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Does Anyone Find Tom Ford's Musk Frags Soapy?

post #1 of 11
1/12/11 at 6:23pm
Thread Starter 
I have tried all of Tom Ford's musk fragrances and all but one dried down very soapy but in a pleasant clean way. I didn't necessarily expect this and don't find it with other musk based fragrances. Urban Musk was the only fragrance that didn't end in some kind of bubble bath beauty bar note.

Has anyone else experienced this with Tom Ford's musk fragrances?
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post #2 of 11
1/12/11 at 6:42pm
Sure.

The whole point of the series is that they're based on white musk, which is the ingredient used to scent plain soap. Like Ivory.

Somehow, I was expecting them to be dirtier, too, but no. They smell like soap and that's the point...
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post #3 of 11
1/12/11 at 6:49pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by rogalal View Post

Somehow, I was expecting them to be dirtier, too, but no. They smell like soap and that's the point...

Thanks for clearing that up, rogalal. I've only ever experienced a soapy note from the white musk line. I've had several people comment negatively about Tom Ford's white musks. They say that the sillage isn't pleasant and the fragrance is more like barnyard smells. I have a friend that can't even stand to be near Urban Musk because of the fecal note it gives off.

Has anyone else ever experienced this?
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post #4 of 11
1/13/11 at 6:49pm
I agree with rogalal. The TF series is basically white musks, in it's many variations. I found them extremely boring (and yes, soapy). For that effect I could just buy Jovan Musk for Men, at about a 10th of the price.

But here's the thing Flaconneur - many different people experience the smell of musk in many different ways.

Quoting Luca Turin from 'Perfumes: The Guide' in his review of Musk by Etro: 'Musks are large molecules, near the maximum size limit for humans to detect, and everyone seems to be incapable of smelling one or more of the type.'

I, myself, cannot smell the musk in many fragrances that are popular here on BN. Kiehl's Musk, Musc Ravageur, Musc Koublhai Khan...when I smell all of these I smell only the other notes, but where I'm supposed to be smelling skank and animalic notes I smell absolutely nothing - like there's a hole in the air where I can't smell anything. Anosmia is a strange thing.

Then again, I can clearly smell the musk in that strange sex-wax-meets-Styrofoam fragrance called S-Perfume. And in the dry down of Caldey Island Lavender, I can smell the musk as clear as day.
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post #5 of 11
1/13/11 at 7:04pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks mikeperez23 for your comments, they were helpful. I have a pleasant reaction to musk fragrances in general and yes, white musk is soapy in deed. I was particularly interested in the white musks in Tom Ford's line. They seem at bit of a wild card and found most of them, as you said, boring. Some people I know have an adverse reaction and can't stand to be anywhere near a musk scent. I wanted to get a general consensus on how people reacted to these white musks. Thanks again.
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post #6 of 11
1/13/11 at 7:48pm
I can smell anything remotely poopy from a mile away, and I've never found any white musk to be fecal. In fact, thanks to the soapy connotations they have for me, it's actually the opposite, and I think they smell super-clean.

But I get how there's a weird clean/dirty crossover.

Have you smelled the original Gendarme? It smells like soapy, freshly-washed, just-out-of-the-shower skin. It's the dictionary definition of a "clean" scent. But there's something just FOUL lurking in there that I really can't place. Some say it smells like really, really soapy but still-dirty vagina (sorry, I'm gay so I can't verify that claim). So it sort of makes me think that it's like a cycle and really "clean" notes are actually right next to really "dirty" notes.
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post #7 of 11
1/13/11 at 8:00pm
Thread Starter 
People I know that got a fecal note from white musk must sense this "dirty crossover" note you speak of. You're right, white musk is a super-clean scent to me as well. Tom Ford's line is a bit more on the serious side so, these "super-clean" fragrances seem a little out of place. There is only one I would even consider, Urban Musk. One of my friends calls it "Rural Musk".
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post #8 of 11
3/26/11 at 7:57pm
I just smelled Urban Musk this afternoon, and, as most others have said, didn't find it dirty at all. True, it is not as bright and clean as many other white musks (and others of the line, if I remember correctly), but nothing dirty either. And it seems to get cleaner as it goes. I guess a few people are hypersensitive to a particular molecules contained here that most others cannot smell.

(As for white musks, my current favorite is an Arabian oil from Abdul Sameer al Qureishi - superclean, superbright, the perfect laundry musk, only 10 times stronger. Nothing out of the ordinary, but at least great fun.)

cacio
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post #9 of 11
3/26/11 at 8:10pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by cacio View Post

I just smelled Urban Musk this afternoon, and, as most others have said, didn't find it dirty at all. True, it is not as bright and clean as many other white musks (and others of the line, if I remember correctly), but nothing dirty either. And it seems to get cleaner as it goes. I guess a few people are hypersensitive to a particular molecules contained here that most others cannot smell.

(As for white musks, my current favorite is an Arabian oil from Abdul Sameer al Qureishi - superclean, superbright, the perfect laundry musk, only 10 times stronger. Nothing out of the ordinary, but at least great fun.)

cacio

Cacio, what's the name of that oil if you don't mind me asking?
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post #10 of 11
3/26/11 at 8:36pm
I don't know what the exact name is, I believe simply white musk or the like. You can see it for instance on zahra's catalog
http://perfume.zahras.com/
then open the Abdul Samad al quraishi pdf catalog and search for "white misk" (misk with the i). It costs $75 per tola (=12ml, which is plenty, given that it's a concentrated oil).

cacio
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post #11 of 11
3/26/11 at 11:17pm
I don't get the soap, but I do get a lighter take on musk, especially considering it's a niche brand. The quality is there, the musk is different though, doesn't smell of feces as much (works for me) As others have said, white musk.

As for Urban musk, it's probably about the only niche brand fragrance centered around musk that I would wear. It smells quite smokey to my nose, which seems to cancel out the poop smell.
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