Prince Matchabelli Sexiest Musk sounds less like the name of a perfume than it sounds like a challenge. I mean, calling something the very "sexiest" and at the same time enclosing a coupon offering a dollar off the price of its body spray, regularly sold for $3.79, is just plain agitating for street testing.
Last night, I took Sexiest Musk to a dinner party. I put dabs of it, Jovan Musk for Women, Coty Vanilla Musk, Strange Invisible Perfumes Musc Botanique and Parfumerie Générale Musc Maori on my arms and asked the guests to tell which, in their opinion, was the sexiest musk.
As I walked into the capacious dining room after dabbing my arms, Ray, on the other side of the room, immediately said, "Did you put on your musks?" The perfume apparently overwhelmed the smell of Sterno cooking under a copper pot of meatball hors d'oeuvres. "That's the one I smell," he said, pointing to my left wrist where I'd put some Sexiest Musk. Maximum sillage, I noted.
"That one smells like chocolate," Minott, another bachelor, said of the Musc Maori. Tom said it smelled like brownies, and Laleña and Ray agreed.
"That one smells like my grandma's bathroom," Nora said of Jovan Musk for Women, "And that one smells like something the ladies would be spraying at Nordstrom," she said of Sexiest Musk. I wondered what the ladies at Nordstrom might think about that.
None of the guests would cop to thinking that any of the musks were sexy at all, and they had nothing to say about my favorite, Musc Botanique, and little to say about Vanilla Musk, except, "Oh yeah, I smell the vanilla now that you mention it." I wished I had tried the musks I truly do find sexy — the dry down of L'Artisan Parfumeur Dzing! and Caron Parfum Sacré extrait, although they smell best the next morning.
To me, Sexiest Musk smells like a cartoon version of musk, if cartoons could be rendered olfactorally. It is sexy like Revlon Cherries in the Snow lipstick and a cheap, baby blue push-up bra are sexy. Sexiest Musk is a powerful, sweet, straight-on, ambery musk with a subtle undercurrent of lavender, the kind that beats up Serge Lutens Clair de Musc in the schoolyard then goes to smoke cigarettes by the flag pole. There's nothing complex about Sexiest Musk. It's boy mechanic and New Jersey girl musk, frills-free and available at your local drugstore for less than the cost of a subscription to True Romance.
Strangely, Sexiest Musk, if worn thoughtfully, could be supremely chic. Pair Sexiest Musk with a well-cut suit and Hermès bag and we're talking something interesting. Apply just the tiniest amount of Sexiest Musk with your Oscar de la Renta ball gown and you'll have their brains swirling. This will best work for the woman or man — because Sexiest Musk is definitely unisex — who appreciates picking up a bottle of YooHoo with his freshly made sushi or reading the classic comics version of Hamlet before he goes to Shakespeare in the Park. That person knows that the reason that Sexiest Musk earns its reputation is because its wearer finds it sexy, and that's what matters most.
Prince Matchabelli Sexiest Musk is available in 35 ml Eau de Parfum or 75 ml Fragrance Body Spray, and can be found at drugstores and mass market chains.
Wow! Thanx Angela for a wonderful article. I had so much fun reading it! I will go to my local CVS and see if they have it there. My mom has lots of $$ off coupons for CVS so maybe I can even get it for $2.79:)))
No matter how it smells, you've just got to love a perfume that costs less than a grande latte!
I once read that The Body Shop's Musk was a great musk, so I bought it and got loads of compliments on it. I think I first heard about it, when an actress mentioned it, possibly in Allure Magazine. Anyway, it must be popular; they only sell a larger bottle of it than the one that I had gotten, for more money, of course. Check it out sometime.
I've heard about the Body Shop musk. I'm really not much of a fan of straight musk, but there's something about the high/low vibe of wearing a drugstore musk that appeals to me.
