Saturday Question: Which 3 Perfumes Would You Like To Experience Again?

Please don’t rush to answer (I know some of you who practice TL;DR). This question has a twist. Please bear with me; I’ll explain below.

Saturday Question on Undina's Looking Glass

Saturday Question #153:

Which 3 Perfumes Would You Like To Experience Again?

This is not a question about which perfume you’d like to be “resurrected.” And not about which vintage perfume in an intact condition you’d like to find one day. Perfumes that fall under this mental exercise are perfumes that 1) you previously smelled; 2) they are now either discontinued or reformulated.

So, if you were offered an opportunity to smell (OK, I’ll be generous – and wear, if you want to) again just once any perfume that fits the criteria listed above – which 3 would you have chosen?

My Answer

I thought of this SQ after exchanging comments in the last week’s post. I would love to be able to smell once again Thierry Mugler’s Angel as it was in 1993-94 (that’s when I first smelled it). My bottle is from around 1999-2000, and I’m not 100% sure that even it was the same as it was initially created. Now it’s more than 2 decades old, so it smells somewhat different from how it was when I bought it. And newer versions are definitely reformulated – even though they are still quite recognizable. But my memory of what it was like in the beginning is so vivid (not the scent but my reaction to it) that I would like to experience that Angel again. Though, I’m not sure if I’d want to wear it.

The second perfume of my choice would be my lifelong love Climat by Lancome. I’d like to smell and wear that perfume in its early 80s version. I have at least 5 different versions of it in my collection, and I love, like or appreciate them. But I remember how I thought that Climat was the most beautiful perfume ever (and couldn’t understand how not everyone felt the same about it). So, I would like to compare my memory to the actual scent.

The last wish is more practical, so to speak. Eight years ago, for the blog’s anniversary, I told the story of a perfume that I owned in my adolescent years and could never find since (due to the inconspicuous name “Paris Paris” and an unknown to me brand name). I would like to smell it again to learn if I still like it and, if yes, with my better understanding of perfumes and experience with thousands of them, to try to find something that smells similar.

Rusty and Paris-Paris Bottle

Which 3 Perfumes Would You Like To Experience Again?

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Saturday Question: Do You Have Any Mugler Perfumes In Your Collection?

Since the sad news earlier this week of Thierry Mugler passing away, Perfumeland was paying tribute to his contribution to the perfume landscape of the Western world. So, I decided that we could do our own remembrance topic.

Saturday Question on Undina's Looking Glass

Saturday Question #101:

Do You Have Any Mugler Perfumes In Your Collection?

It would we hard to find any perfumista who isn’t familiar with the most famous Mugler‘s perfume – Angel. And since this is one of the brands easily available in many stores, it doesn’t take much to get to try perfumes from the brand. But do you own any of this brand’s perfumes? We’re talking any size from a full bottle to decants – as long as you paid for it.

My Answer

I like the brand. I still own the first bottle of Angel that I bought about 20 years ago. I’m not sure that even when I bought it, it still was the original formulation (but back then I didn’t even think that a brand can produce another formulation of perfume under the same name, in the same packaging), but whatever it was, I loved it when I bought it, and I can tell that the scent has changed since when I bought it. It didn’t turn (I don’t think the formula contains anything that can go rancid), but something is different (and it’s not only the color of the juice). It’s still nice, and I wear it from time to time (but strictly when I stay at home). The last time I wore it was last Monday after I heard the news.

Mugler Angel

Since I loved Angel, I also bought Angel Taste of Fragrance. It’s nice, I like it and wear from time to time. At home. The only other full bottle from the brand that I have is A MEN Pure Havane that I bought for my vSO (I should probably spray it on him this weekend).

I liked Womanity, and thought of getting a small bottle of it, but settled for a mini bottle, a part of the set that also includes Angel, Angel EdT and Alien, none of which I wear. I have small decants of Oriental Express, Over The Musk and Supra Floral: I like wearing these from time to time, but I don’t think I’ll ever go for a bottle.

