Question about civet

Well, i like this type of questions. I don't have answer.

Animalic base notes help other notes for projecting. Maybe because of this, it appears to you mid other notes in top! It is what i think.

something being a basenote, that does not mean that you won't smell it in the top. most basenotes do. being a basenote means that the molecular size is large, which in turn means the evaporation process takes longer. they just last longer, that's all. however, i have noticed with some musks (the largest of them all, on the border of our odor threshold) that they seem to get more intense over time. (btw, often materials do smell different after some time, certainly with naturals, which consist of top-heart-and-basenotes all by themselves.)
but, think about it, if you would open a bottle of pure civet, would you expect it not have a smell for some hours?
of course, topnotes and modifiers (heartnotes) can act as a mask, covering up something in the base that then only seems to occur with time. but that's not usually how perfumers think. they rather extend something from top-to-base, maybe only trying to cover up certain unwanted aspects (a practice much more common in functional perfumery, trying to hide the bad odor of the product itself) that certain aroma materials have as a byproduct, adding something up top that seems to overpower the (often more quiet) basenotes but really rather connects to it, extend, enrich, etc.
civet has by nature (and this includes civet chemicals) a very, very strong odor, and very outspoken. so if there is a lot of it in a formula, chances are more than a little than you are going to smell it straight away.
i hope this answers you question.
best,
gido.

A little further research yielded some more synthetic substitutes for civet:

jaimeb,

there are, and have been, much more synthetic substitutes than the ones mentioned already. and believe me, the ones i have smelled are incredibly potent. i find it's better to dilute them to below 1% before use. the one i have here is civetol and it's diluted to 0.2%.
another thing, animal cruelty is not necessary perse for harvesting natural civet. but it was (and probably still is) common practice. of course, the animals have to be kept captive in order to obtain the civet, but from what i understand they will 'mark' poles in their cages all by themselves as this is their natural behavior, and the civet can then be scraped of the poles. no need to hurt the animals. but one would need to visit the source in order to be sure there is no cruelty involved, and the animals can live in reasonable circumstances. (which depends on personal judgment, and the farmers might present you with an image that's far better than reality).

You obviously have much more knowledge of civet (and other aspects of perfumery as well) than I do, so I am happy to read what you wrote. I am not in the business of making perfumes or (at this point) even getting samples of individual notes. My interest is simply as a consumer and admirer of perfumes. I do enjoy looking up stuff on the 'net and in books. It seems natural civet is disappearing from perfumery these days, and that other animal notes (except for beeswax) are declining, too. It's too bad that these traditions are being lost, although I understand that there are often good reasons for not harvesting these products any more.

What seems to me more sinister, however, is that the synthetics industry seems to be organizing to get more and more botanical naturals banned or controlled also. It seems that they are doing this more out of economic self-interest than concern for public safety, although they throw up that cloud to have a plausible pretext for their manipulation of the market...

I've tried wearing straight civet tincture and it definitely has this quality of coming on sharp and fecal and then mellowing fairly quickly to something less rank. Haven't worn any dilutions of civet replacements, so I can't compare. It's certainly not as long lasting as, say, patchouli or vetiver.

I've worn fragrances where civet jumps out at once ( Jicky; MKK ) and also fragrances where it peaks through in the drydown ( Sarrasins comes to mind ). I suspect a big part of it is how civet-dominant the particular composition is.