Today's subject, skanky perfumes. From A Perfumista lexicon:
Skanky: a fragrance with animalic or other “sexy” notes. Skanky has pejorative connotations in “regular” slang, but among many perfumistas, it is meant as a compliment. The use of the term to apply to perfume was popularized by March at Perfume Posse.
We'd like to know...
1. What's your favorite skanky perfume?
2. What perfume do you think would be a perfect "introduction to skank"?
3. Are there any perfumes that are just too skanky for you to wear?
Or, anything else you'd like to tell us on the subject of skank in perfume. Your host today is Jill, who says she doesn't have enough skank in her perfume collection so is looking forward to seeing the responses.
Note: top image is Zoo Texture [cropped] by erbephoto at flickr; some rights reserved.
Ooh, great poll! Skank=good, in my book. In particular, Rochas Femme, although I can’t seem to find many opportunities to wear it, Muscs Koublai Khan, Bal a Versailles, and Al Oudh (though that’s more cumin than straight-up skank).
Musc Ravageur has been called skanky by some, but not me, so maybe that would be a good intro to skank. I haven’t found one too skanky to wear yet…
Hee hee! I was writing my post while you were posting yours. Great minds, etc. LOL!
I don’t find Femme skanky at all: actually, I can’t smell it on me. It seems to meld completely with my skin. That’s partly why I stopped wearing it: I couldn’t even smell it myself for two seconds. Got fed up.
I intensely dislike Musc Ravageur. I find it sharp and unpleasant.
Serge’s MKK vanished on me as well. I had a bell jar of the stuff… I wanted to love it but it just vanished on me.
Elizabeth, I don’t think I found Musc Ravageur particularly skanky either, but it’s been ages since I tried it and I still have my sample! Will have to revisit it, as well as my sample of Koublai Khan (it just wasn’t wearable for me when I tried it, but that too was ages ago). Your other suggestions I’ve definitely got to try!
I love BaV too!! And Femme is a great choice – it reminds me a little bit of Mitsouko. I only recently smelled it, and was more interested than I thought I’d be. I think I need to get some of it. Muscs KK was a little too much for me!!
Welcome, Jill!
1) Bal à Versailles.
2) Jicky EDT (vintage) or SL MKK
3) None. But I don’t wear any these days (I never return to perfumes I used in the past, otherwise I would wear Jicky again. It was my first grown-up fragrance, when I was 17.)
OK, I’ve got to check out Bal a Versailles! It’s been on my “to-try” list for a while but I haven’t gotten to it. I can tell I’m going to be digging out a lot of samples this weekend — Jicky and MKK are both going to be re-tried!
Fun topic today!
I’m with Bela…. but I have a tie for #1 fav skank.
1. Fav skank: Bal a Versailles and AG Ce Soir ou Jamais edp which just has a tiny whiff of skanky armpit in the drydown. (And I’m gonna make qualifying skank choices, since I don’t smell it, but know it’s there: Joy edp and Amaranthine.)
2. Intro skank: Amaranthine and Lancome Climat (from La Collection),which has a nice well balanced, tiny bit of civet in the base.
3. Too skanky: MH L’Air de Rien. If I want to smell like my husband’s hideous smelly sneakers and socks, I’d just tie them around my neck for free.
Another vote for Bal a Versailles! Ce Soir ou Jamais I have never tried, which is nuts because AG has become one of my favorite lines. And I tried Amaranthine yet again last night and I just don’t get skank there! I get banana pastry.
Hi Jill – one rec – do try and get a sample of the Ce Soir ou Jamais edp which smells much nicer IMHO. There is often a big difference in the depth between AGs edt and edps. The rose is tremendous!
I also get banana/milk/rice pudding from Amaranthine. That’s why I think it would be good starter skank. The cumin is just so light and brief. Come to think of it, the cumin in LL Rose 31 is also very light and foody – also may be good starter skank for rose lovers.
Thanks, Ann, I will definitely look for the edp!
Oooh great topic!
My favourite skanky fragrance is Bandit. People always mention its bitter green and leather notes but it also has a seriously skanky drydown, complete with dirty hair an’ all. Bandit is also the source of my Annoyance Of The Week since I noticed that it’s gone up in price. Guess who’s kicking herself for not buying a bottle earlier.
I did okay with MKK and don’t find Jicky all that skanky (even in extrait) but Theo Fennel was hilariously mucky, I’m not sure I could wear it. Having said that, it’s the grapefruit fragrances that I struggle with the most. A lot of them smell like straight up, sharp BO and are simply unwearable to me.
A good introduction? Maybe the original Narciso Rodriguez For Her EDT? Lots of musk there but nothing scary.
Oh, I love Bandit! Unfortunately Bandit doesn’t love me. I keep hoping it will work for me one of these days. A friend wears it and it’s wonderful on her and I totally agree with you about its skank factor. What a shame it’s gone up in price!
Isn’t it a shame when some fragrances just won’t reciprocate? I have a couple like that which I keep trying every few months just to see if they decide to start playing nice.
I have noticed the same odd phenomenon with grapefruit scents. You’re expecting something very crisp, fresh and summery, and then something weird develops. For me , it was the case with the Guerlain Aqua Allergoria Pamplelune, which I really wanted to like, but it went from overly sharp grapefruit at the beginning to faint B.O. at the end. Disappointing!
I think it’s a fairly common thing. Quite a few people struggle with AA Pampelune in particular and the words “cat pee” are frequently used. I don’t get cat pee but I do get a man’s armpit. After a week in the desert. While wearing polyester.
Wow– that sounds even worse than cat pee. Not that I can stand the cat pee note in a fragrance. . .
LOL at “wearing polyester” !!!! 😀
What can I say 😀 Mention sweat and my first associations are grapefruit and synthetic fabrics.
OOOh I love that sweaty thing that Pamp does! Makes me feel like I’ve done a hard day’s work outside! I love the way the frag travels from the juicy burst to the slight pink sweet thing, and then down down to sweat! Its probably because I cut my teeth on perfume in the olden days! Even my vintage Fidji smells skanky compared to modern things…and I thought it was a sweet innocent thing back in the day, a wear to work scent….
Lol, you can have it all! Grapefruit is easily the trickiest note for me.
Win–you can have my cosmic allotment of grapefruit as well. Other than Hermessence Pamplemousse Rose, it all seems to go very wrong on my skin….sulfurous and offensive to all (even the cats)
Yup, I’m with you on that – Bandit must be the ultimate in skank for a woman to wear. It is so raw and outrageous brash. Absolutely incredible and gorgeous. I love Robin’s review on this website.
1.) Miller Harris L’Air de Rien is the perfect mixture of dirty girl and refined oriental. In other words, it’s just enough skank to be interesting but not so much that I wonder if I forgot to bathe.
2) Bal a Versailles. It’s the more refined version of L’Air de Rien.
3) Jicky smells like mothballs to me. Ugh.
RE: your description of L’Air de Rien– Borneo 1834 gives me the same sort of “did I forget deodorant?” doubletake. 🙂
I’m going to have to try that MH L’Air du Rien! Opinions of it seem to run the gamut!
complete agreement on the jicky = moth balls! Thank you….I thought I was the only one….
Yet another reference lost on me… I have no idea what moth balls smell like, either.
I think mothballs are a little different than the old days when they were “camphor balls.” True story from my grandmother: her sister liked the smell of camphor balls so much as a child that she got one stuck in her nostril.
Anyway, I’m not in love with Jicky, but nor do I think it smells like mothballs. I thought Daisy originally thought it smelled like bad breath; maybe there’s a fine line?
yu-huh….moth balls and halitosis….it’s a double whammy
You ever hear the old joke: “You know what moth balls smell like?” “Yeah.”
“However did you get their little legs apart?”
Groan!
I can’t wait to try any and all of the juices mentioned in this delicious thread.
hahaha….I was sort of waiting for someone to spring that one…you forgot the “ba-da-dum” at the end 😉
All you all can send all of your unloved Jicky to me! I love it! Sweet lavender, herbal rosemary (I think it used to be tarragon in the older versions) and that great Guerlain base!
sigh….you are the Guerlain poster child….
Yeah I’m no Guerlainista but Jicky is quite possibly my favourite from the house. I mostly get lavender and vanilla and both of those are comfort scents to me.
Jicky smells like lavender and vanilla to me as well; absolutely NO skank. The biggest problem I have with Jicky is that is seems to disappear on me rapidly, and strangely enough, the extrait is worse in this regard than the EdT.
I AM a Guerlainista but I just can’t love Jicky, however hard I try. Sigh. Mitsouko, L’Heure Bleue, and my all-time favorite (because it was the first perfume I go serious about), Vol de Nuit, all make me punch-drunk, but Jicky, no….
Ok I’m new to this and am not sure what qualifies as “skanky”? I read all the comments so far and the only perfume I recognize is Narciso Rodriguez for her – which i own and have a love/hate relationship with.
so back to skank…is it musk? What about Azzaro Twin for women (the white dumbell looking bottle) would that be considered skanky?
Hi Jules! Check out March’s post below to get a better idea of “skanky” perfume. Basically, “skanky” perfumes will strike you as dirty, sexy, unwashed, animalic, sweaty, or all of those!
As for Azzaro Twin, I haven’t tried it! Maybe someone else can chime in.
did i hear skank? don’t you mean ‘SKANQUE’, Paris Hilton’s perfume?
http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/9678/picture1564646.png
http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/104416/?tag=Skanque
😉
LOL! 🙂
Awesome.
