Mugler
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
The citrus accord arrives with a fleeting tartness, mandarin and bergamot fizzing briefly before dissolving into an almond-praline wave that's immediate and unapologetic. It's less a development than a swift capitulation to sweetness, the fruit serving merely as a spritz of brightness before the gourmand core takes hold.
Red berries and blackcurrant intensify the syrupy character, creating a jammy, preserved fruit effect that's dense and almost liqueur-like. The almond becomes more prominent here, that distinctive marzipan quality weaving through the berry compote, whilst a soft powderiness begins to emerge, tempering the sugar with something slightly cosmetic and retro.
What remains is a gentle amber-musk base with lingering praline, the sweetness finally subdued to a skin-close warmth that's more wearable than anything that came before. The powdery aspect dominates now, recalling vintage face powder tins, with just enough caramelised sugar clinging to the edges to remind you of the opening's full-throttle confectionery.
Innocent is Mugler's unabashed love letter to synthetic hedonism, a confection that makes Angel seem restrained by comparison. This is praline and almond taken to their logical extreme—a molten, almost caramelised sweetness that the citrus opening barely tempers. The mandarin and bergamot serve more as bright decorations than genuine counterpoints, like candied orange peel atop a torte rather than fresh fruit in a bowl. What emerges is less a gourmand and more a full-blown sugar rush, with blackcurrant and red berries adding a jammy, preserved quality that recalls the sticky inside of Quality Street wrappers.
The almond here isn't the sophisticated bitter almond of Hypnotic Poison; it's the extract you'd find in a bakery, sweet and almost cloying, melding with praline to create something that borders on edible. Yet there's an undercurrent of powdery musk and amber that prevents this from becoming entirely saccharine—a soft, slightly vanillic warmth that rounds out the sharper sugar notes. This is the sort of fragrance that polarises: either you find its unashamed sweetness charming in its late-90s excess, or you recoil from what smells like a department store confectionery counter rendered in parfum.
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3.9/5 (100)