Developing a new perfume for Thierry Mugler cannot be a carefree undertaking, given that the first Mugler fragrance, Angel, is not what you'd call an easy act to follow. Consumers love and hate it in equal measure, critics everywhere have declared it genius, and it must be one of the most widely copied perfumes ever made. Alien, the follow-up, shared Angel's potent sillage but little else; it's clearly found fans, but it isn't likely it will supplant Angel's place in the history books.
Now we have Womanity. The Womanity brand started earlier this year as a website dedicated to "the invisible bond between women"; Mugler asks...
What if women spoke out about the pleasures of femininity – of being women, together, in the world today?
And what if women built for themselves the community that unites them?1
Women, of course, have been speaking out about the pleasures (and pains) of femininity, on the internet and elsewhere, for some time: it requires no more than a modicum of cynicism to ask whether the best place for them to continue that dialogue is on a corporate-sponsored website. That it will "capitalise on the web as a force for nourishing and continuing to build [the Mugler brand's] relationship with our fan base" is perhaps more to the point, and Mugler is hardly the only brand searching for a way to harness new forms of social media for commercial purposes.2
Womanity, the perfume, has lofty goals of its own:
With Womanity, the idea was to encompass energy, tenderness, and sophistication at the same time [...] We wanted to break new ground by including a savory note – not oceanic, but truly savory – in a fragrance. The world knew green, oriental, floral... then with Angel we innovated with a gourmand scent. To me, femininity evokes the notion of totality, of completeness; savory and sweet all at once. So we had to find a “salty” note, create an accord, and compose a rhythmic play between sweet and savory. 3
There are, of course, other perfumes that play on the contrast between sweet and savory, and even on sweet and umami notes; in that sense Womanity does not sound outrageously new or exciting. That the salty element for Womanity was eventually found in caviar, and that the materials were developed, along with fig for the sweet note, using a new process developed at the fragrance & flavor company Mane, sounds more intriguing.4
Womanity starts with citrus, rather loud and diffusive — on paper I found it slightly overwhelming, on skin, less so. It's high-pitched and fresh, and reminds me of the nearly-screechy, über-fresh but oddly flat — modern citrus radiates but does not sparkle — citrus opening of any number of other perfumes of the last couple years, although here the aura is decidedly pink instead of the usual green: it smells like pink lemonade and pink grapefruit accented with pink Pez candy and deepened with red berry-ish fruits.
As the citrus recedes, we get a full, round fig note. It's sweet and milky and green, yet Womanity remains persistently pink in the early stages. It has a distinct but unidentifiable floral aspect, and in that sense it does not smell like a radical departure, far from it — it smells comfortably familiar to anyone who has been sniffing around department store fragrance counters recently.
The caviar is up next. Worry not: there is perhaps a human out there in the world who would smell Womanity, not having read the press materials, and say "caviar!", but I would think that human is rare. For the rest of us, what we've got is some inky-iodine-dark-salty stuff; as advertised it is slightly (very slightly) leathery, and vaguely suggests the sea without smelling of a conventional marine note. It does not remind me of food, and Womanity as a whole does not smell like anything you'd be tempted to eat.
The caviar provides, to my nose, the sole surprise in Womanity, but the biggest surprise of all is how subtly it is used. Don't get me wrong, Womanity is not a sheer scent, but by the time the caviar accord arrives on the scene, it's downright quiet for a Mugler production, and the caviar is used with a light hand. I found it interesting but not disconcerting, and Womanity in many ways struck me as tamer and easier to wear than either Angel or Alien.
As a rule I like screechy citrus and I like fig, and it turns out that I like Mane's new caviar accord too. So it's no surprise that I found Womanity likable. But I don't love it, and as I so often do with promising new fragrances, I redesigned it in my mind: I made the fig greener, I toned down the sweet and the pink, I amped up the caviar accord and the woods. What I was left with, of course, would suit me fine but probably wouldn't sell nearly as well as Womanity, although given my dismal track record for predicting the winners, I have no idea whether Womanity will be a hit even as it stands. I don't see why it wouldn't — and once again Mugler has come up with some fun packaging — but I'm prepared to be surprised. What will really surprise me, though, is if Womanity inspires the strong reactions of Angel, or even Alien. When you smell it, do come back and tell me if I'm wrong.
Thierry Mugler Womanity was developed by a team of perfumers headed by Fabrice Pellegrin, and will be available in 10, 30, 50 and 80 ml refillable bottles of Eau de Parfum and in matching body products. Womanity is due to launch in June. In the US, it will launch at Bloomingdales in July and be exclusive to that store until October.
Update: according to Clarins, Womanity (in the larger sizes) will launch at Bloomingdales in August, not July. The 10 ml size will be $28, and will launch at the Thierry Mugler US web store on June 15. In October Womanity will launch at Nordstrom (in the larger sizes); in November other Thierry Mugler retailers will get the scent. At that time, the 10 ml will be exclusive to Sephora.
1. Via press materials.
2. The quote is from Thierry Mugler President Joël Palix via the Moodie Report.
3. Thierry Mugler, quoted in the press materials for Womanity.
4. From an interview with Pierre Aulas, Olfactory Artistic Director at Clarins, via the Womanity press materials:
Mane suggested that we use their exclusive molecular extraction system because it would make it possible to take the olfactory effect further. The principle of molecular extraction is not to observe the surrounding air (which is the case with head space), but to steep the ingredient that you want to analyze into an inert and totally harmless gas. The raw material is thus immersed in a gas in liquid state, in which it will macerate for a certain amount of time. Then the liquid gas evaporates, leaving only 2 drops of the olfactory quintessence in liquid form, which will be analyzed by gas phase chromatography; it is much more precise than the former “Head space”-type methods because you totally immerse the substance in this liquid gas; much greater interactions take place and you can capture elements from the top, heart and base alike, with a great deal of precision. This molecular extraction results in olfactory reconstitutions that enable us to create an accord extremely close to the element in its natural state.