Although I’ve always thought she should put out a fragrance called Eau de Heau.
Rimshot!
I do love that. Hadn’t seen it before, though I know South Park is very love/hate.
My HG skank is POTL A*maze – which I actually discovered in a roundabout way through my Monday Mail here, so thanks to everybody!
#3 – I love Fleur de Cassie… I’m not even sure it counts as properly skanky, but to me it smells SO dirty that I only wear it at home!
I haven’t tried A*maze but have wondered about it! Will have to check it out now.
And I do think Une Fleur de Cassie counts as properly skanky!
Really? A*maze has skank? I got nothing but rose…not even a blip on my super-sensitive-skank-o-meter! But I was dabbing from a sample so maybe I wasn’t getting the full effect.
I got no skank from it either… just drunken roses.
“Drunken roses” sounds like a lot of fun.
I am fairly new with my perfume obsession and the exploration that got me started was curiosity about the long standing adoration that I had heard and read about Joy edp. So my first samples purchase from Perfumed Court included a sample of Joy. At that time, I was honestly unfamiliar with the idea of “skank”. When I first applied Joy I loved it completely, but then as it came into the dry down I thought something terrible had happened to me. It smelled like rabbit urine. So I washed my arm and re-applied – but low and behold – rabbit urine again. Each time I have given Joy another try it has been the same. I was dismayed to not be able to appreciate Joy, but through the wonderful perfume blogs I have been able to find many other lovely perfumes that I do enjoy. For now anyway, skank is just not my thing.
you know what? Joy EdP is yucky on me as well —-BUT the Edt and the parfum are gorgeous! I cannot explain it….but it sounds like the reaction I got too (only I thought the EdP was poopy rather than urine) The Edt and the parfum are very rosy on me….maybe they would be on you too?
Kairos, I totally hear you! Although I’ve considered myself “seriously into perfume” for several years now, I’m only lately developing an appreciation for “skanky”, and there are many that will probably always be over my “skank limit”!
Skank Queen here.
Animalic — stuff with civet, nasty musk, etc. Favorites are likely Jicky and the already-mentioned BaV. Interestingly, my skankiest iteration of the Ball is an Eau de Cologne, not the perfume. Jicky parfum nuzzles up nice and close to my skank boundaries. Definitely the dirty-underwear thing.
Indolic — the ripe, garbage-y smell from, say, orange blossom or jasmine. I almost can’t do “too much” of that — Montale Jasmin full is possibly the most indolic thing I own. It’s not a bottle you’d want to leak in your car.
Over my personal line — bringing it up because I see it on here several times, I really think it’s a skin chem thing — Miller Harris Rien. It smells (rather literally) to me like a barnyard pen or an elephant house — basically, peat plus somewhat composted animal waste. And some leather. No thanks. But clearly lots of people are not in agreement on that one.
I think the tolerance for skank builds over repeat exposure. MKK is just a cheerful leather to me now. PdE Ambre Russe, which I once described as Rasputin’s Armpit? Just a sweet, boozy musk.
I agree w/ your comment that skank tolerance builds over time. For me, MKK now seems quaintly low-key next to some modern fragrances.
Isn’t that funny? I could describe MKK as cuddly with a straight face.
I ordered a sample of MKK recently, expecting a seriously skanky, dirty scent. Instead, all I got from it was a sweet, warm, cozy musk–totally harmless.
How neat that you are responsible for adding this wonderfully colorful term to the fragrance lexicon! 🙂
*blushes* What I wanted at the time, and couldn’t find, was a blanket perfume term that would cover scents that were musky, animalic, indolic, cumin-y — a term more interesting than “naughty,” which makes me think of little kids.
I agree. The term “skank” is just perfect! (And definitely better than naughty.)
I just added Bal a Versailles to my TPC wish list. Should I try all the iterations?
Bal’s tricky, especially the vintage. They vary pretty widely in smell, so if you sorta-like it, it’s worth it to try another. 🙂 To me the parfum smells more candied-incense.
BaV shows up at TJMaxx fairly regularly. Not vintage, of course, but a bargain, which counts for something.
Suzy – yes, BaV is tricky. I have a bottle of edt from Nordstroms that is about 8 years old. It smells divine: all jasminey-spices-patch-“warmth” (rather than skank). I love it to pieces. I am running low so I recenlty picked up another bottle of edt from a reputable online vendor. It smelled like they used gasoline to mix it up. It was horrible. I am now on a quasi quest to find another bottle that smells similar to the one I love. It will be hard though b/c I don’t even know where to look. No batch codes or other date – BaV is a dime a dozen everywhere. Be patient and sample as much as you can – don’t be discouraged on the first try and don’t try and convince yourself you like it if you think it smells bad (and I don’t mean skany). Different bottles are all over the place. Your results may vary widely.
BaV in the Edt is completely intolerable to me….yet I love the parfum.
I can’t believe no one has mentioned Amouage Jubilation 25 or JHaG Citizen Queen or (that slut) Tocade yet….
…and another! You get skank from Citizen Queen? What is wrong with my nose?!
booo, jubilation and citizen queen are to modest ladies having 5 o’clock tea on me. no skank at all
my skank-o-meter is always set on hyper-sensitive-red alert….I run screaming from the barest hint of “didn’t wash” ….with that confession under my belt…
1. Jubilation 25 —love this stuff but I have to say that the first 10 minutes are a bit shaky….spritz, hang around the house for a few then head out into the world…
2. a good starter skank —Amaranthine or Citizen Queen, maybe some Joy…..low on the skank (my meter registers the skank but no flashing lights)
3. MKK , BaV edt, Rose Poivre, MH L’air de rien….this is a long list so I’ll just stop there. **shuddering**
Civet and musk don’t crank the skank-o-meter…..but cumin or cedar will send it off the chart!
I feel exactly like you do with Jub 25! I love it so much, find it outrageously sexy, but I have to be in the perfect frame of mind to wear it. Skankalicious, definitely.
I have Jubilation XXV, which I recently learned was different from Jubilation 25. Oops…embarrassing to admit publicly but there you go. Was trying to describe animalic for a buddy at work (waving hi to Jen) so sprayed myself mightily with Jub XXV on Saturday as I had heard from Daisy that it definitely had a skank factor. Woke up Sunday wondering what animal was sharing my bed, only to discover it was the Jubilation still hanging on from Saturday. Powerful stuff!
I don’t get any skank from Joy but all I have is some vintage EdT. Haven’t tried the Tocade lovely Daisy provided so maybe I’ll play with that today after repeatedly hearing it described as “that slut Tocade.” Also glad to hear some people describing MKK as cuddly with repeated exposure, cause I’ve been to scared to give it a try. Will pull up my big girl pants and try a sample.
Leather is one of my fave notes in perfume and I haven’t found any that I’d really describe as truly animalic yet…cause to be animalic for me leather would have to smell like a heavily worked out sweaty horse maybe. Which would be interesting…given that I’m discovering that I’m a skank convert.
Easy nice entry skank perfume…maybe Worth Courtesan? If you are lucky (and I am) you get some naughty bits in there with the lovely fruit salad.
Courtesan is a terrific intro to skank, bogsc. She lives up to her name!
Boo–in reference to the skank quotient in Citizen Queen—it may be that it’s doing something different on me than it’s doing on you, but it may also be (at least somewhat) a matter of application : you are an extremely conservative spritzer….while I tend more toward the famed “full body spray down” ….my perfume application center is always set on 3 spray automatic…..which gets me in trouble if I’ve picked up something powerful ! (ie. anything Andy Tauer or anything Amouage I try to catch myself before overdose occurs with these types) but goodness knows, if it’s L’Artisan—I could go for 8 or 10 spritzes!
True enough…plus I have just a sample, so have only dabbed, not sprayed. It’s odd how much difference that can make as well.
Boo & Ami – I am with you on Citizen Queen – it’s all that lovely fuzzy ambery tea of Bulgari Black dressed up with roses and violets. It is lovely!
I considered including Jub 25 but wasn’t sure if it qualified as skank. I think that it implies the mucky/carnal side under that elegant façade rather than actually smelling skanky. Does that make sense?
Great scent nonetheless.
I’ll certainly include Jub 25 in my favorite skank (cumin) list, but I don’t get skank from Tocade.
Okay okay oKAY… I know I started the That Slut Tocade thing, but that’s because it hung about in my closet like an affectionate, helpless, take-me-home drunk.
Not because it’s skanky. 🙂
Ambre Russe, really? I get nothing the least bit skanky from that one, and I’m NOT a skank-lover at all… in fact, it usually sends me screaming in the other direction.
It was intensely ampitty to me at first, but not any longer. Not sure if my decant changed or my nose.
*insert curtsy to Her Royal Aromatic Highness, the Skank Queen*
March, I had tended to think of vintage leather scents, such as vintage Lanvins, as part of the skank category. Would you include those, or not?
Yup! I’ve seen vintage Cabochard and Tabac Blonde described as intensely animalic. I’ve never had the fortune to smell them myself but they always sounded incredible from those descriptions.
And what about Paco Rabanne La Nuit? Another intriguing-sounding one.
La Nuit, Ha, one I missed back then and had to get this time round, its a monster leathery woody chypre; reminds me of a Bandit without the green bitter thing I get. There’s a slug of strong patchouli, even slightly champhoric, to it. Its listed with the likes of Ambre Russe, Cuir Beluga, Dzing, Dzongha, Putain de Palaces in Edwards’ book but packs a whallop of about all of them combined! Strangely I don’t luuurve it, I thought I would…it too has a slight sour sweaty-exertion thing to it.
