Review: A*Men Sunessence Edition Orage D'Ete by Thierry Mugler (2010)

As far as I’m aware, Mugler’s key scents (Angel, Alien and A*Men) are still serious commercial contenders. So I don’t quite understand why the firm insists on diluting their impact with an endless stream of unnecessary flankers, like this new ‘Sunessence’ edition of A*Men. If you don’t like the original – with its distinctive coffee and patchouli fuzziness – then you won’t like this. And if you do like the original, then you won’t buy this, because… guess what: you’ll do the sensible thing and just keep buying the original! The Mugler website claims that what makes this new juice different is that it’s been energised by the sun. Err… no. It hasn’t been anywhere near any stars. But I suspect it may have got quite intimate with a few vats of the discontinued B*Men, because it displays a suspiciously familiar amber warmth before descending to an overly synthetic, soapy drydown. I await next summer’s inevitable follow-up with no excitement whatsoever.