Yesss! I’m first, so I get to be the one to say it….
OH, THE WOMANITY!!!
That aside, sometimes I wonder if Thierry Mugler never meant to be controversial at all, and was just SHOCKED when Angel met with such strong reactions. His scents since then have seemed decidedly more tame- I’d never have known Alien was a Mugler if it wasn’t for the incredible bottle. And now this one sounds more conventional yet. Shame! Oh, and I hate the bottle. Just awful, I think.
LOL!
You have to wonder. Certainly it seems like it’s much easier to make a revolutionary perfume when you’re not trying to.
The bottle seems to be sort of love-it-or-hate-it, although I’d say I like it so there goes that. I will say this: so many bottles look fabulous in pictures, then when you see them they look cheap & tacky. This is the rare bottle that looks better in person.
I like the bottles, the biggest one reminds me of Givenchy v.irresistible for men, the kind of triangular prism.
and apart from the face on the cap they’re nice
I can’t quite put my finger on it, but this seems really unappealing to me…..maybe it’s the name, maybe it’s that hideous contraption perched on the top of the bottle…..maybe it’s every time the phrase “salty note” appears in a description my stomach gives a little unpleasant lurch….I’m sort of squinting up one side of my face just thinking about it…..if everyone goes out to sniff it and comes back to say “it’s GRRRRREAT” (a la Tony le Tigre) then I’ll try it….until that time…I’m giving this one a wide berth.
I like the bottle, but we’ll see how the votes go today. I’ve got the 50 ml (and will give it away in a contest soon) but would love to see that 10 ml in person, it looks cute as the dickens.
LOL —you know, if I signed up on the give away (just for sport you understand) I’d probably WIN! hahahahaha ….safest to not add my name….But of course Good Luck to all who toss their screen names into the hat!
That bottle… I think I like the sculptural face element. However, nothing really says FEMININE like pink and a chain, eh? You get your “girly” and you get your “tied down” too!
If it pops up at the Macy’s, we’ll see. Otherwise, won’t be seeking it out.
Ooooh, I like that interpretation. The “pleasures of femininity” are gender stereotyping and being restricted, apparently.
LOL…you guys are tough today!
Think it will be a long wait at Macy’s, apparently in October it goes to Nordstrom and can’t remember where else, but dont’ think Macy’s.
Well, I don’t have access to the Nordie’s unless I drive five hours. Only Macy’s is local (well, sort of local – an hour’s drive).
So I’ll have no guilt atall about not smelling this.
Your store situation is worse than mine! I have a 45 minute drive to Nordstrom. Doable every so often…
I am very curious indeed, although it doesn’t sound nearly as interesting as I hoped.
Somehow I just don’t think the next Angel (as in the next groundbreaking, love-it-or-hate-it blockbuster, not the next Angel clone) will come from the house of Mugler. Still, they are consistently well done and interesting, and they don’t seem to compromise and pander to the lowest common denominator quite as much as most mainstream houses do. I’m always curious about new Thierry Mugler fragrances.
Do try it. I wonder if other people are going to find it more unusual than I did.
And I agree — they do a good job at Mugler, and they make some great scents. I didn’t even talk about the men’s, but I adore the flankers they’ve done for A*Men. And I still want some of that Angel Liqueur de Parfum.
I will. I think I need to retry Alien as well, I couldn’t deal with big florals at all back when it came out and choked on the jasmine overload, but just the other week someone was leaving a trail of gorgeous sillage that turned out to be Alien.
I want the Angel Liqueur too!
I’m as jaded as anyone, but for some reason I’m really looking forward to trying this, and I really enjoyed your review, Robin. I find Angel and its liqueur just okay, but I really liked that Alien Liqueur (thanks to Cynthia).
Not sure what to expect, really, but it sounds like a somewhat interesting ride, and eventually I’m sure to want at least a 10ml if not 30ml bottle of my own no matter what. Who can’t enjoy a 10ml of anything? I’ll have to scrounge up a sample this summer on the web, since there’s no Bloomingdales within sight out here.
Curious about the refillable aspect and whether they’re planning to have “refill” stations at most department stores.
I like the frontal view of the bottle better than the side view, I think… it’s more slim and elegant looking that way. The side view is much more squatty-looking than I expected.
Joe, That 10 ml bottle is very covetable. I want to know what it costs — pretty sure the 30 ml is $58, but haven’t seen the price of the 10 ml and couldn’t find it in the (extensive!!) press materials.
There is a 50 ml refill bottle, no idea if they’ll do the refilling stations as they do with Angel. Would guess it will depend on how it sells?
Oh, sorry, did not realize they do that with Angel already. I like the concept very much, actually.
You know, there’s some sort of fountain at my local Nordstrom, and it’s definitely Angel but might be only for making samples? Always assumed it was for refills but maybe I’m wrong, & I’ve never owned Angel so wouldn’t know. They definitely sell refill bottles for Angel, that I do know.
I wondered why they had those ridiculously big jugs of juice at Nordstrom. Refillable bottles never occurred to me (although sneaking my own samples certainly did… not that I went through with it). That certainly makes more sense!
I will have to ask next time I go in! But I do know they’ll make samples from it. And do love that TM makes all those refillable bottles, it’s so much more sensible.
The KoP Nordstrom has a refill fountain. My niece has her Angel refilled there. This sounds interesting. I have worn all of TM’s scents @ one time or another. Angel and A*Men are still in my regular rotation.
Thank you Bear, that clears that up!
I’m really curious to know if they did any kind of market research before coming up with this bottle design. They’re obviously not targetting me…
In all truth I hope not…market research does tend to kill off anything interesting. I think it’s great that some people dislike the bottle, at least it means it is not dull, right? But so far the “nay” votes are winning today.
