Alien Sunessence Eau De Toilette

There is no mistaking this perfume (or Eau De Toilette, rather.  I am sure die hard fragrance fans will cringe with how often I will refer to this as a perfume).  It is easy to tell that it is a member of the Thierry Mugler Alien perfume family.  This particular one is Alien Sunessence.  If it is possible to find a lighter, more warm weather appropriate version of Alien, this is likely to be the one.

This came out in early 2009, along side the Angel Sunessence fragrance.  It is marketed to be a lighter, more summery scent.  Granted, you can't really make any version of Alien light, as we would traditionally think (ie: all the fruity floral perfumes floating around).

I only have a mini of this perfume, seeing as I was uncertain how I would really feel about it, and how often I'd wear it.  The bottle is very beautiful, even as a small one.  It's a sunshine yellow that is shaped almost like a jewel. It is supposed to look like a citrin gem. It is a spray bottle, which is a bit unique to mini sized perfumes.  Most have the little cap that you have to pull off and then dab the juice (or liquid) onto your skin. It cannot stand up, as the base is pointed, so it lays on its side. I choose to keep my perfumes in their boxes, so it does stand upright inside of the box while it is stored away with the rest of my fragrances.  I would suggest being careful if you have the mini and want to keep it out on display, laying on its side.  My bottle leaked a bit in transit after purchase.  I think it was completely due to the way it lays.

I am not one of those on the Alien obsessed train, but I do like Sunessence much, much more.  It is somewhat lighter and more pleasant to my nose. It opens very heavy on jasmine, as you'd expect from any Alien, but also has traces of fresh lemon.  The lemon is almost overpowered by the jasmine, however, the hints of lemon are just enough to make this feel more bright. Alien can be almost chokingly strong, but this one I can stand right from the initial spritz. 

After about a half hour of wear, it calms down just the tiniest bit.  It is still powerful, but seems to have settled somewhat.  At this point, I feel that it takes on more of a clean smell.  It reminds me of stepping out of the shower and the smells of shampoo and body wash still clinging to the skin.

I don't find that this really develops or changes too awfully much throughout wearing it.  While it mellows out some, I still really pick up on the same set of fragrance notes.  The listed notes are: lemon, jasmine, cashmeran, amber, vanilla, and green notes.

All in all, I really like this fragrance. I am able to handle it much more easily.  I find it to have a powerful kick, but not enough to bowl me over.  It is crisp enough to be absolute perfection in the spring and summer.  Heck, it is still winter and I've been enjoying it lightly spritzed onto my wrists.   I think if you like the original Alien, you might appreciate this as a younger, more playful (but still classy) sister to it.  Further, if you are someone who really wanted to love Alien, but just couldn't get beyond how strong it is, this would be the perfect way to still get your Alien fix.... in a lighter dose! 

Please keep in mind that while I describe this as lighter and more fresh smelling than the original Alien perfume, it is not at all a light fragrance by today's standards.  It most definitely is lighter when you compare the usual Theirry Mugler perfumes, though. I just wanted to stress that because I don't want someone to be persuaded to purchase this, and then be shocked by what they receive.