The Taste of Fragrance Angel

Mmmm, my favorite Angel flanker! You guessed it, this is Angel dipped in a dark, powdery, rich, chocolate glaze. The patchouli is detectable (Where would Angel be without it? Oh right - the EDT of bland nothingness!), but there's a significant "round" feeling that smooths over any of Angel EDP's sharper patchouli notes. And, thankfully, for me none of the fleshy fruits come forward at any point in time. This fragrance reminds me of a very specific setting. Being a small child, and wandering around my neighborhood privately-owned candy shoppe, where they had all of their wrapped candy bars, bags of chocolate, and bags of hard candies in big wood barrels lining the store. Angel TOF smells EXACTLY like sticking my head into one of those barrels to dig around. Powdery, mildly earthy, a hint of dust, and a ton of sweetness. The kicker here... is that this flanker is SOFT! One heavenly, NON-NUCLEAR Thierry Mugler creation! Read it and weep, folks. You can enter a room unabashedly wearing this juice, you don't have to commit to a fragrance for 4 and a half days, and your days of seeing someone down the aisle in the grocery store lift their head and sniff the air in confusion and mild disgust are OVER! This is an Angel for you, and you alone. [In the "reminds me of" section, I see a comparison to Angel Liqueur de parfum - to me they are very different! The Liqueur flanker is much more boozy and a bit sharper, and there is more patchouli present. Taste of Fragrance is definitely more on the gourmand route. Both are wonderful, and certainly lacking in the cotton candy/red berries part of the original Angel EDP.]

To me, the Taste of Fragrance Angel starts low but finishes high. The opening is like accidently spill out the cacao powder on one's face. Such an intense and fierce aroma. Then it quickly dissipates and unveils the patchouli-sweet chocolate combo in the original Angel. I was like, 'What?! That's all?! Just the original Angel hiding under a cacao coat?!'. That's when the dark chocolate stands out and points my nose, 'Wait and smell!'. The patchouli and sweetness step back and let the dark chocolate play the game. I also get a subtle whiff of fruits like bergamot or passion fruit from time to time, which is a delightful surprise, as these fruity notes in the original Angel are often under the shadow of candy sweetness. After about 6 hours, the earthy patchouli mellows down, what's left on the skin is a cozy dark chocolate velvet cape. ToF compared to the original Angel is just like their bottle colour: a deep indigo blue of night compared to a brighter blue. Among the Taste of Fragrance collection, Angel might not be as surprising as Womanity, which takes the scent to a whole new direction. However, Angel lives up to its name: deep, rich chocolate powder blended into the legacy of the original version. The sillage is moderate and consistent for more than 12h. A fragrance of quality! However, I wouldn't recommend it if the patchouli combo in original version already bothers you, as the patchouli is still quite strong especially in the first few hours. But if you wished for a slightly less sweet version, this might be your Angel!

I have to admit that I've never tried the original Angel. I ordered this as a blind buy, the cocoa powder sounded interesting. I was very sceptic before trying, as I usually go for low sillage perfumes. And Angel is anything but low sillage I've heard. Well, this was a wonderful surprise. Bitter cocoa powder, and lots of it at the beginning. As it settles down, it's still cocoa, but it's getting a bit sweeter in the dry down. Never too sweet though, the bitterness of the cocoa keeps it well balanced. The fruits drop in here and there to say hello, and gives this a somehow fresh all over feeling. I was afraid of the patchouli, as I have Wish by Chopard, and that's supposed to be a "toned down Angel". Still I think Wish has too much patch for my liking. In this version of Angel, the patch isn't the main player, it has a supportive role, it's just right. I accidentally also found out that this is great for layering. I put on a shirt that I had worn briefly the other day, and it still smelled of Narciso Rodrigues For Her. So I put 2 sprays of this on my arms. The mix of sweet orange, musk and bitter cocoa is gourmand heaven :). This was a mellow scent, not at all loud (2 sprays), and on me it sits quite close to the skin. So those of you who like Angel but think its too loud, I think you should try this version. EDIT I can't get over how good this stuff smells, the dry down is to die for! *Running to the nearest perfume store tomorrow to try the original Angel too* :D

I love the original Angel, but I love this version even more! It’s like the original amped up with dark, intense cacao. I don’t find it sweeter than the original, just softer, smoother, richer and absolutely delectable. I don’t find the patchouli overbearing in the original, but I will say it is softened here a bit. The opening is a heady burst of bittersweet cacao powder. It warms really nicely on my skin and combines with the vanilla and patchouli to form a luscious, creamy, spicy chocolate aroma. This is one of those perfumes that I literally feel emanates heat from my skin. It smells the most similar to the original in the drydown, when the dark chocolate subsides and the honey-vanilla-caramel base becomes stronger. But the cacao doesn’t disappear entirely; I still get lovely wafts of dark chocolate throughout the drydown. I am surprised to see fruit notes listed in this, especially the passionfruit, apricot and peach. I smell absolutely no fruit, and I’m perfectly fine with that in this perfume. This is a dense, heady, warm, oriental scent that stands well enough on it’s own for what it is: a dark, chocolatey dessert (sans any fruit topping). The cacao, vanilla, caramel and patchouli are the strongest scents by far, in that order. As others have said, this fragrance smells refined and expensive...I think it’s well worth the money, especially if you are a chocolate fanatic. This is my favorite offering from Mugler’s Taste of Fragrance series.

Composed by Aurélien Guichard of Givaudan (missing in the above description as of Aug 2012), this is Angel "grown-up". Angel Le Gout du Parfum is "quieter", darker, less sweet, less tart, and after the initial blast of dry cocoa powder, settles down and is softer and more balanced to the nose. The first two times I tested it at the counter, I smelt it on a paper strip, and it was musty unsweetened baking cocoa for 5 minutes before becoming an earthier, dirtier Angel. Not that attractive. When I took the plunge and spritzed it onto my skin, the scent unfolded down a very different path. The pungent blast of bitter cocoa was no longer as apparent and the "Dirt" note was pretty much undetectable. Instead, it's folded into the familiar fruity-sharp bergamot opening of classic Angel, but with a touch more translucence and depth. Le Gout du Parfum is very recognizably "Angel" in its heart and drydown. The bitter cocoa unfortunately disappears quite fast, but the good news is it resurfaces hours later in the drydown (my favorite part), when lends some gentle weight and lusciousness to the familiar airy chocolate-patchouli accord. I hesitate to recommend this to the average perfume buyer simply because you pay quite a bit to get a measly 1.1 oz of irreplaceable, limited-edition "jus", in a non-refillable bottle. If you hate it, it's a waste of money. If you love it, it's no longer readily available.