Pierre Aulas’s description of Mane’s extraction method is very interesting and makes me wonder which fragrances are using which methods these days. It seems this molecular extraction would possibly provide a stronger note or accord? Hmmm.
Your review is tantalizing, though! I am more intrigued and will definitely be stopping my local dept store which I know will be carrying it. (I also know the “fragrance rep ladies” who come in to promote the new launches and know I’ll be able to get a few freebies out of them. 😀 ) I still like the “Metropolis”-style bottle and am very encouraged by the 30ml and 10ml sizes! I have a feeling this name may kill this one though. I was still working in retail when they launched Alien and the fragrance reps I mentioned above said people were taken aback by the name and more hesitant to try it. So I told them to pronounce it with a muddled Euro-accent and say “Ah-lee-ehn” or “Ah-lee-ohn” and believe it or not, it worked! People realized it was “Alien” but they liked the “fancy” pronunciation better. lol!
LOL…already envisioning Womanity pronounced in a muddled Euro-accent. Yeah, that works! Everything sounds better in Fake French.
I already emailed some friends to say that if I add this to my collection I can put the Womanity next to the Feminité. Oh, and I have some Femme now too. Maybe all the gals can have their own shelf.
whoa-mahn-ahhh-TEEEEE ?? 😉
Well it won’t help sales the way YOU say it! 😉
I’m sticking my tongue out at you.
whoa — manatee?
M: You know this is going to be referred to as Manatee forever after. Just like Amaranthigh. We’re so classy.
… except for ELdO’s “don’t get me wrong, bayBEE, I …” etc.
Am I going to be banned from commenting? Your commenters are getting kind of louche, have you considered raising your standards? 😉
LOL…we have never yet banned anyone from commenting, ever, other than your run-of-the-mill spammers. But I suppose where there’s a will there’s a way, right?
i realize i’m a little late here but this reminds me that when i was at Nordstrom last weekend (checking out womanity), the sales rep mentioned Alien, and i was kind of scrunching my nose, and she ACTUALLY SAID, “well you know, it’s from France, where they pronounce it ‘ah-lee-en’, so it doesn’t have the same connotation there that we have here.” i lost total trust in her at this point, and then she started telling me about how the metal thing could be used as a bracelet. Sorry, not a winner there!
Hmm, I really don’t care for the name or the concept, but your review has me curious to try it! I was going to say I didn’t care for the bottle either, but then I saw that little 10 ml one and that’s quite cute! I love it when there are 10 or 15 ml sizes available.
And this is just crying out for a solid compact with that woman head/mask, no?
Definitely! 🙂
Oh, hey, if they do the face and leave off that d*mn chain, I’m more interested.
Ridiculous how much that chain bothers me – if it were part of the design for, I dunno, Alien, I’d probably just ignore it. But the symbolism (and you cannot tell me that the designer is ignorant of such things) is rather telling in conjunction with the ad campaign.
I like the wide range of bottle sizes and the fact that they’re refillable.
The juice itself sounds odd though: like Daisy I don’t find the salty note appealing, and besides I am not a fan of fig fragrances (except for my bottle of skanky and green Ninfeo Mio!!! 😀 ) but of course I’ll give womanity a fair try. In the worst case, citrus + fig + salt should make a nice home fragrance!!!!
Really don’t think people are going to find it as odd as it sounds, but we’ll see. It does not smell any more odd to me than any other weird thing they put in perfume…oud, civet, ambergris, they’re all weird when you think about it.
Prior to your review, I was in the NO WAY camp. Now I’m not so sure. Will certainly pop into Nordie’s this fall and at least sniff. The idea of cavier is repulsive to me so will be interesting to see how that plays out.
Happy to see the 10ml size and almost feel as if I need to buy one just to support a company who actually includes it in a rollout. Points awarded for that alone.
Really don’t think people are going to find the caviar repulsive, or at least no more so than anything else — I guess there are people who are repulsed by ambergris, right? Worth a shot at any rate!
Oh, and ditto on the 10 ml!! And that they made that bottle cute too instead of plain, which is what I would have guessed they’d do.
Well, I’m still curious about this one, not super-excited but definitely curious! Salty fig still sounds more interesting/original than the vast majority of department store releases, right?
Absolutely!
I’ve been looking forward to your review of this one Robin, if only because I like the way that Mugler frags seem to polarize perfume lovers and encourage discussion. Like many others, it seems, I don’t particularly care for the name of this one (to me it just sounds like poor grammar) or the bottle (it looks more like an alien than the Alien “penguins” did). But the color of the juice is rather fetching, and though it might not be earth shattering maybe that means it’ll be more my speed… my favorite of his line to date is Cologne, and this sounds more in that vein and thankfully not an Angel or Alien redux.
I think my favorites are the Angel Liqueur and the A*Men Coffee, but yes, I adore TM Cologne and will certainly always get more wear out of it than the others (and in fact it’s the only one I own in the “real” bottle as opposed to a decant or sample).
I *still* have never seen that anywhere to try it. So frustrating! I did just buy a bottle of A Travers le Miroir, though, after starting with a mini. I was really surprised to like a tuberose frag.
Never seen which — the Cologne?
Hmmm, sounds like a bit of a gathering of some trends we have seen in the niche sector, re the notes…and possibly quite ‘top-down’ as Turin called Angel.
The bottle does, to me, give an image of a sort of powerful female idol, but a little commercially camp!
Is Mugler still designing for his frags? And what of Vera Strubi?
Savory note…I’ll swear its in a couple of my uber-sweet favorites like Tihota and the Soliani strawberry one. Maybe its just nose rebound!
Can’t wait, come on my very special sample!!!
Mugler: supposedly.
Strubi: reportedly retired a few years back.
