Reviews of Angeliques Sous La Pluie (2000)
by Editions de Parfums Frederic Malle

a milder version of French Lover+molecule01+cedar? extremely close to skin with very mild sillage and minimal projection. is the scent beautiful? oh yes, it definitely is. a juicy fresh green scent with natural resins acting as incense. would require minimum 15 sprays to enjoy this scent. another lovely creation by Mr. Ellena

Why oh why does this absolutely beautiful and wonderful fragrance have the sillage o a drop of water? I love it, but like lafoebe says, it stays for no more than two minutes. If you spray it on in several layers, and plenty of it, you can get it to stay for a bit longer. Pretty please, make this in a stronger concentration, so it will be worth buying!

To me it smells very fresh, clean and flowery, like rain in a garden. But my boyfriend says it smells like a wet stone wall, pleasant but oddly hard and blocking.

It's nice and all.... a lightly peppered cedar. Otherwise I don't feel like writing a story about it.

Love it love it love it! But does not last 2 minutes. Don't tell me I don't have a good nose because this is in only a 4% concentree.

It opens with a very strong cedar mixed with Covonia cough syrup. Once the cough syrup vanishes, this develops into a scent that you would have in your hair after rolling around on a forest floor in the summer, with freshly fallen young branches covered in sap, some earth and dry leaves and some grass. It's an interesting study in green and I like it. It would probably smell very sexy on just the right guy. I will probably wear it on days that are not right for sweet and girly scents. Bravo.

This year (2008) it has been made evident to me that I'm attracted to green scents, and the top notes of ASLP are among the dearest. After sampling ASLP a few times, its elements came into focus, and while I'm delighted with my new-found abilities to suss out these notes, a certain degree of ASLP's charm and high-end luxury got tarnished in the process. Aside from the fleeting, dewy top notes, I now see this scent in this way: It smells like an angelica plant raised hydroponically on a diet of Iso E Super by a woodworker building sweetheart cedar chests. Iso E Super--the chassis of Calvin Klein's Eternity. Sure enough, in a side-by-side sniff, I now sense ASLP as a slice of Eternity. Ah, well. At least Guerlain's Angelique Noire still retains that magical quality of fantasy angelica and Parisian vanilla.

Angeliques Sous La Pluie is one of the two scents (the other one is Bigarade Concentree) recommended and sent sample of to me from the Frédéric Malle website, based on the online questionnaire.
It was a revelation to me at the time; since I was a complete newbie to perfume I had never encountered anything similar. It was very very light and seemed to disappear almost immediately; but as long as it lasted, it was very beautiful and intriguing. It was much more expensive than anything I had acquired until then and that stopped me from ordering a bottle at that time.

Last week, I ordered a new sample to see if it is still as wonderful as I remembered, and indeed it is! After smelling hundreds of other scents, it is still as original and beautiful to my nose as the first time. As other have mentioned, it smells like wet earth with green stuff and flowers - real flowers, none of that artificial "flower" smell so often encountered in perfumes.

My wife, now a bit tired of me putting my wrist under her nose and asking for comment and comparison any time I receive a new sample, was also very moved by the beauty of this. She claims that it smells much better than anything in my current wardrobe, including her previous favourite L'Eau par Kenzo pour Homme.

I will order a full bottle as soon as my next pay-check arrives.

I'm not entirely sure about this one. Although I love the peppery green opening, it is too short lived -after an hour and a half, it is gone. And in between, it stays very close to the skin. I am a big fan of the transparency that seems to be Jean-Claude Ellena's trademark, but I can't stop wondering about the possibility of an 'Angeliques Concentree' -in the vein of Ellena's Bigarade C.-.

Pure and fresh essential green vitality in a bottle. Light, airy and very greeeeeen - uplifting. It is fresh, but very short lived - 2 hours max. But is worth it anyway. You become the fresh green essence of growing plants when you put this on. It is a wonderful fragrance that is very unique. The nicest fresh green grassy fragrance I have ever smelled. Most green scents become very herbal or dry down into something else like hay or vetiver woods - but not Angelique. The Angelica is lifted by light cedar and stays full of vitality through to the end. A short life but a rich one.

This is one of a few Malles that have taken me a while to get my head around. Now that I have become acclimated it's a fragrance that I really enjoy. I get what foetidus is talking about re: the lack of counterpoint, but it's ok for me. I don't know what Angelica smells like, but I do get this mesmerizing pepper/rain thing. Then again I have always leaned toward the melancholy. I need to get the 250ml so that I can splash around in it.

