Kiehl's Original Musk (1963)
by Kiehl's

Kiehls musk is a very and by very I do mean very floral musk. It is a little creamy, but the fermenting fruit and floral musk is overbearing in everything except the coolest of climates. Certainly more funky if you will than Jovan and Alyssa Ashley. If I were to wear a musk of this nature, I would probably choose Alyssa Ashley.

It's funny how people perceive different musks so differently. I tried Kiehl's musk in the oil form and was expecting a major funky monster based on others' comments, but on me it seemed creamy, sweet, floral - very feminine - with a cloying drydown that only had a slight bit of funk to it. Kiehls' reminds me of musks from the 70's, when they actually still smelled like musk. I suppose I still use the musks from the past as my standard, so when I smell the musks of today I'm like..."where is it?" I don't get quite the amount of skank and dirtiness in the Kiehls that others do (I get that more in civet fragrances, actually). I really like this musk, but I don't often wear straight musks as they can make me feel a bit queasy. Maybe twice a year or so I get a craving for musk, and this might do the trick then. I can actually smell it, which is a good thing!

This smells like a sexy, mysterious vampire that wants to bite me, not only for blood-sucking reasons! Fascinating and deep!

This is a gorgeous, heavy-languid scent… not my style at all. It has a sweet, honeyed opening which is quite perfumey. The florals are heady and beautiful, giving prominence to rose and jasmine. The musk is potent, sweaty and animalic. It is kind of rubbery too… and hard to describe. I get an image of an eraser in a sunny classroom, held by a girl’s hand. In her purse is an old make-up case of lipstick and powder. check it out, it is interesting.

AFTER sampling about seven or eight different musck based scents, I can say that I'm not a big fan of musk based scents [with the exception of Helmut Lang EDC (which, in itself is not completely musk based, but has a good dollop of musk)]. That being said, I was completely shocked to see how fantastic a musk fragrance can be. At first wearing, it smelled like any other musc, the smell of sweat. Then after the second wearing, I realized Kiehl's Musk is quite withheld and refined, not as crotch-shocking as Kouros (i cringe thinking about it), or as sweet as Musc Ravageur (which i do NOT like). It is dirty, raunchy musk with the classiness and refinement of distinguishable floral notes: like a kiss on the neck, as opposed to a hickie down under. Longevity is a good 7-8 hours, which is also a plus, but not so sure about sillage, as I am not ready to wear this baby outside just yet.

I had no idea it had such a complicated pyramid. All I can smell is a very good, enwrapping warm musk, more on the sexy animalic side than on the clean one. Very good for layering with almost any fragrance, if you want to enhance it's sexy, musky notes-