I should really finally get a mini of La Nuit from ebay because the more I read about it the more curious I get.
Oh I wondered when someone was going to mention Dzing. I think that combo of hay, cotton candy, leather and elephant butt is brilliant and is my idea of “fun in a bottle.”
I would definitely include them, as they are often intensely animalic, with the sort of civet-y bases I’m not even sure are legal any more. Vintage Lanvin Scandal is almost shockingly smutty.
Ambre Russe is just delicious, I think. Makes me want to curl up under furs and cuddle for warmth.
Has anyone tried M7? I’ve never smelled it and think it might just do the trick.
YSL M7? oooooooo- my favorite men’s fragrance EVAH! Bergamot and rosemary in the opening and all earthy and woody….a touch of leather to my nose….but I don’t get anything I perceive as skank…..
drop me a note at Daisyloo82 at gmail.com and I’ll send a couple mls your way. No one should miss out on M7—it’s great stuff!
Yes! M7 is on my full bottle list – great stuff.
I must be unusual in that I love the barnyard smell. Maybe because I’ve been around horses most of my life and that’s one of my favorite smell. Come to think of it, that must be why leather is one of my favorites too (hello, Bandit!!)
MH LduR is a favorite right now. It’s a great summer boho dirty hippie skin scent. I’m also loving PdN Vie du Chateau which is another barnyard scent.
Ok 1 and 2 are women’s perfume and 3 is something I cannot wear. I have still to try Musc Ravageur.
Also I was tempted to put Kiehls musk for #2, but it changes too much with body chemistry, so it could be clean musk for a lot of ppl and slightly skanky for others.
1) Narciso Rodriguez for her EDT, it is modern, not too threatening and very sexy and classy if the person can pull it off and does not overapply.
2) Jovan Musk… but sparingly applied. Although I’ve noticed that the current Jovan musk isn’t as skanky as it used to be.
3) The Kouros line. Either the original or BOdy Kouros.. just too much.
I’m wearing Body Kouros as we speak! Perhaps I should stay inside the house today…. 😀
Olenska, note that I placed it in the 3rd category (something that I cannot wear)
On my partner, who is one of the cleanest persons I have ever encountered and has almost no scent of his own (oh! Grenouille! hehehehhee), BK smells pleasant. 🙂
HA! I was surprised nobody had mentioned Korous already and was just about to suggest it as *introductory* skank. Guess we feel differently on that one. Body Korous, too, as that one doesn’t smell particularly skanky (or similar to the original in general) to me.
To me, it’s a mixture of soapy-clean nutmeg and a touch of motor oil– kind of like an auto mechanic after a rushed shower. I really like it, but I can understand how it might come across as heavy or oily, with a touch of sweat and dirt.
Wow, your comment has got me thinking. Body Kouros seems so much a “working class guy” scent to me– if Grenouille really wanted to fit into a blue-collar crowd, it would probably be the perfect camouflage.
Kouros and I go WAY back, but after all this time, I’ve still never tried Body Kouros. I need to remedy that.
My favorite skank: Yatagan (civet city!) or LouLou (velvet whorehouse!)
My suggestion for skank intro: L’Air de Rien or MKK. If these don’t trouble you, then you’re ready to take on the world.
Too skank for me: Eau Flirt by Harvey Prince. A friend told me it smelled like ass, and of course I had to try it. And it does.
Of course you had to try it–LOL!
What can I say, I did it for the sake of science….
Catagan!!! That’s another cat-e-gory. The ones that smell a little urine-y.
Oh, my, yes. I think the best description ever of a skanky perfume is Virginia Woolf’s quip about her friend Katherine Mansfield, a passionate lover of French perfume: “She stinks like a… civet cat that had taken to streetwalking”.
I love that quote!!
Oh, Goddess, I love that. I had forgotten I read that about a hundred years ago, pre-perfume addiction, so didn’t know what VW was talking about!
….and that’s VW talking about someone she LIKES! 😀
Yeah, Yatagan is the one for me. It makes me think of sexy silent tough guys who don’t want to show their warm hearts. It starts strong and attractive with something appealingly disturbing underneath, then gets to a more reassuring complex wood base that still keeps you on your toes.
It’s totally Clint Eastwood in “A Fist Full of Dollars”. 🙂
Laughing here because I’ve never found ANY skank in LouLou, just overwhelming candied fruit.
For me, LouLou is a jasmine with such a massive indolic broadcast range I half expect the neighborhood dogs to start howling when I walk past. 😀
Love this poll and look forward to reading everyone’s comments over the weekend.
1. Amoureuse
2. Bal a Versailles.
3. Nothing is too skanky for me, but I think my skin tends to kill or mute a lot of skanky notes, or else my nose just recognizes them as something else. For example, honey and cumin often read as skanky to people, but for me they are just honey and cumin. MKK smelled lightly floral to me! On the other hand, cedar, which is a note I mostly adore, sometimes reads as BO to me, but only at odd moments.
Funny! Cumin smells so exactly like gross b.o. to me that I can barely handle the whiff as I spoon it out of the spice jar– but since it doesn’t taste of anything nasty I do like to cook with it.
Jirish: I generally agree on cumin and honey.
In fact, when something is described as having cumin (e.g., Amaranthine, Rochas Femme), there’s often NOTHING in there that I related to what I know as the smell of cumin spice at all. And I cook with and eat cumin a lot. But whatever is in those perfumes doesn’t really resemble what’s in my kitchen cupboard.
However, I assume it can only be cumin in L’Artisan Al Oudh that blows my socks off — that smells like pure male underarm sweat to me. Not necessarily a bad thing, but it stretches the limit of what I consider “perfume.”
I had a similar reaction to Al Oudh when I tried it in a shop. I wanted to get it off me– not because it’s bad, but because I didn’t want anyone to think it was *me.*
My darling other half’s skin smells like cumin, which means it loves a lot of perfumes I can’t wear. SL Ambre Sultan smells WONDERFUL on him, as do a lot of darker, skankier scents. His natural scent just makes them smell rich, whereas on me skank just smells stinky.
This a great topic. I was going to say that “skank” was subjective but it’s interesting to see so many scents mentioned many times. What’s most subjective seems to be the degree of skankiness a person tolerates and likes.
1. Favorite: Rochas Femme, although I don’t wear it a lot.
2. Intro: Amaranthine in hot weather and Madame Rochas, which I wear a lot.
3. MH L’Air de Rien. Makes me gag. Sorry.
Some scents that smell of rotting flowers smell skanky to me, too. Right now I’m loving the putrid skank of Hermessences Vanille Galante.
It definitely does seem that it’s the degree of skankiness that varies! I got very little skank from Vanille Galante, but haven’t tried it in hot weather yet. I’m going to have to try Rochas Femme, it’s getting lots of mentions!
Wow, Vanille Galante isn’t skanky at all to me! There IS that saltiness that is like skin, but it smells rather clean to my nose.
Great post! I, too, think I may be slightly anosmic to certain musky notes, because BaV doesn’t seem skanky to me, though I’ve only had the extrait and not the EdC. And I don’t really get skank from Jicky, either, dammit. But my favorite, favorite skanky thang is The Party in Manhatttan.
I too seem to be anosmic to some musks. I had no idea The Party in Manhattan was skanky! I’ve been hearing about it for some time but based on the name I didn’t think “skank” for some reason.
It’s way skanky. Thanks, Jill, for being such a great moderator!
Thanks Angela — it’s been a lot of fun!
Oh, yeah. I have described it as smelling like a silk teddy worn by a perfumed girl who’s no better than she should be the morning after a fancy party on Park Avenue in the pre-air-conditioned thirties.
I love the Party! I didn’t think that was skank though.
. What’s your favorite skanky perfume? I like a refined skank… so my fave skanky perfume is Amouage Jubilation 25 – womens.
2. What perfume do you think would be a perfect “introduction to skank”? I agree with others who suggested Amaranthine & NR For Her.
3. Are there any perfumes that are just too skanky for you to wear?
Yes, MKK and Party in Manhattan.
I really have to laugh because I like The Party so much. I’m a rather prim and proper 60 year old woman (though very well preserved) and I just adore The Party. No, you can’t wear it everywhere, but for the right occasion, Oh, la la.
I have a sample of that Amouage on the way — looking forward to trying it!
I’m not a *real* perfumista, but I’ll jump in. My body amps up both musk and melon, and both of them smell like rotting roadkill wrapped in ampits lined with cabbage leaves formerly worn to a skunk rassle. I’m sure a real perfumista loves a good whiff of her down-and-dirty self now and then, when she is in air conditioned comfort, but I live in a hot sweaty climate, and skank smells like, well, skank. I wish I could play with the sophisticated ladies, but if I’m going to plunk down $150 of my hard-earned cash, it’s going to be for something that transports me to a vision of myself as lithe, lovely and lissome. A green chypre perhaps. A wicked amber-oriental in winter. But no skank for me. Just not into it. My current fav perfume? Tulipe by Byredo and 31 Rue de Cambon by Chanel.
I’m much of the same mind with you, Q, and I don’t even live in a humid climate!
Count me among the unsophisticated skank wimps. Quinncreative, you are too a perfumista!
I tend to have the same issue with melon. I think this is why Parfum de Therese, which some just adore, is a total scrubber for me.
Same here. I’m glad I had the chance to try it at a fragrance counter and didn’t have to waste money on a decant. Melon– ugh! I don’t even like the scent of a cantaloupe ripening on the counter, though oddly the taste is pleasant enough to me.