A review – thanks, Robin! Nothing that Thierry Mugler produces is boring, so I do have hopes for this. The concept of having the power turned down a bit is attractive too; my daughter wear Alien all the time and I can detect her three rooms away. And Angel is worse! What I don’t like about this one is the name. ‘Womanity’ sounds stupid to me, whereas Angel, Alien and A*men had a kind of clever cheek to them. This sounds like a perfume for wombats, which I don’t think is the image he’s aiming for…
You know, Angel is stronger/deeper, but I actually think Alien travels farther in space. It’s incredible stuff in terms of sillage.
Agree about “Womanity”, although on the scale of stupid perfume names, it hardly rates. There is some serious competition out there!
Ahhhh! Robin! You Wizard of Oz, you! Fantastic review, as always. What about the body line? Did they tell you the prices? Did you see pictures of them? How does the fragrance spray? Does it come out of the little mouth?
Shower Gel 6.8 oz $40
Body Milk 6.8 oz $45
Body Cream 6.8 oz $55
I have the gel & the cream but have not had a chance to try them yet. Will take out small samples then give them away w/ the perfume, probably next week.
On the 50 ml, the ring at the very top on the end of the chain (it is not a true cap as it has no top) covers the opening of the spray mechanism. Would have been way cool if they’d made it spray out of her mouth!!
I think that the idea of a savory salty note is a wonderful one. Based on the review though, it looks like they lost there nerve and muted it too much. I just wonder if there have been any before?
There are lots & lots of salty fragrances, although maybe not so very many from mainstream brands. There have even been salty figs: Miller Harris Figue Amere, for instance, and the new Bois Naufrage from Parfumerie Generale.
Don’t know if anyone but me will think it’s too muted…
I will! I like the sound of your remake of this one. 🙂
I don’t like the name and don’t care for the bottle, but ….. it sounds interesting. Citrus? check. Fig? check. Salt? check. Definitely worth a sniff. And I’m in favor of almost anything in a 10 ml size.
And now that I see the price for the 10 ml, hey, not bad. In fact, since $100 is the new free, you can buy 3 of those babies and still not have spent anything.
Great piece, Robin. With all that pinkness I’m not sure it would be for me, but I want to try it to see if I can detect the caviar note.
Oh, you’ll notice it I’m sure! It’s subtler than I’d like, but it’s quite noticeable.
I have to say, I was pretty anxious to try this. Then you mentioned pink PEZ. Something about candy in my perfume really irks me. And it’s not often you really, truly encounter something that smells so literally like it; Flowerbomb sure smells like someone popped a funnel in your nose and started pouring in the sugar, but only a handful of fragrances actually smell like candy, though*. Needless to say, I’m not rushing out to try this one.
——
*DelRae’s Emotionelle smelled like watermelon Baby Bottle Pops, YSL’s Parisienne smelled like Smarties, and Andy Tauer’s Vetiver Dance smelled like a Jolly Rancher.
Do rush out and try it, and then tell me if you smell Pez! I smell Pez in the citrus top notes of many new scents. I miss “real” citrus.
Good on him for making it likable. I think this is a concept that could be amazing, etc. in the right hands. I’m not sure whose . . . my picks are long gone. I probably won’t sample, but I’m glad he’s making solid, likable scents.
I think Mane has given the caviar note exclusively to Mugler, which is too bad.
Hmmm… I loathe the name and the ad copy makes me want to slap someone, but I’m intrigued by the notes. I love citrus and salty – I didn’t think that I liked fig, but I like the green fig in Ninfeo Mio, so there’s hope for me in this one. I’m tempted to just buy the 10ml unsniffed – how bad can it be? But then I remember that as much as I love Alien Liqueur, I loathe Angel 20 time more – so, probably a trip to Nordies when it come out.
Might as well wait to try it, it won’t be hard to find.
Hm. Well, I am THRILLED by the 10ml size. I wish everyone made a 10ml. Having said that, my guess is that I’d feel about the rest of it the way you did — more fig, more green, more caviar, less sweet. Something stranger.
I do wonder about my nose sometimes. The Miroir scents failed to register on a level at which I could develop much in the way of feelings about them one way or another.
And a 10 ml for less than $30! That is quite nice.
I did not even try a single one of the MMs. These days, it’s getting to be something of a relief to see “exclusive to Saks” — there, that’s a few more I don’t have to try.
I’m so glad you reviewed this, I was wondering about it. Leaving aside the awful name, I’m kind of looking forward to trying it and see what it’s like on my skin. Love them or hate them, Mugler perfumes are usually well done and a bit different than everything else on the Sephora shelves or the generic fruity florals.
Agree — they don’t usually do generic dreck.
I’m looking forward to trying this – I’m getting pretty interested in salty notes and when you first talked about this the caviar note made me take notice. The citrus part sounds a little odd (I don’t mind Pez but am not sure about screech), but I’ll definitely look for this at Bloomies this summer.
I like the bottles!
You will have to come back and tell me if you find it screechy or Pez….maybe it won’t strike you that way!
UH OH! Just saw your update: “The 10 ml size will be $28, and will launch at the Thierry Mugler US web store on June 15.”
Done, done… and done. How easy is that? I know it’s a lot per mL, but hell, you get the little bottle too. 😀
It’s really quite a deal. Hope we see more 10 ml, wouldn’t that be nice?
You’re right, Robin, ground-breaking is harder to do when you try too hard. I’ve re-smelled Womanity after doing a first run-down on the launch, intending to review it properly — I have a lot of respect for the Mugler brand, and I am ready to give them the full benefit of doubt, but…
Actually, my last reaction was: Yuck. The new family they’ve invented is not the sweet-savory, but the fruity-marine.
A few drops got on my fingers and not only did the perfumer I was smelling it with douse my hands with alcohol, she took me to the bathroom to have an extra scrub.
She did peg it as a Mugler without knowing what she was smelling though…
Interesting. I wouldn’t have pegged it as a Mugler at all.
