THIERRY MUGLER

This Just In: Womanity Eau Pour Elles by Theirry Mugler

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Feelings: mixed.

This is where I out myself as a ho for packaging. Oh, holy night, I love a good package. In every way, yes, but when it comes to beauty products or those tin boxes that they make so attractive in the South of France, or an infused olive oil in a gorgeous bottle… you got me. Here’s my hard-earned cash.

I received Womanity Eau Pour Elles by Theirry Mugler today, and it was a feast of packaging, a delirium of unwrapping:

Since I am an rabid recycler, I did feel a bit of a twinge — did there really have to be so many layers? Especially the outside sleeve, which seems to have been devised merely to carry the QR code.

I scanned it, which isn’t something I do as a rule, and entered a competition to win a dream day with friends. I like this idea! You know, hanging out and being all in your womanity with your pals? The day I entered for is all about spa treatments — quelle surprise — and a nice meal.

Hey! I got distracted from the excess cardboard! Very clever, designer and marketing people!

So, okay, too much branding, clearly: they are trying to get the imagery with the funky gals and a more discreet, elegant vibe going on at the same time.

And then you see the inside, and the designer in me goes squeeeeeee because someone figured that out, and I am impressed. All those folds! The type everywhere! Love.

And then a teensy bit of an 80s bondage-y vibe with that cap, uh, whatever that means. LOL.

After all of that, I am not sure that the scent is my gig. After all of that! It describes itself as a ‘fruity, savoury, sweet Eau de Toilette’, but all my nose is picking up is the fruit, and … oh, I don’t know. I don’t think it suits me.

You also receive a ‘unique code’ with which to register on the Mugler site, but I find that I am not as excited by an excess of Flash as I am by an embarrassment of cardboard. The registering, it takes forever, and what am I really going to get out of it besides more rando emails? Yeah, I bailed after I selected where I lived and typed in my code. But: the Holy See is listed as a place to live. Can you imaaaaagine, like, the college of cardinals all signing up for their Theirry Mugler updates???

So: a bit heavy on the branding and the fruit. You can make up your own mind as of June 1, when this goes on counter.

Womanity Eau Pour Elles by Thierry Mugler is €50/50mls.

♥Day: Smelling Good is Its Own Reward

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Yeah, well, you know what? Every day really is Valentine’s Day, for me at least, because I love fragrance and I love smelling good.

I keep meaning to investigate the psychology of scent, to see what the opinions are. Does one spritz habitually out of low self esteem {ooh, I am so stinky I must mask it} or out high self esteem {I am a beautiful flower, come and admire me}? I don’t ‘do’ signature scents, I mean, Jo Malone’s Pomegranate Noir is something that people recognise as ‘me’, but I think I use scent more as an indicator of how I feel on the day. There are days when I’m feeling zesty and youthful, and days when I’m feeling deep and mysterious. Sweet and sexy day? Karma by Lush. Sentimental? Coco by Chanel.

Right, so: I’ve gotten my hands on a couple things that are in the deep, mysterious, and sexy category. Those who favour the zesty and clean and sexy stuff I’ll refer to this post.

Perhaps it’s simply because I am easily led — perhaps I am a package designer/marketeer’s dream girl — but could there be anything sexier than Emporio Armani Black Carat for Her (€61.50) and for Him (€53.50)? I ask you. And this may go back to the ‘easily led’ part, but they smell sexy too. Especially the one for Him. I just had this flash, this mental image, of me running around town spritzing dudes, just so I can smell how yum this must be on a guy. I wonder if that behaviour is actionable…

Just for the ladies, Thierry Mugler’s Alien (€30) is terribly appealing, and manages to combine some dark and sexy bits with a floral finish. I always associate flowers with light scents, but I don’t think that’s always the rule. Must also chase up that perfumery lesson… Anyway, love the bottle! It does look like a wee alien! Adorbs!

Actually, perhaps once I take that lesson, I can maybe get a gig writing the copy for fragrances? It looks like fun! It seems to me to be the same as writing about wine — about which I also know nothing, except that some is white and some is red and some is somewhere in the middle. I was googling, based on personal experience, a lovely — I mean, manly — fragrance for a dude, and remembered how much I liked Eau des Baux by L’Occitane (€44). I love the copy on the site generally, but this description really rang my bell:

In Provence, the knights from the village of Les Baux chose the cypress tree as a symbol of their strength and honor, and a bright star in the sky as their guiding force. In honor of their courage, L’OCCITANE has created a sensual and mysterious blend of cypress and incense named Eau de Baux.

Fantastic! And the fragrance is, too: earthy and musky and masculine. It is a bit risky, purchasing fragrance for another, and especialy if yer man doesn’t normally wear eau de toilette… but maybe you can get wee samples or something? Or employ my strategy as outlined above… or maybe not.