Animalic Madness

[OdilonRedon]

On a quick trip to London I managed to hit Les Senteurs, Harvey Nicks, Fortnums and Libertys in one day (ah - and L'Artisan Parfumeur as well). What I had planned on being a gentle, civilised sniffing expedition turned into full-blown Musk Madness...

For a while I only had Knize Ten on one wrist and Musc Ravageur on the other. So far, so good. Lots of experiments with leather and smoke, including Bandit, Mona de Orio Cuir, En Avion, Cuir Ottoman... I sniffed a bottle of Absolue Pour le Soir - intriguing! The addition of Daim Blond did nothing for the mix - hasty scrubbing of weird apricot fragrance. On to Fortnums, where I found more Absolue PLS and Black Afgano. Never one to shy away from a challenge, on they both went. By that time I was feeling like a cage full of baboons after an industrial Viagra accident, and I was just getting started...

Anyway, after all that, I feel a bit faint. I never found MKK, my holy grail. But I've discovered that I love animalics - love as in something you might not particularly like, but that you can't do without. My findings:

Knize Ten: incredibly evocative of people and places from a past not necessarily my own. Lovely.
Musc Ravageur: a lioness on heat, wearing Jicky and eating macarons. Yes.
Absolue Pour le Soir: Eye-crossingly lustful. I don't think I can live without this one. Whether I can live with it remains to be seen.

Dzing!, Le Labo Labdanum, Cuir Mauresque... further investigation required. Black Afgano is so monstrously big that I'm not sure what it actually smells like!

What animalic musk-monsters have I missed? I need more!!

[hednic]

Charriol Royal Leather

[bogsc]

As I recall, one of the Amouage Jubilations turned out to be HIGHLY animalic on me. Woke up the next morning after putting it on before going to bed and could have sworn there was a big cat under the covers with me. Nope...just me and my Amouage. Perhaps others can confirm which Amouage it actually is that has a pretty big animalic punch?

[DanielPlainview]

Haven't you tried Muscs Koublaï Khän? It smells like someone's "spheres". It is the real thing. I can tell you.

[Ken_Russell]

Up to a certain extent, even Ambre Sultan and Mouchoir de Monsieur

[OdilonRedon]

Mouchoir de Monsieur is one of my favourites, as is Ambre Sultan. I'm sending off for a large sample of MKK.

[cacio]

Excellent trip! I like animalic musks too. Substitute for viagra, who knows...

MKK is obviously something you need to try when you see it. Much more animalic than Musc Ravageur, which after the nice start, becomes more spicy than musky.

In leather territory, the most animalic by far is the wonderful, almost disturbing Etat libre d'Orange Rien (go light on this, it's deceiving, it has no top, but it comes out in full force with body heat). Dzing! is another one you need to try if you haven't.

And then, vintage provides plenty of examples. Schiaparelli Shocking has a dirty animalic honey base. Vintage My Sin and Joy are great for the civet base.

cacio

[Jack Hunter]

Diors Leather Oud is worthy of a sniff.

[QWERTYOP]

As I recall, one of the Amouage Jubilations turned out to be HIGHLY animalic on me. Woke up the next morning after putting it on before going to bed and could have sworn there was a big cat under the covers with me. Nope...just me and my Amouage. Perhaps others can confirm which Amouage it actually is that has a pretty big animalic punch?

Sounds like Gold to me.

[Tony T]

on the cheaper side derrick black and ted lapidus

[bogsc]

Some versions of Vintage Bal de Versailles can be pretty animalic as well. And it's just scrumptious!

The Amouage I'm remembering is either Jubilation XXV or Opus IV, cause those are the only ones I have decants of other than Lyric for Women. Pretty sure it was XXV and as I recall I wore it over a very warm night.

[cacio]

Interesting, Jub XXV doesn't smell particularly animalic to me, it's more like a clean, complex frankincense. But as usual, people have different reactions to certain musks, so perhaps you are very sensitive to the musk in Jub xxv. Usually, the Amouage that's considered dirty is Gold man.

cacio

[sjg3839]

Have to agree with Tony T, that Ted Lapidus is a beast.

