ANGEL by Thierry Mugler: an infamous creation. With a reformulation of Angel Eau De Toilette in 2011, rafts of reviews and comparisons have since followed. I've managed to snag both the EDT and EDP, so I'm excited to now write my own review :)
I'm an eBay fiend, so over the past couple of years I'd gone through phases of watching various different Angel products but never commiting to buy. I feared that the products might not be genuine or that they could have been used and gone bad. Also, as Angel was first released in 1992, I couldn't be sure I would be receiving fresh stock and not something that could be over 20 years old!
Price was another big factor for me too. It seemed that this perfume was extremely popular, so low starting listings for brand new bottles would rarely end at a 'bargainous' price and I couldn't justify near blind buying it for too high a price.
Of course there have been times I've sprayed Angel in department stores, but after far too many impulse buys over the years from not testing a fragrance thoroughly enough before purchase, I'd learned not to necessarily trust those first fragrance impressions. Even using sample flacons wasn't a thorough enough road test for me with some fragrances, plus I knew that Angel was complex, so I craved really testing it out.
I'd had a very bad experience with it a couple of years back. I was shopping in John Lewis Liverpool with my Mum and decided that Angel was going to be the lucky fragrance I was going to douse myself in. At the time I was mad on spraying on A LOT of perfume, so naturally I did the usual 4 to 6 squirts: big mistake! The perfume was so overpowering, I immediately regretted putting on so much, my Mum said stank of patchouli and asked what I'd put on because I smelt awful! I felt so nauseous with an instant headache, which actually developed into a migraine!
So you may wonder why I'd want to give Angel another shot after such an extreme physical reaction!
Well here follows my Mugler history:
- When I was about 10 I was reading a teen mag when I came across a 'Get The Look' type article on Britney Spears. It listed several make-up and beauty products Britney was supposed to love. From what I remember there was some NARS products shown, though what remains most vivid in my mind is seeing a little picture of the blue Angel Star bottle. I'd never heard of any of these brands before; the only make-up I had at the time was 'play' make-up you'd get free with the teen magazines and some old Revlon type stuff that my Mum had let me and my sister play with. Of course this was the first experience of many I would have with celebrity associations. I thought that star shaped bottle looked so beautiful; the article described Angel as 'a sweet scent', it seemed so unusual, even then it seemed like something to covet. I hoped that one day when I was 'a big girl' I could use it too and look as glossy and pretty as Britney! :)
- Ten years later and I'm working in Urban Outfitters Liverpool. I read a book from NYLON called PLAY, which lists the inspirations for the styles and sounds of the current musical muses. I discover that NYLON has another book called PRETTY: THE NYLON BOOK OF BEAUTY, which features cult make-up and perfumes as well as their oft copied Private Icons. It didn't surprise me to see Angel featured as a definitive fragrance.
- I loved the evocative description. This is one of my favourite books and I use it frequently for beauty reference.
- In 2011 I'd seen that Lady Gaga wore Womanity. I was browsing the summer sale in Harvey Nichols Glasgow when I saw loads of bottles of Womanity on sale. The bottle is very unusual so I picked it up to have a sniff and thought it was amazing! The price was daft cheap, £20something, so me and Roxy both bought a bottle. After that it pretty much replaced Gucci Guilty as my go-to scent, and I ended up repurchasing Womanity a few times over because I love it so much!
- Now that we had been introduced to the exciting world of Mugler fragrance, more purchases followed. Me and Roxy were browsing the sale in Debenhams when we found a battered Alien box. The box was a gift set that contained a 15ml EDP and an incense burner with alien scented incense! So that started Roxys love of Alien, and eventually my mums love of Alien too!
- Whenever we'd sprayed Angel it was kind of like getting punched in the face with scent. As we were avid users of Womanity and Alien, it kind of became a running joke to hate on Angel.
- Whilst waiting for our flight out of Paris last October 2013, Mum had sprayed on a perfume from a sample spray flacon that smelt nice. When I asked what it was me and Roxy were very surprised when she said it was Angel Aqua Chic, as it smelt so good! So that definitely piqued my interest in trying the scent out.
And so, back in December 2013, the current gift set of the refillable EDT 40ml, the 'Book of Mysteries', had been Boots Star Gift, but by the time I'd realised that, it had of course sold out online and everywhere locally. It had gone down to the amazing price of £24 so I was disappointed that I couldn't snag one but I figured there's always next year!
As far as the Christmas sales had gone, it looked like all Angel gift sets were only reduced by a third by most retailers. As Angel is quite a pricey perfume to begin with, a third off still wasn't enough to lure me to try it out.
So when browsing the web for sale bargains on Christmas Day, I was happy to find a website called lifeandlooks.com, which was selling the current Angel EDP and EDT gift sets at half price plus there was an active 5% off discount code. I couldn't decide which formulation to get: from what I'd researched online the consensus was that the EDT was a great way to step into the world of Angel as it was a pretty, wearable scent, but that it wasn't an Angel EDP 'Lite' version, so if you wanted that famous Angel EDP deep chocolate blast you wouldn't necessarily get it.