Actually, she said “this is Light Blue meets Angel”. Another guy I know, not a perfumista but he lives with one, also identified it as a Mugler “blind”. So there must be some kind of Mugler vibe at work, if not an actual Muglerade…
I’ll give it a try when I see it, I have no idea if it’s up here yet or not… that 10 ml is really cute, more things should come small!
I don’t think it’s sold anywhere yet…
I beginn to hate the idea of any webplatforms that market something that is not there. I got in this Womanity stuff via press realease too, and I did not get it at all what the fuzzis about. I mean, womanity, bonds, internet? C’mmon.
I hope the contest will be open international, the german PR division is giving images to the bloggers. Ha. I should start learning to smell images!
Love citrus and fig, but I bet I will be disappointed and get a headache like it has happened with 99% of department stores since starting to like old Guerlains.
Sorry, I can’t afford to ship all 3 products overseas! You will have to talk their German PR into being more generous 🙂
Oh, it’s fine, do not worry! Good luck for the US contestants!
The Clarins/ThierryMugler and Hermès PR is greedy. I decided not to review them. I asked very kind for the new Hermès scent as sample before release (I meant that 2ml vial!!) and she did not even answer.
I am not a blogger that begs for free samples, so the few times I asked the PR agencies were very friendly. Not her. But hey… it’s their loss.
Sorry for OT.
I have only rec’d one PR sample ever from Hermes, and a few from Mugler. I do think it’s a mistake not to review things just because you didn’t get a sample: if I were in PR and knew something wouldn’t get reviewed unless I sent a sample, I’d stop sending out all samples. It’s safer that way.
Oh Robin, for whoemever from the bis bosses that read your blog – CALRINS sent out the Voyage out and it got lost in the mail!
What a shame!
And they called me after this post here and sent one once again, and they sent me out the WOMANITY which I could review. I agree fully with your review, I like it though I do not love it, and I experienced that man might like it.
It turns to be rather berry-pink and has an impressive sillage and longevity without being loud.
So I might apologize at the CLARINS PR here also for saying they are greedy – it was as so often a lost package and lack of communication. SORRY!
But the bottle still I do not love because of the cap, which is a ring, the glass element instead is artsy. Wish they would kept the metal stuff reduced and shiny. Womanity should be shiny, not rough 😉
Robin u are sooo lucky to have gotten to try it b4 everyone else! If its easier than Angel to where, I’m one happy camper. So I guess the scent matched the juice perfectly w/ its pinkness. I wasnt expecting all that sweetness in the top notes what w/ the notes listed. It still sounds smell worthy. And I wouldnt mind the 10ml at all. : )
It’s hardly the sweetest thing out there, but it is sweet until the far dry down.
I don’t care for the name, the concept, or the bottle, and the caviar note plus fruit and candy sounds scary bad. But I’ll probably give it a sniff (on a paper test strip) when it reaches Nordstroms.
Might as well! But the interesting part is the dry down, which you’ll get to faster on skin I think.
Also, would you say its just for the young crowd, if at all, or is it perfect for any age 20-90? Thanks. : )
According to WWD, “in order to reach a younger audience, pricing was made somewhat more accessible”, and it does smell like it’s aimed at a younger audience than Angel or Alien, but it doesn’t smell like a tween scent.
The name Mugler used to be a guarantee for great ideas and perfumes to me.
Sorry, a “bond between all women”, just because they’re women?! Does anyone actually believe that? Or find the thought appealing? To me it’s completely ridiculous and sickening. It makes me agree with those men who dismiss women as irrational.
I won’t even sniff this. The other day, I wrote somewhere else that I ignore daft advertising. But there is a limit. Hopefully people will buy it for its own sake and not because they subscribe to such an idea.
So, no disrespect to those who assess this on it own merits, but I’ll pass.
Interesting. It doesn’t speak to me, but I don’t find it sickening at all.
So the Thierry Mugler vender at Nordstrom said they would be getting Womanity in Nov. I have to wait forever! LOL! I knew more about it than she did. She told me her boss just told her the name and the release date ystrday. I told her the notes and about the design and she got all excited. The ladies at the Thierry Mugler counter were excited too!! There was like 4 die hard fans purchasing his fragrances. I told them how much I LOVED Angel too. I wouldnt dare trash talk Angel in front of these older ladies no matter how much I dont like it. They would have killed me! LOL! It felt good being in the know. I cant wait for Womanity!!!! : )
You don’t have access to a Bloomies?
Its far away. Like an hr & 30 mins. : (
Ah…not worth it.
I really want to get this. I hgot an email from Mugler selling it for $28. Not sure if I’ll be wasting the money if I buy it. With almost 10 month old twins I’m a little more picky about what I buy!! Sounds interesting enough. I love Angel….the “pink” description here is what throws me off…I like the more “Earthy” scents. I like Terre De Hermes. Wish there was a womanly version!
This is definitely not as earthy as Terre d’Hermes, and agree — there should be a Terre d’Hermes for women, although I just wear it as is or layer it with more feminine scents.