You sound like a “real” perfumista to me. Wear what you like!
Favorite skank? Rochas Femme, although I’ve learned that I should wear it only in winter.
Maybe there’s a range of musks that I simply cannot smell or perhaps working in a zoo for several years has inured me to smells that other people find skanky, but Musc Ravageur is just a vaguely pleasant smell until it gets to a powdery dry-down. Ambre Russe? Honey, tea, & booze. L’air de Rien? Vanilla and amber. Maybe I need to try MKK? 😉
Aparatchick, do you have the vintage or current version of Femme? I’ve got a sample of vintage and I’m wondering how different it is from the current.
Suzie, I have a bottle of the current EDP and just got a split last month from a vintage bottle. As it’s summer, I’m going to have to wait to try out the vintage.
Can anyone else answer this?
TOTALLY different. Really. The shock value (?) is the same but the scents are vastly different. Vintage is an animalic leather, and how *much* animalic depends on your individual bottle. I adore it.
The current Femme’s shock value is provided by the cumin — that “ampitty” smell that lots of people (like me) love and other people are just grossed out by. But beside the cumin, new Femme’s kind of sweetly fruity. Vintage Femme, OTOH, is a very take-no-prisoners smell, like … what. Vintage Jolie Madame. It’s not cuddly.
Thanks, March. Your comparison helps a lot.
Aparatchick, I had to laugh at your post because many years ago I worked in the gift shop of a zoo’s big cat house. We called it “The Funk Box,” and over time I became immune to the smell.
I love skank… I mean I jog and eat fruit every day, but I really don’t want to smell as clean and put-together as my life is… perhaps because perfume is a ‘safe risk,’ — a way to be daring without risking hangovers or bodily injuries? You can still look sophisticated and respectable, but smell like you’re hung-over after a boozy night of Van Halen medleys in a karaoke bar, and for some reason I love that irony.
In my mis-spent youth, I wore this green bottle of Paco Rabanne for men (someone had left it at my house,) and everyone back then said it suited me perfectly. I was a bit wild, but I don’t know if there was anything too skanky about the Paco, it was probably just me.
I’m really curious now to try the perfumes mentioned here, now that I’m older, wiser, and ready for some real skank.
Suggestion for next poll, if it hasn’t been one already: are there any men’s perfumes that women here have worn/loved/been complimented on.
Dominika I agree completely with your first paragraph. And as a non smoker I’d add to that: wearing perfumes such as ELdO Jasmin et Cigarette.
I like your history with Paco Rabanne! 🙂
I love Paloma Picasso, which I think has just a wee bit of “skank” to it. I admit that I’ve never tried a lot of the scents mentioned here (most descriptions of MKK I’ve seen kinda scare me).
Pamplelune skankifies on my skin to a huge degree…it starts off as BO and ends up as halitosis.
That Paloma Picasso intrigues me — I was recently reading a review of it here, I think by Angela. “Wee bit of skank” sounds good to me!
Pamplelune does that to me, too. I didn’t want to believe it, because I wanted so much to like it. But the skank does not lie.
As I said earlier, I’m a skank wimp. However, I’ve learned to appreciate a moderately sexy indolic and an occasional soupçon of civet or castoreum. Some that I enjoy:
BOUCHERON (original one for women) – This glorious floriental would be a perfect introduction to skank, IMO. With a just-right touch of indolic florals, it’s refined and sexy at the same time.
NARCISSE NOIR – An intoxicating floral with a dash of civet.
UNE ROSE – A devastatingly beautiful rose with a lightly animalic base.
ROSE POIVREE – A wonderful rose with a slightly dirty underpinning. I wear this one to work regularly.
SAFFRON JAMES NANI – A pretty and sexy indolic floral featuring jasmine sambac.
AMARANTHINE – What everyone else says. I daydream about this fragrance and really need to get a bottle.
AMOUREUSE – A distinctive and gorgeous honeyed indolic floral blend.
BOIS BLOND – The proverbial roll in the hay, distilled and bottled! Perhaps it’s not technically “skank”; to my nose it’s innocent and sexy at the same time. One of my favorites for late summer/early fall.
Ooh yeah, Amoureuse!
Nice hair!!!!
Yeah, right?
I don’t think that you’re a skank wimp at all! Some of those lovelies have a good dose of dirtiness!
I like this list, Haunani — I’m a bit of a skank wimp too, so I’m taking notes. I wonder why I just don’t get skank from Amaranthine when so many do. I have samples of a couple of these and will check them out!
Jill, I think I’m unclear on the line between sexy and skanky. Amaranthine has a just-right touch of indolic flower in it, for me.
H – have you ever tried the AG Songes? It has a pretty well blended indolic jasmine with other rich florals and a woody sweet vanilla base. It is a rather complicated and intense fragrance overall, and almost too sweet. But at times I like to wear it in the summer – it seems like summer heat really makes that jasmine, indolic thought it may be, sing. Ha ha.
And, btw, I love Boucheron. I’ve had a bottle one way or the other since the mid -90s. It is a great and elegant composition. But I would never have thought of it dipping it’s well manicured toe into the skanky pool!! It is a thoroughly underappreciated fragrance! I’ll have to rotate that in this week.
Ann, I tested Songes in a store and it seemed too sweet and heavy (?) for me. Something didn’t suit. I may have to try it again – perhaps I wasn’t ready to appreciate it! Boucheron – the last time I wore it, I noticed the skank for the first time. I think it was a warmish day, and it wasn’t an overwhelming amount. Let me know what you think!
I adore perfumes with skanky jasmine note.
A few years ago almost anything with jasmine smelled like hourses and stabels to me!
Now only reary can I think of something in a perfume to smell skanky.
Right now I’m all into “Le De” Givenchy – it is a very subtle flower with just a hint of animalic in it – a very nice introduction scent.
Veronika, if you like skanky jasmine, then you might get a kick out of Mona di Orio Nuit Noire.
One of my favorite skanky jasmines is Lush’s Flying Fox body wash. I’ll have to try that Givenchy — “hint of skank” is up my alley!
Doesn’t Flying Fox also have honey in it? I love that one!
Yes, lots of honey, although to me the jasmine is prevalent. To my sister, though, Flying Fox is total cat pee and she hates it when I use it.
Flying Fox is all honey and rubber on me – I love it – very very sexy.
Oooooh – I am a lover of skanky perfumes! What a great poll!
1. What’s your favorite skanky perfume?
Well, I have to answer in the plural here, as there is not ONE, but MANY!
Tauer Fragrances: Incense Extreme, Lonestar Memories and Reverie au Jardin. All are skanky on me and have skanky dry downs……
Piguet: Bandit, naturally. This is my all time favourite scent ever.
Serge Lutens: MKK, of course. Cuir Mauresque has a damn fine skank-down too.
L’Artisan: Timbuktu and Mechant Loup.
Nasomotto: Black Afgano
Commes des Garcons: Avignon, Kyoto and Quarzazate.
Tom Ford: Noir de Noir. Purple Patchouli.
2. What perfume do you think would be a perfect “introduction to skank”?
Bandit. Tabac Blond. Black Afghano. Anything with Oud in it – maybe L’artisan’s Oud, I found that almost unbearable when I first tried it……..almost, but not quite……
3. Are there any perfumes that are just too skanky for you to wear?
So far, none – happily…..well, maybe L’Artisan’s Oud actually……I actually would not wear that. It really smelled like a sweaty bazaar on me.
So many good suggestions here! I really need to explore the Tauer line more. And Mechant Loup — yes! I’d forgotten, but that is total skank on me.
Jill — you must try some Tauer… I love me some Andy, and most of his line is great on me (just enough skank to keep me happy), but Lonestar Memories is just too “skanks-a-hootie” for me. I of course love Bandit, but I think that the just right skank for me is Malle’s Une Rose….beautiful, with a dirty girl ending. I captures my unique charm!!!
Your description of Une Rose is wonderful! It’s one of few Malles I haven’t tried, so will definitely check it out! The only Tauer I’ve tried is Une Rose Chypree, which I liked very much (just now really getting into rose scents).
I have to say that for me L”Aritsan Oud smells like teenage boy BO in the worst possible way…… I didn’t think you could capture that smell and market it, but I was wrong…
Blimunda: I’ve recently fallen in love with Cuir Mauresque and yes, it has skank. However, Mechant Loup is nothing but warm, rich, nutty woods on me.
“Skank” is SUCH useful term for those “let’s get physical” perfumes – thanks to March for coining it. This is a really fun topic – I love reading everyone’s answers and making note of skanks yet unsniffed.
Here are my “dirty thoughts”:
1. I just did a quick prowl through my collection, and “animal butt” smells are well represented. These aren’t the skankiest, but they’re the ones I’ve been wearing the most lately:
Parfumerie General Intrigant Patchouli
Parfumerie General L’Ombre Fauve
Bruno Acampora Musc
2. For starter skanks, I’d recommend:
Stella McCartney Stella
Miller Harris Un Petit Rein (the tamer lil’ sis of L’Air de Rein)
10 Corso Como
Agent Provocateur
3. I gave it the old college try, but Le Labo Oud 27 was too TOO. And I’ve not yet worked up the fortitude to try Etat Libre d’Orange Sécrétions Magnifiques on my skin.
Oh, God, after reading Luca Turin’s skank rave on le Labo Oud 27 I ordered a sample and got a gimlet in the eye migraine the second I smelled it. Really disappointed I couldn’t wear, but gave to a friend who is almost as skanky as March, so it got a good home.