This is a unique, original, peppery, crisp and fresh fragrance that has grown on me in a very short period of time. But as much as I love this scent, for some reason I prefer to smell it on a man rather than on myself. I think this is a wonderful scent for a sophisticated, intelligent and somewhat outdoorsy man.

Very light. Very soft. Very green. Very fresh. Very French. Somewhat familiar. It's a good unisex smell. I am a bit disappointed in how incredibly light it is, but it's surely similar to all the other Malle fragrances is that the more you wear it, the more you like it, if not merely from its simplicity and purity. I think that is an absolutely amazing feat for a perfume house...I have so many perfumes I have tired of within a few weeks, sometimes days, sometimes hours. Not so with Malle. Certainly worth a try, especially for those who like a highly subtle classy scent.

Light,very light,for everyday use, non invading, not lasting, refreshing without needing citrus but nothing to be used after sport, non chilling. Quite elegant. A strong,quite character.Not overwhelming but present.
In fact it is so light that one bottle will last for very, very short time.
A nice b&w picture, a Debussy piano work,Carla Bruni singing,a stroll in the garden,nostalgic,unfashionable,an older Peugeot,a beautiful house on a hill,water.
I like it. It's a masterpiece.Buy three.

An interesting and unusual green opening quickly followed by a strong coniferous note which immediately dominates the whole fragrance. This can only be the cedar from the base combining with the Angelica. The two are made for each other in that the Angelica mirrors the cedar’s coniferous vibration while adding a clear black pepper flavor to the accord—the result magnifies the coniferous to the point of exaggeration—this, had it been used right, would have been brilliant. This cedar / Angelica accord by itself is quite compelling in its intensity: After all, this IS the heart waiting in the rain. The clear resinous conifer / pepper accord provides a wistful darkness that is aching to be express itself, but it can be vibrant only if there is something in the fragrance that plays off of this bit of melancholy. There needs to be a contrast, but there is none—there is no tension. The wistful darkness is just wistful darkness, and the philosophical importance and beauty of the cedar / angelica isn’t realized. What we finally end up with is beautiful little Angelique in the rain… That’s not even Zen. That’s ennui, and what benefit is ennui for ennui’s sake unless you’re in a 60’s Bardot film? This scent is not as fulfilling as it should be.

At first I did not care for this very Angelica root like fragrance. Being familiar w/ the root as a herb, I wasn't so sure if I'd want to smell like Angelica. But subsequent wearings this grew on me and now I enjoy this much better. It is a very dry herbal scent that feels "white", it is the brut sibling of Bvlgari's white tea, although I don't see a tea accord in this one. The angelica doesn't last too long before it turns into a light musk. Longetivity is really the only issue I've had with Malle, but I appreciate the pieces from this house as works of art while they lasted. Great ideas and great creativity here.

Smells nice and earthy (and quite a bit spicier than another Ellena creation - which I wont name here - from the house of Hermes). This fragrance was "inspired by the fleeting whiff of an Angelica bouquet gathered just after a shower"...I do agree that it smells like fresh earthy soil. Infact, it reminds me more of gin and tonic; the ingredients are almost the same. The top citrus notes blend into a center of coriander, cedar and juniper berries; the scent is then later softened by a floral note (is it the angelique?). It smells nice, but the fragrance is very fleeting .. infact, my testing sessions with this make my encounters with Neroli Sauvage and Zeste Mandarine (two fragrances with great disappearing acts themselves) seem like marathon sessions. While it smells different and is a nice change of pace from the usualy citrusy/sweet fresh scents, it lacks that certain "WoW!". This, combined with its fleeting nature and sky high retail price, result in a "dont buy" recommendation. Order a decant or sample to play with it.

Earthy, very earthy. It does have a reappearing act that I thought was unique, however the notes to me don't project as pleasant rather it's a curious, intriguing sort. A nice fragrance to sample, but I don't think I could recommend buying it.

The Light Malle. The Un-Cola.

I recieved ASP and Bigarade Concentree from Malle after filling out their online questionaire. I asked for a fragrance that I could wear at work that would be subtle, yet project intelligence and confidence.

Jean-Claude Ellena's goal was to capture the essence of the angelica flower after a spring rainstorm, and he did a great job. As the reviewers here have noted, it is a subtle scent, and when I applied it the first time I agreed with Paul G, that the smell was gone after about 10m, unless you pressed your nose to your wrist. That first application was at night, and just before I wen to bed though. I tried it a second time at the start of the day. One spray to the wrist, then off to work. Like before it was there, then went away, but about an hour later came *back*. Not with a vengence, mind you; this is ASP were talking about. But it did come back stronger than it was when I first applied it. I could smell it for hours in all its subtle, pink-peppery, cedery glory.

