I feel really bad for Thierry Mugler Womanity EDP. Can you imagine being the little sister of Angel and Alien? You may not like any of these scents, but you have to admit that Mugler fragrances are memorable. You either love them or  you hate them. They make you express your opinion. Poor little sis, Womanity, has to follow in these audacious divas’ footsteps even if she doesn’t want to. If any other mainstream line launched Womanity, we (perfume consumers) would all be surprised and love it. But, Mugler releases Womanity and it isn’t “unusual” or “bold” enough. I’m going to look at Womanity has any other launch of 2010. It’s not fair to compare ANY fragrance to Angel or Alien.

At first Womanity is fruity and citrusy; however, there is a “strange” burnt sugar note peeping through. Sometimes this burnt note wears longer on me than other days. It isn’t a bad thing but it adds a strange dark “heaviness” to the pink, giggly citrus. When this burnt note decides to go away (some days it barely appears to begin with), I get that super feminine citrus blend. This really is the “pink” of citrus. The citrus is super “hissy”, a high-note. It reminds me of the “Pink” line at Victoria’s Secret. It’s just “pink”, young, and a little bratty. Everything about this citrus top note is pink. Mingling with the pink grapefruit and pink lemonade, there is something sweet, a generic “red berry” accord. It adds a candy quality to the fragrance when mixed with the feminine citrus, not hard candy, but a pressed sugary candy such as a Sweet Tart, Smarties, or Pez. This sugary candy and citrus mixture wears on me for a long time. Finally, after an hour+ of wear, I  can pick up on the fig, my olfactory weakness. By the time the fig shows up, I forgot that I am I “waiting” for the fig. It seems that this “fig” is emphasized in the PR stuff so you’d think it would be more of a major player. It is, but it shows up fashionably late, on purpose I think 🙂 The fig is milky, creamy. It mixes with the candy citrus.  This isn’t your typical unisex Mediterranean green fig leaf and dried fig woods. This is creamy, milky fig fruit. And in Mugler fashion, the sweet candy fruitiness is played up. You even get that this fig is pink 🙂 However, there is a subtle saltiness, I assume this is the caviar accord because it is ever so slightly “inky”. It adds a nice, salty sea breeze to Womanity. OK, so some reviews <bleh> the caviar, saying it smells like salty fish. Really? I tried hard to pick up on that caviar accord. I just pick up a synthetic salt accord; I’m stretching it by saying it’s caviar. No fishiness. I live next to salt water/the Sound and believe me, I’ll be the first to say if anything smells fishy. I’m slightly disappointed that the “caviar” ins’t played up. This is a very subtle note that exists to round out the fruity fig giving it a Mediterranean vibe. The odd thing about Womanity is that it never gets that “warm in the sun” fig feeling that so many fig fragrances do. Womanity never shakes the candy and citrus, it always smells juicy. Even the dry-down which appears like 5 hours after initial spritz isn’t all that “warm”. It’s milky fig, much more woodsy, but you still get a faint red berry candy sweetness. To sum up Womanity, I described it to a fragrance friend in one statement: “It’s like salty caviar & overripe figs sinking in a sea of cherry syrup and Pez“. I think we can say that is weird, right? But, somehow it isn’t that weird and I see lots of people wearing this.  Another weird thing about Womanity is that all of these things are edible but I wouldn’t dare call this a “gourmand” because who would want to eat this disturbing list of ingredients?

I actually like Womanity. This even surprises me. This is the most obnoxious fig fragrance that I have ever experienced. Obnoxious isn’t always a bad thing. I wear gold cowboy boots and Pucci prints. But, most days I wear black. Obnoxious can be fun. This is how I see Womanity: a “fun” fragrance for me. My occasional Pucci print of the fragrance world. It’s so not me, it’s loud, “hissy”, and girly/young. But, the fruity fig makes it enough “me” to wear it. I hate to say this is a “fig” fragrance, that part of the fragrance is actually played down in comparison to other “fruits” in Womanity. I actually see this fragrance picking up a new generation of Thierry Mugler fans, a younger crowd. I’m actually thinking the college-aged and younger Victoria’s Secret “Pink” crowd. And maybe even the rest of us. This fragrances lasts and lasts. That’s no surprise coming from Mugler, huh? I have a cardigan that I haven’t hand washed yet…it’s been a week since I wore the sweater. It smells very much like Womanity.

OK, I’m not going to go there with the name (Womanity being a word of woman+community) or the hokey ad campaign/website. Everyone has something to say about that. But, I will talk about the bottle. I love this bottle. I haven’t seen a bottle to love like this in years! It’s much more beautiful in real-life than in any pictures. The fragrance may not be completely “me” but this bottle is. I know we can get into the symbolism (mask, chain, etc.) but I applaud Mugler for going there regardless of how it can be interpreted. How many mainstream perfumes get a conversation started about “womanhood”? This makes Women’s Studies minor me very happy. I have many loves and interests. Some of these interests are sci-fi, modernism, post-Apocalyptic films, and African art. This bottle manages to throw all of that in there. The Womanity bottle reminds me of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis interpreted by total badass H.R. Giger for an Amazons rule the world post-Apocalyptic b-film. Enough said.

Notes listed are difficult to find. Here they are according to Basenotes: fig, caviar, fig wood, fig leaf, woody notes. There are obviously some major players missing from this list (like cherry-berry red syrup and sugary pink candy notes).

So who should try this? Well, anyone curious about the mega-hype of this Mugler launch. Come on…you know you have or want to try this; you’re curious. Or individuals that like “pink” fragrances that don’t have florals. It’s hard for me to come up with a list of those. Currently, I see Womanity of a mix of Satellite Paris A La Figue , Etat Libre d’Orage Like This (can’t explain that one, the radiant citrus and gourmand but not gourmand notes?), and Ralph Lauren Wild . Or if you added Aquolina Pink Sugar to a pitcher of pink lemonade 🙂 This is one you’ll have to try. And I know you will.

UPDATE: Perfume has been discontinued. If you love it, pick it up while you can. I’m actually really angry that this one is gone. It was so interesting!

Want more reviews? Try…

Now Smell This (Robin’s review is so good that I actually thought about not reviewing Womanity because she has said everything I wanted to say about this fragrance & then some)

Bois de Jasmin

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*Disclaimer-Product provided by pr. I am not compensated for this review or any others. My reviews are my own. Images from the brand.