I don’t really like Angel. There, I’ve said it. I acknowledge that it is a supremely well-made fragrance with an important place in perfume history, but in terms of my personal taste, I’ve always found it shrill, cloying and unsophisticated. Until I discovered the extrait. That’s when I began to appreciate the fuss on a visceral level. Funnily enough, many die-hard Angel edp fans I’ve spoken to don’t like the parfum, so perhaps this means that the most concentrated iteration of Mugler‘s bestseller is Angel for people who don’t like Angel. It isn’t vastly different from the eau de parfum – the two are recognisable as very closely related members of the same family – but its coffee-patchouli-candy combo is much darker, weightier and considerably more grown up. Most importantly, it’s the extrait which fully justifies the use of the term ‘gourmand’: the foodie aspects are so profound here, each time you smell the stuff, there’s nothing you can do to stop your salivary glands from putting on a performance of Pavlovian proportions. Yes, the parfum is perhaps less playful and frivolous that the edp – which may in turn mean that it entirely misses the point of Angel – but I’m quite happy to sacrifice a brief tryst for a more lasting commitment.
[Review based on a sample of parfum obtained in 2013.]
Persolaise.
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Count me in as an EDP lover that doesn't like the Extrait. I bought a bottle thinking it would be fab and ended up shoving it on eBay because I really couldn't stand it – the base was so rich and sour unfortunately.
That said, I can see why you would prefer it to the EDP. It's much more stable and less likely to throw a big tantrum.
Candy, it was actually a comment you made on Twitter – about preferring the edp – which prompted me to carry out some (non-scientific!) research and write this review.
'Stable' is an interesting word to describe the extrait; I'm not sure I agree, but I think I know what you mean.
Dear Persolaise
Yes, I can…. almost…. conceive of how this might work, the coffee taking on a bitterness of espresso like proportions, the patchouli deepening and darkening, but surely if the dumper truck of silver spoon sugar is still on the road it would end up being the same sticky mess?
As for the importance of the importance of Angel in perfume history, it can't be denied that it has cast a long shadow over the last decade and more, but I keep hoping that eventually we will reverse out of the cul de sac it created.
Perhaps the rise of nouvelles chypres and the return of the cologne might see us finally starting to change direction.
Yours ever
The Perfumed Dandy
Dandy, thanks for stopping by.
I'm afraid the extrait is never bitter… but somehow, its sweetness is made more palatable by the heaviness of the patchouli. It's also less diffusive, which renders it far less annoying!