White Musk for Men is available from Amazon.com at $22 for 3.3 oz
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White Musk, and Arber, are my faves from Body Shop. WM is just so damn likeable, and I think likeability is an underrated value in a fragrance. I have sampled Alyssa Ashley's white musk and think that hits some purry pleasure as well.
ReplyDeleteI am spending the day with Miyake's Le Feu d'Issey. Strange stuff, but I can't stop smelling. Sometimes I get milky sweetness, and other times, a cigar.
From milk to a cigar is a strange little trip indeed.
DeleteI have White Musk essential oil from Firmenich.
ReplyDeleteSlightly metallic, a tad laundry detergent-ish.
But eminently nuzzleable on its own.
...just like snuggling up to your washing machine. Mind the knobs!
DeleteI am loving Essential Faith right now, which I'm pretty sure is loaded up with white musk (one of my favorite notes). But I'm afraid I can only smell it for about four lovely minutes, and then...poof. I might get whiffs throughout the day, but apparently I have amno...ammiono.. .um, the inability to smell musk after four minutes. Some white musks are lovely and actually smellable to me, like SL's Clair Du Musc. But I never could smell that Narciso In the rollerball. I am thinking that was its downfall--the sales associate said I wasn't the only one who couldn't smell it. Whattup wid dat, Katie?
ReplyDeleteWhattup wid dat is that musk molecules are big and unwieldy and are hit-or-miss in terms of whether we can smell them. Many people are anosmic to one or more kinds of musk, and for that reason, a cocktail of musk molecules is usually included in a musky perfume to ensure that at least one of them will hit the target. I had a weird experience with Musc Nomade by Annick Goutal when it first came out: I couldn't smell it at all. A year later I tried it again and not only could I smell it, I found it incredibly beautiful. Now it's one of my very favorite perfumes.
DeleteSecond the Musc Nomade!
DeleteOh Katie, why aren't you doing some royal in honour of Queen Liz?
ReplyDelete"Doing some royal" *snicker*. Well, that's not happening, but I do hear the bells ding-donging all over London right now (3pm), and shortly I will be strolling down to St Paul's way to check out the flotilla.
DeleteHi, K. Isn't musk great at this time of year? Thanks for introducing this one---can't wait to try. I've been having a bit of a musk-a-thon. I guess I fall on the side of the raunch + powder musks in general. What most people find raunchy I just think of as skin-like. I like Kiehl's No 1 (edt) for its all-aroundness. It suits any occasion. Annick Goutal's Musc Nomade (I know you're a fan) is probably most most-worn musk over the years. It has that upper register berry/woody sweetness, but is so perfectly balanced. One of my favorite things to do before bed is take a bath, put on MN, and then just fly away to dream land. Muscs Koublai Khan tends to scare people, but I think of it as a rose almost before I think of it as a musk. Funky, yes, but probably incidentally the most floral as well.
ReplyDeleteMy new find that I just can't stop wearing is Les Nereides Fleur de Musc Poudree. A bit like Amouage Gold Man or your wonderful l'Artisan no 8, this is the definitive clean masking dirty fragrance. Powder-covered BO! (Think of your Porny Ballerina.)
V. excited! Planning ScentBar visit today, now I'll have to do the Body Shop as well. Great bookends!
Awwww...give my love to the Scent Bar gang. I'm still in London, and haven't been to their new shop yet.
DeleteAgreed that Kiehl's is a great all-around musk. I have the oil. On your rec, I'll have to try the Les Nereides.
btw, I think funky musk in honor of the diamond jubilee might bring the spectacle to a less frenzied pitch.
ReplyDeleteI think the gloomy drizzle is doing its part to dampen any frenzy.
DeleteI'm wearing Bruno Acampora Musc (you will love it if you don't already know it, given your musk inclinations - try it today at Scent Bar). But after all the Musc Nomade talk, I want to spray that on before I go down to watch the Jubilee flotilla on the Thames.
I love fragrances like Le Labo Labdanum 18 and HdP Ambre 114 so I need to try Body Shop White Musk. But I don't associate those two fragrances with the newest releases that contain white musk. Note lists that say "four types of musk" usually translate to "clean", "bright", "detergent" and "piercing" to my nose. I find many of these newer musk-wielding fragrances to be unbalanced.
