Angel by Thierry Mugler (1992)

by: Dr. Marlen Elliot Harrison

This is another in a series of fragrance reviews that asks, “How does fragrance transcend gender?”

Hello and welcome to “Gender Bender,” an exploration of aroma, gender and scented freedom. Though by no means do I personally prescribe to fragrance having a gender, sociocultural stereotypes about masculinity and femininity often prevail at the fragrance counters. Join me as I explore some of my favorite 20th century masterpieces of perfumery in my quest to address the familiar question, “How does fragrance transcend gender?”

Summary: One of the biggest game-changers in modern perfumery was undoubtedly 1992’s ice cream sundae in a bottle, Angel by Quest/Clarins for Thierry Mugler. Still going strong with too many flankers and variations to keep track of, the coumarin-heavy Angel has proven as divisive as it is popular with many a guy opting for the original version over the men’s counterpart.

Perfumer: Olivier Cresp and Yves de Chirin.

Try this if you like: Sweet gourmands; chocolate, vanilla or caramel; patchouli; berry notes; Comptoir Sud Pacifique vanilla fragrances; Axe Dark Temptation.

Pros & Cons: Easy to find, easy to buy (old testers at great prices), and if you’re a gourmand fan, easy to love. Excellent longevity, big sillage and a compliment-getter. Some surprising facets such as earthy patchouli that have resulted in numerous reviewers deciding Angel is “too masculine” or too much like “body odor.” Numerous versions to choose from such as the original EDP, yearly flankers with highlighted notes (I love the Taste of Fragrance version with its amped up cacao notes), and the more recent EDT (ditches the heavier patchouli edge). The bottles are all quite striking and a little Angel goes a looooooong way. As fragrance paradigms have shifted, especially in “men’s” perfumery, Angel doesn’t seem the least bit “feminine” by floral standards.

Notes: “Bergamot, tropical fruits, vanilla, caramel and patchouli.”—Muglerusa.com; “Top notes are melon, coconut, mandarin orange, cassia, jasmine, bergamot and cotton candy; middle notes are honey, apricot, blackberry, plum, orchid, peach, jasmine, lily-of-the-valley, red berries and rose; base notes are tonka bean, amber, patchouli, musk, vanilla, dark chocolate and caramel.”—Fragrantica.com

Reminds me of: There are so many scents that have taken cues from the gourmand paradigm made popular by Angel. To some extent all of the following have something in common with the Mugler creation: Dior Homme offers a similarly sweet and gourmand aroma minus the fruity patchouli notes; Rochas Man, Animale Animale for Men and Bond No 9 Nuits de Noho all offer similar cacao/woods/floral blends; Polo Red and Black XS (Man) offer the same fruity/berry sweetness as Angel’s topnotes;Hanae Mori Butterfly, Sonia Rykiel (t-shirt bottle), Miss Varens, Molinard Nirmala,Chopard Wish and V&R Flowerbomb also offer similar gourmand fruity-patchouli compositions.

Designer’s Description: “Tiny yet immense… Near yet distant… The ANGEL Star appears to be carved out from the sky. Crystallizing everyone’s dreams, ANGEL Thierry Mugler is a glamorous fragrance for the woman who is half-angelic and half-devilish. Captured in a faceted gem sculpted like a diamond star, ANGEL perfume for women is the ultimate secret of absolute seduction. ANGEL perfume… the first blue fragrance, the first “Gourmand” fragrance, the first starshaped fragrance…. Thierry Mugler ANGEL perfume is refillable for life at the ANGEL perfume Source or with refill bottles and ANGEL eco-refills!”—Muglerusa.com

Number of times tested: 500+ over the last 20+ years.

Number of sprays applied for this review: One spray to the back of hand from a bottle I purchased online at a discount site (ca. 2015).

Fragrance strength: Eau de Parfum

Development: (Linear / Average / Complex): Angel is surprisingly linear in its overall development; the citrus of the topnotes quickly fade to reveal a focus on powdery dessert notes with strengthening patchouli and musks.

