What's the Big Deal with Musk?

[randumbsmellyguy]

Musk for me does work good as a basenote, but I confess I don't get as excited about it as others do. I treat it mostly as a contractor would treat a concrete foundation - a functional element of the structure to prop up and prolong the scent's life that has little aesthetic appeal in and of itself. There are exceptions, usually when other notes bounce off of it to hold my interest throughout that crucial drydown phase - Azzaro PH comes immediately to mind with its wonderfully ambery/musky denouement, but if it was only musk I'd probably be less enamored of it after the heart notes.

Not sure why this is, to tell you the truth. I feel like there's a "there" there that I'm just not getting. I know when it's there for the most part, so maybe I am anosmic with a certain type of musk. And I don't hate it either, I just don't see what the big deal is. It could be that I never attached anything sexual to a bottled smell - it never has and likely never will fire me up like the real thing.

Serious question: Tell me why you think musk is so great. Use as many words as you need.

I need to understand exactly what I'm missing.

[DustB]

Rdsg,
I wish I could help, but I'm not a musk lover myself. I really relate to your question though, and I'd love to know why musk is, or was at certain times, the big stuff in men's fragrances.

And it seems like it was really big stuff. The stereotype is men wearing cologne were all musked up. I think of Saturday Night Fever and Travolta probably in heavy musk. For some odd reason, we think chest hair and the men's fragrance that comes to mind is some musk.

Yet I too merely pass over it and think of the other parts of any scent that has it. Or I think a musk scent is rather boring. I had Molinard Musc, but gave that to a girlfriend I didn't like. I have LV Musk but it doesn't do much for me. I dig Mure et Musc and Mure et Musc Extreme, but I don't know that it's for the musk quality; I dig the blackberry and floral qualities they have.

Musk doesn't make much sense to me either.
--Chris

[knightowl]

Musk is animalic, sensual, dark, masculine. Animals in the wild use their own body musk to attract the opposite sex and mark their territory.

When i need to "musk up", i reach for Lagerfeld's KL Homme. Hear me ROAR!!

[DustB]

Musk is animalic, sensual, dark, masculine. Animals in the wild use their own body musk to attract the opposite sex and mark their territory.

When i need to "musk up", i reach for Lagerfeld's KL Homme. Hear me ROAR!!

Okay, I guess KO can play for Team Musk.

[jdnba]

I dont know what it is, but the right musk can make you smell like an aura of sex. Strange as that sounds, it just blends and becomes like a sexy second skin smell that doesnt exist with other colognes....instead of covering up your body's scent, it compliments it in such a way that your natural scent comes forth.

[Niles]

I agree with jdnba. Musk is probably my favorite note. I prefer scents with a clean, subtle musk like ck be and mugler cologne. It makes me smell good without overpowering my presence. These kinds of scents give off a confident and sexy bearing.

[DustB]

Jdnba and Dennard, thanks for your posts and recommendations. Are there any other scents that have musk this way that you like? I'll be sure to check them out.

[jdnba]

I know that some like to think that kiehl's musk is very animalic, but after it drys its really clean and orange blossomy...really nice, the only way i can describe it is that it gives you an aura of good smelling-ness...im wearing it now and its amazing...i kid you not...as for clean musk notes, i agree that ck be is pretty good....lartisan mure et musc is very clean, fruity musk as well. Hope this was helpful

o yeah...ysl l'homme is pretty damn good too.

[Bytebuster]

I have to say that I don't really know how musk smells, because I have never smelled a pure musk, but I can remember as it is today when I bought my Jovan Musk. The nice think that I can remember is the next day a the girls at the school were smelling me like crazy and asking what it was. Of courseyou can imaginI was the most happy boy othe school. But I'm not sure how much of the Jovan Musk is Musk. Now I really wonder how musk smells.

[fredricktoo]

Have you tried Serge Lutens Musc Kublai Khan? Don't let the Musc in the name fool you. It's really an aquatic salty oceanic scent.

Granted there is musk in the top, heart and base but the denouement of this clever tri-fecta yields the ultimate sea shore, sea breeze, summer on the beach, 1942, Burt Lancaster and Burl Ives sort of tradititional mens fragrance best known on either side of the Atlantic by a select few.

For this Francophile I believe that Serge Lutens may be a bit of a piker since I was reading the The Histories of Herodotus to my fair skinned brunette 18 year old niece at bedtime when I came across the exact same recipe for an after shave though Cicero's doubt as to the veracity of the claim especially since he includes a narrative account of that period, which would otherwise be poorly documented, and many long digressions concerning the various places and peoples he encountered during wide-ranging travels around the lands of the Mediterranean and Black Sea cast doubt on the whole micshigas..

Like my prolixishness now?

Much appreciated your complete history of the manner and uses of musk in the fragrance industry.

Who sent you?

take none of the above seriously as the writer is known to take copious amounts of pain medications often in excess of that which is prescribed. Rather foolishly I think.

How''m I doing on word count Earl?

[zztopp]

Have you tried Serge Lutens Musc Kublai Khan? Don't let the Musc in the name fool you. It's really an aquatic salty oceanic scent.

LoL really? I get nothing of that sort. Its mostly a light floral musky scent with bare hints of animalism.

Whats the big deal with musk? Just buy or try Creed Fleurs de Bulgarie (an intoxicating ambergris+true musk drydown) and Serge Lutens MKK to see what the big deal is.

[LiveJazz]

I think it's hard to make a cover-all statement that says this is what musk smells like. Mugler Cologne, Bvlgari PH, and Burberry Touch all have musky elements. But surely this is not the same musk as Musc Ravageur. Or Yatagan. Or Kiehl's (which is really intriguing me by the way...it is at once dirty and floral soapy...I've never smelled anything quite like it, musky or not).

