that I’m pretty sure I don’t like how it smells but I keep going back and smelling it anyway.

Reviewed in This Post: Womanity, 2010, Eau de Parfum.

Thierry Mugler Mugler Cologne

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Mugler Cologne is one of the easiest to wear fragrances for a very good reason. It smells clean, smells like good soap, and when it comes down to it, Mugler Cologne just smells good.

Mugler Cologne

In Bottle: Clean soap. Like you just stepped into the shower and grabbed a bar of soap. It’s comforting, it’s classy, and it’s definitely easy to wear.

Applied: I love my clean fragrances. I love smelling like soap and smelling fresh so Mugler Cologne is right up my alley. It’s strange that a fragrance that would otherwise be slotted in the ‘boring’ category can pull itself out of that arena and into a more sophisticated area. Mugler Cologne isn’t just ‘smells like soap’ to me. It’s a rich, complex soap scent that does very well on my skin. It’s like holding onto that freshly showered feeling for a little while longer. There’s not a whole lot I can say to separate the notes of this into a traditional fragrance pyramid. Mugler Cologne simply smells good and I’ll happily slather it on for that clean feeling. The longevity of this stuff is a bit lackluster but I expected that from a fragrance like this. I love this stuff though and even if the longevity leaves something to be desired I’ll still love this because it just smells good.

Extra: Thierry Mugler apparently based this fragrance on a soap that he purchased once. I’m not sure what soap he bought but he definitely captured the essence of what soap smells like.

Design: I’m just not a fan of most of Thierry Mugler bottle designs. Cologne’s bottle reminds me of a Dawn dish soap bottle. It comes with a sprayer that you can install yourself and for all intents and purposes, the bottle is easy to hold and the sprayer works fine.

Fragrance Family: Fresh

Notes: Bergamot, petit grain, neroli, orange flower, white musk.

This stuff the middle road between Prada’s Infusion de Homme and Black Phoenix Alchemy Labs’ Wensleydale. It’s soapy but not too weak and not too strong. I just wish the longevity was better.

Reviewed in This Post: Mugler Cologne, 2009, Eau de Toilette.

Thierry Mugler Alien

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Call me a big old stick in the mud but I don’t like very many of Thierry Mugler’s fragrances. Okay, stop hurling rotten fruit at me. I said most, not all. Fortunately for Alien, I love it.

Alien

In Bottle: Alien is a very powerful fragrance, it’s a few notches above Angel and it doesn’t take a whole lot of this to scent the place up. I’m a big fan of jasmine, love the stuff. Would slather myself in it and Alien is like the wish that came true. It takes jasmine and really kicks it up several notches beyond normal to the point that all I smell is metallic jasmine–and that’s while it’s in the bottle.

Applied: Powerful burst of metals and jasmine right up top with a hint of peppery spice to sooth the nose a little. I know, pepper soothing a nose? The jasmine in this is really strong that when you end up smelling the pepper it’s almost a relief in a way. The fragrance continues to age with jasmine heading the way and the pepper and its strange metallic friend disappear. A bit of vanilla drives itself into the middle and lends a slight plastic quality to the mid-stage. I’m not a big fan of fake vanilla when I can tell it’s the synthetic kind, but the vanilla here actually doesn’t do too bad against jasmine. It goes well with the whole quirkiness of the scent. It gives it a bit more personality too so it’s not just powerful jasmine. Otherwise, this is pretty, white, with that little dirty quality that’s present in many jasmines. I can’t say much else in the way of Alien, it’s a one trick pony. But what a trick! If you love jasmine you’ll love this. It’s heady, heavy, very present and projects hugely. The dry down sees the introduction of some other notes, namely woods that help calm the jasmine down a bit.

Extra: Alien is like Thierry Mugler’s declaration that if you wanted to graduate into floral territory, you should do it with a huge celebration and a fragrance that shouts. Like with most Thierry Mugler scents, Alien has excellent longevity and fantastic projection.

Design: I’m not a huge fan of Thierry Mugler bottle designs either, and Alien’s bottle puts me off a little. It’s purposefully meant to be off-putting, strange, and a bit ridiculous. I can’t say I like the angles, the feel of this thing in my hand, or its pointiness. It’s a great strange little bottle, but it’s not to my tastes.

Fragrance Family: Floral

Notes: Jasmine, pepper, vanilla, woods.

I’m not a strong, in-your-face fragrance kind of gal. I love the subtle stuff, the stick-to-your-skin kind of fragrance but when I want to go loud, this is the stuff I’m doing it with.

Reviewed in This Post: Alien, 2008, Eau de Toilette.

Thierry Mugler Angel

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Angel is one of the most widely imitated fragrances. It’s introduction in 1992 changed the fragrance world. It became incredibly popular and still remains popular as people still rock this scent up and down high school hallways, fashionable city streets, and unfortunately for the rest of us , on the elevator. Angel

In Bottle: Beware of your first smell of Angel as your first impression will likely be something to the tune of, “Oh God! What is that horrible smell? Get it out of my nose! Aaaah!” Your second smell will yield an intriguing, jarring mix of bitter, spicy patchouli blended with rich, warm chocolate and some fruit.

Applied: Angel starts off with a typical citrus burst that disappears to lead you in on a roller coaster ride of gourmand thrill. The patchouli wastes no time on me to get straight to the point. It comes out of the gates, announces itself and drags the rest of the fragrance in. What I get is a mish-mash of sugary fruit. The chocolate is quick to come up with its creamy, warmth. The candy-like sweetness of the caramel mixed with vanilla is always present in Angel. Like a syrup cloud hovering over an outdoor chocolate fashion show. What? Too weird? How about the idea of dipping your chocolate bar in caramel and vanilla extract and then dropping it on the lawn? The dry down doesn’t come in until hours later when you’ve had just about all you can of the chocolate and sweetness. Where upon drying down you get more chocolate, sugar and patchouli. Hope you liked the ride.

Extra: Angel is strong. Mercilessly strong that its introduction in the 1990s could have been pushed up a few years into the Powerhouse Era and people would still say it’s strong. Go easy on this one, folks. You will be smelled from a mile away. And if you do happen to put too much on, avoid crowded elevators.

Design: Angel comes in a variety of bottles, concentrations, flankers and other products. The most iconic and instantly recognizable is the slanted star bottle design shown above. If you don’t like that one, there are many more. Most Angel bottles have the added bonus of being refillable too.

Fragrance Family: Gourmand

Notes: Bergamot, patchouli, chocolate, vanilla, caramel, red berries.

I wrestled with whether or not this fragrance could be considered a classic. Considering its iconic rise to fame and its still firm grip on popularity, I decided to just hand the label over. Not to mention the fact that it’s so instantly recognizable to so many people.

Reviewed in This Post: Angel, 2008, Eau de Parfum.