[OdilonRedon]

Some versions of Vintage Bal de Versailles can be pretty animalic as well. And it's just scrumptious

There was a tester of Bal a Versailles and I almost reached for it. Next time...

[Kagey]

Diors Leather Oud is worthy of a sniff.

Absolutely. You can find it in Selfridges or Harrods. I find Chanel Cuir de Russie quite animalic, too.

[bogsc]

Interesting, Jub XXV doesn't smell particularly animalic to me, it's more like a clean, complex frankincense. But as usual, people have different reactions to certain musks, so perhaps you are very sensitive to the musk in Jub xxv. Usually, the Amouage that's considered dirty is Gold man.

cacio

Clearly I need to go dig through my drawer, find the decant of Jub XXV and see if I still get an animalic "morning glow" from it after I wear it to bed tonight! It's been quite a while since I sprayed it on. And seems I must seek out some Gold man from local perfume shop!

[gandhajala]

Jicky
Roja Dove Fetish
Ungaro II ( discontinued ).

Edit: Smell Bent's Commando is like a less floral MKK. Cheap, too.

[Ciprian]

I suggest you to try Mazzolari Lui.

[Duke Smellington]

Kouros is a classic animalic
vintage Lauder for Men is very challenging to wear
the opening blast of civet in Shalimar EDC is worth sniffing
in the bargain bin, try Jovan Musk for Men...pure skank

[OdilonRedon]

Any other Kurkdjian scents I should explore?

[renperd]

Rien by Etat Libre d'Orange to me is so animalic it's well nigh unwearable. It makes me really smell like a rock hyrax's hole. Queer that I've actually been complimented on it. Some ladies clearly don't mind rock rabbits...

[bourbon108]

Another vintage one to check out (which I'm lucky enough to be wearing now) is Bogart Furyo.

[perfaddict]

Amouage Ubar

[hobbes22]

Any other Kurkdjian scents I should explore?

I think the MFK line is worth exploring, but you won't find anything nearly as rich and animalic as Absolue pour le Soir. Cologne pour le Soir is a toned down, lighter version of AplS, so give that a shot. I'd also recommend trying Lumiere Noire pour Homme if you enjoy rose/florals.

And this hasn't been mentioned yet, but Parfum d'Empire Musc Tonkin must be tried if you love animalic scents. This is a reference-level animalic fragrance, if you ask me - it's dirtylicious.

[OdilonRedon]

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone.

I think the thing that's most fascinating about this particular group of scents is the implicit desire to smell dirty. Not dirty in a sexy way, particularly, but just unwashed. Natural. Human. Presumably earlier animalic scents like Mouchoir de Monsieur were designed at a time when personal hygiene was far less well practiced - for practical and technological reasons as much as preference - and so people wore pleasant animal fragrances to cover up unpleasant animal fragrances, in the same way that gloves were perfumed with 'leather' scents to cover up the foul, animalic (piss and shit) stench of freshly tanned leather. Now, of course, we shower every day and when we put on one of these musky marvels we're dirtying up our sterile selves on purpose (while still remaining clean). We want to smell like a dirty, musky cat. We want to smell as if we'd just left our lover after a day and a night of mad lust. We want to smell of sweat. I suppose we want to smell human. It's a marvellous paradox.

[rubegon]

As I recall, one of the Amouage Jubilations turned out to be HIGHLY animalic on me. Woke up the next morning after putting it on before going to bed and could have sworn there was a big cat under the covers with me. Nope...just me and my Amouage. Perhaps others can confirm which Amouage it actually is that has a pretty big animalic punch?

I got that effect from Jubilation 25 - a rose chypre with a buttload of civet. Very nicely done.

[ajmc]

I suggest you to try Mazzolari Lui.

This
And I will add Le Labo's Oud 27.

[CapriDog]

want to smell like a dirty, musky cat. We want to smell as if we'd just left our lover after a day and a night of mad lust. We want to smell of sweat..

Besides my fav Cologne pour le soir, you might want to check out vintage Eau d' Hermes. Have fun dirtying up!!!

[treeman5823]

No one's mentioned Oud Cuir d'Arabie? That is the raunch king.

[Dane77]

This is a wonderful thread - nearly all my favorite frags have been mentioned!