Good to know, because Oud 27 is on my sample wishlist. *Battens down the hatches*
I like it.
I love Oud 27. It’s not as eau de panties as he says but it’s very very sexy!
Finally someone mentions this one: SECRETIONS MAGNIFIQUES!! Ultraskank… others mentioned just do not compare to this. This is the one and only fragrance I absolutely CANNOT wear because of the skank factor.
Interesting, I don’t get any skank in Stella! I quite like it though. I bet now when I wear it again I’ll pick up the skank factor!
1. Amouage Homage Attar, Bandit
2. Bandit, Timbuktu
3. Amouage Tribute Attar, you could kill me with that, actually
Timbuktu is a good intro to skank! I like it very much.
Who you callin’ skanky? I think my skank-o-meter must be defective! All I get from Timbuktu is shimmering greens and refreshing incense/woods. It is one of my year round pick me up fragrances!!!
Lol! I tried Tribute for the first time yesterday and loved it. Big time! I can still smell it on my watch strap and on the cardigan that I wore yesterday and I can’t stop sniffing them. I took a train home and, luckily, people didn’t seem to mind sitting next to me 😀
Tribute smelled like pure ashtray on my skin. I don’t know if that qualifies as skank, but I absolutely will not wear it.
Fav Skank – Party In Manhattan…hands down the best skank ever!!
Intro Skank – Not sure….still thinking
Can’t Do Skank – MKK..its just tooo much for me!
I really have to try Party in Manhattan now! Seems to be a well-loved skank scent.
I don’t know if this qualifies but Montale’s Aoud Queen Roses when worn for a couple of hours is a musk fest of roses and skin in a very sexy way on me.
I felt Vero Profumo’s Onda was skanky on me.
And I liked it.
V&SP’s Jasmine Orange Blossom is another one that is delightfully skanky.
I adore it at night when I’m in my bed and the warmth from my bath and my body temp. makes it rise to sweet slutty heights.
Nothing like getting all clean just to get “dirty”
The man goes on lockdown at these times.
Nuff’ said.
Oh yeah, Onda!
WORD to yo mutha.
That Montale sounds wonderful! I’ll have to check that out for sure.
Jill she’s a BRICKHOUSE,
she’s mighty mighty , just lettin all all out!
Yes do try, lemme know what you think 😉
For that musical comparison ALONE, I have to get my hands on some of that Montale! 🙂
LOL … I’ll keep that in mind!
What is V&SP? That sounds completely wonderful but I can’t figure out what you’re talking about to look it up!
Velvet & Sweet Pea I’m pretty sure … my but that’s some spendy stuff! I’ll trust that it’s beautiful!
http://www.purrfumery.com/kittylicious.php
Joe, yes it is expensive but Laurie is a doll and I gladly give away my $$ to her line, I love it so..
Her Fir-Ever Young and Jasmine Orange Blossom are my fav. but also the only ones I can really afford,
so I guess that’s a good thing!
They are my tiny mls. of heaven. And it feels special when I put them on for that very reason.
Good subject, I think skank intensity really depends on the skin reaction
my answers are
1) L’air de rien, MKK
2) no clue, have to try Amarathine again, I guess
3) Une fleur de cassie, femme, sécrétions magnifiques
OK, it’s official, I have to try L’Air de Rien!
I’m still scared to try that one. 😮
How afraid are you of smelly male teenager’s sneakers? Rank locker rooms?;-)
LOL. I wouldn’t call it THAT scary (but Ann, you crack me up). It wasn’t for me, but I wish I hadn’t sent my sample packing a few months ago.
Ha! Now you’ve really got me running for cover!
Glad I can crack you up!!! Suddenly, I’m having a flashback:
“I do hereby promise only to watch the Ren & Stimpy show,
to make under-leg noises during the good scenes,
to wear unwashed lederhosen every single day of
the rest of my life.”
1. Amaranthine.
2. Amaranthine or Narciso Rodriguez for her.
3. Kelly Caleche Hermes.
Ugh, Kelly Caleche does me in too…but I haven’t identified skank as the culprit. It’s that vegetal tea/leather thing that makes me feel urpy.
So interesting, I get very little if any skank in Kelly Caleche! As always, skin chemistry must have a lot to do with it.
I wear both Edt and EdP Kelly Caleche, and I would describe the first as LBD scent/skin scent, the second is more grapefruit and joyful (reminds a lot of YSL In Love Agaian, also Ellena).
No skank for me at all…
Well, I think it’s the leather note. It smells very animalic on my skin, but I think it all depends on the skin chemistry.
I have to add to the chorus of appreciation for Bal a Versailles as favourite skanky fragrance but haven taken notes on all the other intriguing suggestions. I have trouble with skank to a degree as everything turns sweeter on me and things like Femme smell umm…privately dirty shall we say. And they bloom, oh do they.
I am very much a novice at all this (having loved perfume for ages but only recently set out on the perfumista path) but think Narcisco for Her or my personal favourite, Shalimar, would be good intros. I don’t find Shalimar skanky but I know lots do so it might be an easy way in.
In the too skanky arena, I have to say Vivienne Westwood Boudoir. It doesn’t have skank in the notes per se but on me it is there IN SPADES. I think it smells good in the bottle and on a few people but the few times I tried it from a sample my husband asked, – actually it might be too much to say what he asked but suffice to say it is too skanky for me!
I believe I have a sample of that Vivienne Westwood that I haven’t gotten to — dare I try it?!
I’m with you on Shalimar. 🙂
Jill, you should definitely try the Boudoir. I have it at work and have even slipped it on there!
Wow – I don’t get skank at all from Shalimar – maybe I just never noticed… And clearly I haven’t done enough reading because I had no idea that many folks DO find it skanky! Well, next time I wear it I’ll have to try to sniff from that perspective and see what I find. Thanks for pointing it out! 🙂
Jill, thanks for hosting!
I think one of the reasons I enjoy vintage scents so much is that they are less “clean” – more complex, more depth from the animalic and musk notes. For example, vintage Joy and Le Dix have animalic undertones that I love.
As an intro to skank, I’d recommend L’AP Dzing. The bottle has a tiny image of a sexy trapeze artist riding a tiger, and Dzing smells like her skin, I imagine.
I love cumin in food, but not in perfume, so that eliminates all the scents that draw their skank from cumin.
Totally agree with you on the vintage scents, and there are so many I still need to try.
Dzing! is a great “gateway” skank scent! I love it (on certain days :))
Dzing! smells perfectly like the circus to me: sawdust, cotton candy, animal fur and, um, dung. Fascinating. Scary to wear out, though.
Oh my gosh yes – I love Dzing! 🙂 Wearing it right now, actually – it’s my sort-of slinky skin comfort scent. I agree it’d make a good intro to skank – it was certainly my intro! 🙂 But I don’t think it *screams* skank… it’s too mellow for that (at least on me, usually…)
Just tried a sample of Dzing! and I definitely get the circus connection-it smells like BO and dung. I imagine it is the smell of a sweaty animal trainer who has just finished cleaning the poop out of the cages on a 90 degree day. YUK!!
Gosh, Nozknoz, so often we like the same things, but I love to wear fragrances with cumin! And they are not skanky on me. I don’t get that connection at all.
I love cumin too (except in Amouage fragrances). I love LL Rose 31 – when I wear it, it’s like I am eating the most amazing, fresh Mexican food and a giant bowl of roses is sitting right next to me. Ditto for Amaranthine, but substitute amazing milky pudding desert for roses.
Yes, I love Rose 31 and Amaranthine also. I don’t get any skank from Rose 31, and the small amount I get from Amaranthine is (I think) indolic floral.
Does anyone else find Habanita skanky? I get warm vanilla and leather sex kitten and then–whoa–dark dank undergrowth of something rotting, possibly the vetiver. The sex kitten becomes a tigress.
SuzyQ, I still haven’t tried Habanita — it’s been on my to-try list for ages. Your description is definitely moving it up the list!
1. Vintage Bandit, Rochas Femme. I tend to like the kind of dirt that patchouli provides sometimes, too, although that’s less skank and more earth and decomposition, possibly… Borneo 1834 is one of the most glorious things I’ve ever worn and I crave a full bottle.
2. I imagine that Le Temps d’Une Fête would make a good introduction, as would Shalimar, definitely.
3. I have yet to find one. I have yet to sniff a lot of well-renowned skanky fragrances too, though.
I am a Borneo fan too. 🙂
Without any question: Kouros.
And I love the animalic boldness of Jicky.
I have not tried Kouros but will put it on the list now! (This poll is really making me aware of how very much I haven’t tried!)
I’m loving a lot of perfumes that are considered skanky (MKK, Bal a V, Amaranthine, Bandit, Rochas Femme). The only perfume I’ve tried that has been too skanky on my skin is PdE Aziyade. Unwashed lady parts have never smelled that bad.
Oh dear — maybe I will avoid Aziyade!
1)
Yatagan
Bal a Versailles
Bandit
Ambre Sultan
Ambre et Diamant Noir (by Ambregris)
Joy
Shalimar
Sinan (by Jean Marc Sinan)
Need I say more???? I love skank!
2) Joy would be a good starter: you could pretend it is a rosey-jasmine.
3) NONE! I used to think that Shalimar was too skanky for me, but another try this last year (after many other tries in past years) convinced me otherwise.
Hurrah for Shalimar! I discovered at 15 and it was love at first sniff – haven’t tried the extrait but the EdP is much nicer than the Edt.
