Angelica may seem like an esoteric perfume note to be obsessed with. If people associate it with anything, it’s with the candied green stems that make their way into cakes. As I discovered when I was researching an article for my FT column, it’s an essential ingredient in many types of fragrances and a fascinating material. Angelica combines musky and green nuances with a bright, peppery touch, making it a perfect partner to florals, citrus, woods and musks. Atelier Cologne Jasmin Angélique is firmly in the floral camp, but its angelica layer gives the fragrance complexity and radiance.
The first impression of Jasmin Angélique is so green and peppery that it’s a surprise every single time I put on the perfume. It’s the hit of gin, the bite of black pepper and the pleasant bitterness of greens rolled into one accord. The illusion is created by the use of frankincense that can smell either dark or shimmering depending on what notes accompany it. Here it is paired with leafy notes, and the effect is dazzling.
The main star of the composition is jasmine. Jasmine is a central note in composition, and while it retains its plushness, the indolic facets that are natural to this ingredient are buffed down. The generous dose of citrus gives Jasmin Angélique its cologne freshness, minus the acidity. Angelica bridges all of the elements of the composition into a harmonious whole, and its green, musky character is in perfect contrast to the rich jasmine.
Jasmin Angélique is a sibling to Frédéric Malle Angéliques sous la Pluie, but it’s softer and more floral. Although the initial green notes wear off too quickly, the rest of the perfume lingers well enough for a cologne. It smells of jasmine petals, soft musk and woods. Incense that was so strong in the opening stages of the perfume is now just a scattering of ashes.
Those who prefer dramatic fragrances will find Jasmin Angélique lacking, but it’s a comfortable fragrance to wear. I would recommend it to men and women interested in a new take on a classical cologne or an unsweetened floral. And of course, it’s a perfume for those among us who are fascinated by angelica.
Atelier Cologne Jasmin Angélique includes notes of lemon, Sichuan pepper, angelica, jasmine, galbanum, fig, incense, white amber, tonka bean. Available at Luckyscent, Aedes, Atelier Cologne boutiques.
Image via Atelier Cologne website
57 Comments
Anne: I like jasmine, but sometimes it smells too musky on me. I wonder why. But jasmine and green notes sound good together. March 16, 2018 at 10:25am
Victoria: Perhaps it’s from its natural animalic facet. Natural jasmine smells more animalic, for instance.
Jasmin Angélique smells quite crisp to me, and although it warms up, it doesn’t get too animalic. March 16, 2018 at 11:19am
irene: I’m craving something bright and spring-y, so I’ll be looking for a sample. Thank you for a lovely review. March 16, 2018 at 10:41am
Victoria: This was the reason why I picked it. I also crave spring. March 16, 2018 at 11:20am
irene: I also wanted to tell you how much I adore your site. I’m discovering so much thanks to you and your readers. Keep up great work! March 17, 2018 at 5:26am
Victoria: Thank you very much for your kind words! I’m very happy to hear it. March 17, 2018 at 6:01pm
Maria: Thank you Victoria! If it is close to Angeliques sous la pluie I will give it a try for sure! March 16, 2018 at 11:22am
Victoria: It’s close, but the dry down is different. March 16, 2018 at 3:20pm
Filomena: I haven’t tried this one but like the idea of jasmine being one of the notes. I own FM Angeliques sous la pluie but my favorite is Papillon’s Angelique. March 16, 2018 at 12:00pm
Victoria: I also enjoy Angelique. Such an interesting composition. March 16, 2018 at 3:20pm
Filomena: I agree. March 16, 2018 at 4:31pm
Ariadne: Love this review, including the timely hued still life photo!
I have yet to meet an Atelier Cologne I did not love. I am wearing their rose one today and will investigate this one.
Spring is so reticent in New England this year. To keep from getting infuriated I read a bit of Emily Dickinson and dragged out my pink purse. March 16, 2018 at 12:13pm
Victoria: Stay warm! Which poems by Emily Dickinson do you like? March 16, 2018 at 3:21pm
Ariadne: A Bird Came Down the Walk. :+) We have been feeding and watching the birds in our yard struggling with the wind and snow. They don’t give up though. March 16, 2018 at 4:34pm
Emilie: I like that one too 🙂 It has such a sinister undertone!
