Oriental

A Cosmic Drag Queen – Thierry Mugler Angel EDP Perfume Review

AngelWhat can I say about Angel that hasn’t already been said? Angel isn’t just your typical perfume, she is a legend, a legend in exactly the same way that N°5 and Shalimar are legends. She’s also not just a legend, she is a fierce vixen and a complete diva.

Created in 1992 by Olivier Crisp and Yves de Chiris for avant-garde fashion designer Thierry Mugler, Angel is inspired by Mugler’s childhood memories, he wanted “to make a perfume that could have a common resonance for everyone, something close to tenderness, to childhood.” [1] The childhood memories that Mugler chose to recreate in Angel were those of the fairground.

The very first time I smelled Angel, right at the beginning of my perfumista journey, I was shocked, appalled and disgusted all at once. Who would want to wear this? I thought. But I kept finding myself coming back to Angel, there was something about her, she lured me in and wouldn’t let me go, I was helpless. I became obsessed and after many sniffs I finally bought a bottle, wore it with pride and didn’t look back.

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Shock, Horror! – CK One Shock for Him & For Her Perfume Review

CK One Shock

Ahh flankers, there is nothing within the glorious world of perfume more guaranteed to make my eyes roll. Don’t get me wrong, there are some pretty good flankers on the market, take Guerlain’s Shalimar Parfum Initial or Chanel’s No 5 Eau Premiere for example. But on the whole the majority of flankers stink (see Marc Jacobs Bang Bang), they are a cheap way of marketing a new fragrance without having to come up with a new name or bottle and tend to carry no ingenuity whatsoever.

CK One Shock for Him and for Her are the latest in a long line of flankers to Calvin Klein’s iconic Unisex fragrance CK One, originally launched in 1994. With CK One Shock they have released “Two sassy new fragrances that flaunts youth innate sense of provocation” [1] Calvin Klein has proved to be the king of flankers over the years, the majority of which have been pretty terrible so I did not approach these two with high hopes.

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I am Woman, Hear me Roar – Thierry Mugler Womanity Perfume Review

OK, I may not be ‘woman’ but Womanity most certainly is, she is all woman and she definitely knows how to roar.

Womanity was released in 2010 and is the latest feminine fragrance by renegade fashion house Thierry Mugler. It is the house’s first major feminine release (i.e. not a flanker) since Alien in 2005. The fragrances is described as a woody oriental and is based around a juxtaposition of sweet and savoury notes

To coincide with the release of Womanity, Mugler also created a social network site womanity.com which, just like the fragrance, celebrates ‘the invisible bond between women’. I have to admit that I find the concept more than a little bit tedious…

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Gone, But Not Forgotten Series Part 1: Pierce My Heart Again – Alexander McQueen Kingdom Perfume Review

This week my good friend Cara and I will be teaming up to create a special fragrant event as part of her Instability-in-Stability project. During the event we will both be discussing our scented memories as teenagers. Thinking about the subject matter I thought it would be apt to review the first fragrance that I fell in love with, the one that started the obsession; Kingdom by Alexander McQueen.

At the tender age of 16 (it feels so long ago now), I wasn’t really fussed about fragrance, I would wear generic ‘boy’ fragrances such as Hugo Boss and Paul Smith and the fragrances I wore were normally gifted to me by relatives. That was, until Kingdom came along…

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The Dark and the Light – Montale Black Aoud and White Aoud Perfume Review

Oud/Aoud/Oodh/Agarwood is a ‘dark, resinous heartwood that forms in Aquilara and Gyrinops trees when they become infected with a type of mold.’ [1] The smell of Oud really varies and from my experience it can smell medicinal, animalic and funky like a barnyard or intensely peppery and spiky.

Over the last couple of years there has been a plethora of fragrances released based around oud, a note which has been used in middle eastern perfumery for thousands of years. Oud has very much become the note du jour and it seems that almost every fragrance house has done ‘an oud’.

One house that kicked off the trend is Montale, created by perfumer Pierre Montale and tucked away in a corner of the very upmarket and glamourous Place Vendôme in Paris, Montale focuses on rich oriental fragrances and exotic blends using the famous oud.

This review is of two of Montale’s most well known scents, Black Aoud and White Aoud. These two scents strike an interesting contrast with each other and show the versatility of the oud note.

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The Spirit of the 80’s – Esprit d’Oscar by Oscar de la Renta Perfume Review

Esprit d’Oscar is the new fragrance from esteemed fashion house Oscar de la Renta. It is the first new fragrance from the house since Red Satin in 2007.

Esprit d’Oscar was created by perfumer Frank Völki and is meant to be a re-imagining of the original Oscar de la Renta perfume ‘Oscar’ which was created in 1977. According to the brand, the structure of the original has been ‘refreshed’ and made more ‘contemporary’.

I have not tried the original Oscar, so I’m not able to compare the two or comment on whether Esprit d’Oscar is a worthy reinterpretation, however the general consensus in the perfume blogosphere is that it is.

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The Initial Post – Shalimar Parfum Initial Perfume Review

It seems fitting that my initial post on this blog should be a review of the latest edition of Shalimar by Guerlain; Shalimar Parfum Initial.

My first thought when seeing the news about Shalimar Parfum Initial was ‘Nooooooooooo, it’s PINK, you can’t pinkify Shalimar!!’ Well, as it turns out you can, and the end result isn’t half bad at all.

Shalimar Parfum Initial was created by Guerlain’s In-House Perfumer Thierry Wasser and was made for his niece after she requested he make a version of Shalimar for her. The idea behind Parfum Initial is very similar to that of Chanel’s Eau Premiere for No 5 – a modern, lighter version of the perfume for younger customers who are not quite ready for the original. Guerlain describe the scent as an ‘Initiation into Shalimar’ [1] but it also serves as an initiation to the brand, for those who are unfamiliar with or intimidated by the classic Guerlains.

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