So many votes for Bal a Versailles, which I’ve yet to try! Agree with you on Shalimar!
Great, great topic. Love me some skank!
1. Don’t make me choose my favorite. O.K., it’s Delrae Amoureuse (indoles + honey + musk = heaven). But I also love others mentioned here, including Party in Manhattan, BaV, Rochas Femme,
2. Skank for newbies? Maybe NR for her for musk, SL A La Nuit for indoles, and Kingdom for cumin (honestly, I don’t get that much)
3. I used to think I had skank-eating skin and thus that it would be impossible for something to be too skanky. Wrong! Jicky EdP smelled like . . . well, there’s really no polite way to put it. AA Pamplelune turned into rank onion-y B.O.; I would have welcomed a cat pee note at that point. I enjoy the first 30 minutes of MKK or Kiehl’s Original Musk but wouldn’t wear them out of the house. Finally, there’s something cumin-y I tried that just grossed me out–can’t remember if it was SL or Heeley.
Definitely want to try that Amoreuse! And I’m glad you mentioned Kingdom as that’s been on my list too. I wonder if it’s harder to find now?
Jill, I think I’m low on decanting supplies, but if you’d be interested in receiving samples in a few weeks, I’d be happy to send them over. If you’re on Basenotes, you can PM me there, or you can contact me via MUA (BlackCat13).
Will do, Blackcat — many thanks!
While it’s true that I’m not as experienced as most of you here, I think my all-time favorite, Dior Addict, might fit the bill. It’s got some very sweet stuff happening, but there’s a punch of something dirty behind it all. It’s unsophisticated and messy, but it’s a lover I would never kick out of bed.
I do like Addict — haven’t worn it in quite a while! I’ll have to revisit it.
Kickass! Another soul who enjoys Addict. Let me know how you feel about it once you revisit it. It’s so interesting how our perceptions of any given scent will change after we’ve given it a rest.
I think someone mentioned Vivienne Westwood’s Boudoir… I used to love it! I could definitely see the skank in it. It’s wonderful, though.
I have gotten some great inspiration from you guys on skankscents to try, thanks!
Manoumalia is just complete barnyard stench on me.
I LOVE anamalic and love Amaranthine, Lyric Woman, Aoud Royal, Bois Blond for their skankiness…
Manoumalia — yet another I’ve heard about but not tried! I don’t think I got skank from Lyric Woman — I need to return to my sample, which I liked very much.
Baraba at Yesterday’s Perfume has a wonderful new post calling the attention of all skank-o-philes to ARAMIS:
http://yesterdaysperfume.typepad.com/yesterdays_perfume/2010/06/aramis-1965.html
Love her blog.
And she mentions Azuree as Aramis’s close relative. There is a dried sweat thing happening in Azuree, I think.
What a perfect article for this poll! Plus, we get to see a pic of naked, pre-plastic-surgery Burt Reynolds in his heyday! LOL.
For my two cents, I’ve always found Poison super-skanky! When all the girls in my high school were wearing it, I was wearing my Dad’s Polo. :-p Also, What about FlowerBomb? I have literally RAN AWAY from people wearing it. Bomb is right.
My favorite kind of “skanky” is hippie skanky, which makes me think I’d like L’Air. I certainly like Timbuktu. I used to wear pure patchouli oil (which turned off one man for sure, as he asked me to NEVER wear it near him again), or amber oil, but now I just settle for Ormonde Jayne Woman (which smells mossy and dark on me) or my good ol’ Kiehl’s Musk. I’ve classed up my skank a bit!
What does everyone think of man skank? There’s some bad men’s cologne out there, but my worst experience was with a man wearing Obsession–it smelled like sweaty woman on him–big turn offf!
I don’t think or OJ Woman as skanky, or even sexy at all–to me it is a comfort scent. It makes me think I am working in my rose garden or walking through a forest.
I had a Poison mini about 20 years ago, I think, and I remember being overwhelmed by it! I can’t remember whether or not it was “skank” to me though!
I bought an oil from Cherryblossom Dive on the Bay, and it had the inoffensive name ‘Romantic Musk’. I put it on and immediately recoiled, because it smelled like bodily matter–fecal waste and unbrushed teeth. But I let it develope, and it became the most wonderful, soft, floral oil, with enough skank to keep it edgy.
Gardenia, on the other hand, hates me.All I get in indoles.
It’s as thought someone dropped a bottle of floral perfume in a morgue.
No idea what I’d suggest, thought. Probably my ‘Romantic Musk’.
I would never have expected that either from something called “Romantic Musk”! I love how innocuous it sounds. Will have to add it to the list!
Hello, Jill & everyone.
Just spritzed on Amaranthine in honor of this post. However, while I find Amaranthine very sexy, I’m not sure I find it skanky. Sex is what it is, but “skank” seems like sex-plus. Plus perspiration, plus dirt, plus whatever.
Many things others find “skanky” I do not. Timbuktu? Nope. Joy? Not really. Femme? Absolutely not; I find the vintage to be like a comfort scent along the lines of Jubilation 25.
Obviously, the mileage varies. Sometimes civet can be very skanky: Kouros? BIG check! Rose Poivree? Well, a little. For me, skank often has to do with very animalic musks, often in combination with leather. Musc Ravageur is a major comfort scent, but also has that skank of musk. Theo Fennell Scent edp definitely has a musky undertone that I call skanky.
My favorite skank: Etat Libre d’Orange Vierges et Toreros. It’s extreme leather, animal, skank sex in a bottle, and I love it.
The one I can’t wear? Can NOT wear… Muscs Kublai Khan. I enjoy smelling it on my arm as a scent experiment, but I sincerely think I’m hyperosmic to the musk, because to me it smells like overripe cheese in a warm room for awhile before it settles down to the beeswax and animal hide comfort that Tania Sanchez alludes to in The Guide.
heh Joe that MKK baby is my one and only unwearable skank too! There is something in it, maybe the costus (is that the one that they get off billy-goats whiskers [or some other part??], that makes me think of clothes worn too long, or of hair that needs washing too much, very masculine…once I got the old clothes association it was all over! And yet…I see the bottles sitting for sale as ‘export’ at the moment, and I know I am going to cave, how can we not possess such a landmark in perfumery?
Joe, ditto on the thoughts of Amaranthine.
I don’t get it, it’s not a Ho stroll, it’s just yumminess.
I wore it to church for crying out loud aha 🙂
I wear it to church, too.
I guess we were sitting on our lil’ cloud of sinny sin sin then Mals! ha 🙂
I tried Amaranthine for the first time in honor of this post as well Joe…found NO skank…but wound up LOVING it!
Hey, Theo Fennell! Hurrah! Love that one….
No skank for me in Amaranthine either. I’m really interested, though, that this poll is making me think about the distinction between “sexy” and “skanky” much more than I would have otherwise!
Over ripe cheese. Nice. I think MKK smells like rotten leather hide (one step below rendering plant).
I don’t do skanky. I like fresh, crisp, clean scents or sweet.
LOL Sunshine, the mad people on here like them TOO!!!
There is clearly a little spot in the perfume universe where we have collected in our skanky, flowery, spicey, fruity, musky, vanillic togetherness….
…careful….LOL
Sunshine, I get what your saying.
It’s just the way you said it! ha 😉
Wini is right, we don’t all only love skank, we welcome it all.
(Ok truth be told – I can’t do aquatic or too clean!)
But keep reading, maybe somethin’ will peak your curiousity . Try new tastes, maybe it will surprise you.
I like fresh, crisp, clean as well! It all depends on my mood. 🙂
3. Fracas! To me it smells absolutely cadaverous, like a damp basement morgue in New Orleans. I can’t go near it.
And, as others have mentioned – Secretions Magnifique literally makes me gag.
I must also be hyperosmic to musks, because I used to love D&G Light Blue, but now find that after the green apple fades, the base note smells to me like dirty hair, sebum and Polly-O string cheese.
Then I’m the dead diva thats reeking in that sweltering basement.
hee hee hee
I’m definitely still struggling with Fracas. Originally I thought it was the peach note, which I just cannot do. It’s growing on me, but it’s been a process.
Fracas is major. I think it could be used in lieu of pepper spray to ward off attackers , wild dogs, or bears. But I feel like that about most big tuberose – totally incapacitating.
I don’t think of myself as someone who likes skank, but I just sampled Amaranthine and love it. I also love Boudoir and NR for Her, but both smell good to me, not skanky. Of course, I started wearing perfume back in the 70’s, when no one wanted their perfume to smell like clean cotton. Hey, maybe I do like skank after all! Cat pee, though…no.
I’ve had my fill of “cat pee” scent for the day after just cleaning out the 3 litter boxes my 6 cats share. Fortunately, I haven’t wound up with any scents (skanky or otherwise) that are reminiscent of cat pee for me. I know some people who live with a lot of cats become somewhat insensitive to that smell, but it’s had the opposite effect on me. I’m hypersensitive to it.
I guess I need to try that Boudoir now — it’s interesting that it’s not skanky to you but is very skanky to others!
I got Boudoir in a swap. I didn’t know anything about it the first time I tried it, so I approached it with a completely open mind. I liked it a lot. Later, when I read the reviews, I was quite surprised at the way others describe it.
Weil’s Antilope is probably my favorite. It really smells like an antilope!
WOW, even lions are reading NST, so coool : D
🙂
I’m new to the wide world of scent, so I can’t answer 2 & 3. But I adore Bal a Versailles and Lutens MKK. I’ve been testing Amoureuse which I didn’t realize is skank. Must be why I like it so much 🙂
I don’t get any skank out of Amoureuse, either…
I am wearing Amoureuse today and I don’t any skank from it either…love it though….