What I riot! I just got back from the CVS where I couldn't resist a browse … they have something for men I think is called “KING — 'because in your eyes I am the king'” or something similarly … manly. They also have “TABU Forbidden – a new fragrance from Dana” (as opposed to regular Tabu, which they also had) and which I am darned tempted by, but it wasn't quite cheap enough…
I think your fun test demonstrates what might happen when people get to sample free of other associations. And you've reminded me I really need to try Vanilla Musk again.
Angela, your reviews never fail to make me laugh. Although I almost resent the comment about “New Jersey girl” musk, I have to admit that all I can think of is the junior high & high school bus (riding the roads through “the sticks” in Nowhere, NJ) when I read these “drugstore perfume” reviews.
Oh, and I forgot to mention that I'm sure it would be a HOOT to attend a dinner party where you're doing one of your sniffing experiments. Maybe I'll try that sometime and scare my friends.
Tabu Forbidden? What could really smell more taboo than Tabu? Go figure.
I have a sample canister of the Sexiest Musk body spray, too, but I haven't been brave enough to break it out.
I'm glad you enjoyed the review–and no offense intended to New Jersey!
If you do test scent, especially drugstore scents, at a dinner party, I recommend waiting until the guests have had a glass of wine or two. But I have to hand it to the guests the other night, they are a game group.
Hey Angela! Fun and timely review (since I just sent off for two samples from Strange Invisible Perfumes- one being the musk and the other Black Rosette)- hoping to hate them both since they are so spendy! Or at least be meh'd…
Love your musky dinner party game- I am having a halloween dinner party and am now inspired to perfume my friends up in accordance with their costume >:0
Doesn't Tabu mean forbidden?
I'm really annoyed because for some reason the SF drugstores do NOT have cheap stuff!! Once in a while there will be a special display with Stetson or something but all these Cotys and Jovans – nope. They only have the locked case with Dune and Liz Taylor and whatnot. I can't even find Old Spice! Maybe all the cheap perfumes were getting ripped off or something. Hmph.
Exactly!
I like the idea of perfume-costume pairings!
What a shame! No Windsong, Love's Baby Soft, or English Leather? Maybe you'll have to take a trip to the suburbs.
Musks are interesting. Is it possible that they, more than any other type, depend on one's own body chemistry? I find the musk I like seems to meld to my skin better than anything, and develop over time. I like Kiehl's right now, but I'd like to try others.
That's an interesting theory, that musks blend with a person's chemistry. It might be true with other musks, but I have a hunch that Sexiest Musk overrides whatever a person normally smells like. It's pretty darn powerful.
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When it comes to musks my favourite is Kiehl's original Musk oil.
It's unisex, smells a lot like Musk Kubla Khan at a fraction of the price but is more accessible I think.
The Kiehl's also blends well with a lot of other fragrances anytime you just want a muskier undernote.
dear angela, thank you for this reviewe brightening my day! I love musks and I still look for the musk scent for me. TBS musk for men ist worth a try as I said, and COUDRAY Musc et Freesia. Thank you for the hint with Dzing I have to give it a try.
HDS, it sounds like Kiehl's is a sort of cult favorite. I've seen it at Marshall's, and I'll have to try it.
I adore Dzing. On me, I don't really get much musk until it's been on a while. Thanks for the Coudray suggestion!
It might be that the rent in SF is too expensive! But again, everything is pricey here….
That's what I love about musks (most of them anyway). It's great to wear on it's own, or blend with vanilla, or patchouli. It's a very versatile scent.
I love Body Time's Egyptian Musk, but it's very powerful so I apply sparingly. I think the term “olfactory fatigue” could apply to this one!
All the more reason for cheap perfume!
Body Shop's White Musk has been a favorite of my husband's for a long time. But I also like the Body Shop's Japanese Musk, for the wood notes in it… Layering them with their Patchouli and/or their vanilla can be fun
I didn't realize that the Body Shop had so many musks! Thanks for the layering suggestions, too.
Mostly Musk was another the Body Shop had, but I don't think they still make it anymore. It was a great unisex scent, though!
The tagline for KING is hysterical. Reminds me of the movie American Beauty.
That's a lot of musks.
Reminds me of some crazy old polygamist sect!