French fashion designer Thierry Mugler’s Angel perfume is one of the most popular scents of the last twenty years. Mr. Mugler singlehandedly changed the world of perfume forever in 1992 with this innovative gourmand fragrance creation, Angel. After the wild popularity of Angel, many other fragrance houses took note and a plethora of gourmand scents now abound on the market.
Some women, like me, are thrilled with the fact that perfumes don’t just smell like flowers any more. Some of us love to smell like vanilla and other delicious, foody scents instead of florals. Being the type of woman who loves gourmand type scents I thought I would absolutely adore Thierry Mugler’s Angel based on it’s notes as described below:
Thierry Mugler’s Angel’s Notes:
Top notes : Bergamot, Mandarin
Middle notes : Passion Fruit, Peach, Apricot
Base note : Patchouli, Vanilla, Chocolate, Caramel
After seeing vanilla, chocolate and Caramel in the base notes of Angel, I knew I had to try Angel by Thierry Mugler. Sadly, on me at least, the vanilla, chocolate, and Caramel notes are imperceptible. The top and middle notes of Angel, which last for quite a while, for me were absolutely vile. For the first hour or so, Angel smells cough syrup on me. It wasn’t so much overly sweet, but just bizarre smelling. It reminded me of that yellow Triaminic cough syrup from the 1980’s, Angel on me shared a similar scent, and both Angel and that nasty cough syrup are nauseating.
The dry down of Thierry Mugler’s Angel is a somewhat soft Patchouli. The troublesome cough syrup like note in the top and middle notes is for the most part gone, but not completely. The patchouli is not the type you associate with hippies or even the very strong high end Prada fragrance. People who generally can’t wear patchouli might be able to wear it in Angel-that is if you can get over the horrendous top and middle notes of angel. I tried several times to get used to the awful top and middle notes and ride them out for the fairly nice base notes, but it just wasn’t worth the pain for me.
Even though I can’t recommend it as a good fragrance for most women, for those patchouli lovers who want to try it, Sephora carries Angel for sale:
http://www.sephora.com/browse/product.jhtml?id=P9864&categoryId;=C12700
In 1998 Thierry Mugler created the fragrance Angel Innocent. Angel Innocent is a vast improvement over the original Angel fragrance. Women who loathe the original Angel should give Angel Innocent an open minded try. Women who love Angel might also like it, but it really is very different than the original Angel. In fact, it probably should have been named something that didn’t relate it to the original Angel fragrance, it’s so very different.
Thierry Mugler’s Angel Innocent’sNotes:
Top notes : Bergamot, Tangerine
Middle notes : Red berries, Black current
Base notes : White musks, Praline
I don’t care for citrus type scents, especially those with notes in the orange family such as bergamont and tangerine. But I found that Thierry Mugler’s Angel Innocent was not at all citrusy or orange like. The fruitiness is soft and vague. It’s actually a bit hard to tell exactly what kind of fruit notes you are smelling. But this is in many ways a good thing, it means the perfume has blended together quite nicely.
Thierry Mugler’s Angel Innocent is also lovely in it’s dry down. The musk note is a clean, soft musk and not at all masculine. The praline, doesn’t quite smell like a desert, but gives a soft, sweetness to the fragrance. This is a sweet fragrance, but the fruit notes temper the sweetness nicely making it not at all sickeningly sweet.
For most women, I would recommend skipping the original Angel fragrance altogether (unless you are a big patchouli fan) and going straight to Angel Innocent. Angel Innocent would be appropriate for teens and women of all ages and would be a safe gift choice for most women. I would not at all recommend giving the original Angel as a gift, since it is a very temperamental perfume that seems to require just the right chemistry to smell nice.
Sephora sells Thierry Mugler’s Angel Innocent:
http://www.sephora.com/browse/product.jhtml?id=P9865&categoryId;=C12700
Please see my other articles about fragrance and perfume:
My comparison of Marc Jacobs’s Marc Jacobs fragrance and Michael Kors’s Michael Kors Fragrance:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/244606/marc_jacobss_marc_jacobs_fragrance.html
My 2006 Top Ten Fragrance article and gift guide:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/99940/top_ten_womens_fragrances_of_2006_a.html
My Review of Love Spell by Victoria’s Secret:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/205619/product_review_of_love_spell_by_victorias.html
