A*Men / Angel Men (1996)
by Thierry Mugler

Love it or hate it, I suppose. I fall firmly in the latter category. Accepted wisdom has it that the men’s fragrance style of the 1980s was heavy, crass, and bombastic, and that the bland, apologetic aquatics and “fresh” fougères that have held sway since the early 1990s are the natural reaction to the excesses of Kouros, Antaeus, and Macassar. This notion ignores an important counter-trend in men’s fragrances of the 90s: the gourmand woody orientals, of which A*Men was among the first and most extreme.

Along with its near-contemporary Le Mâle, A*Men launched a raft of sweet, foody fragrances for men that would come to include Pi, Rochas Man, Lolita Lempicka au Masculin, Body Kouros, and their ilk. With their of overwhelming potency, unrelieved sweetness, and raspy synthetic wood base notes, these scents leave the much-reviled mossy, leathery 1980s powerhouses smelling positively subtle and sophisticated. Fragrances like Havana, Kouros, or Jules might be bold and aggressive, but they are also dangerously clever in their complexity and suggestive animalism.

Not so the gourmands. They are for the most part about smelling yummy, and doing so from very far away. No brains required, just a good set of lungs and plenty of calories. The only challenging thing about them is how strong they smell. My personal observation is that girls and young women love these scents, and that may account for their appeal. The logic must go something like this: “Girls love cupcakes. It follows that girls will love boys who smell like cupcakes.” I can just see the giggles and the lip-smacking in the focus groups.

With mint and patchouli to play against its gigantic chocolate pudding accord, A*Men is a bit less dumb than the worst of its breed, but its insufferable volume amply makes up for those odd touches of sophistication. I’ve been smelling this stuff on my fellow man for more than a decade, and it never fails to nauseate me.

I first sampled this about a year ago and absolutely hated it. Its sweetness and the chocolate accord turned my stomach.

I’ve read some posts in the men’s forum during the past few months, however, that say what I’ve said about a lot of strong scents: do not sample a strong scent by simply spraying it on the back of your hand. A*Men, like Azzaro Pour Homme and Giorgio For Men, can only be judged after actually wearing it for a day, like you would one of your favorite scents. This convinced me to try A*Men out again.

Now that I’ve actually worn A*Men, I have a much better opinion of it. It’s quite good. When you wear this, rather than drilling your hand into your snout, A*Men seems less sweet, the chocolate is not suffocating, and it’s just overall a lot more wearable. The patchouli everyone seems to mention is also more noticeable when you wear this.

Basically, A*Men is a masculine version of the amazing original Angel for women. It’s really not much more than that, but that’s saying a lot, since Angel is one of my favorite women’s fragrances. A*Men is drier, slightly less sweet, and a lot less radiant than Angel, but the infamous original Angel accord is still there and it is unmistakable. I prefer to smell this accord on a woman, but it is nice to be able to wear it myself comfortably.

I don’t find Angel to be overpowering at all, and in fact I found its longevity to be a bit lacking. Maybe my skin just chews up this particular fragrance, because I only get 7 or 8 hours out of this. That’s not bad, but this is Angel we’re talking about here! However, I seem to be in the minority on this.

Overall, I like A*Men a lot, but I don’t love it. On the other hand, I find its counterpart, B*Men, which is drier and less “gourmand” sweet than A*Men, to be a truly outstanding fragrance, and I prefer it.

Initially I gave this 5 stars, it was one of my favourites and I rushed out to buy 2 bottles. It's definitely distinctive and stands out head and shoulders from the rest of the high street clones. However Im now selling both of them.
I realised I had a problem with it when I got Lutens' Borneo and thought, nice except the annoying chocolate bit that reminds me of A*men. Then I tried the new Malt version and had to scrub it off. So I went back to A*men, and yes my tastes have changed.
Imagine a riotous party. You wake with a terrible hangover next to an ashtray and somebody's been sick on the carpet next to you. That's A*men, and however hard you try to scrub it off it lingers ad nausea. You just have to ride it out til hangover subsides. Synthetic and sickly though without doubt an original.

Sickly fragrance that for some reason, some ppl tend to love. Believe me, I gave it at least 3-4 applications before I came up with my conclusing that this stuff stinks. Most say to let it "cook" for an hour or so on your skin. So am I supposed to spray it on an hour b4 I go out? Who has time for that? Smells terrible like burnt tires and chocolate/vanilla. I think about old senior citizens when i smell this. The only good thing about this fragrance is the cool metal bottle and the advertising. STAY AWAY

Come on folks! This is awesome stuff that in all fairness will not appeal to wallflowers. Any offence is likely to be the result of being trigger happy with the flacon. Anyway, I won't repeat all that has been covered in the excellent reviews below, save to say that perhaps its only downside IMO is its ubiquity and instant recognisability that brings it into the mainstream.

The first time I smelled this I was taken aback, I'll be honest. I quickly dismissed it and went to smell other fragrances. Later that day I watched Tim's review on YouTube and felt like I missed something. I have been reading reviews around and figured heck, i'll try it again. Today I went to the local Perfumania and had a spray on my wrist, as a science experiment, to see how A* Men develops.

Right off the bat again I was overwhelmed and slightly recoiled from how intense the smell was. After about a minute I mustered the courage to sniff again and it wasn't nearly as harsh as before. Perhaps 10-15 minutes later it became much more mellow yet still sharp with that chocolate accord. After about 30 minutes though is when I noticed the scent go into the state it currently is in (about 3 hours later), and I must say it is quite pleasant. I sprayed one wrist with A*Men, and the other with BVLGARI Black. I do sniff both, but since it is pretty cold here (50ºF) I see myself going for the A*Men more since it comforts me and has more silage. Now, I wonder how beastly it would be if I had it sprayed on my chest as well! Be careful when applying people! Everyone loves a knockout, but not when it comes to scents! Does that make sense?

I would give this a 'thumbs up', except I have not experienced this at an event with people and can't gauge the scent from my peers' reactions. If they dislike it, it'll probably mean you basenoters will love it! I do see myself adding this fine fragrance to my collection for the winter months especially since I like collecting cool bottles, and a refillable metal case fits that bill perfectly. I will update this review once I have a chance to test it out 'in the field,' to what I suspect will be nothing short of a great unique cologne.