Reviews of Alien (2005)
by Thierry Mugler

After the first overpowering whiff of sharp jasmine this settles into what really struck me as a slight licorice scent (I love licorice). Its probably the jasmine softening and mixing with the amber. It settles nicely, but the jasmine is probably a bit too much for me (and my wife). But still pleasantly surprised by this frag. which is very strong and will hang around you for a long time.

Ever late to the party I have only just now tried Alien - without expectations of anything. I'm still trying to get a fix on Angel and what all the fuss is about....but back to Alien. The first few seconds after the first spritz were chemically alarming - one jumped back from one's own wrist.

But then! Warm and subtle jasmine with a slightly greenish metallic something hovering around the edges. Its underpinnings are ambery woods and the overall effect is somewhat "alien" and mysterious. I'm a jas-maniac and tis is going to have to join the harem.

What can be more beautiful than a beauty? A well dressed beauty. Alien is a well dressed jasmine, succeed to be more attractive than a nude jasmine. Good work. Must have for jasmine lovers.

One of the best Jasmine perfumes ever, period. It's a sultry, but not sickly, powdery, but not suffocating, lovely, sexy close-to-the-skin scent. Extremely sensual without being vulgar and very comfortable to wear. Gets lots of compliments too, which is a bonus!

I never quite understand why women who fall madly in love with Angel aren't able to put it in a separate category when testing Alien. Yes, they are both under the Thierry Mugler name, but that doesn't necessarily make them alike. I think that the name gives it away; Alien. it's not Angel Innocent, It's not Angel Garden of stars, it's simply Alien. Thus, when I tried it I had Angel out of my mind. What I've found with Alien (and every other fragrance out there) is that you must put it on for the "Fabulousness" to take effect. I tried the Perfume (applied with a nifty little gold wand) on my wrist, and went about my day. The way it smells is hard to describe. There's definitely jasmine in there, along with amber and a very slight green note. It almost has a "distant" quality, very synthetic-smelling, but very pleasing. I know that a lot of women are put off by it on the blotter, but I really advise applying some of the perfume oil on yourself and then seeing how you like it.

I love it, very sexy, dark and mysterious. Though unlike most who find it cold I find it very warm and comforting. But not comforting in an old slippers kinda way. Perhaps "inviting" is a better word. Perfect to be worn on a cool autumn night out.

Delightfully bizzare yet, at the same time, familiar and exciting, "Alien" is the brisk, pistachio-like scent of an evening out under a dark, starry night sky or cruising with the windows down and "raisin' hell". It's an experience scent, where another fragrance exists within a fragrance--as part of a story, on a character in a specific time and place. This smells like getting away for a night after an event or holiday...and making out under the stars: Fresh, overly minty breath from spray and gum or menthol drops, perhaps a lingering scent of cheery-sweet cigars and coffee...you've worn your best, sultry fragrance and it's radiating off your skin...and the euphoric briskness of night air sneaks through cracked windows. This is a modern scent that couldn't be mistaken for any place or time before the 1990's---except as 90's cultural nod to 1950's pulp comics, t-birds, pinups and mod appeal...and, perhaps, medicinal rubs of the 1800's (the kind that smelled more like herbal perfume than medicine). This is the scent of "bad" before people grow up and understand what "bad" really means. Provocative, surprisingly nostalgic and exciting! I root for "Alien" because it's so dang weird and seems to embrace its playful weirdness. How can I snub my nose at that?

Alien is not an easy scent to like,I think..I have to admit that the first time I tried it I really hated it!I found it sour and weird smelling.However I've learned from experience that I need to retest most of the scents I try several times and with a huge time gap between.Alien also reminded me a bit of Crystal Noir in the beginning,but it's cooler and less sweet.Not sure what caused me feeling that way about it,because now I find them really different from eachother.On me Alien smells mostly of Jasmine,but it gradually warms a little up and the amber comes through.It also has a quite green quality about it I think.I've grown to like this scent more and more,but it's defenitely a scent I would have to be in the mood for.Defenitely a very original mix of notes and the bottle is cool too.

