I know, I know, we’re all sick of flankers, right? The worst case scenario — maybe, the most common scenario — is a trite variation on a fragrance that wasn’t all that imaginative or important to begin with, followed by two or three or eleven more, evenly spaced over the coming months and years, whether the world needs them or not. Eventually, inevitably, we get the flankers of flankers, with their vaguely ridiculous names as though they just could not stop themselves — Victoria’s Secret Sexy Little Things Noir Tease Temptation, seriously?

But then there are those rare cases where we get creative and just-plain-fun twists on iconic fragrances. Props to Thierry Mugler on that score; they’ve done a great job over the years. The “Pure” series of A*Men flankers (Pure Coffee, Pure Malt, Pure Havane) have been highly enjoyable, and have accomplished exactly what flankers ought to accomplish: they’ve made me appreciate the original A*Men all the more. The Angel Garden of Stars series (Peony Angel, Lily Angel, Violet Angel and Rose Angel) did the same for many people, but did not manage to break through my long-standing dislike of the original Angel. Then lo and behold, they got me too, first with Angel La Part des Anges and then with the similar (and more affordable) Angel Liqueur de Parfum. If you had told me five years ago that they’d ever make an Angel I wanted to own, I’d have shaken my head in disbelief.

Now they’ve done it again…

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