O how I LOVE my ladies at Nordstrom!! So one of my wonderful friends at Nordstrom who works for Thierry Mugler had a sample of Womanity for me today!!! LOVE AT FIRST WHIFF!! I HAVE TO HAVE IT!! I was not expecting the pink berry sweetness in the top notes at all! It reminds me of my escada Pacific Paradise, Pretty Nina and Wrapped w/ Love. But the caviar note is definitely what makes Womanity stand on its own. I didnt think I would like the combination of sweet and savory but I really do!! Its a wonderful surprise and I cant wait to add it to my collection!! : )
So glad you got to try it! And that you liked it. Sounds like you’re going to end up buying a bottle 🙂
My bottle came today. Words really cannot describe this fragrance. It honestly smells like nothing I’ve ever smelled before. I’m speechless. Thierry Mugler has done it again
I had a sample of it and I loved it but I wanted to wait til’ I got a bottle of it before I raved it. I get a little sample happy sometimes and I like to wait to fully test things these days
It starts of Sweet and kinda citrusy but not your typical citrus. This is a sweet you’ve never smelled before. Forget Fantasy, forget Angel, forget EVERYTHING you’ve ever smelled before. It is as if your love of scents starts right here, right with Womanity. Sounds very dramatic, but it’s true. This fragrance is out of this world
After about 15 minutes the sweetness gets deeper and draws you in. Like you’re floating above the stars, above the clouds, above the heavens. I can’t WAIT to get me the BIGGEST bottle, the Shower Gel AND the Body cream. My love of scents started again last week when I first smelled Womanity. June 7, 2010. I hope I won’t ever be without Womanity ever again. Thank you Robin from NST, thank you Fragrantica and thank you Thierry Mugler!
P.S, it is now available for Pre-Order at Bloomingdales. You go to the store and pre-order it and they give you all kinds of goodies with it including the small bottle we got from Fragrantica 🙂
Glad you love it so much! And thanks for the tip about Bloomies….I’ll have to go peek.
I got my 10 ml from the Thierry Mugler site yesterday. I feel the same way – this really does feel groundbreaking, and my nose had gotten a bit jaded as of late.
womanity.com is giving away samples for anyone who is interested. : )
Cool, thanks!
Womanity is now at Selfridges, and I think it’s exclusive (well for now) I haven’t stumbled across it anywhere else.
they only have the 10ml edp though which is £19
oh wait yes it is. the 10ml available is a “sneek preview” before it goes mass production
Thanks!
Selfridges have the whole range now;
eau de parfum
10ml : £19
30ml : £38
50ml : £49
80ml : £60
and it says there all refillable :S
there are also matching body products
but they’re still exclusive to Selfridges until later this year.
oh and Selfridges also do the Miroir Miroir collection
and I expect they’ll be getting the new Mirror Voluptes soon, k
Thanks Owen!
no problem 🙂
Boots also have it online now (not sure about instore) same price as Selfridges but only have sizes 30, 50 and 50refill.
I was in Debenhams yesterday and saw the tester for this, I was so struck by the tester that I forgot to look to see if they sold it (which I’m guessing they do seen as they had a tester)
so i had a couple of sprays on my arm, at first I was a bit repulsed by it, it just smelled nasty 🙁 the very first impression was very loud, which made it worse but after about 10mins it gets quieter and bearable. you can still tell it’s there and it’s still quite strong but the nastiness went away. it lasted about 6hours, so I was pleased with that.
I got it confused with Gucci by Gucci edp because I had tested that on my wrist, so it was just on the other side of my arm and I forgot which was which, they smell similar.
but I agree, I would never have guessed it was a Thierry Mugler perfume if I blind tested it. and I guess it’s a nice fragrance, I haven’t decided if I’ll get it, will have to try a couple more times.
The 1.7 is now available on Thierry Mugler’s website along with a refillable bottle 🙂
My bloomies finally got the stuff to pre-order and I got the biggest bottle. They’ll be getting it in a weekand they give you goodies. I’ll reportback here to tell everyone what I got 🙂
Hope you got some goodies!
I just got my bottle today and thank you. I am not sure what to say about this little gem… to start, she’s loud. I keep smelling my wrist thinking to myself, “where have I ran across this?” I get the grapefruit orange number romping about with a entourage of flowers. Is it rose, freesia, a peony or a pterodactyl? I’ve no idea. What I find funny is that someplace out of left field comes this faux pine tree like scent. The sort of thing that belongs on car deodorizers or a plastic Christmas tree. It’s in there, I swear, but it could just be that way on me. After all this is Womanity and I have a fondness for old aluminum Christmas trees (they are just fundamentally wrong and I love them for it!) I can definitely see this finding it’s way on to many a dressing table.
Thank you again!
Interesting about the faux pine, because I’ve heard that said of Angel too.
Glad you like it!
I live in england and i have everyone of his fragrances and the only one im not to keep on is Alien i cant wait to smell this new one but it will probobly be next year before we get it here then london and big cities will get it first
Selfridges has it…
Tha salt element reminds of salted almonds and YUMM, the fig I would not recognize even if it yelled at me, and I had the sensation of weird pink fruits like pink melon (sic!) or pink lemon (sic!).
I sprayed some on a letter, and it is still on my desk after a few days. I would wear it, it is “delicious” and not-offensive.
We might point ut it is reffilable which is ecologically sustainable, and I like this a lot. The 10 ml I would buy or give as a gift for aspiring perfumistas since the notes are detectable and interesting for didactic purpose 😉 it seems like it is not available in Germany though.
Robin, thank you for this review once again!
So glad you liked it!
It is true that it is refillable, but it gets refilled via another glass bottle so saves nothing but the metal elements.
lol, I heard that there’s “the source” instore and you go with your bottle and they fill it up for you. they’ll charge you obv but I guess they’ll have like a tank or barrel of it or something, ha.
I lurve the bottle, I don’t see it as offensive at all, it’s kind of Geiger-y to me. It’s all a bit much when together the pink jus though. Contrary to many here, I fell in love with this, even prior to the dry down. Loved Angel when it first came out, find it sickly now, never cared that much for Alien. Normally I run from anything ‘marine-y’, but this isn’t that sort of sea smell, the caviar is a clever move. I normally prefer orientals, but would definately wear this for a change.
I tell you what it reminds me of a little, the original Anna Sui- black bottle with purple jus if I remember, which loads of people passionately hated, but I loved the saltiness!
Glad you like it!
Yes, that’s right Owen, I used to get my Angel refilled in Debenhams UK right into the bottle. This must be different.
I’m still not sure if I like this yet
I wanted the 10ml to wear and decide but only Selfridges has it as far as I know. so when I saw it in Tenerife I nearly jumped on it.