Bal a Versailles & Amoureuse are definitely on my list!
Ok I think I get it now, and apparently I really like skanky. I have quite a few in my perfume stash, and my favorites are Agent Provacateur (both original and Maitresse) and Shalimar. I also really like Dior Addict, it is one of the few perfumes that I’ve actually finished. I’m excited to try a few of the ones everyone is talking about but I’m not sure where to find them.
Alot of what is mentioned here can be found as samples on ReiRen or go to the TPC Jules. Have fun!
I meant Rei Rein , oops!
And go to Luckyscent for samples too.
Rei Rien 😛
Gaawd I’m off my game people.
More love for Addict! *hurray*
It’s funny, I never really understood the term “skank” before reading this thread, but now I know, I’ve been skanky for quite some time.
I don’t know…I don’t get “SKANK” from any of the fragrances being discussed here…LL Oud 27 nope, FM Musc Ravageur nope, Amaranthine nope…SL MKK nope. Maybe a bit from LaP Al Oudh. Someone said it smelled very “SEXUAL” on me. Good luck Jill in finding a SKANK fragrance for your collection. 😉
Thanks, Carlos. You set your “skank bar” very high, LOL! It really is interesting how “skanky” is turning out to have quite different meanings to different people.
I haven’t tried any of the Delrae’s yet
and so many mentions of Amoureuse makes me wanna especially BlackCat’s!
Thanks kitty 🙂
I definitely want to try Amoureuse too.
1. Al Oudh *at the moment*
2. Agent Provacateur (a pretty clean skank, no civet or cumin!)
3. Revolution (b-day gift from the hubby that goes just too far)
A new friend of mine was getting the tour of my perfume collection, and when I was talking to her about ingredients she was appalled by the idea of anything from the nether regions of a cat landing in perfume.
I reminded her of a recent hiking trip we had been on– we spent a good amount of time just standing still, inhaling deeply (not because we were tired from the hike ; )
We were smelling an entire composition: the evergreens, the resins, the mulchy decomposing undergrowth, the running water nearby, the slugs, bugs, and the deer sh*t on the path. All of these things together created something magical.
Occasionally, I’ll meet a new fragrance that’s *almost* perfect, but feel like it’s missing… depth. There’s something about the faint whiff of decomp that can bring a scent fully to life.
Or, maybe it’s just me : )
Not just you – there are a few fragrances that my notes (when I kept notes) say – what is that decay smell? And it was stuff I liked, so, yeah, it can add a certain element.
dee, it is so beautiful the way you write about this
I feel you! Hiking and running in forests is my cuppa tea..such beautiful scents all around<3<3 It's my aromatherapy, my church…
I love your description of your hiking trip!
NR for her? Crisp and clean on me. Borneo? Spicy chocolate and coffee – almost cuddly. I’m a relative newbie but I’ve tried a lot of the scents mentioned for beginners and I don’t get any skank at all. I was actually surprised to see them listed.
Can’t do the indoles though. Tuberose is especially painful for me. Starts off sweet and innocent but 30 minutes later turns into nasty B.O.
Tuberose can be difficult for me too. I do get a bit of skank from Borneo, but not much. I think of it as more of a comfort scent.
I enjoy finding a bit of warm-naked-skin-smell in my fragrances. Favorites in this area: Climat, Ubar, Citizen Queen, Bal a Versailles. Another favorite of mine, L’Arte di Gucci, eventually develops a dirty-hair sort of smell, if you’re checking really close. I like it.
What I don’t care much for is the “unwashed, post-coital bodyparts” stuff I get in Joy (yeah-yeah, so sue me, it’s really raunchy on my skin). And the drydown of PdN Maharanih is all sweaty boxer shorts, IMO.
I’ve not really explored a lot of the classic skankfests. I have an Arabic-style attar or oil that purportedly consists of rose, real ambergris (yeah, right) and “Real Tonkin Musk”… I don’t know if the ingredient is the real deal, but it is seriously Butt. I don’t really wear the stuff – I put a drop in the bathtub and it’s nice. A drop on my skin is a little scary.
Warm-naked-skin-smell is so nice! I’ve seen Citizen Queen mentioned several times here but get no skank (or warm naked skin either) from it.
That oil sounds a bit frightening!
My two (s)cents…
1. SKANKS I LOVE: Jubilation 25, Epic Woman, Le Labo Oud 27 (aw yeah!), Angel (there’s a bit of skank in there I’m sure), Certain vintages of Chanel No. 5
2. WELL HI THERE SKANK, IT”S NICE TO MEET YOU: Epic Woman, Vintage Chanel Pour Monsieur EDT (very light skank), Chanel LE Cuir de Russie
3. SKANKS BE GONE: Caron Pour Un Homme, Shalimar, Chanel No. 22 (ACK!), Hermes Eau d’Hermes, Vintage Miss Dior
4. SKANKS I’D LIKE TO KNOW: SL MKK, Amaranthine, MH L’Air de Rien
NB: Musks don’t read as “skank” to my nose. And ELD’O SDM is DEFINITELY NOT SKANK, it’s BARFMATIC!
😉
finally someone mentioned No 5.! .. I forgot that one, because I don’t like it, but it definitely smells skanky (or is it a “pong”?)…
I love the titles of your skank categories!
We interrupt this program fora special announcement:
5 of the Chanel Exclusifs will be available in smaller sizes come September or so! I think the 5 are Beige, Sycomore, Coromandel, Eau de Cologne and Bel Respiro (but don’t get too excited or quote me – I saw Coromandel and Sycomore on the list and kinda went blind there for a minute).
They will, of course, be a bit higher priced per ml, but once I explained to the SA why we want smaller sizes, and that most of us buy bottles to split, he got the idea. We also strenuously pushed for a coffret.
Now back to your regular programming.
VERY NICE! But no 31 Rue Cambon? And who needs a small size of Eau de Cologne – it’s so light that one needs the uber-jug. And Beige is kind of “meh” to me so all in all… I’d prefer a coffret, but will probably plunk down the bucks for the lower per/ml price in the end…
I was suprised by the Eau de Cologne choice, too. And like I say, I only got a brief glance at the list.
“If this had been an actual emergency…”
ooooooh. OOOOOOOOH!!!!! That is some seriously hot news!
Thanks, Tama! I think Beige is gorgeous in spite of all my grousing about its name. Gonna consider a purchase!
thank you so much for the info Tama : ) feels like heaven : )
WTH!!!!!!!!!
Thank you Tama for the awesome heads up, I’m looking forward to that, even though La Pausa isn’t involved.
She’s my lovely ghost lady, you feel her there and then she’s gone…..
Oh, wow and yay! Thanks for letting us know.
Sycomore, here I come!!! 😀 It’s a shame that Cuir De Russie is not one of them because that’s the other one that I’m lusting after. There’s always pure parfum, I suppose.
Great news, Tama!!! I’ll start dropping hints now about what this year’s Christmas present needs to be…..
Thanks Tama, wish I had known that before I bought that mega vat of Sycomore!!!
#3 Thierry Mugler ANGEL, Dolce & Gabbana LIGHT BLUE, and Gucci RUSH – All three conjure up the discount rack at Caché.
LOL. 🙂
Ah, the glory of skank in perfume! As evolved as we’d like to think we are, I think we all still have that animal attraction in us to bodily smells. And it’s not just for their transgression, I think they offer comfort at a deep instinctive level. The weird thing for me about musks, such as Luetn’s MKK, is that I don’t find them dirty as much as reassuringly intimate, like a big warm hug.
1. What’s your favorite skanky perfume?
ROSE: TDC’s Rose Poivree (angry pissy rose), Rosine’s Twill Rose (animalic rose) & Le Labo’s Rose 31 (like falling in love, naked and raw).
OUD: L’Artisan’s Al-Oudh (scrumptious cumin!), Le Labo’s Oud 27 (true skank), and Montale’s Oud Cuir d’Arabie (talk about bodily odors!).
LEATHER: PG’s Cuir d’Iris (smells like lamb meat to me), Tauer’s Lonestar Memories (aforementioned meat on the grill) & ELdO’s Vierge et Torreros (the tuberose somehow only amplifies that animalic leather).
MUSK: Luten’s MKK (the best way to hug yourself) & Keihl’s Original Musk (the cheaper way to hug yourself).
2. What perfume do you think would be a perfect “introduction to skank”?
Le Labo’s Rose 31 & Keihl’s Musk.
3. Are there any perfumes that are just too skanky for you to wear?
ELdO’s Secretions Magnifique! Scary skank! Though perhaps it smells more like sickness than sex. And MH’s L’Air de Rein (although now I’m considering giving it another try).
Oh, and I forgot S-Perfume’s S-eX! What a gorgeous leather! But I always think of Chandler Burr’s comment on this, that it smells like the genitalia of a freshly shampooed beast!
What?!
Hey Arch.Memory: Great to “meet” someone else who loves Vierges et Toreros. I love that stuff beyond belief. I think it would be one of my 10 or 15 “desert island” scents.
We should form a little club!
Funny, I was wearing Vierges the other day and love it! The tuberose is unrecognizable to me, but I guess that’s because I only know it in the Fracas style.
1.Alexander McQueen Kingdom
2.Givenchy Le De
3. I’ve never tried it but I guess EL Secretions Magnifique would be too skanky to wear.
I love the skanky jasmines like Liz Zorn’s Jojo and Le De.