I figured I'd buy both versions and see if that helped me see the different nuances in both, plus I could always sell them on eBay if I didn't like them.My pictures of both sets:
Thierry Mugler Angel Eau De Parfum 25ml Refillable Coffret Couture Gift Set
I love that Mugler does refillable bottles, more perfumers should follow suit as it's so much more advantageous. I know lots of people like to keep old perfume bottles for the memories, so I love the fact that this bottle is something you can keep and revive if you feel like it!
Each Mugler fragrance product comes with a unique code that can be entered into THE MUGLER CIRCLE, which is a club of sorts where you get first access to new product information, deals and sometimes free samples!
If you purchase Mugler fragrance from certain stores they can give you a Mugler Passport, where you get stamps for each purchase you make and I assume when you get so many you get something for free. I have a Mugler Passport at Debenhams Manchester and Roxy has one at Selfridges Manchester, the downside to that scheme being that you have to make the purchases in the same store for them to count. I think a club card scheme would be better, or even just giving you your passport to keep yourself, as then your purchases from any source could count, but still, it's certainly a refreshing change to see a brand value your loyalty so much.
Finally holding my own star! :)
Thierry Mugler Angel Eau De Toilette 40ml Refillable Book Of Mysteries Gift Set
The box is sturdy cardboard and has an elastic band with a leather bow and silver charm detailing.
The set contains a 40ml refillable comet and a 5ml atomiser.
The atomiser of disappointment! When I opened the box I could see that it had leaked.
The glass chamber had become unscrewed and so the juice had leaked out into the metal part of the atomiser and then out into the box.
I couldn't find any information on whether this atomiser is supposed to be refillable. I don't see why it wouldn't be as as you can see you only need to pull at the top and unscrew the glass compartment to refill it. After I'd cleaned it up it still seemed like it was leaking, a real shame as usually the quality of Mugler products is high, whereas this felt very cheap and filmsy.
And finally... I couldn't possibly have done all of this exciting unboxing without my kittens wanting to get involved/cause a nuisance. Tom was very pleased with the elastic band.
The Review
I figured I would test the EDT first as it was obviously the lighter version, not that I had any choice about it though as because the atomiser had leaked it ended up all over my hands anyway.
On the first sprays it smelt like what I imagined Angel to smell like, but with red berries, and sort of like the smelling a heady cocktail on someone's breath.
Even though my hands were covered in the scent and I'd put a few sprays around my neck, after that initial spray I struggled to smell it.
The next day I thought I'd amp the test up and try the shower gel. The shower gel smelt very pungent so I only used a small amount. When I was using it the deepness of the smell lessened and became more of a soapy fruity scent.
I applied a small amount of the body lotion to my arms and liked it, so decided to put ONE spritz of Angel EDP on the back of my neck. I survived the smell! So later on I put two more sprays on my neck. I found the patchouli very interesting, I don't think I've worn a scent with patchouli in it before.
I was excited to wear the EDP the next day too and found myself spraying it throughout the day to get the smell again. By the end of the day I had fell in love with it and decided that the bottle was going to come out of the box and stay on my dressing table as a permanent addition to my fragrance wardrobe :) I loved the patchouli, it felt very sexy and rock and roll to me, almost like something I would have cooked up myself if I was around in the 70's! The dry down mixed with my own scent was very sensual, musky like with that famous chocolate hint, and I loooove chocolate! I felt very much like 'myself' when I was wearing it. This contrasts greatly to most of the floral scents I own, that can make me feel like I'm playing dress up when I apply or they just end up wearing me!
After a few days of alternating between the EDP and EDT, I got to the point where I only wanted to wear the EDP and had to force myself to wear the EDT.
Even though I loved wearing the EDP, interestingly, after about 5 days the strength of the perfume was getting overwhelming as I was beginning to smell it on me even after I showered and it was lingering on my clothes and in my room. I really craved a light scent so I used my Soap & Glory Sugar Crush products and wore Marc Jacobs Woman, which is probably the complete opposite to Angel! It worked well as a palette cleanser though, as afterwards I'd started to notice that the dry down on the EDT was quite powdery. I'm not a powdery scent person at all and I was beginning to dislike the EDT more and more after every use. I gave the EDT one last shot to reveal itself so I doused myself in it and yep, sure enough, the dry down was super powdery.
Bottle comparison wise, I love that the star is 25ml as the bottle isn't too big and so I'll be able to carry it around with me. The 40ml comet is the smallest size you can get in the refillable EDT versions and it would be too bulky for travel. The atomiser could have solved that but I wouldn't trust using it as it was so insecure.
As you can see the colour of the EDT juice is brighter than the original pale blue of the EDP.
I find colour therapy very interesting, I certainly felt happier and calmer reaching to apply a blue perfume :)
I thought that my review would take me a month to properly test the two out, but my opinion was crystal clear after just one week! I didn't expect to love one and loathe the other! I'm very glad I chose to review this way, as I found the comparison helpful to pick out notes that I like and don't like within similar fragrances. If you're thinking about trying Angel, I'd highly recommend that you get a couple of samples of each and see for yourself.
I've actually not worn Angel EDP for a few days now, as I've enjoyed getting some use out of my many other fragrances, but I look forward to discovering more and more about Angel EDP as I grow into this fragrance.EDIT: A month later, and the smell of it makes me feel sick, to the point where even the thought of catching a whiff of it makes me feel peaky! What is it with this fragrance!?
- Kerry :)
do you still have the 5ml leaky atomiser?
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