Mugler
Instead of a Christmas gift guide this year, I’m switching out my regular Candy Crush posts for just as regular Christmas Crushes instead. In these posts over the coming weeks you’ll find some wonderfully scented gifts just in time for the holiday season, with products that I am crushing on. So get ready for some marvellous Christmas gift inspiration!
Ooh do I have a treat for the MUGLER addicts amongst you! This Christmas Crush post is solely dedicated to the house of MUGLER and those that reside in its many galaxies. In my mind there is no greater gift than the gift of MUGLER and this Christmas the brand has a rather splendid array of olfactory offerings for you to gift to your loved ones (or just to yourself – self care is very important, after all). So in this post you will find MUGLER gift sets, perfume, candles, body products and more, all of which will leave you scented FOR THE GODS. Enjoy!
I’ve got wood on the brain, Dear Reader.
Now, before you judge me with your smutty little minds, I am of course referring to wood fragrances and not any other form of wood, metaphorical or otherwise. I’m not sure what may have led you to think of anything else – certainly not the somewhat tongue in cheek title of this post, that’s for sure! Anyway, the truth is that I’ve never really got wood before, as in, I’ve never really enjoyed wood fragrances that much (again, minds out of the gutter please, people). They’ve always felt too subtle or too plain for my exuberant tastes, so for the most part I’ve ignored them or passed them off as lovely, but not for me. That however, has changed very recently.
Over the last few months I’ve started to find wood fragrances a little bit sexy. I’m attracted to them and they are just the kind of thing I find myself wanting to smell on a man. But it’s actually more than that, they’ve also become the type of thing I want to wear when I’m feeling mighty fine, or when I want to feel mighty fine. So in this post I’m going to showcase some beautiful wood fragrances that are more than just a little bit sexy – in fact, they’re all very sexy in their own individual ways. So, please put on some Barry White and close the curtains because things are going to get a little bit hot and steamy up in here as we investigate seven wood fragrances with some serious bom-chicka-wah-wah factor.
By now we all know my thoughts on the House of MUGLER. I am and always will be, a lifelong MUGLER fanboy. I am indoctrinated in their ideology. I am a card-carrying member of the Muglerati. If you ask me where I’m from, I will tell you that I was born from a star in the far reaches of the Muglerverse. The brand is my favourite and their fragrances are some of my most-beloved. I am MUGLER, smell me roar.
So it’s always exciting for me when MUGLER launch a new fragrance and this year hasn’t been short in terms of output from my favourite brand. So far we’ve had two Alien flankers (Musc Mysterieux and Eau Sublime), some delicious Angel-flavoured chocolates, oh we can’t forget the entirely brand new feminine pillar fragrance in the form of Aura. It’s been a busy year on Planet Mugler, for sure, and there’s no let up yet, because the brand has just added the ninth fragrance to their exclusive Les Exceptions range: the intriguingly named Wonder Bouquet.
“I’m always crushing on something scented or other. My nose knows no limits. Candy Crush is where I showcase the beautifully scented things I’m crushing on right now so you can hopefully develop a crush too.”
Look at this! Just look at it! Isn’t it beautiful?
When Angel launched way back in 1992, Thierry Mugler was very keen on the bottles being refillable. The purpose of this was for two reasons; firstly, it’s ecological, but also the bottle was to become a beloved object that one kept forever and refilled whenever it ran out. The creation of Angel’s iconic star bottle was a technical feat that took years to get right, so it’s only fair that it should become such a treasured item. I remember speaking to a MUGLER Sales Assistant years ago who told me that she often refilled a vast variety of battered, bruised and well-loved Angel flacons at the source. So it seems that the wearers of Angel have fulfilled M. Mugler’s vision.
I done a YouTube.
That’s right folks, I’ve been dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st Century, finally relenting and giving YouTube a go. One may ask what too me so long and I guess the answer is simple: YouTube terrifies me. I am very comfortable at a keyboard, hiding behind words and photographs, but stick me in front of a camera and the fear sets in! Eek!
Anyway, YouTube is a very popular medium and it’s hopefully a way to expand The Candy Perfume Boy’s audience. So for that reason I will be bringing you a weekly video for you to hopefully enjoy. Some of the videos will be reviews of things I’ve written about already, whilst others may be things that haven’t quite made it to the blog yet. I’m sure I’ll also get some lists up in the future too! Do let me know what videos you would like to see going forward.
