Ange ou Démon (2006)
by Givenchy

Where the devil is the devil? What’s with the bubblegum? Okay, I’ll admit the bubblegum opening lasts only five or ten minutes, and then the fragrance morphs to a rather flat, semi-sweet, creamy white floral / woody vanilla texture, which is actually attractive until I begin to desire some movement (movement, perhaps, to the devil part of the equation?), but the movement doesn’t ever show up. At this time I lose interest and forget to pay attention for a while… When my synapses start firing again, I’m in the drydown, and it’s a light, sweet, miscellaneous woody with Tonka bean.

I’m probably being too hard on a struggling-to- be-mediocre fragrance but, not only do I find the fragrance barely adequate, but I also find it so ill-named: Bubblegum to floral / vanilla… flat texture to average skin scent drydown… this doesn’t spell angel or devil to me. Angel or demon! Pfffft…

Good ppl at Sasa have been rewarding me with Givenchy travel bags, and having collected most of the male gifts, i chose a 4ml EDP miniature of AoD instead, and to my pleasant surprise, found this scent to be a very woman-empowering one. Its very creamy and powdery to start off, and slowly but surely drys to a nice breezy, floral, scented woodsy base note... good enough for me to request a 2nd bottle of miniature! the bottle design has to be one of the best female ones around, very dark and almost sinister, which ironically fits the oxymoron name given to it. The scent is very "angelic" and one may get fooled by its bottle design to be something sharp and overly herbal. This could easily be the female version of Gucci Envy, as i found this to be very complementing and weirdly similar to Envy for Men, tho its very specifically a female frag. thumbs up

Odd sweet and citrus oritenal? I can't tell. It smells like Givenchy's Pi with floral notes. Also reminds me of a more vanallic Burberry London which my girlfriend wears and I find sexy. Judging as a male, I would prefer this on a woman for a night out.

This is an alternative on those occasions when I would wear Opium. It's beautifully dark and spicy. Interestingly, it contains lily which I can't stand in a bouquet of flowers. Recently I found it less dark than when I first tried it but still very good. Maybe it's time to upgrade to the parfum.
The EDT Tendre version is very similar and very nice. Supposedly it's more suited to warm weather, but I have no problem with oriental fragrances in warm weather anyway. Exotic/oriental notes and heat go together for me.

Altogether a great, mysterious scent, and lovely bottles in every edition. The bottle design is supposedly very feminine, but I love them for being crystalline.

I didn't care to give this one a sniff when first hearing about this. Angel or Devil made me think that it would be too gimicky and probably not too memorable enough to warrant a sniff. I was wrong. I can't say it is a strange scent, but I would think this scent is definitely different. It starts off bold, a bit smoky and a bit leather like with saffron accents veiled with a bright note of mandarin. It begins deep, and yes, devilish, then the more sweet and tender aspects of lily and orchid emerge. These florals are not punctuated, but seem to keep a neutral aspect against the woods and vanilla. I keep thinking the composition keeps playing with masculine and feminine aspects as well. Sweet and woody, much like Xeryus Rouge. As the lighter floral notes relax and start to dissipate, the base does become very sweet and candyish with an undertone of patchouli before finally leaving deep woody traces. Ange ou Demon? I still don't know. The both seem to keep me fixated and entranced.

I cant put my finger on it, but something about his scent reminds me of the late 70s. Something soft and woody and almost masculine. I can see the resemblance to Hypnose as well. An interesting scent, but i think i enjoy like the bottle more than the perfume.