Lady LUX

New York City, a group of eager journalists, champagne, figs, caviar and a charming Frenchman. The reason for the June 22 gathering? Womanity, the new Theirry Mugler perfume.

It had been five years since Mugler had launched a fragrance. What would this new scent be like? Could the folks at Mugler maintain, or even surpass, the high standards they’d set for themselves with Angel and Alien? Speculation and champagne were flowing. Sculptural bottles of petal pink perfume were sitting elegantly on tables, and Pierre Aulas, olfactive artistic director of Thierry Mugler Parfume, was holding court.

Aulas—typically French, handsome and well groomed—began by explaining how Mugler had been working on Womanity for many years.

“It has been a labor of love,” Aulas said.

To make the concept of the perfume clear to his audience, with great enthusiasm he explained the new and exclusive (patented) distillation method that allows Mugler to fully reconstruct the aromatic body of any given material.

In other words, Aulas said, “Mugler can extract the essence of just about anything.”

This molecular distillation process allows Mugler to extract fragrance ingredients from substances that have never been considered before for perfume. Whereas previously a fragrance boasted that it contained, say, extract of fig – meaning the fig leaf – now, with cutting-edge technology, Mugler is able to extract the essence of the fig fruit itself. This innovation is turning the world of fragrance on its head.

The journalists gathered were given perfume cards with the essence of fig impregnated. Before anyone had a chance to savor the perfume, however, Aulas announced that Womanity contains not just one, but three key elements: fig wood, fig fruit and caviar.

Is that possible – caviar, fig fruit and fig wood? Apparently it is.

Aulas explained that Womanity “is the first-ever sweet and savory fragrance creation. You really have to be bold when it comes to the initial accords.”

Aulas told his audience this as they might have turned up their noses at the idea of a sweet and savory perfume. The journalists were then handed a second card containing the essence of caviar.

“When you smell the molecular extraction of caviar, it doesn’t smell particularly good. It is strong and smells of iodine, but it gives the fragrance a lot of body,” Aulas said as the crowd took in the scent.

“When you smell fig, it’s pleasant: it has a slightly fruity side, but also a slightly caustic green dimension that could be frightening,” he said. “At Mugler, no one is afraid of combining elements that don’t necessarily smell ‘good’ at the beginning, but which in the end cancel out the negative aspects and make up something perfect.”

The crowd appeared intrigued, but the results remained to be seen.

Another card, endowed with the fragrance of fig wood and leaf, was then passed out to the audience for their opinion, but the general mood of the journalists was one of quiet disappointment regarding this fragrance.

Within seconds, this card was replaced with another as the last and final card, doused with Womanity, was distributed.

“The main top note of the formula is a burst of fig pulp,” Aulas explained. “Then comes caviar, which gives a salty, mysterious side, quite surprising and strange … There is something utterly astonishing about this note, which is velvety and feminine.”

Now came the moment of truth. After so much detailed explanation concerning the process of making the perfume, it was finally being unveiled. The bottle holding the scent could certainly be described as a work of art, and the perfume an appealing petal pink color – a presentation typical of a Mugler launch – but what of the perfume itself?

Womanity is clearly a favorite perfume of Aulas’, judging by his enthusiasm at the launch, and Aulas’ creativity is obvious, but the proof is in the smelling and in the way a perfume mingles with a woman’s own skin. Anyone’s own chemistry will certainly affect the way a scent smells on the body, so the only way to really know what Womanity smells like is to try it for yourself.

Womanity is now available at select department and beauty stores for about $58 to $98.

http://www1.macys.com/catalog/product/index.ognc?ID=512829&PseudoCat=se-xx-xx-xx.esn_results

Tagged in: perfume, fragrance, scent, womanity, theirry mugler, pierre aulas,

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