For a while I was obsessed with the coffret the brand created for Süskind‘s novel Perfumer, but not only the price was completely outside of what I could pay for perfume back then (or would pay now even though I could), but it wasn’t even available in the US, so I had to let it go.

 

How about you?

 

Do You Have Any Mugler Perfumes In Your Collection?

Scent Semantics #2: ANGELIC

Today is the second episode of the collaboration of six bloggers: Portia (A Bottled Rose), Elena (The Plum Girl), Sheila (Alembicated Genie), Daisy (Cool Cook Style blog and IG), Old Herbaceous (Serenity Now Scents and Sensibilities) and Undina (Undina’s Looking Glass).Scent Semantics Project Banner

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This month’s word is: ANGELIC

The second I read that word I couldn’t move on from Mugler’s Angel. I tried. Not that much because I didn’t want to be too literal (Why not? It’s a game), but mostly because I’ve previously told my Angel love story: it was one of the stories that I had in mind even before I started this blog, and it was quite personal.

But since the idea of this series doesn’t call for any particular form of the post, I decided to go with an angelic expression on Rusty’s face when I woke him up while trying to take a picture of him and the perfume bottle and Angel’s close relative – Angel Taste of Fragrance.

Rusty and Mugler Angel Taste of Fragrance

Angel Taste of Fragrance is such a successful flanker! Of course, you should like the original Angel to appreciate Angel Taste of Fragrance. But if you do like Angel and need a new bottle, it makes perfect sense to find that flanker instead: it is still available on eBay (and costs not more than the current version Angel), but since it was created 10 years ago and hasn’t been reissued ince, it hasn’t been reformulated, as it happened to most of the other 10+ years old perfumes, including Angel itself.

Angel Taste of Fragrance has a heavenly dark chocolate note in the first 20 minutes of its life, after which it’s just a good ol’ Angel. I stopped wearing Angel in public a long time ago, but since I still work from home, it’s my perfect chance to indulge in the guilty pleasure of spending time with my perfume ex. My only complaint is that the bottle is absolutely not photogenic. But then you have that angelic furry face to look at.

Angel of Jealousy

Silence is screaming
I’ll bat an eye and cast my spell
The Devils are dreaming
Dreaming of a blue angel

Squirrel Nut Zippers – Blue Angel#

Many years ago a friend of mine introduced him to me. You know how we usually try to find familiar features for something new or unfamiliar? “It tastes like chicken” or “She reminds me of my class-mate’s younger sister.” He was unusual. He was different. I was intrigued but I couldn’t place him into any familiar context. And it bothered me. Or maybe I was just too much of a good girl back then and wasn’t adventurous enough for him. Anyway, it didn’t work out between us.

Ben Affleck as angel in DogmaI met him again five years later. I wasn’t surprised to see him here, a half-world away from where I got to know him. A lot has changed since we met first and this time something just clicked. I fell in love. I made him a part of my life. I wanted him to accompany me everywhere – nights out, birthdays, parties. I wanted all my friends to meet him. I was so happy… until one of my girlfriends confessed that she felt she was falling for him. I know I didn’t have any real reasons for it, I know it was irrational but I panicked: what if she gets him? We belonged to the same crowd; we would be coming to the same events.

Have you ever been in the situation when you find yourself wearing the same piece of clothing (a blouse, a dress or a tie – though I’m not sure if it has the same meaning for men as it does for women) as somebody else in the group? I have. In my high school years at a dance party I met a girl wearing almost an identical top (just the color of a pattern was different). It was a big party and probably nobody else had noticed that fact but my evening was ruined: most of my efforts went to monitoring her relocations and trying to keep my distance from her. And that was just a top. Can you imagine how I would have felt if I had to be in the same room with my friend wearing the same perfume?!!  My Angel?!!

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