That sounds like a very agreeable way to while away time. What tough little birds! March 16, 2018 at 8:34pm
Victoria: I’m going to find my copy and read this poem. March 17, 2018 at 6:01pm
Aline: I’m reading through this selection and it’s very good:
https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/tip-sheet/article/67591-the-10-best-emily-dickinson-poems.html March 20, 2018 at 1:52am
Victoria: Thank you. What a great selection! March 20, 2018 at 5:52am
Marzipan: that’s odd…the comment I left earlier was deleted!
I sampled this Atelier a while ago and do remember liking it. Full bottles show up occasionally online at nice discounts.
I also enjoy angelica root as an essential oil and have made blends with it..it’s a lovely note… March 16, 2018 at 1:30pm
Victoria: You’ve posted it under the angelica article linked to this column. It’s still there. March 16, 2018 at 3:19pm
Marzipan: LOL! OOps 🙂 March 17, 2018 at 6:49am
zephyr: Another one for my “sniff” list! I’m not familiar with angelica. Several of the notes are favorites for me; it’s worth a try. March 16, 2018 at 1:41pm
Victoria: It’s a beautiful material, a floral-green musk. March 16, 2018 at 3:22pm
Akimon: I always really liked angelica in light scents, such as Angeliques Sous La Pluie and (all natural, herbal, fleeting but very soothing) Angelica Water from Abdes Salam Attar / Profumo.it, but then I fell really hard for Creed’s vintage Angelique Encense, a total powerhouse primadonna of a scent. I only have few samples of it, and as I understand full bottles are hard to come by ever since it has been axed, so I will cherish what I have left of it. I usually can’t deal with heavy vanilla bases but in this case, the mix of Angelica, spices, incense and everything else is something bigger than sum of it parts and the whole thing works like magic. If it was good enough for Marlene Dietrich, that’s all the recommendation it needs. Definitely very different type of angelica perfume and totally sniff worthy if one can find it.
I have not smelled the Atelier scent yet but I will find a way to sample it. March 16, 2018 at 3:19pm
Victoria: This perfume is my favorite from Creed. Whenever I wear it, I’m transported to another era, and yet, it doesn’t seem overly retro to me. Just beautiful. March 16, 2018 at 3:24pm
Akimon: I can’t say that I care for any other Creed perfumes, but this one is something special, isn’t it? I’m happy to hear it’s one of your favourites! March 16, 2018 at 3:31pm
Victoria: Neither am I. But there are a few fragrances that I like very much, and incidentally, they have all been discontinued. March 16, 2018 at 3:44pm
OnWingsofSaffron: I managed to get one bottle 75ml on Ebay Germany. Was quite a struggle as the seller realised a few minutes before the end of the auction that s/he wasn’t pleased with the price offers, cancelled the auction and offered the bottle anew for now Euro 330,00! After a tit and a tat I managed to go back to the old prices. So, I’m feeling smug and am waiting for the bottle to come along 🙂 March 24, 2018 at 3:49am
OnWingsofSaffron: I was referring to the Creed Angelique Encens. March 24, 2018 at 3:50am
Figuier: I love Angeliques sous la pluie; so peppery! I’m also enjoying getting to know Cloon Keen Atelier’s Lune de Givre, which has a definite angelica note for me, although the whole effect is much fuzzier.