Beautiful, dark, mysterious and cold as I imagine a spacescape to be; it feels like being wrapped up in cold, evening twilight.

1st try hmm, not bad. Smells like grape soda at first, mellos into soft, woody white floral with a slight grape soda edginess to keep it from being one of those heady voluptuous squeeze you too tight floral clouds. I think I love it! I agree it's more cool than warm, but it's still very feminine.

I got a sample of this and liked how it smelled on the paper. However, when I tried it one me it didn't smell so hot. I wore the sample once and that was even worse. Well, I was shopping for new frags and something told me to try it again. This time it really smelled good on my skin. I'm thinking that the sample I had must have been old or had something wrong with it. Anyhoo, I quickly purchased it. I kept smelling my arm over and over. Eureka!! I knew exactly what to add to this unique frag. Aveda Patchouli. Let me tell you something. Every single time I wear these two together I get stopped by someone wanting to know what I have on. No lie. Everytime I wear it!!! I looooooove this perfume. I'm not much on "note" identities, but I knew that the Aveda patchouli would be a perfect note to blend with this perfume. I will definitely purchase this on the regular. By the way, my S/O loves this on me. The 1st time I wore it, he talked about it all night. It was a very lovely night too.....tee hee.

My son gave me this for the last holiday season for the solstice. Because he and I share a love of SciFI, we thought perhaps this would "eat your face off" like its namesake; or at least melt something. However, I am glad to say it does neither and I quite like it. It lasts and lasts. I love the mysterious notes that you cannot quite identify...hmmmmm must be alien.

It smells like a synthetic scented green grape candy too me. With a little hint of the air freshner "Forest". Eccentric alien. Cold. Not even romantic. Asocial and "radioactive" fragrance.

Well, the purple bottle is fantastic. The scent is completely synthetic and odd, but not in a bad way, more like purple neon. It's a virtual jasmine, a virtual amber, very electric, artificial, technological if that makes sense. Like an alien's take on Earth scents. It is unabashedly divorced from Nature. The longevity is incredible, the sillage pronounced. Very different!

OH No. How can anything like this have been created by Tierry Mugler? This has to be the most unpleasant fragrance mistake I have made in ages. I find it nauseating and headach inducing just like Dior's Poison. It lasts for ages even after you bathe, which is a pity when you just want to scrub it off. It does smell like a particularly nasty cleaning fluid, and would more than likely do wonders for blocked drains!!

I find the scent hypnotic, I love the fact that it's a real departure from super sweet scents and can't stop sniffing my wrist when I wear it. It has a gorgeous bottle, though I'm unsure of longevity, most scents don't seem to last very long on me.

I tend to favour warm, sweet scents (Angel, Hypnotic Poison, Mitsouko) so Alien is a real departure for me.

To me, it is a very cool, almost aquatic floral - very fresh and clean smelling. Not at all like bug spray!

It has good longevity and doesn't alter much (at least, not on me) - the Jasmine note is very dominant. I didn't get much amber, which is slightly disappointing, but at least it's consistant.

To me this is a nice spring scent.

I think i spilled some of this on my pillow case once, since then it has been washed about 100 times and i can still sometimes smell Alien when i'm in bed. Goes to show how this has amazing longevity. I always get comments while wearing this. Some people have said that it has a chemical smell like turpentine or some kind of disinfectant, i can understand what they mean, but i think that makes the perfume so wonderful. The name provokes alot of responses too. The creater Dominique Ropion has created some of my fave scents (Anglomania, Safari, Live, Innocent etc) so hats off to him. My advice is not to let the name or 'turpentie' to put you off, this is a wonderful fragrance that lasts forever.

Every time i offer someone to try Alien (at my job), most of them immediately have their doubts, and start forming a negative reaction towards the scent. Alien is wonderful on the skin, and i go crazy when my friend wears it...it smells amazing on her.
Top notes of Jasmine, bottom of Amber.

