Aura
Thierry Mugler (2017)

What?
It took four (or even five) of them to come up with this piffling little thing?

Perhaps they felt pressure to be as radical as Angel, Womanity and Alien.

But, green rhubarb and laundry liquid - was that the best they could do?

Nice bottle and good adverts...

This is a scent you can dislike, but admire for its rebel yell. It eschews the mass-appealing designer template, with its quirky, niche personality. It’s a designer house willing to die on a hill for “the principal of the matter.”

The guts it took for a designer house to release this commands enormous respect. It took a while for people to appreciate it. I think many of us lament the fact that we didn’t understand it, until it was gone.

The green nature bucks the idea of unripe, fresh flowers, vegetables, plants and stems. It’s a thick, lightly mentholated, clover-green moss creeping up the trees in a thick cloud forest. This green is paired with an animalic, not tropical, ylang and a white flower I find a bit too sweet. These two floral notes meet a grapey orange blossom to create an accord reminiscent of an overripe banana peel. Chutzpah.

The “wolfwood,” described by Mugler as an “animalic” vegetal substitute for wood, is animalic, peaty and opaque. This is no woody base. Instead, the base is a prominent vanilla. It isn’t quite gourmand, but a little powdery. It reminds me of the vanilla in the first Alien Goddess release, but less boring.

Performance is commendable; this is a great value.
A very strong like for the rebel in me.

Ah, the smell of Pepto Bismol. I'll just bet Parfums Mugler was trolling their customers with this. If you’re eager to smell like diarrhea medication, Aura is the way to do it. Go rhubarb!!!

Bottle aside (this one's really killin' me), I like this plenty. I find it so interesting. Bold, as expected of the house, and though bracing, oddly comforting. I'm not sure I wanna wear it but I do wanna smell it again.

I.

The mint of their world
Was the most natural thing
To make perfume from.

II.

Not every mind
Thinks to deconstruct catnip
To rebuild perfume.

III.

Accepting the fact
That toothpaste can be sexy
Begins the journey.

IV.

Persistent freshness
Of mint vanilla ice cream
With green vine wood chips.

V.

Green Angel questions
Opened a new wrong doorway
To Beauty's answers.

The opening blast on me is a green and fruity notes that with quite fresh, the wolfwood in the scent pyramid maybe - and presents with s lightly petrochemical minty undertone.

Soon the fruitiness becomes a bit stronger, and no w takes on the character of a synthetic rhubarb note, with hints of a light woodsiness - possibly the tiger liana in the scent pyramid. Whiffs of orange blossoms come and go.

Then a restrained vanilla arises, a slim vanilla that is not really as sweet as the average vanilla tens to be as it is used in perfumery - no cloying creaminess here. At times I detect a nonspecific boozy aroma too.

I get moderate sillage, very good projection, and and excellent ten hours of longevity on my skin.

A very pleasant spring scent wit some original notes and ingredients, which, unfortunately, can be a bit generic and synthetic at some stages. Unusual, and with a solid performance. 3/5