Atelier Cologne perfumes somehow never quite work on me; they always end up somehow feeling ‘sticky’. But the topnotes tend to be great, I can tell they’re well crafted, and I keep doggedly testing the new ones as they come out. Will have to try this one March 16, 2018 at 5:07pm
Victoria: Hmm, I’d say that it won’t work for you, because it also has the same musky-sticky aspect as many other perfumes in this line. It doesn’t bother me, but I can see what you mean. March 17, 2018 at 6:00pm
Figuier: Thanks for the advice, Victoria. It will save me some trouble 🙂 Glad at least that it seems to work not just on you but on a good few other readers… March 18, 2018 at 11:15am
Victoria: There are just as many for whom it doesn’t work, though, so it’s a good idea to try it on skin first. March 19, 2018 at 2:58pm
Figuier: I need to do a London perfume trip – there are so many new scents I’d like to try. Les Senteurs in Marylebone followed by Selfridges (which stocks AC) after term finishes will be nice to look forward to… March 19, 2018 at 6:05pm
Sarah: I love Jasmin; the vines are about to bloom here on the Gulf Coast of Texas! Thank you, Victoria, for this review. I am always looking for another fragrance with Jasmin as its main component and this one looks promising!
Ox
Sarah March 16, 2018 at 10:34pm
Victoria: I’d love to hear what a fellow jasmine lover thinks about it. 🙂 March 17, 2018 at 5:59pm
John: This is an interesting coincidence… I just stumbled across another review of this elsewhere and had been thinking about it. I seem to have jasmine on the brain a lot this week, as I only recently got my hands on a sample of Kouros (hard to find where I live), and realized that it has some elements in common with another great Fougere, Caron’s Troisiemme Homme (both have citrus, lavender, oak moss, cloves, a lot of musk…some skank, and some jasmine.) The wonderful orange blossom-civet axis in Kouros had me wondering about the flat civet-like quality in the Caron that makes me think of indoles. I’ve always loved the mix of musk, a touch of skin-like something or other, and jasmine in Eau Sauvage, too.
Back on topic though… Some reviews of Jasmine Angelique really emphasize an indolic character in the dry down. Was that your experience? I’m curious to try this now. March 16, 2018 at 11:13pm
Victoria: The floral nuance of Caron (in all of their masculine perfumes) woven through the main accord is what gives these fragrances their unique character.
I don’t find Jasmin Angélique too indolic. It’s ambery more than indolic to me in the drydown. March 17, 2018 at 5:58pm
OnWingsofSaffron: Very interesting! Yet, I wish I could smell angelica in a line-up of perfumes focussing on this scent. The reason: I own a bottle of Giovanni Sammarco‘s „Ariel“, a green floral poudré with angelica and jasmine (top mandarine and ginger; heart angelica-tuberose, jasmine, osmanthus, violette; base sandalwood).
I have mixed feelings about „Ariel“ and find it difficult to explain why – it is part stuffy, part sweet-cloying, part play-dough. Yet there are also aspects which I like: the greenness and the powder.
I am wondering: is angelica the culprit? March 17, 2018 at 2:41am
Victoria: You should smell it in its pure state then. Do you cook with angelica stems? March 17, 2018 at 5:56pm
Tubéreuse: Sorry for not commenting on the perfume (although today I smelled Jo Malone’s Tubéreuse Jasmin Angelique. But there is a trend that is annoying me more and more: perfumers selling bottles that cannot be opened. Which means that if you travelling all the time and with hand luggage only you can’t take your favourite perfume. These perfume houses then sell you “travel size sprays” which cost a fortune.
