Black Musk by Montale, 2010

I know that this fragrance is viewed as that result of crossing two other Montale scents, but I see it as an exercise in abstraction. A sharp, whistling musk, like the one in Thierry Mugler's Cologne is the perfect match to a woody quality that makes for a sort of leather scent-mirage. The wood seems like patchouli plus oud, inflected with something in the mace/nutmeg/cardamom range. Black Musk's cleverness is in creating a tarry quality with patchouli, spice and just a taste of oud, then dry-cleaning it with a prickly musk that someone along the way surely told the perfumer was the wrong musk. No pillowy soft or bosomed musk. The result is a cool, inky leather scent that focuses more on the sharp nature of tanning chemicals than the hide itself. I'll take this chance to own up to a bit of fumie apostasy. I don't particularly like oud, and since its usually the overwhelming center of perfumes that contain it, most oud perfumes dont capture me. Likely this quirk has saved me a pile of money on niche perfumery and the laughingly late-to-the party top-shelf lines from the designer/perfume houses. This implicitly self-defeating strategy of the perfume houses launching exclusive lines in order to appear niche-y has produced an inordinate number of oud fragrances. (To witness niche, copying designer, copying niche, please see the Kilian Ouds.) Very few use oud as a minor part of an accord, one where you might not even recognize oud, such as Black Musks delicious vinyl/leather accord. Shame, yeah?