Maybe it was my daytime activity and body chemistry that brought it out. I may have drifted off to sleep too quicky after applciation #1 to notice the mid- and basenote performance. But for those that appreciate a subtle daytime/office fragrance it did a good job. I can't say "great" until I try it solo. My primary SOTD that Friday was Creed Vetiver (1948); I applied the ASP as an afterthought because I assumed it would evaporate quickly. So I've got to go solo with ASP for a complete evaluation.

But give it a try guys and gals (if you can find it)!

This scent reminds me of wet earth and fresh plant matter, like I've been digging in the garden. In that respect it is faintly reminiscent of Luten's Iris Silver Mist, but only faintly. It is more astringent from the juniper and has the glorious sweet cedar base note that I wish would last just a bit longer. Alas, that's the trouble with so many of JC Ellena's masterpieces. They are too fleeting. I just reapply and think it is a small price to pay.

Nice, but woeful projection and lasting power. I would like to wear it, but I coulnd't detect it 10 minutes after application.

This is my favorite JC Ellena creation. It starts out kinda airy and soapy fresh and that subtle mineralic hint reminescent of a wet stone covered in moss diffuses through to yeild a brillant masterpiece!

Amazing fragrance; another Malle stunner.

Has a delightful basso profundo top note. For me the cedar "basenote" comes into play almost immediately. A bit of smoke at the top.

After the top,the fragrance quiets as it enters the heart.

Would be a great men's fragrance. (A great relief from the tediously overused men's bergamot & lavendar combo, although, this does have a bit of bergamot at the top.)

Well constructed and handsome (the fragrance, that is). "Tasteful" without being conservative. Smells "confident." For a man who has the opportunity to wear fragrance to work, a touch of this would be wonderful.

It's one of Eleena's masterpieces:angelica, juniper berries, coriander,musk and cedar. Clear, fresh and aristocratic, it's almost too subtle and fades away very fast. But that's the only fault of this otherwise beautiful unisex fragrance.

Green and fresh, yet soft and beautiful at the same time, a perfect balance between the two. It truly does smell like sopping wet live plant matter. And as sexy as that doesn't sound... it is. My only complaint is that it is quite fleeting, fading to a very soft skin scent within about 2 hours. One can only hope for a concentree version of this delightful scent.

I am pretty new to perfume, so I don't know all the terminology and still don't know what half the notes smell like (angelica?), but here are my first impressions:

I got a strong whiff of gin--I wonder if that junipery smell is the angelica? Then I got a very dry woody scent and then the cedar and pepper. The dry down still smells cedar-y, but there's a sweetness there and a touch of ozone/rain. Love the scent, but will have to "test drive" it for a day to see if I could actually wear it.

Count me in on this one. I love the peppery-gin and cedar aromas, with something - I can't quite put my finger on it - humming underneath. No parapluie necessary!

I bought a bottle after having tried a sample. The fragrance is definetly gin and a soft pepper, it is lovely, but fades extremely quickly. I will continue to wear it, but it must be resprayed at least 4 times a day.

I quite love this and have to say it without shame. Light , breezy , perfect for chilling put in the summer. Rained-upon stems and leaves , coriander smells , gin on the rocks , a little incense perhaps in the background? That's the general impression. Lovely!
Eau de Cartier doesn't last all that much , neither does this ( not loud anyway)Maybe I should opt for the Eau de Cartier Concentree. Or wait for the ASLP concentree version of Malle. Will return.....It's haunting.

The topnotes of this, which burn off fairly fast, smell like a good dry gin spiked with pink pepper and then warmed up, saki-style. From there, you get light layers of mostly cedar and angelica, which is green and a bit dusky and warm and also, to me, a little bit powdery around the edges. All of this makes for a truly different fragrance and I give much credit to Jean-Claude Ellena for the concept. It's a bracing, warming and invigorating scent, neither feminine nor masculine but almost completely neutral and also totally non-perfumey/cologne-y. In that sense, it reminds me of some of the scents Comme des Garcon does, of the types that combine notes traditionally used in personal fragrances with some more unorthodox, surprising notes.

DELICIOUS, WONDERFULL, NOTHING ELSE TO ADD.
Just go and smell it, you will ADORE IT!
THANK YOU MR ELLENA