Sexy Angelic has no olfactory relation to the images it conjures. I know you want to visualize Victoria’s Secret’s Angels, but instead, think of this:
^ Adolph William Bouguereau, “A Soul Brought to Heaven”
Honore des Pres is an 100% natural line of fragrance established in 2008 by Christian David and with Olivia Giacobetti of Safran Troublant fame as the perfumer. (Source: Fragrantica.) True to the image above, Sexy Angelic is weightless and austere. Michael Edwards classifies it as a soft oriental in Fragrances of the World.
The note list is like nothing I’ve seen before. I couldn’t identify most of the notes. It consists of almond, angelica seeds, marzipan, black hemlock, and orris butter (orris is the root of the iris flower). The hemlock note sounds pretty shocking. But it’s actually a kind of conifer called tsuga, and is completely unrelated to Socrates’ poison. The blend of nuts, evergreen, and iris is not too sweet, not too cutesy, but still feminine.
Something about Sexy Angelic smells wintery too. Usually winter fragrances conjure up the heavy blankets, animalics, and liquors you’d use to keep yourself shielded from the cold, rather than the light, airy effect of snow and other manifestations of cold itself. Ironically, Sexy Angelic is not only all natural, but it’s one of the few fragrances to evoke winter in a natural, rather than defensive, way.
Juxtapose these two images and you’ll have an idea of how Sexy Angelic smells. It’s also affordable. There are no drawbacks.
Perfumer: Olivia Giacobetti
Price Range: Moderate
Recommended Occasion: Any
Release Year: 2008
My Rating: 8
I could get this one only by smelling it up close. Almond moves to a candy-like smell that is a little too original for my taste. Gourmand perfumes have an extra challenge. … I wouldn’t ask for this recipe.
An interesting and informative Scentsate review, though.
Thanks. I got more of the wintergreen notes than the almond notes. I thought those were more in the background. Most reviewers seem to disagree.