Longevity: (Short / Average / Long-lasting) Angel in any of its forms may be the longest lasting perfume I’ve ever worn. Spray it carefully and you’ll still smell it on your skin the next day…and after showering, lol.

Sillage: (A Little / Average / A Lot) Angel is detectable; best to go easy on this one; probably not great to be heavy handed with Angel in offices or close quarters.

Note about the packaging: The classic EDP is a flat, faceted glass star with silver adornments/atomizer, blue juice, and housed in a powder blue paper box. The newer EDT arrives in a glass and metal “comet design” with the metal adornment wrapped around a diamond shaped bottle. The newest iteration is a three-dimensional glass star.

Where can I buy it? The EDP may be found online for as little as $30 - $35 USD for a 30 ml tester.

The Bottom Line: When Angel first launched stateside, paper cards with a perfumed wax/powder were distributed as samples in lieu of liquid fragrance. I remember seeing these on the perfume counters every time I went to Saks Fifth Avenue in Boca Raton Town Center circa 1992 when in my final year of high school/first year of college. At the time I had been enamored with Patou Prive pour Homme and Saks was the only place that sold it near me; so every time I went to Town Center, into Saks I went. The first time I actually peeled back the plastic and spread the waxy powder onto my skin I considered how much Angel reminded me of chocolate, freeze-dried, astronaut ice cream that was all the rage in the 80s. Nowhere on the card did it specify if the fragrance was for men or for women and despite the name, I decided it must be unisex. When compared to other popular fragrances of the time such as CK Escape, Givenchy Amarige or Dior Dune, Angel was decidedly NOT floral nor was it fresh or beachy. Rather, Angel’s powdery, honeyed vanilla drydown reminded more of 1992’s Burberry’s for Men or Balenciaga pour Homme. Gender boundaries in fragrance were definitely shifting.

When a liquid tester finally arrived, I doused myself liberally and considered how much Angel reminded me of Tristano Uomo by Tristano Onofri, a little known Italian gem that smelled remarkably similar to Angel’s drydown, just not as sweet. Oh how I hoarded those powder samples until finally, by some stroke of luck, one of the fragrance sales associates gifted me with a liquid mini and it was kismet! I had been wearing scents like Joop! Homme, Egoiste, Molto Missoni and Shalimarand was no stranger to sweet, vanillic, bold aromas.

When I moved to London a year and a half later, Angel had become my signature scent and I received constant compliments on my “cologne.” I had purchased another mini and was rationing it so as not to run out. Whenever anyone asked, I told them it was something from France, not wanting to divulge the mystery of my new scented aura. I wore it for evening occasions like late nights at Chelsea dance clubs as well as every day events like trips to Boots and M&S or to philosophy class at the local polytechnic. But by the time I had returned to the states, Angel’s popularity had started to grow and I could no longer claim it to be an obscure European scent. At that time, I had started working in department store fragrance bays at Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom and had a chance to finally own a large bottle. I loved it…until it seemed that everyone else, and I mean everyone, was suddenly wearing my Angel. Though I embraced Angel for Men upon its launch, while many of my male friends found it revolting, my mother was completely smitten and preferred it to Angel (for women). I remember angrily thinking, “Who needs gender distinctions when it comes to aroma?”

Since my initial encounter with Angel over 20 years ago, much of the world has come to sample it and it is now considered by some to be passé. I have used summer versions, liquor versions, the men’s version, and numerous other flankers such as Eau de Star, Rose Angel, Innocent, etc. Still, nothing pleases me more than the delicious, tempered, honeyed sugar tones of Angel’s drydown, a good 3-4 hours into its development. After traveling the world, I was surprised to see an almost complete absence of Angel and its flankers in Asian stores. Perhaps the composition is deemed to be too much for Asian tastes? I’d love to read your thoughts in a comment below if you have any info. As the fragrance world has embraced the sweet and gourmand trends with aromas such as Prada Candy, Dior Homme, Spicebomb and 1 Million, I figured the time was right to revisit this gem here at Fragrantica in the hopes of spreading a little angelic joy to a new generation of fragrance aficionados.
 

It has to be tried to be believed and you can decide for yourselves—is it really angelic or actually a wicked demon?