ReplyDeleteSome slightly older white musks that I do find soft and comfy include Serge Lutens Clair de Musc and the nearly impossible to find Jean Louis Gady Musk Oil (which is really an edt). Somehow the florals in both of these fragrances balance out the metallic sharpness of synthetic white musk. But on the whole, clean and white isn't my preference in the musk category. I generally turn to dirty and growl-y rather than purry for my musk fix.
Grrr-y not purry, eh?
DeleteI hated then LOVED Frederic Malle Geranium pour Monsieur because of the white musc. At first, all I wanted was that rosy freshness so when it finished with a soft musc (slightly minted) I was feeling cheated. I thought, how boring. Now it's the part I look forward to -- a soothing aura.
ReplyDeleteGood call here re the big musk drydown on Geranium PM.
DeleteKatie~
ReplyDeleteThat Narciso Rodrgiuez Musc for Her Oil is awesome...Luckily, I have hoarded a lifetime supply...
Fleurine
People used to complain that NR Musc for Her Oil was too simple, but I think it does simple right.
DeleteHI, K. I didn't make it to the Body Shop, but I did get to ScentBar today. (Steve says hi & hurry home.) I tried the Bruno Campora, and think it might be one of those musks out of my nose range. I smelled a little mushroom, but don't think that that's what it's meant to be. I went there to look at the Histoire de Parfums line, and so checked out Ambre 114. You're right--little amber, big musk, and quite kitty-tummy. I LOVE the line. Bought 1740 and took samples of about 5 others.
ReplyDeleteI love that Histoire de Parfums line! (There are a bunch of posts here on KP Smells about it.)
DeleteBruno Acampora does sing a little mushroom in its song (that's the "Belgian drains" portion of the program that my friend Alison complains about), but it keeps developing into a woofer blend of musk framed in rose, violet and clove. It's a shame it's out of your range.
Katie, I lurve that pendant necklace of yours!
ReplyDeleteFrom where did you obtain that little beauty?
TaffyJ
Taffy, I found the Bakelite rose at Long Beach Flea Market years ago, and had the jeweler Sage attach it to to a strand of carnelian beads. Those roses must have been mass-produced at one time, because I see them (in several different sizes) pretty regularly at markets.
DeleteHi Katie Go To Meetin' Bun:
ReplyDeleteVery curious now about this. Normally I wouldn't set foot in a Body Shop/Bath and Body Works/Bed, Bath, Bodyworks and Beyond store for the life of me. That means I'm at the Mall, and experiencing Purgatory on Earth. BUT...
You did mention Le Labo Labdanum 18. I am a labdanum freak. It's my favorite scent. So now I have two to try. Although the Le Labo powder thing might throw me off - I like barbershop, but not powder.
Also, stop being so damn funny. I'm looking for work right now and must remain steadfast.
Or Stefush - I must remain Stefush. Yeah, that one.
Nora here, I'm too lazy to log in.
ReplyDeleteThis labdanum speak confuses me. The essential oil has never smelled powdery or musky to me. It smells like a smoky incense.
Maybe I'm crazy.
Nora There - you're not crazy. Labdanum has THE BEST smoky sweet incense note ever. It's the scent of the Universe Next Door, what the wardrobe that leads to Narnia is made from.
DeleteNora, labdanum is less smoky to me and more powdery, at least the way it's represented in the labdanum perfumes I've smelled. I like the sound of the oil of which you speak.
DeleteI love NR musc oil for him. les nereides musc samarkand and serge lutens clair de musc are nice. I am abivalent about le labo musc 25, really liked it at first but now it evokes hospital atmosphere for me.
ReplyDeleteCybele
I loved that Narciso Rodriguez Musc Oil for Him, too. Guess the oil versions of things are just too left field for people. The oil version of Malle's Musc Ravageur is gone, too.
DeleteJo Malone Iris and White Musk is a new discovery but I have only tried it once
ReplyDeleteCybele
Haven't checked that one out yet.
DeleteAlthough more iced almond than kitten tummy, the Santa Maria Novella Muschio is the only white musk I've ever been able to wear. Bought a full bottle of it and intend on rocking it all summer.
ReplyDeleteOoh get you! You're not a man of many bottles, so Muschio must really have your number. I'm going to check it out the next time I'm by the SMN store on Piccadilly.
DeleteI´m not a musk fan, but Etro Musk is like a warm blanket that keeps you cozy all day long. Like it a lot!
ReplyDeleteOh! I need to go try that one - it's been years since I've smelled it. The Etro line is really good and somewhat unsung.
Delete