To say that the launch of a new pillar fragrance from MUGLER is an event is quite the understatement. Since 1992 the brand has only launched a handful of fragrances (excluding their fabulous flankers, of course) and unlike many other fragrance houses, MUGLER takes their time to develop and nurture their pillars. So with so few big launches a new one from MUGLER is hotly anticipated and easily makes for the perfume event of the year! MUGLER’S last pillar fragrance was Womanity, which launched way back in 2010 and whilst it wasn’t a commercial success, it was a daring fragrance who’s sweet/savoury-marine/biscuity signature trickled down through mainstream perfumery into the likes of Calvin Klein’s Reveal and Paco Rabanne’s Olympēa.
Seven years later and MUGLER are just about to launch their fourth pillar: AURA. Like ANGEL and ALIEN, and A*MEN before it, AURA plays on Mr Mugler’s supersition, bearing the letter ‘A’ to carry the brand’s theme of addiction into the next phase. AURA was created by a dream team of perfumers; Daphné Bugey, Marie Salamagne, Amandine Marie and Jean-Christophe Hérault, and it presents an oriental twist on the green genre, reinventing it and creating an olfactory shock.
The concept behind AURA is “botanical meets animal”. It celebrates the intuitive instinct that MUGLER describes as being innately feminine in nature. The composition consists of three hearts which showcase overdoses of rhubarb leaf and a new Firmenich material called ‘Tiger Liana’. With AURA, MUGLER has sought to innovate, working closely with Firmenich to exclusively use Tiger Liana along with another material called Wolfwood – all of which comes together to create a magic aura and the next chapter in MUGLER’S extra-terrestrial odyssey.
We recently recorded an upcoming battle episode of Fume Chat at Perfume Lovers London and one of the subjects that came up was MUGLER. No surprises there, of course, everywhere I go MUGLER must be mentioned, but what was interesting was the fact that everyone seemed to agree that, when it comes to flankers, nobody does it better than good old Thierry M. I’m on board with this too and whether MUGLER are creating candy floss versions of Angel or spiced-up versions of A*Men, they’re always making some fascinting, and beautifully smelling things.
One of MUGLER’s fragrances that always lends itself well to flankerisation is Alien, the brand’s supreme being. Alien has been treated to many injections of flavour scent and texture, and following their launch of Alien Oud Majesteux last year, MUGLER have added Musc Mystérieux, another instalment to what they’re calling the Oriental Collection. Created by Perfumer Dominique Ropion, this version of Alien plays homage to the ancient ingredient of musk, presenting a smoother and more transparent take on tonkin musk – a solar musk.
Please forgive my excitement, fellow perfume nerds, but it simply cannot be contained today, for there are now Angel chocolates on the market. Now, if you know me, you know that there are three things I hold dear to my heart in this world; 1) my family (including my cats) and friends; and 2) food; and 3) MUGLER. So it stands to reason then, that the idea of MUGLER themed chocolates, nay ANGEL themed chocolates would get me just a tad excited. Well that’s exactly what’s got me going today and hopefully they will do the same to you!
So, MUGLER have teamed up with another legendary French house, the chocolatey heaven of La Maison du Chocolat to translate their most iconic fragrance into a gustatory delight. The result is a box of beautiful chocolates that break down the three key accords of Angel into edible delights that are as indulgent as the scent itself. If, like me, you were trying to diet then I’m sorry, Angel has other plans for you and as we all know, she does not take no for answer.
At this point, MUGLER have provided more than enough evidence for us to declare that there is life on another planet. Having discovered the existence of extra terrestrials in 2005, the brand has paraded a variety of alien species under our noses, wafting solar vixens and Venus sirens that range from the luminescent and light to the indulgent and gourmand, not to mention the oud-filled! The great thing about MUGLER is that they’re rather good at these flankers, always paying respect to the olfactory signatures that make their pillar fragrances do bold and beautiful. So whilst we’ve seen an Alien invasion since 2005, it’s fair to say that these ETs have certainly come in peace.
For 2017, MUGLER are revisiting Alien once again with Alien Eau Sublime. MUGLER describe it as being “a new solar adventure” with a “fresh, energising and luminous new juice”. Teaming up once again with legendary perfume Dominique Ropion (Carnal Flower, Portrait of a Lady and a billion other classics), MUGLER have pieced together a fragrance that takes inspiration from white amethyst, evoking an experience that is incandescent and white in comparison to Alien’s glowing purple tones. As MULGER say: “Alien Eau Sublime takes to you to a universe bathed in light.”
The Candy Perfume Boy 