Mugler’s Fetish Material – Thierry Mugler Angel, Alien & Womanity Les Parfums de Cuir and A*Men Pure Cuir Perfume Reviews

To celebrate 20 years of haute perfumery, Thierry Mugler parfums is launching a collection of limited edition fragrances with a leather twist in October. Harking back to the origins of traditional perfumery and the link between perfumers and glove makers, Mugler sets to unleash four luxurious limited editions of its four famous fragrances.

Angel, A*Men, Alien and Womanity have all been given the leather treatment, having been infused with tailor made leather pieces in metal caskets for a period of four weeks. These brand new leather interpretations aim to enhance the original compositions with “intense, innovative carnal notes” and showcase Mugler’s four iconic fragrances through “the prisms of leather.”

“(Les Parfums de Cuir) The Fragrances of Leather is a journey to the heart of Mugler fragrances, with a noble material, for a collection of 4 exceptional creations”

As with all things Mugler, Les Parfums de Cuir promises to be an innovative collection of olfactory twists on four fragrances that have each created the mould for their respective genres. So throw on your leather corsets, suits and boots we’re off on a tour of Planet Mugler, and this time we’re doing it in style.

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Smelly News: Thierry Mugler Les Parfums de Cuir + The Making of Teaser Video

I am very pleased to be able to share with you a teaser video for Thierry Mugler’s latest collection; “Les Parfums de Cuir” (The Fragrances of Leather). Launching in October, the collection has been created to celebrate Thierry Mugler Parfums’ 20th birthday and contains four brand new leathery interpretations of Mugler’s classic fragrances; Angel, A*Men, Alien and Womanity.

“This innovative idea marries two know-hows of today and yesterday: Haute Perfumery and the traditional craft of glove makers and perfumers.”

To create Les Parfums de Cuir Thierry Mugler parfums a “tailor made […] natural leather” was added to four custom made vats containing each perfume allowing them to infuse & mature for four weeks and eventually, after the “leather-imbued extracts” were added to a solution, they became Les Parfums de cuir.

More details on the collection below the jump…

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Postcards From My Collection Part 2: Planet Mugler

Group Shot — The Other Half of the Collection

The Postcards From My Collection Series takes you on a voyage through the big pile of clutter that is my perfume collection. The aim is to familiarise you with the fragrances that are special and/or weird enough to take pride of place on my perfume shelf. Some have great sentimental value, others simply just smell awesome and whatever the reason for their residency in my collection, rest assured that they will satiate your need for some shameless perfume porn.

In the first instalment we took a look at those fragrances, both big and small, that were most precious to me. They were a varied bunch including über expensive extraits, paris exclusives and vintage finds that take ultimate pride of place in my collection, which is really an extensive rogues gallery of perfume.

This week we are taking a trip to Planet Mugler and before we take off I have a few safety announcements to get out of the way; 1) please ensure that your hands, feet and noses remain safely in the spacecraft at all times; 2) when we have safely landed on Planet Mugler please do not remove your helmets, the smell of the planet is so strong your head will explode with in seconds without the proper protection; and 3) if you are of a sensitive disposition you will either have to disembark the spaceship immediately or grow a pair because we’re about to take off…

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Saturday Poll: Are You a Perfume Snob?

Last week’s Saturday Poll asked you to vote for your favourite Thierry Mugler fragrance. I wanted to know who was most popular; Angel, Alien, A*Men, Womanity or Cologne? The results didn’t go the way I expected having, in my head, predicted Angel to reign supreme, despite the feelings of love and hate she inspires in people.

But no, I was wrong, it appears that you people prefer the “intergalactic jasmine” of Alien, which received a pretty decent 34% of the vote. What did really surprise me though was the lack of love for Womanity, which only received a measly 6% of the vote. As much as Womanity is polarising (aren’t all of the Mugler’s) I did think that the fact that it is so unique and unusual would have given it a higher percentage.

On to this week’s poll…

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Musings on Mugler, Leather and Fragrant Enhancers

As I mentioned in my most recent Saturday Poll, Thierry Mugler is set to release four limited edition leather interpretations of their most popular scents. This leather collection follows on from last years La Goût du Parfum, in which Angel, Alien, A*Men and Womanity each had a taste enhancer added to shake things up a bit and a new gourmand twist to them. The brand also released Angel and Alien Liqueur de Parfums in 2009, two fragrances that were aged in oak casks to give a more boozy feel.

The success of these enhanced editions got me thinking about what additional ingredients can be added to fragrances to give an entirely new twist on the original accords. There is something to be said about this intelligent method of flankering, it allows for the essence of the fragrance to be preserved whilst simultaneously offering something new, exciting and even if the end result doesn’t quite work out, it is at least interesting, unusual and worth smelling.

So what should we add to a Thierry Mugler fragrance to enhance it? Are there other fragrances that we could an enhancer to? Or are fragrances best left as they are, without flankers or fragrant meddling?

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Saturday Poll: Which Mugler Are You?