With the compounds they've figured out how to use in perfumery, it's possible to make any note smell pretty much however the perfumer wants it to. In general, I'd say I like the effect of musk, as long as it is applied lightly and it's used tastefully to compliment other notes. Like jdnba and Dennard said, it really combines well with my own eau do skin to lend a nice subtle aura. But I guess that all comes down to the skin of the wearer.

[fredricktoo]

from our finely crafted yet rarely utilized Directory of Fragrances,

Shared fragrances containing notes of: musk . 153


Feminine fragrances containing notes of: musk . 491


Masculine fragrances containing notes of: musk . 590

my favorite as it has been for years the feminine 1986 release of the incomparable "Adidas Sneakers After 6" which I have been begging management to have it added back to the directory for at least three weeks now.

[LiveJazz]

from our finely crafted yet rarely utilized Directory of Fragrances

Rarely utilized? How do you figure that?

[fredricktoo]

figured by the idiotic questions we get from peple whose post numbers are still in the single and double digits such as myself when I was descirbed so.

[DustB]

I gave Keihl's Musk the back of the forearm test in a store some time earlier in the year. Fun when freshly on, but I simply got bored by it the rest of the time it was there. You know the feeling of a scent that bores you over time. Hate that feeling.

Another musk scent I remember now is Helmut Lang edp. I'll wear it again when the weather gets a little cooler, but a different old girlfriend got it from me as a gift. But gave it back at break up time. Kind of a negative judgment, I'd say. It'll be fun to try out for the musk ride. I've also got this thread to thank for getting me to think of Yatagan in a new way.
--Chris

[LiveJazz]

I gave Keihl's Musk the back of the forearm test in a store some time earlier in the year. Fun when freshly on, but I simply got bored by it the rest of the time it was there. You know the feeling of a scent that bores you over time. Hate that feeling.

Another musk scent I remember now is Helmut Lang edp. I'll wear it again when the weather gets a little cooler, but a different old girlfriend got it from me as a gift. But gave it back at break up time. Kind of a negative judgment, I'd say. It'll be fun to try out for the musk ride. I've also got this thread to thank for getting me to think of Yatagan in a new way.
--Chris

Yeah, Keihl's is nice, but it's definitely linear. I would like to see it transform to a more "pure" musk and loose some more of the old woman florals and patchouli. I'm just not sure I can pull it off.

I always though Helmut Lang was more of a powdery scent. What say you?

[DustB]

LJ, I thought, or at least as I think back so I might be wrong, but I thought it was the sticky sweet clean smell of musk with some kinda nasty dirt in it, coupled with some small bit of anise or something. Maybe a couple grains of the beans inside a vanilla bean. I kick myself for not remembering too well. I'll go get my bottle.
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LJ, you're right. I get that powder now. I don't the get the anise I thought I remembered either. But I get lots of murky mud too. Smells like old school stuff indeed. Animalistic, or like a sopping wet leather coat.

Smells like when the aristocrats went to the opera in the movies I think.
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Now I'm wearing the Helmut Lang edp on the back of a hand. This stuff rocks. I'll have to go to the opera this fall. I'll try to remember that life is my movie.

[jdnba]

i have kiehls on now...it does have a little dirty hiding in there like a human pheromone "dirty" not like dirt dirty....but you do get this light orange blossom/musky clean animal thing going on that i cant get enough of. I had a girlfriend that said she hated the smell of it when i first put it on...but after a while she would tell me how good i smelled and to snuggle a little closer, so i dont know...it really is one of those love hate things, but i smelled it on a good friend of mine and i could smell him when he would walk by and thats how i found out about kiehls and then bought 3 bottles .. Love it...i would say its my most worn frag...its also awesome mixed with a little royall lyme
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if you are looking for a light white musk...try Smn gold musk, i have smn musk and it drys down great, but takes a few hours to get there...longevity is stellar, but it comes off with a bugspray vibe upon initial application...if you can get through it though its great....its kissing cousin LV musk is a different animal than all...it smells like rose, but roses sprayed in musk...lots of compliments from women...its one of those that is good for cold weather becuase it makes you feel warm...it actually smells like warm feels like!

[iMaverick]

For a time, I thought I was one that didn't appreciate musk at all. Then I tried different ones, and suddenly I understand that musks can have different personalities.

I'm not a lover of the type of musk in Musc Ravageur for example, or like the beginnings of Kiehl's Musk--too personal, invasive to my nose, too much skank. Synthetic smelling for the most part too. Right on the borderline would be SJP Covet.

Then there's the type that's rounded out with orange blossom and vanilla--I love these the most, sensual, even romantic, and the skank impression is ruled out. Fleur du Male and L'Occitane Neroli are damn good to me.

Then there's the clean musk, including white musk, which I found agreeable in Angel Summer Flash/Ice*Men. Rounds the scent out, and at the same time being discreetly sexy.

So basically I don't mind musk as long as it doesn't smell trashy and cheap.

[smellyliquid]

i think you'll find people that slightly overexagurate their love for things in any special interest group. like lovers of handbags for instance will tell you they feel like pure sex when holding such and such a bag on their arm where someone not interested in bags will look at it and be like uhh ok... i guess its a nice bag ? its hard to think of things on the spot but like a chocolate lover might describe a certain chocolate as orgasmic... when I just taste a "pretty good chocolate".

everyone has something in their lives that they exagurate a bit over, and theres nothing wrong with that. dont feel bad or confused if you find you can't "get" musk. for one reason or another you just haven't chosen it to be your "thing".

now... to balance out what ive said, musk is probably easier to like than the smell of something like davana (another fragrance note) because we as mammals have more of a kinship with musk than with vegetal notes, so musk lovers havent just "chosen something at random" to really really like, but it does boil down to personal preference and what activates us as individual people.