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Thursday, April 24, 2008

Perfume Review: Thierry Mugler Mirroir Mirroir Collection

Thierry Mugler decided to do a Malle of sorts and invited perfumers, Alexis Dadier, Fabrice Pellegrin, Christine Nagel and Domitille Bertier, to create, for the company's new Dare the Metamorphosis line, fragrances that would be appropriately quirky. The perfumes may not be to my liking, as the reviews below will show, but I do think that they are interesting nevertheless and worth smelling, if only to discover that (Perfume The Movie Coffret and Cologne aside) Mugler can produce perfumes that don't smell like some kind of variation on Angel.

A Travers Le Miroir (Through the Looking Glass), a juxtaposition of feminine (tuberose) and masculine (woods and absinthe). Who doesn't like a good contrast? And this one could have been good if the "masculine" side did not completely overwhelm the "feminine". The usually not shy tuberose doesn't dare to raise her voice, and lets the aromatic, nose-tingling "absinthe" notes dominate her. Love the wintergreen notes, don't love the dill ones. A waste of tuberose.

Dis-Moi, Miroir (Mirror Image). No amount of "milky notes" will turn snow-queen-cold lilies into "nurturing" flowers. The juicy sweetness of orange blossom compliments the dazzling-white lily accord beautifully, but whatever it is that gives the otherwise lovely floral scent its milky-chocolate undertone bothers me. A waste of lilies.

Miroir des Envies (Mirror of Desires) is probably the one that sells the best. Soft, creamy, delicately gourmand and even more delicately floral, it blends not too sweet chocolate accord with clean-smelling jasmine. It is a little on the bland side and overall not my thing but I would get it for my little one, there is something charmingly child-like about it...and therefore the name puzzles and disturbs me a little.

Miroir des Secrets (Mirror of Secrets) begins rather Angel-like (and is the only one in the series that reminded me of Angel), with an addition of a big, bright grapefruit note. The juicy sprakle of grapefruit is soon cleverly replaced by the powdery sparkle of an aldehydes. The patchouli note is there alright, but it is not the kind that I like and not the kind that should have been chosen to hint at "secrets" hidden in the depths of the perfume. It is not dark and earthy in the least. Instead it is squeaky-clean and pale. A waste of aldehydes.

Miroir des Vanites (Mirror of Vanities). Delicious, sweet-and-tart citrusy top accord unfortunately very quickly dissipates and is replaced by a mix that is, I suppose, meant to be "dark", and is instead rather generically masculine in that annoyingly sharp and syrupy way that masculine scents with licorice have to my anti-licorice nose. If you have enough patience to wait till the very last stages of drydown, you will be rewarded by an ambery-incensy accord of a very handsome, if austere, kind.

Available at Saks, $150.00 for 1.7oz.

Image source, lexpress.fr

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16 Comments:

Blogger tmp00 said...

Well I was going to write my thanks for saving me some money, until I read the post directly below... Whaaaah!

9:43 PM EDT  
Blogger Marina said...

Sorry Tom, your name is written on one if not more of those in big neon letters. So is Judith's, Elle's and many, many others. I am sorry, y'all. :-)

9:51 PM EDT  
Blogger Beth Schreibman Gehring said...

All I had to read was Thierry Mugler and my teeth began to hurt.......However, as Tom said, the previous post was simply amazing, and not at all good for my budget;)

10:38 PM EDT  
Blogger Marina said...

Beth,
the Muglers are not sweet, believe it or not

6:38 AM EDT  
Blogger lilybp said...

Interesting. Some (if not all) of these were reviewed very positively by LT and TS: I remember they loved "A Travers." Thanks for this, anyway. We will not talk about the one below.

7:01 AM EDT  
Blogger Marina said...

J,
So were many if not all of Etats.

7:03 AM EDT  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I really liked A Travers Le Mirroir and the other one which smelled like roasted rice and coconut (do not remember which one it was though). Still, I expected something much more interesting.

Vika

1:54 PM EDT  
Blogger elle said...

My budget is blowing kisses your way. Thanks! :-)

2:35 PM EDT  
Blogger Erin said...

Hey, I liked three of these. Seems like I'm in the minority. The Vanities one is great, but it dried down really fast on me and I loved the bubbly opening. A Travers was great, too - masculine notes are always okay by me, though. The nutella (Desires?) one was really well done, just not me. I will refer those who like gourmands, though, because I thought it was very very clever. Wish these were not so expensive - the lasting power is not nuclear, like the other TMs.

5:48 PM EDT  
Blogger NowSmellThis said...

Whew, adding to the general sigh of relief here. Saks is a ways from me and am always too lazy to make the pilgrimage, glad to hear I needn't bother.

5:48 PM EDT  
Blogger Marina said...

Vika,
Now I have to re-sniff them with roasted rice and coconut in mind, because I want that :-)

8:33 PM EDT  
Blogger Marina said...

L,
You and your budget are very welcome. I hope this will help your budget to forgive me for the post directly below this one :-)

8:33 PM EDT  
Blogger Marina said...

Erin,
I am very happy that the lasting power is not nuclear and the sillage is not killer on these ones.

8:34 PM EDT  
Blogger Marina said...

R,
But you must remember that we are EFTs, therefore you will like these :-)

8:35 PM EDT  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Oh no - a "waste of tuberose" and a "waste of lilies?!" How dare they! Sounds like a few corners were cut somewhere! Too bad. These sounded so promising! :-(

3:45 PM EDT  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I have all of these (they were a gift) and every time I wear them, everyone goes crazy in love with the way I smell. All of them do great with my skin!! It's too bad some people are taking these comments to heart, I think they are completely wrong. Make the trip to Saks and enjoy.... if not the fragrances, don't worry, there is always something to enjoy at Saks!!!! Happy shopping!

9:52 PM EDT  

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