Karjala

...I am today and say: I like Chance Eau Vive.

And in the eyes of some readers, that probably makes me look like a philistine. I have to admit: A classic Chanel scent is Chance Eau Vive actually not. Many of the previous speakers have even said that not only is he not a classic, he is not Chanel at all, and this criticism is absolutely justified. Who knows and loves No. 5, Coco Mademoiselle, Allure etc. etc., etc., really wonders with this citric fragrance how on earth he made it into the Chanel program. For me he is the Jon Snow of this house: Almost everyone around him thinks that he does not belong to it, even scratches the honour of the house - by his mere presence. But I like him.

I have to defend him against the accusation that Chance Eau Vive smells cheap. And there are quite citric scents, which for me do not show any olfactory difference to sink or inexpensive shower gel. "Light Blue, for example. With Light Blue I am of the opinion that the quality of the fragrance experience does not match the price called for. But Chance Eau Vive has this fresh lightness, which is a pure relief especially in summer. Because even if he is not a classic Chanel, he is not levelless. He is not the grande dame at the opera ball, but the young girl who cools her feet in the stream in summer.

At the opera ball the barefoot girl with wet feet is naturally out of place. The reason I still like it isn't because I have an aversion to the grande dame. On the contrary, I know, own and appreciate several Chanel classics. * But ball gown at 30°? Whew. Because the feet belong in the cool stream, and Chance Eau Vive on the skin.


*If you look at my collection now and you don't find any: I'm new here and my collection according to Parfumo is still incomplete. Easy, easy ;-)

...because Angel manages to be even worse.

When I sprayed a friend of mine with a splash of perfume on the tester she was holding and she held the tester up to her nose, she shouted: "Uah, that smells poisonous!"

And that's a pretty perfect description of Angel. One wonders involuntarily whether Thierry Mugler created this fragrance only because he wanted to win the prize for the most synthetic fragrance of all time. That there is no such price, because no man would strive for it, given as a gift. I for my part would also give Angel at most an anti-price in the style of the Golden Raspberry.

Normally I appreciate it very much if a fragrance doesn't change fundamentally from the tester impression after being sprayed onto the skin. So, assuming I liked the smell on the tester. How often have I been disappointed not to buy a perfume, because it just didn't hold what it promised on the test strip on my wrist. And of all things a fragrance that remains exactly the same as it was on the tester from the first splash to the (about a day and a half later occurring) relaxation is my nightmare fragrance. I don't just don't like Angel. This artificial-sweet-biting "scent" is really the epitome of what I don't want on my skin.

Since I also want to name the positive qualities of fragrances that are absolutely cross to me for the sake of honesty, let them be named: The "authenticity" on the skin and the durability. They're actually above average. In this respect, many other fragrances could cut off more than one slice from the two Mugler creations Alien and Angel. But as is so often the case in life: You can't have everything. Either the unsurpassed durability and Sillage, or a fragrant fragrance.

With Thierry Mugler, you just have to choose the former.

There are scents that raise questions. Mostly in the sense that you like them in principle, but the question remains: When should I wear this scent? Where, on what occasion? At a meeting with who?

Alien, on the other hand, provokes a completely different question for me, which is: Why? Why on earth can't this pushy powder monster be killed? For years you've been smelling it again and again, in the subway, on the street, at the shop assistant in the lingerie shop, and I haven't been a bit warm with this fragrance since I first got a taste. Alien's just too much. Of what? By...herself. When I smell Alien, I feel stunned, distracted, but not, as with many commentators, in a positive way. The only thing you could praise about Alien, the outstanding Sillage, is exactly what makes him my nightmare. He kills everything around him. My sense of smell, and my good mood right to it.

I say this only reluctantly, but apart from the Sillage, the durability of the fragrance is also extraordinary. For anyone who likes him, that's a great selling point. I was afraid after the first and last application that a commercial soap would not be sufficient to wash off the alien without causing massive dehydration damage to my skin.

Furthermore, I have noticed that the people around me, whom I would attest a good perfume taste, find Alien just as unacceptable through the bank as I do. I know there's no arguing about taste. But "Alien" is for me the litmus test, whether I can understand someone's perfume taste only halfway or not.

So to answer the question "Alien?" No. Just no.