Mugler’s Les Exceptions range had completely bypassed my radar until I caught sight of an artfully minimalist yet chunky bottle on social media a few weeks ago and tracked them down. These, I have to try, so I’m kicking off in reverse order with the 8th member of the range, Hot Cologne. A smooth, fresh beast of a perfume that is equally right for a contemporary man or woman.
The Mugler Les Exceptions collection, made in collaboration with perfumers Oliver Polge and Jean-Christophe Herault, is an upmarket, tight range of couture perfumery with the name of each fragrance evocative of its olfactory direction. The look and feel of the chunkily designed, heavy silver and glass Art Deco inspired bottle, says ‘statement perfume’ for a chic urban dweller. The weight of the bottle is decidedly masculine and made for bathroom shelf boast-posting and not tote handbag carrying – unless a girl would like to dislocate a shoulder. But the smell…oh blimey, the smell…
Hot Couture is as jagged and clean and fist punchingly spectacular as Mugler’s early, glorious design days. With Hot Cologne, Jean-Christophe Herault has captured Mugler’s 1980s architecturally structured largesse and distinction with a sexy cleanliness that is under-written with a soft, purring green coffee note. This surprise element jars and juxtaposes with the sharp fresh of lemon, petitgrain and neroli heart eau de cologne. Green coffee mixed with spicy ginger and cardamom throws this otherwise sparring eau de cologne off balance in a bold move. Mugler’s Hot Cologne is a sexy, high-heeled wobble that you notice all the more, as it’s just a little off-kilter. Yet it’s reminiscent of classic, fresh, spiced masculine fragrances such as the exemplary Monsieur Balmain, still top of the list when it comes to downright clean sex appeal with a twist.
As my opening gambit with Les Exceptions, Hot Cologne has more than impressed, with it’s difference and staying power. I can only guess at the seduction of others in the range such as Chyprissme and Oriental Express. I’m on board.
Mugler Les Exceptions Eaux de Parfums are priced £135 for 80ml exclusively from Harrods, Harrods.com and Mugler.com
from Katie Chutzpah
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