Last week’s Saturday Poll was a Vero Profumo showdown, in which you were asked to vote for your favourite perfume from the lovely renegade perfumer Vero Kern. The results were interesting, especially because everyone seemed to have a clear idea in their mind as to which VP scent was their favourite, which just goes to show how strong each fragrance’s personality is.

Rubj and Onda, both in Extrait, were the joint winners of the poll, with Rubj EDP in third place, suggesting that the Rubj signature is the most popular overall. Who am I to argue with that? I think it’s bloomin’ marvellous!

On to this week’s poll…

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The Alien Queen – Thierry Mugler Alien Essence Absolue Perfume Review

Thierry Mugler’s second major feminine Alien has managed to become almost as popular and iconic as its sister fragrance Angel, which is no mean feat when you consider exactly how popular the latter is. Since its release in 2005 Mugler has released a plethora of Alien Editions, each of which has seemed better than the last, and it would be fair to say that the very latest edition ‘Alien Essence Absolue’ is the best yet, and they know it too hailing Essence Absolue as “The Supreme Perfume”.

What I love about the Thierry Mugler brand is that they are not afraid to experiment, not only with their flagship launches but also with their flankers. They may not always work (see Ice*Men) but they are always interesting and it’s great to see a brand really give a damn about the quality and artistry of all their fragrances. Personally, I didn’t think that Mugler could top the salted-caramel-goodness of Alien Le Goût de Parfum (released last year), but by jove they’ve gone and proved me wrong.

Alien Essence Absolue is the latest interpretation of Alien and serves as an oriental twist on the original. Created by Dominique Ropion (one of favourite perfumers FYI), who worked on the original as well as creating the Eau de Toilette, Eau Luminescente and Sunessence versions, Essence Absolue is a more intense interpretation that focuses on warm, resinous notes and intense flowers. Mugler describes it as “an intense amber, floral, vanilla perfume […] a magnetic fragrance that illuminates the skin in a halo of light” – well if “magnetic” partly explains why my nose is currently stuck to my wrist then I’m all for it.

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Eat Me – Thierry Mugler Alien Le Goût du Parfum Perfume Review

“Pure Fumegasm”

I’ve said before that Thierry Mugler is one brand that always thinks intelligently about their flankers and their latest series of limited editions ‘Le Goût du Parfum’ is absolutely no exception to this rule.

The concept behind Le Goût du Parfum (The Taste of Fragrance) is simple – take the already bold, and mostly gourmand structures of four Thierry Mugler scents (Angel, Alien, Womanity and A*Men) and add a ‘Taste Enhancer’ to each. Le Goût du Parfum creates “a genuine parallel between Haute Cuisine and Haute Parfumerie.” To achieve this parallel Mugler enlisted leading Michelin-starred chef Hélène Darroze to create an “entirely Muglerian Meal” based on these four new limited editions.

WARNING: THIS POST WILL MAKE YOU HUNGRY

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Intergalactic Jasmine – Thierry Mugler Alien Perfume Review

“If you don’t like jasmine then you are probably going to need to put on your Space Suit, a Close Encounter of the Third Kind with this Alien may leave you feeling completely overwhelmed.”

I remember Alien’s release well, in 2005 I had just started my love affair with perfumes and one perfume I had fallen for big time was Angel by Thierry Mugler, so the news of a brand new Mugler release was big news for me. My excitement grew even more when I heard the perfume was to be named ‘Alien’, has there ever been a more perfect name for a fragrance? I think not!

Alien also holds a special resonance with me because it was that year I met my lovely boyfriend (technically he’s my fiancée but I don’t like the word) and Alien was the perfume I wore when we first met. He probably doesn’t remember the perfume that I wore, but I do and that makes it all the more special to me.

On Thursday I will be reviewing the latest incarnation of Alien, ‘Alien Le Goût du Parfum‘ so I feel it’s only fitting to give the original a proper review, after all Alien is one of my all time favourites.

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All Flankered Out? – The Candy Perfume Boy Offers a Tonic

If like me, you’re fed up with the constant wave of flankers (please see my review of the two new CK One flankers) then I hope you will take this post as some kind of remedy, a tonic if you will. I could spend hours and hours moaning about how I hate flankers and name and shame some of the worst, that would be very easy, and not entirely true. What I would like to do instead is just make a few personal recommendations of what I think are some of the best.

What is a Flanker?

Most of you reading this blog will be familiar with flankers but for those who aren’t; a flanker is essentially a fragrance released using the same (or similar) name as another fragrance by the same house, think of it as a sort of sequel, so for example; Live Jazz is a flanker to the original Jazz by Yves Saint Laurent. The actual juice can be very similar, slightly similar or completely unrelated to the original fragrance.

Flankers are a cheap way of marketing a new fragrance without having to spend a huge amount of money on new concepts, bottle moulds and advertising. They are also a great way of marketing a ‘new’ product to consumers who are already fans of the original fragrance.

Not all flankers are bad, some brands use the opportunity to create a new interpretation of an established fragrance and these tend to be the flankers that work best, they bring something new and interesting to the table.

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