Basenotes › Basenotes Forums › Fragrance Discussion › Male Fragrance Discussion › MFD Archive › A Sorcer's Aphrodisiac...
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

A Sorcer's Aphrodisiac...

post #1 of 9
5/6/07 at 12:40am
Thread Starter 
There's an old recipe for an aphrodisiac I've recently run across concocted by a famous sorcerer with these three key ingredients: musk, civet, & ambergris. Does such a fragrance exist out there with these three ingredients. If so, how does it smell?
Reply
Reply

Features on Basenotes

Petals Falling From The Sky - A Report From The Cote d'Azur's Bataille De Fleurs
Basenotes Reader Awards 2013 - Finalists Announced.
Greatest Hits: Annick Menardo
post #2 of 9
5/6/07 at 12:56am
A directory search yields Andron for Men, which also contained pheromones (I guess they had that sorcerer's formula, too) and Michael Storer's "Monk" (making that moniker a tad anticlerical, huh? )
Reply
Reply
post #3 of 9
5/6/07 at 1:08am
There are many with musk and civet but few with all three. Amber and ambergris are completely different things. Real ambergris is extremely hard to find and rarely used. Many perfumers say they've never even smelled it in its raw state.

Bal รก Versailles and Magie Noire supposedly contain all three ingedients.
Reply
Reply
post #4 of 9
5/6/07 at 1:25am
Thread Starter 
Interesting...I just now also read that ambergris in it's true form is rare and unjustifiably expensive. The solution was to usemusk ambrette, civet, and galbanum, along with mineral oil. Thanks for the responses. =]
Reply
Reply
post #5 of 9
5/6/07 at 1:31am
This article might hold the answer (from 1937!):

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/ar...7825-1,00.html
Reply
Reply
post #6 of 9
5/6/07 at 1:49am
Quote:
Originally Posted by zztopp View Post

This article might hold the answer (from 1937!):

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/ar...7825-1,00.html

"The highly odorous oil for the anointing of George VI was prepared by the court druggists, Squire & Sons, Ltd., last week from a 17th Century formula. Ingredients: oil of orange flower, oil of roses, oil of cinnamon, musk, civet, ambergris, oil of jasmine, oil of sesame, flowers of benzoin."

Very interesting. Apart from the recipe, that whole article is a delightfully strange romp into the past
Reply
Reply
post #7 of 9
5/6/07 at 1:58am
A report from the 1930's claimed that some Hawaiian cowboys noticed some masses of what they took to be sponge in the ocean and thought to use them to wipe down their ponies. Discovering that the material was not sponge, they took a sample to a local merchant , who identified it as ambergris. They hurried back to the spot where they had found it and managed to salvage enough to make them all financially independent for life.

Like musk, ambergris in its solid state will retain its odor for centuries. The odor isn't easy to define. To some it's earthy or musty, to others a curious mixture of seaweed and roses. Many people find it disagreeable, even offensive, but minute quantities dissolved in alcohol are said to give perfume a velvety quality that clings to woven fabrics after they've been repeatedly washed and dried, becoming ever-sweeter over time.
Reply
Reply
post #8 of 9
5/6/07 at 5:01am
Man this thread has been fun! Many thanks for the Time article - like you said - a "romp"!! :bounce:
Reply
Reply
post #9 of 9
6/8/11 at 6:38am
It is called ruthvah. King Solomon supposedly used it, as did Aleister Crowley. I have no idea how it smells, or whether it works. They claim to sell it at The Sorcerer's Apprentice (look it up online)
Reply
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: MFD Archive

Features on Basenotes

Petals Falling From The Sky - A Report From The Cote d'Azur's Bataille De Fleurs
Basenotes Reader Awards 2013 - Finalists Announced.
Greatest Hits: Annick Menardo
Basenotes › Basenotes Forums › Fragrance Discussion › Male Fragrance Discussion › MFD Archive › A Sorcer's Aphrodisiac...