€14.08 which works out at about £11.40 or something
when it sells at £17odd at department stores 🙂
I guess I do like it, it’s put me off Alien a bit
is it cheaper than buying a refill bottle ?
and after many sniffs of this I have to say, I don’t like it. I’ve gone off Alien also :/
so I now have a 10ml Womanity bottle for anybody (in the UK) who wants it. there is about 9ml left and haven’t registered it at TM.com
I’ve had it 3weeks.
It smelled very salty and something else, cannot describe what. I had to put the paper strip immediately away. I got a feeling of nausea on the moment I smelled it.
Oh well!
:O me too !
I bought it on 1 september-gift for me from myself on 42 birthday.Since that time almost every woman ask me,what is the name of this wonderfull perfume i wear 🙂 For me is completly different that any smell.I love it.Like always-sorry for my english
Oh, happy (belated) birthday!! Glad you found something you loved as a gift 🙂
totally true Thierry Mugler’s creations are nothing you’d expect and smell unique.
I was so happy to get a sample of this yesterday at Nordy’s. The sample bottle is adorable, it’s pink a looks like the bottles and there is a little loopy attachment for the bottom of the bottle so that you can hang it lucky charm or something.
I felt so lucky to get the sample, I have really been looking forward to this one. Fig and caviar sounded so delicious and new. I wanted to love it but I don’t. I love Angel but unfortunately I hate Womanity. I covered myself in it this morning and I am now sitting in my cubicle at work loathing the way I smell. I think this is going to be really long lasting too. It’s not giving me a headache or anything, I just don’t like it, like when I wear a raw silk sweater and it heats up and I smell that disgusting silky smell all day at work. This actually reminds me of the smell of a cheap silk sweater… weird.
Ugh, sorry you’re stuck with it for the day!
Isn’t it horrible!!! I’ve been hating the wafts of it that keep going up my nose since I tried the little swab sample this morning. Awful stuff!!!
I ran into Bloomingdale’s last week to pick up Jo Malone’s White Jasmine and Mint (based on a review here, of course. It sounded like something that would cheer me up – and it was a bad day.)
I saw the Womanity counter and stopped to spritz some on a paper strip to smell more later. The bottle soaked my fingertips with Womanity. And let me tell you, that is rather too much Womanity! I couldn’t smell my Jo Malone (which I did buy) at all. Just citrus and fig. Or I should say, CITRUS AND FIG! Now I love fig (Bill Blass Nude is one of my favorite cheap thrills) but this was a ridiculous amount. Of everything.
I feel like I might sample it again to try to find the caviar note but as it was, it was just CITRUS AND FIG. And people in the office noticed it. Since I hadn’t intended to even wear it, this was annoying as well as very much CITRUS AND FIG.
It definitely smells like a Thierry Mugler scent.
LOL…maybe I will end up being utterly wrong, sounds like it’s more polarizing than I thought it would be! Congrats on your new Jo Malone, anyway.
when I first tested Womanity in Debenhams it hadn’t been out that long. like a couple of weeks.
and I got it all over my hands just from picking up the bottle. I think it’s because of the people who go screaming in the store to try it first and got carried away so it leaks all down the bottle.
Funny that several people had problems with the bottle and didn’t like on their hands!
I went to sniff it after all, being in a Mugler phase. And a tiny drop landed on my finger. I almost liked it on the paper strip, but it turned really offputting on the skin. If it was pleasant and bland on the paper, it was surprisingly offputting and artificial on the skin. Very immune to soap and water too.
The ones you hate are always the ones you can’t remove!
Sniffing it now.
I rec’d the postcard mailer directly from womanity website. I’m hoping to smell it in person at Nordy’s Fall Fragrance Festival. If they push it like Angel and Alien – it’s sure to be there.
First off, I hate Angel. It’s so Gourmand and sick, it’s nothing like anything I would wear. I’m more Vetiver meets Oakmoss meets leather, kind of gal.
So Fig and leather and caviar sound devine. I was worried about reading this. And all the pink pink pink and fruity-ness made me ill.
Yes, it’s pink. And to the person who said it smells like a cheap silk shirt…I’d like to comment “Yeah, kind of!” like all the fresh new clothes smell in department stores. I’m lliking it as I get past the pink-ness. I’m hoping I get more basenotes when I smell the actual juice. It seems like something I might want for the uniqueness.
Another thing I smell is softness. Which I guess could be said Womanity. Light and fluffy – which I don’t usually like. But with the salty-ness it seems to die down a bit.
We’ll see. I have more wants this Autumn so I will see where this falls on my shopping list.
Nordstrom ought to have it at their Festival, they just added it to their website in the last week or so.
EEeeeuuuuuwwwww!!!!!! Just from the postcard sample I received today I can say it’s one of the worst things I’ve ever smelled! Spent the rest of the day trying to get this stench off me. I never want to smell this rubbish again, it is hideous!!!
🙂
Womanity was just relatively recently released in the UK, so while I was shopping I thought I would give it a go. When I was younger I was crazy about Angel though I never actually had a bottle of it (just went mad with the spraying when I went shopping). So Womanity…I find the bottle interesting so I guess I like that aspect of it. The perfume itself? Like SiameseCat, it was kinda okay on the tester strips, but since paper isn’t skin, I sprayed on my wrist. Did not like. I don’t know what it was. I’m not very good at distinguishing all the different notes, but if there isn’t something that catches me in the top notes then I’m unlikely to like it.
Sorry you didn’t like it!
I might just try it again and see how I feel 🙂 Sometimes I hate a perfume and love it the next time I smell it. Just bought my first bottle of Angel and tried some Alien which I love! I’m going to buy it for a Secret Santa but will probably buy two bottles 🙂
I really like it. I’m usually more partial to floral and every once & awhile something with fig will peak my interest. This is def. one of them. And the longer I wear Womanity, the more it changes. It starts off strong and then calms down. One thing I don’t get is what exactly does caviar smell like? A strange ingredient indeed but this is a great winter fragrance.