There's no point comparing it to Angel, it was never going to be like it after being called alien was it? I can't stand Angel anyway, I agree this is so much like Dior's poison. Really dry, long lasting, a bit acetone-y. Men seem to like it. It has warmth and a coldness at the same time- very intiguing....

I have not found a perfume bottle that I have been so impressed with so I had to smell this one. I did not like it at all. It smelled to me of turpentine. It did not smell anything like Angel at all. It had an odd smell, and I would give it credit for originality. Perhaps it truly is Alien.

I think Alien is absolutely brilliant. I wasn't too sure at first, but it has grown on me. It's very potent, bold, long lasting, with a lot of sillage (which is not usually my type of perfume, I'm rather reserved), and you could suffocate people in small spaces if you wear too much, but it's one of those perfumes that have a definite positive effect on my mood and attitude. I feel very independent when I wear Alien, and comfortable in my own skin. There is a combination of aloofness and warm coziness that works some kind of magic on me. There is a lot of subtlety in there, if you give it a chance. I can see why people might dislike it, but I wear it to please myself. I love the purple bottle, too.

Perfectly suitable for christening the Antichrist. Also doubles as bug spray.

The name intrigued me. The purple bottle with silver-colored metal, that drew me too. The lady at the counter sprayed it on a cotton ball, and it's PURPLE too! I've never seen a purple perfume before this one. I rubbed it on my skin, and it smells just like Poison to me. Poison, the perfume, that is. But the Alien bottle is way cooler.

A terrible headache at first, then a disgusting smell of tar accompanied me for an entire day. Bleaaah!!!

It's really funny how many people dislike Alien... maybe it's the name, or just expectations that it should smell similar to Angel... After all, 'Angel' is such a better name!!!! Only, personally, I did not like Angel, (the scent that is, I love the name), all that much and actually do indeed LOVE ALIEN (the scent itself, not so much the name LOL)!!! I also really like the bottle, love the intense 'amethyst-hued glass' color and as someone said in her review it is slightly reminiscent of the aliens from "The Fifth Element" :) The scent itself as well it fantastic, although I've been told that it does not always smell 'exactly' the same on me... Some days it smells more floral: Sambac Jasmine... but, if I wear it for a few days in a row, (which I rarely do with any of my fragrances - although I've done it with this one), then it becomes a bit spicier on my skin, I guess more ME... somehow it blends with my skin and my personality and just becomes more me as well :) Alien like Angel is a truly high quality fragrance, with one of the best lasting-power I've encountered in a perfume... I always get a compliment when I wear this, perhaps that's why I've worn it more then a few days in a row... So yes I would most definitely repurchase this one :)Alien is created by one of my favorite 'NOSES' Dominique ROPION who also worked on Alexander McQueen's MyQueen, Amor Amor for Cacharel, Calvin Klein Euphoria, and was a sole creator of Frederic Malle's Carnal Flower (I adore)!, as well as Vivienne Westwood's Anglomania and one of my all time faves Caron's Aimez Moi in 1996!

I received a 3 piece Alien coffret as a Mother's Day present from my husband. He said he searched high and low for the set, and it was a rare find.

Too bad he found it. It's just about the worst thing I have had the displeasure of owning and I have to make believe I actually like it.

The volume is way over the top. Even a tiny spritz makes a very lasting impression. And, oh! what an impression it is. I can not actually define the initial scent in terms of floral, green, aldehydic, because it was just so overpowering. I can tell you it was not very appealing to me, though.

After 5-10 minutes, the scent became a bit more familiar, but I couldn't quite recall what it was. After a few more minutes, I hit on it: FLORAL SCENTED RAID. Just like the stuff I use to kill the hornets. Argh!

As the scent continued to dry down, it became like a more powdery version of Floral Raid, til finally, it converted to a grape-ish scent.

This stuff is awful. I love my Angel perfumes, but this Mugler device has got to phone home.
Beam me up, Scotty, and get me away from this Alien!

