Alien
Thierry Mugler (2005)

The opening is excellent; sweet-citrus with an exotic fruity hint, a delectable woody gourmand with fizzy and fluffy nuances. Really great.

Dominique Ropion calls it 'a strange trio of jasmine, Cashmeran, and molecules evoking ambergris' - clearly a minimal thing.

The problem is, when the nuances wear thin it gets a bit boring.
Because, even after twelve hours it's still going strong - and it's still not bad ... but it's not really that good either.

Too much tail and not enough head.

This is a story about Alien:


Once upon a time, in a small remote village nestled in the rolling hills of a lush green valley, there was a beautiful jasmine plant that grew wild along the edge of a field. Every year, just as the summer sun reached its peak in the sky, the jasmine plant would burst into bloom.



One faithful day as the summer sun reached its peak in the sky, a young woman named Alice came visiting the village from Capital city.



Alice was a foreigner to these lands, having been brought there by her parents who were missionaries. This was her first trip without her parents. She was filled with a sense of anxious anticipation mixed with budding excitement as she found her way to her accommodation.

Alice was staying on the second floor of a building close to the town square. The only other resident, the owner of the building, was an elderly mute widow. It was a simple but sturdy structure. The raw wooden beams covered with reeds gave the interiors a cozy aroma of cut timber.


On the first night, as the sun set and the night sky turned a deep shade of violet, the winds would pick up and carry the delicate fragrance of the jasmine petals far and wide, filling the entire village with its sweet aroma.

The villagers gathered in the town square, where they set up tables with delicious food and drink. This was the beginning of the Jasmine festival, a yearly event that marked the beginning of the harvest. The villagers took to the streets, parading down the narrow roads with lanterns and torches, their faces alight with happiness and joy.


The commotion woke Alice from her evening nap. At first she was terrified. The noise and bright lights appeared through the window as flickering shadowy figures on the walls of her room. As she came to her senses and rubbed the sleep from her eyes, Alice too was enchanted by the sweet smell that had filled her room while she was asleep, mixing in with the woody aromas from the beams. She left her room, her accommodation, and joined the villagers. They greeted her with open arms as she joined them chanting and twirling down the cobbled streets.



Everywhere they went, the windswept jasmine petals followed, filling the air with their intoxicating scent and adding to the magic of the night. Alice felt a sense of excitement and freedom.

On the last day of her stay, a week after the festival, Alice woke up to find a small, violet glass vial on her nightstand. She didn't understand what it was and her mute host was unable to provide any explanation as to what the vial might contain. Nevertheless, she decided to keep it as a memory of her stay.



Weeks turned into months and months turned into years. Alice was about to graduate from her studies at a university in a country far away from Capital city and worlds apart from the remote village. The festival was slowly fading into a distant memory.



Having spent most of her years growing up in different parts of the world, Alice had a hard time connecting with the other students. She was shy and felt like a stranger, totally out of place. She spent a lot of time away from campus and kept to herself.



A big ball was scheduled for the graduation. Alice didn't want to go. Nobody had asked her out. But she felt obliged, as official pictures would be taken and those would make her parents proud.



She struggled with her own thoughts. She tried to muster up the courage to go. She spent hours procrastinating pretending to decide what to wear, how long to stay and came up with many excuses for staying at home. She went through her drawers and cabinets with frustration. Suddenly she came across the violet glass vial. Alice decided to open it for the first time. There was a dark purple liquid inside. As she pulled open the vial, images of the flickering lights of the festival and memories of the sweet aroma of breezy summer nights and cut timber came back to her. She dabbed some of the liquid content on her forearms and behind her ears.



In that moment, as the room filled with the exotic yet familiar aroma, she decided to approach the ball with the same anticipation that she felt when she arrived at the remote village so many years ago.



Alice felt a sense of excitement and freedom. Her arrival to the graduation ball was heralded by a shower of shimmering jasmine petals mixed that filled the air with an intoxicating scent, like an ethereal form surrounded by a halo of golden light. She loved the way it made her feel confident and powerful. She was greeted with open arms by the other students and she received a lot of compliments.



Eventually, Alice's adventures came to an end. The violet glass vial ran out. But she knew that she would always cherish the memories of her journey and the powerful impact that fragrant memory of the windswept jasmine petals had on her experience. Especially those days when she felt like an alien in this world.