The “caviar” in womanity smells sort of salty-inky. It doesn’t smell like real caviar to me.
How strange… poeple say Womanity is so powerful , but trust me, it is only an appearance, it is has week sillage… Nobody around you will not ask what you are wearing and mainly, no matter how much you put on, you literally have to sniff yourself to get some whifs of it. In 3-4 hours it’s completely gone, no trace of it … Nothing like a good old Samsara, Amarige , Angel, Lolita Lempicka , Loulou or Tresor … It is sweet but somehow politically correct … It smells expensive and feminine but a bit too toned down for my taste. It is not proclaming anything around. I mean, come on, I am paying that much on a polarising scent and nobody around me is complaining ?! This is not a good sign !
I found it pretty quiet too.
I love this fragrance! First, let me say that the packaging is hideous, as is the color and the name. I would never have tried this if it were not for the Sephora associate, a woman of a certain age as am I, who suggested it when I told her my other favorites have been Boucheron’s Jaipur and Hermes’ 24 Fauborg. Both of these fragrances smell rich and sophisticated to me. I find myself attracted to scents with hints of whiskey, cigars, and leather (Daddy issues?) Womanity (yuck – I hate that name!) dies down to a mellow fragrance that somehow includes the masculine with the feminine. It just works on my skin. I will be buying a bottle next time I am at Sephora. Only problem now is having to admit to what I’m wearing if someone asks!
Ok, I’m a bit tardy to the party…just found a sample of this in an old Saks bag that my closet just threw up! It must have been from my purchase of Angel-special edition last summer while shopping at the Galleria in Houston, Texas on a business trip with my husband. Anywho, my 5 yr old daughter was playing with it and said, “It ripped.” She smelled delicious!!!!! I quickly recovered what I could and rubbed it all over myself (oh, forget to mention the sample is a lotion.) Then, my 7 yr old son told me, “You smell like a yummy mommy and I love you!” He kept trying to nuzzle me and this from a very-not-cuddly-hard-nut-to-crack little boy. My 8 yr old son wasn’t even in the house during all this, but later that night during bedtime, he told me that I smelled, “beautiful, just like flower muffins.” Not really sure that is what I personally smell, but there is something intriguing about it and I LUF that!! I am a die hard Angel fan, and never even tried Alien. I did get that Angel, seaside special edition…it was alright. I wore it all summer. It didn’t seem to last? Although I loathe the name, Womanity, I think I will head on over to Nordstroms and buy this…probably the lotion. But I will sample the perfume. I wonder if they have a Body Wash?? I will just tell people who ask that it is the newest Thierry Muglqar scent.
I am late to the party too I guess. I find the entire composition bizarre and the bottle even more so. By saying it is bizarre, absurd, avantgarde I am not sure I hate it, the bottle though is definitely very horroristic and reminds me of a scene in a horror movie with aliens but I still find both the bottle and the juice interesting, just not sure I like them. Definitely a strange composition for a department launch and I think I might like it but the screechy, high pitched opening was a bit too much so even for me. actually received a sample and I want to try it because so far I have only sampled it on paper. I might actually end up liking this as I often find I tend to like bizarre fragrs, though not love:))).
Tried this yesterday, and I thought it was utterly charming. Juicy, salty fig and a creamy-sweet floral drydown, with a nice fizzy current running throughout and a slight aquatic edge. Poolside at a resort hotel, sipping a fruity drink and reading some dishy chick-lit. Nothing avant-garde or in-your-face about it, but fun and memorable.
I keep going back to the card on this and am drawn to the bright, effervescent, clean, and, yes, SAVORY pinkness. Caviar is a stretch. There’s something reminiscent of Davidoff’s Cool Water, but this time the water is technicolor pink and someone thew in a package of burnt Splenda. Very intriguing on the card. Then I remember that on my skin it induced a terrible case of the bed spins, all head ache and unsettling olfactory dissonance. As bad as cheap tequila. It could be a ” true true and unrelated” event – maybe a virus. I’ll keep you posted after N=2.
I’m very late to this party, I know, but I just tried this today at Saks. I like the bottle, personally.. it’s very HR Giger. The name, not so much. I found the salty note in Womanity fascinating. As a novice perfumista, I hadn’t really encountered anything quite like that yet. I tried it on a card first and found myself sniffing it compulsively. I tried it on my arm after that. I think the salty caviar note pretty much makes it for me. That pretty much is what I like about Womanity because I think without that twist it would just be unbearably sweet and fruity. I agree with the others who would redesign it by making it more green and woody and less sweet and bringing out that caviar note more.. that I think i might be tempted to buy.
I revisited Womanity over the weekend at Sephora, and I wondered what I had been thinking in my previous post. I realized that I had forgotten there were 2 versions at Saks when tried it originally. What I had actually tried on was the Taste of Fragrance version, which had fig chutney or something in it. That was what I had found too sweet. The regular version is much better. The salty note is kind of addictive. I ended up buying the 0.33oz bottle. Also, after wearing it for a while, I noticed that I got a slight, sweet popcorn-ish note, like the flavor in a Jelly Belly buttered popcorn jellybean. It doesn’t sound like it should be good, but I liked it.
Womanity seemed to me, an overall likeable fragrance. The opening citrus could be toned down a smidgen, while the caviar seems to be the balance to the sweet and fruity overtones. While it isn’t as dynamic as it’s predecessors, I wear it happily, as with Angel and Alien.
I bought samples of this fragrance and found it to be just an extremely odd scent. It literally stinks when I first put it on but after the first layer disappears its more tolerable. I have Alien and ADORE it so I was just really disappointed by this one.