Love the bottle - hate the name. Love the amber base - hate the jasmine top. I guess I'm about 50/50 on this one! Really, the warm amber basenote is the best part of this fragrance. I personally don't think the 'green' belongs in this mix, it seems to take away from the smoothness of the amber and creates a sharp edge. (Maybe THAT was the point in this creation, I don't know!) Anyway, as far as an amber/floral scent I would recommend Versace Crystal Noir over Alien.

Tried it a couple of days ago, and my coat still smells of it...arghhh! It's like an alien invasion! not my taste as too loud, too sweet, too straightforward. no complexity here, just plain.basically, I agree with Tropical_Storm.

extremely pleasant at first, wet on the skin... nice and ethereal. Then it seems as if it kind of faded away, you don't smell much... it's only a few hours later that you're left with a halo of a curious sweet second-skin note... like clean skin only better. I like it. I really wish it smelled like the inital application the whole time. I loved the top notes.

This has got to be one of the most unfortunate fragrances I have ever tried. Too much, too strong, too intrusive, too loud, too overwhelming. The initial blast of flowers is enough to blast you out of your shoes, there are no detectable woods on my skin, and the dry down is an extremely strong smelling (and to my nose revolting) artificial jasmine that bombards me like repeated blows to the face.
Unbearable. Shades of Giorgio! It's hard to believe that Mugler put his name on this atrocity.

This is a most unusual fragrance with a name a packaging to match. It has an exotic scent that would compliment the fall seaon's color palatte of burgundy and chocolate browns, maling it a natural to pair with the romantic and boho looks. There is a sort of a woody and amber scent with a hint of orange or green, almost a bit of an incence kind of feel to it. Defintely dark and mysterious, not like anything else I have tried out there. By the way I also like poison and opium so I guess I am a fan of scents that are a little more complex. I like it and I will wear it as a change from my usual frangrances. My male friends previewed Alien on me and they loved it! One asked me what it was so he could get his for his girlfriend, but the name cracked him up.

Just tried this today. I am surprised, it doesn't make me think of far off galaxies, but it is a really nice fragrance. Not as daring as I would have expected. It will never match Angel in its uniqueness. Its sort of a cross between Stella and Pure Poison with more jasmine and woody notes. It is definitely a lovely fragrance.

As an angel devotee, I was disappointed by this cringeworthy perfume. Nothing innovative or interesting about it. Just heavy and green.

Alien is definitely retro and quite nice. Very 70's. Sweet, intense and incensey. Somewhat like boucheron but all on its own. There's a top note that I can't identify but I think it's green or metal. Packaging is beautiful. A winner in my book!

Received a couple of samples from friends and we've all been very disappointed. It is a very lovely floral, with a rather fresh and sweet middle and almost woody base. Lots of Jasmine here, but no real depth. It did remind me somewhat of JPG Classique, but not as powdery. Overall, this is a pretty scent, but not one that I think I would reach for. I know it's hard to follow in Angel's footsteps, so leave all expectations and ideas behind and enjoy this one without the curse of comparison.

The first thing that caught my attention was the name. The second was the bottle because I love anything purple. I have only worn this once since purchased and I love it. I have not quite put my finger on the particular scent but it is very feminine and soft. I tried Angel over 10 years ago and have been using it since. I assume that Alien will be one that I will use for years. I am very picky about the perfumes I wear because my body chemistry will make just about anything sour on my skin after about 2 hours of wear. The only perfumes I have been able to wear are Shalimar, Angel, Must by Cartier, Hanae Mori. I am hoping that Alien will be added to this list. So far so good. And feedback from those around me is great. They also love the scent and the name. Tip: do not buy the samples on Ebay. You can always get free ones made up at any Nordstrom's.

It's a really cool and very freshing fragrance. My girlfriend uses it and it's pretty fantastic!!! It's one thousand times better than its very similar fragrance Very Irresistible from Givenchy. In my opinion every woman should try this Mugler's best creation!!! It's really good.