Trésor by Lancome: Treasure or Tragedy? (a perfume review)

Trésor has been around a long time. I've been around longer, so how come I've never tried it?

I have no good answer for that, but at least now I've rectified the situation.

Despite never having spritzed this well-known scent, it turns out I was quite familiar with it! I must be the only woman I know who didn't partake at the Lancôme counter. At first sample I was struck by that "oh, that's what I was smelling" feeling. There's no specific woman on whom I can pin this scent. More likely it's the scent of the masses - those faceless women you pass in crowds, stand next to in the elevator, and hold the door for at the mall.

That's not a rant, by the way. Familiarity doesn't equal "bad" -  at least not all the time. I mean, many of us recognize Chanel No. 5 and Shalimar when they walk by, and those perfumes aren't exactly shlubs.

Back to Trésor... On me, it's mostly two phases. The first is an apricot-peach layered over rose. This lasts an hour or so. The next phase is a powdered peachy amber, which is a lot better than it sounds.

How does it wear, you ask? Long and hard! If you spray heavily, you will find yourself surrounded by people suffering 90's flashbacks. Injuries may be incurred. Sillage is formidable at these higher doses, and not too shabby when Trésor is administered judiciously. Tenacity ranks in the "eons" range.

I am a fan of powdery ambers, and the peachy nuance is a nice twist compared to others in my collection. My sample was of the modern Trésor, which is apparently not nearly as nice as the vintage. What is?

If I had to pinpoint a mood for Trésor , I'd probably use the trite label "romantic". Personally, I look forward to wearing it on my next antique-hunting date with hubby. It feels lighthearted and flirty to me, though I'm sure the powdery aspect (with rose, no less) gets this one the dreaded (and stupid) Old Lady label from some. Meh - their loss!
 

Do you treasure Trésor? What are your feelings about peach notes and ambery drydowns? Do you like peach cobbler?

House: Lancôme
Perfume: Trésor
Perfumer: Sophia Grojsman
Notes: apricot blossom, rose, lilac, iris, peach, amber, sandalwood, musk, vanilla
Released: 1990
Sample: sample provided by friend

Final Word: A real peach.

images: a; b

Perfume Review: Angel (Thierry Mugler)

This weekend, I worked at a huge event at a DC-area mall. It was packed and I felt like I was standing at a conveyer belt doing makeup! But as busy as it was, it was a blast. The women I worked with (coworkers and clients) were lovely. Except...

Except for the woman who worked for the department store in some aspect, the one who kept walking past dragging a huge cloud of Thierry Mugler's infamous Angel in her wake.

                                                    It was exactly like this...                                       via

Angel. Infamy! It's strong. Intense. Rich. Distinctive. Polarizing. Easily overdone.

via

Each time this woman walked by she nearly choked me. You're reading the words - maybe even nodding in understanding. But I don't know you really get it. Let me flesh out this scene a bit more, make it more clear. When you stand in a cosmetics department for 8 hours, you lose all ability to discern scent. You no longer smell your own perfume, even snuffling your wrist. The wall of perfume, the women and men milling about in their own fragrances... It's immediate olfactory shut-down.

The fact that I could smell that woman's Angel in such a setting and to such an extent...Damn! That's a testament to the power of the stuff. And I didn't just smell it - I could nearly taste it. It literally stuck in my nostrils and stayed with me for over a half an hour after leaving!

Ok, so we've talked about Angel's power. *Shudder*

What does it smell like? No, really, I'm kind of joking now. Just about everyone and their mother know what Angel smells like. Well, maybe my Mother doesn't (Hi, Mom!). For her, let's briefly discuss...

                                                Not a fan.                              via

The list of notes shows the insanity: melon, coconut, mandarin orange, cassia, jasmine, bergamot, cotton candy, honey, apricot, blackberry, plum, orchid, peach, jasmine, lily-of-the-valley, red berries,rose, tonka bean, amber and vanilla, patchouli, musk, vanilla, dark chocolate and caramel.

Bizarre, right? But somehow, it works. It works! And it's the scent that launched a thousand ships, too. Angel opened wide the genre of gourmand fragrance: foody scents, perfumes that smell like dessert or confections.

On me, Angel is a pleasant chocolate patchouli. (One hundred and fifty thousand notes, and that's all I get: chocolate patchouli!?)

I love it, though, I really do, but grab my sample rarely. I have to a moment to consider why that is, huh? In part, I think I don't want to smell like anyone else. (Imagine if TWO of us wore it this weekend?) Also, it such a polarizing scent (many people loathe it 1) - do I want to offend? Of course not! And then there's the power. As someone who was a teen in the 80's, I live in fear of overwhelming throw and stifling sillage.

So I wear it at home from time to time. Just a drop! And I revel in the chocolate patchouli for awhile.
Like most overly rich confections Angel is a treat best enjoyed in small amounts only now and again.

House: Thierry Mugler
Fragrance: Angel
Perfumer: Olivier Cresp & Yves Chirin
Released: 1992
Notes: melon, coconut, mandarin orange, cassia, jasmine, bergamot, cotton candy, honey, apricot, blackberry, plum, orchid, peach, jasmine, lily-of-the-valley, red berries,rose, tonka bean, amber and vanilla, patchouli, musk, vanilla, dark chocolate and caramel
Sample: I can't even recall where it came from (ages ago).

Final Word: Sweet in small doses.

Here's an Angel many of us can agree on!

[1] Got some free time? Peruse the Basenotes, Makeup Alley, and Fragrantica reviews of Angel. What a riot! Example: Fragrantica's ADAMbergris says "This is surely (Madam) Satan's signature scent..." Meanwhile, MUA's ipatieva says "...My friend tried it too and she smelled like a homeless person with wet dog." My favorite, though, is autumn89 on Basenotes: "It smells like diabetes would if it had a smell."



Tell me: do you Angel? And were you a Buffy fan? Team Spike or Team Angel?
(While I can appreciate Angel, I was firmly on Team Spike!)