To my nose, this isn't really jasmine, but it is a lush white flower with yellow pollen elements that I find pleasing, plus a crunchy/chewy kind of foody element that I can't pinpoint. Graham crackers? Cookies? But mostly it's a very strong white flower with sillage that makes me uncomfortable, as it violates the airspace of others pretty easily. The scent is okay but the mini jewel bottle is what I really lust after. Full ddry down is a nice woody vanilla, but it's hardly ground breaking at that point. I'm gonna go with a thumbs up vote, but it's tilting towards neutral.

There was a time that I did not like this perfume. Now, I can’t imagine not liking it. It’s gorgeous, spellbinding, and addictive. It has crazy good longevity, and the sillage is stunning. It stops me in my own tracks and makes me think, “Wow! I smell amazing!” It lasts pretty much all day, and when I’m driving, I like to have the ac/heat blowers on my arm so that the wind brings this deliciousness and intoxicating gorgeousness straight to my face so I can smell it the whole journey. Just beautiful!

This is one gorgeous perfume!

It's very other-wordly and yet deeply sensuous and inviting at the same time. I call it my "outerspace" jasmine scent.Depite being a white floral it doesn't smell screechy at all because it is grounded by the woods and the amber, which give it depth.

I prefer to wear this in colder weather and save it for special evenings out. It would be too much in an office situation or for everyday use.

It is best applied sparingly and worn with unashamed abandon.

All I get is a light, soapy jasmine scent. This from Mugler?

What can I say? It's nice but not that special? I'm trying to understand the millennial obsession with this fragrance but can't relate to the hype. My conclusion is that Alien stands out because it's far far away from the fruity floral fair that dominated the early 2000s. It's stronger, darker, spicier, more oriental. If you were raised on fun, flirty, fruity florals it would definitely
get your attention. However if you are familiar with 80s and pre 80s perfumery, it's just not that special. To my nose it is a more subtle version of Givenchy Amarige.

Bold, nearly boozy jasmine. Creamy, like a liqueur. Overly sweetened woody scent a few moments later, that reminds me of a hyper-sweet incense or a glade room spray. It's soft then. It sometimes annoys me; at times delights me. It depends on my mood, what it does to me. Alien is one of "those". I don't wear it often as it can be cloying. My little one ounce bottle will last me the rest of my life.

The base is just as sweet with its amber tone. The sweetness of Alien never lets up. It is also good for its longevity. I give this a 3.5 to 4 star rating, depending on my mood.

Amber darkens & dominates later.

Interior in Strandgade, Sunlight on the Floor by Vilhelm Hammershoi 1901

I lied, I'm sorry. I love this perfume! I don't know what I was thinking. I think it just needed to settle, but it smells amazing! It is "grape-y" at first, but it settles and you appreciate the scent all day!
Previous review 11/6/18: I blindly bought this based on the raving reviews. I wanted something with good sillage and longevity, something I could spray on in the morning and last all day so I wouldn't need to carry a decant.
So, I haven't received it in the mail yet, but I did go and sample this at the local department store (and 2 others I blindly bought based solely on reviews-gucci bloom and versace bright crystal).
I know exactly how to describe this "alien" perfume for those who've never smelled...have a dose of children's grape dimetapp cold and cough syrup, it tastes the way "alien" smells. The scent of this fragrance is very (exactly) synthetic grape that lasts at least 4 hours, dominating any other notes that is claims to have in it. This scent is the twin of children's grape dimetapp's taste. "What's that scent you're wearing" they say, "grape dimetapp".

*yawn*

I've been trying to like Alien for some time now. I feel like Mugler outs so much effort into it, there must be something I'm missing. Alas, it seems to have been watered down over the years and is more banal than ever before. There's some jasmine, some woodiness, and...that's it.

I know it's no longer available, but but Miroir des Envies take the same concept of jasmine, toasted notes, woods, and "solar notes", but does it on an immensely more interesting scale. Since that's no longer made, the next best thing is Alien Essence Absolute, which leans more toward the warmer, vanilla tones.

Not terrible, but compared to Angel (of yore at least), and the most recent addition, Aura (who did "safe" right), Alien is a let-down.

If you want to emit the idea that you're wearing a fragrance, without any notion of which one, Alien is a safe buy. But you can do so much better.

Take a rich jasmine note, shear off its rough (indolic, green) edges, hook it up to an outdoor amplifier, and overlay it with a gauzy, vanillic amber accord that has roughly the half-life of plutonium. That's Alien. For what it is, it's great, and even slightly narcotic under the right conditions. If you're a fan of the Mugler style - ie. "Go Big or Go Home" - and if every jasmine perfume you've come across so far has seemed just a tad restrained for your liking, Alien is nothing short of a must-sniff. For others, well...spray at your peril. This alien doesn't come in peace.