The argument the give is that a perfume becomes oxydised when you open it but we’ll, that is my problem, not theirs…
So I tend to boycott those houses that do not make bottles that cannot be opened. March 17, 2018 at 4:50pm
Victoria: It has more to do with the concerns about tempering and counterfeiting. Also, smaller perfume house don’t have a vast choice of perfume bottle styles, and most bottles made today are the conventional type that can’t be unscrewed. But why not just make a decant yourself? I explain how to do it here:
https://boisdejasmin.com/2013/06/making-fragrance-decants-and-samples-in-pictures.html
It’s very easy. March 17, 2018 at 5:55pm
Sherry: I own this as well. I actually bought mine from eBay. I find my bottle smells more of Angelica than tuberose which I prefer. Some of Jo Malone’s tester bottle at the counter smells more of short-lived tuberose, no Angelica at all. Depending on the freshness of the bottle, some do smell heavier on the Angelica. Not sure if anyone has the same problem with batch inconsistency. It is long lasting and just as I thought it was gone, you get this musky earthy Angelica undertoned by sweet tuberose. I love it and find it very easy to wear and not demanding. If the formulation doesn’t change I am willing to buy another one once finish. However if I get the tester tuberose no Angelica, it’s not worth the money. March 18, 2018 at 8:06pm
Neva: I have ordered a travel size trio from Atelier Cologne based on my answers to their quiz and Jasmin Angelique was the only fragrance of the three I have never tried before. It turned out to be my favourite. It is rather long lasting compared to other Atelier Colognes and it is fresh, yet complex. It reminds me very much of Untitled by Maison Martin Margiela. March 18, 2018 at 4:17pm
Ingeborg: Neva, that is a useful information. I own Untitled and use it quite a bit. March 18, 2018 at 6:47pm
Victoria: Untitled is another favorite. The green notes are similar, I think. March 19, 2018 at 2:59pm
Ingeborg: It has never occurred to me that angelica has a musky aspect. I think I have seen this plant in the wild and sniffed it, plus I have eaten small pieces of the stems candied on sweet dishes. Should try to get a sample of this, these cologne-style scents actually last well in my skin and I like and own several already. March 18, 2018 at 6:56pm
Victoria: This one does last well, unlike many other colognes.
I like candied angelica in cakes. March 19, 2018 at 3:00pm
JulienFromDijon: I’ll try it!
I mostly know the smell of angelica thanks to L’occitane. They have a range of product with this essential oil.
I’ve gotten a lot of face sprays in a bundle sale, on ebay. And I recommend them to you, for the scent of angelica is distinct in them.
The use of the product is half-way between pressurized mineral water for hot weather, and a spray that leaves a non sticky film on the skin, for after a shower.
Now that you speak of it, I can link the isolated smell of angelica and a facet of Amouage’s Lyric woman. I know we both love it.
Till now I thought it was something like coriander that lent this tickling yet soft and velvety inflection to the top notes. (not so far from a violet leaf effect)
I must have been mistaken with “cardamom” in the listing, I always confuse the two words. March 21, 2018 at 10:20am
Edward: Hi to all. One commenter in Fragrantica wrote this smells similar with Eau de Givenchy. Is it true? I have not smelled this but I do love Eau de Givenchy and would like to know your opinion. Thank you. March 22, 2018 at 10:00am
Victoria: I don’t think so. Eau de Givenchy, another favorite of mine, is much more citrusy. March 22, 2018 at 2:02pm
Edward: Thank you, Victoria. March 22, 2018 at 4:31pm
Aurora: Now you’ve made me even more curious about angelica also following your recent FT article. It is present in several of the perfumes I own. So I ordered some essential oil on Amazon. March 26, 2018 at 5:03am
Victoria: Can’t wait to hear what you think. March 27, 2018 at 6:59am
Aurora: Hello Victoria: not sure if you’ll see this as I am late but this is just to let you know I got my bottle of angelica essential oil. Impressions: at first a very strong almost medicinal smell very herbal and green, so I put the strip aside and waited, and then Oh the glory of a velvety smell no longer pungent, not sure how to describe it except that it surprisingly evoked a sweet incense, it was so unexpected.
Thank you for having had the idea of highlighting this ingredient, now I can’t get enough of it. April 10, 2018 at 5:11am
Victoria: Thank you very much for letting me know! It’s complex, isn’t it? April 10, 2018 at 2:38pm
OperaFan: Well, thanks to your post (and because I love jasmine and the green effects of galbanum), I ordered a sample in a recent purchase. It’s love at first sniff. I don’t know what it is in the top notes that reminds me of something I loved from years back.
The intensity doesn’t last – it IS a cologne after all, but the effect is so striking that I wouldn’t mind re-spritzing throughout the day. There is a dry, singeing quality on the way to the drydown that makes me think of Un Matin d’Orage, though I’m not sure how much the 2 scents actually have in common. I could be way off – maybe it’s just an impression it gives rather than actual notes. March 27, 2018 at 4:42pm