Angel: Perfume Poltergeist

Angel by Thierry Mugler is an audacious perfume that makes no apology for burning your nose, ruining your meal or occupying all invisible space.  I love it, or at least the idea of it.  I was visiting baby sis in Milwaukee when I first saw Angel back in 1993.  We noticed it at the same time and I wanted it then mostly because she wanted it first.  Growing up is on my bucket list.

Angel is beautiful on baby sis, although she hasn't worn it since that first purchase almost 20 years ago. On my skin, it's just monstrous, like the chocolate, vanilla and patchouli are all fighting for the top spot, amping up the volume until I become virtually flammable. 

Very few people can wear Angel and wear it well, because it ranges from sweetly gourmand to bitterly patchouli, depending on one's chemistry.  On many people, the patchouli smells kind of...wet and sour.  Patchouli should never be wet.  In fact, Daphne believes the best patchouli is dry and smokey, like summer dirt.  She says if patchouli is the right dryness, you should cough when you smell it.  Sometimes I do that just to make her happy. 

Honestly, I'm not even sure Angel was meant to be a signature scent. Yes, it's beautiful in a 'love me or I'll kill you' sort of way, but wearing it every single day would be exhausting.  It's hard to keep up with that kind of intensity, the kind that lingers for hours after the person wearing the perfume is gone, like cigarette smoke or the aroma of last night's roast beef.  Almost like a ghost. 

They don't call it Angel for nothing.

image from sassisamblog.com