Another Kingdom recommendation! Seems Secretions Magnifique is too skanky for quite a few.
Skank Virgin here. To me, Bvlgari Pour Femme smells like dirty armpits. My sister says, “Tire tread.” I think it’s benzoin? The resin smells dirty on me.
Fifi Chachnil is definitely a tramp and Ta-bu by Dana is an old tramp.
I love your description of Tabu. 🙂
OK, I’ve pulled out the big guns and have a spritz of MKK on one arm and Santa Maria Novella – Peau d’Espagne on the other. I forgot about Peau earlier.
MKK: I can sense the same kind of rich muskiness that I love in Musc Rav and Kiehl’s Original Musk. However, I realized what it is that bothers me: my nose picks up something *distinctly* fecal. That does go away after awhile and I can see the warm hug aspect of this scent, but I’m afraid that one note is a bit offputting, you know, especially when you think that other people might be smelling it that way too if worn in public. I’ll stick mostly with my big, cozy bottle of Musc Rav.
Peau d’Espagne: Now this one knocks my socks off. I love it. It’s sort of animalic, soapy, and floral/herbaceous all at the same time. It feels very Old World, true to its heritage and the history of SMN, but I highly recommend this one. Mm. I could see dousing myself in it regularly.
I don’t think I’ve tried anything from the Santa Maria Novella line – sounds interesting!
I think I wore too much musk as a hippie chile’ so I don’t think of it as a sexy/skanky/animal thing. But then I have never tried MKK.
have you tried just dabbing some MKK over musc ravageur, it makes it slightly edgier, and less harmless (agree with it’s overall coziness)
I want to try MKK again, but after reading your experience, Joe, I’m going to wait until it’s less humid here. 🙂
I don’t pay that much attention to skank, really. I did try some Diorella today and it got a bit skanky, I guess, but it’s not a category I really single out. Like, I think Vivienne Westwood Boudoir is slutty, but not skanky or even sexy. Amaranthine is sexy as all get-out to me, but not skanky. I guess I just don’t know how to smell skank. People say civet adds it, but I think that may be the ingredient that goes all pond-water on me, which is just stinky. Maybe for me skank is that deep dark thing that happens with the right combo of patch and other stuff, like Opus Oils Voodoo, or HDP Marquis de Sade. Sorry, I’m rambling after a full day of perfume-sniffing!!
Tama don’t ever be ‘sorry’ for rambling,
b**ching , venting, gushing, praising or shunning on here. 🙂
We all come here to do that.
Perfume huffin’ sounds like my kind of day…
It’s an interesting distinction between sexy and skanky. To me, sexy can be lots of scents (depending on my mood), but skanky seems more consistent. LOL.
First skanky perfume – Bvlgari Black… on bad days i detect a strong animalic note..but on other days i just get a smoky rubbery essence…
I wanted to love BV Black but I just feel like a vanilla condom,
not what I’m aiming for you know? ha
ooohhh I love Bv Black…I’m wearing it right now. It doesn’t smell very sweet on me at all. I actually sprayed it on because of this thread, I was wondering if it was in fact skanky. 🙂
I mostly get the smoky rubber from Black — will have to retry and see if I get any skank!
Sorry to say, but I dislike skank. If I can smell it, that is. Amaranthine is not skanky to me at all. I love NR for her and don’t find it skanky either.
1. The best, only very slightly skanky, is Oriental Lounge. Muscs Koublai Khan is also wonderful, and so is Chergui.
2. An introduction to skank – Opium. Obsession is also slightly skanky, although not peppery enough for me these days.
3. Too skanky to wear – almost all of them, starting unfortunately with Shalimar. How I wanted to like this icon of perfumery. I even found a flanker – Eau Legere ot similar, in a turquoise bottle, that was just about de-skanked for me. Sadly, it disappeared from all stores. I also do not recommend Rose Poivree, it is very skanky after the head notes melt away. My skin also reacted funny to Passage D’Enfer, although if worn over Oriental Lounge it massively improves it.
I didn’t think of Chergui — my Lutens samples are definitely being revisited after this poll! So interesting about Passage d’Enfer — I love it but get nothing close to skank from it.
The only musc that I like, and I actually love it, is Serge Lutens Clair de Musc! After MKK many people might think, Clair de Musc is for kids, hahaha. No but being serious now, It might be very delicate and sheer, but it’s a beautiful musc fragrance. Would I call it skanky (animalic?) Absolutely not, especially with it’s “iris powder from tuscany and orange blosson from florence”, but It’s the only musc I ever liked!!! So I mentioned it here:))
I like Clair de Musc too! And yes, it sure is different from MKK, if memory serves!
Clair de Musc is beeeyoooteeful….my favorite musk as well. And one of the very few Serge Lutens that I like to wear. I bet you’d like M.Micallef Royal Muska, have you tried it?
lutens mkk is my favorite but i also love his miel de bois, but neither is what you want to be wearing in a 102 degree dallas lheat wave.
I think this is the first mention of Miel de Bois I’ve seen here? That one is, unfortunately, too much for me! But I thought it would get more mention in this poll.
People always say “urine” about Miel, though I love it. But maybe it didn’t get mentioned here because urine is quite different from the concept of “skank”? Or maybe it’s a sub-category of skank? I’m never sure. LOL
Good point — there does seem to be a difference. JM Sweet Lime & Cedar (which I like) goes to cat pee on me, but I wouldn’t say it’s skanky.
Bulgari, the original in the creamy yellow packaging, smells like a person who may have started the day with a shower but worked very hard and sweated. I have experienced this on two different people and really thought that their deodorant had failed them. Super ugh!
Yeah, I don’t think I want my perfume smelling simply like my deodorant is failing, even if I’m going for skank!
That Bvlgari is Pour Femme mentioned above, and I am glad I’m not the only one to whom it smells like armpits! I think the benzion or the labdamin? smells like camphor on me. 🙁
First thank you for the *lol*s – Eau de Heau! Great!
I Consider SL A la Nuit skanky, and SL’s MKK is a public danger. I have no problems at all with musc, I just cannot stand civet.
Love Amaranthine and Timbuktu, but I would consider them as harmless, even in summer.
I’ll have to return to my a la Nuit sample and check out the skank factor — it’s been a while! I remember thinking it was lovely but didn’t work for me. Most Lutens I have not had great luck with.
I’m not getting the comments about Timbuktu having skank!
H: since the beginning, I’ve read many people opine that Timbuktu has a lot of cumin, or that it smells like dirt. I don’t get that at all either. Not a speck of cumin; but then, most scents that people label with cumin do not strike me as having any cumin (Femme, Amaranthine, etc.).
I get a strong celery-cumin-sweat note from Timbuktu. I still like Timbuktu, but I’m afraid to wear it in public because of that. I detect the same not in many of Duchaufour’s other creations, and I wonder if it’s the Cypriol that LT talks about in his review of Timbuktu.
I think either some of us are hyperosmic to it, which upsets the balance with other notes, or it’s one of those things like that phenylacetic acid that smells like honey to some people and urine to others. In any case, I’d really love to have a vial of Timbuktu with a greatly reduced level of whatever that celery note is!
This is interesting! Timbuktu is shiny-bright and *clean* to my nose, and it hadn’t occurred to me that I might offend someone while wearing it.
On the other hand, I don’t get a lot of skank from some other scents, like The Party in Manhattan, that most people find skanky. It just smells like a beautiful vintage perfume to me.
This makes me a bit paranoid sometimes (especially with vintage scents) – who really knows what a perfume may smell like to other people 🙂
I suppose it’s part of our burden as perfumistas (resigned hand pressed to forehead). 😉
Yes, as Haunani says, it’s our burden.
Actually, I know what you’re saying though. I wouldn’t want to be wearing MKK thinking it smells like a warm hug, or Timbuktu thinking I smell like a fresh African morning… and yet everyone around me is thinking I stink to high heaven and need a good wash!
Joe: I think the same thing! There are a few fragrances I don’t wear to work anymore b/c even though I think I smell fantastic, I wonder what other people are smelling. Esp. this summer: I decided not to wear Ninfeo Mio to work worried that people would be offended by the boxwood/cat pee smell. Ack. (And I love Timbuktu too!! and think it smells like pure wonderful green happiness!)
Thank you Jill for hosting!
Thank yo everyone for their suggestion for it has helped to fuel my “habit” as I placed an online sample order for quite a few scents. I’ve been wanting to sniff Amaranthine for some time so I have to see what why everyone seems to love it so much. And of course I can’t just order one sample……..
Oops! Thank you!
You’re welcome, Dixie! I had a great time! This poll has definitely fueled my habit too … I’ve got a long list of must-try’s going.
Thanks, everyone, for such terrific suggestions!
Aw shux! Late to the skank poll 🙂 Some o my fave skankers: Rose Poivree (LOVE- and need to dig out and wear NOW)- Chanel Cuir de Russie, Rochas Femme, Panty Party in Manhattan! I agree that Amaranthine is a good skank intro. Shalimar too. Also- the currrent iteration of Diorella is a bit cumin-y on my- would be good for the skank starter kit 😉
Cuir de Russie was rather hideously true-to-life Cattle Working Pen on me. I know I’ve said this before, but it really, REALLY shocked me.
Funny- the first time I smelled Cuir de Russie- I too was shocked and appalled! And now- I love it. Tee-hee. Give it another sniff in 6 mon ths!
Wow, HV, Cuir de Russie is skank to you? To me it’s the most elegant leather bag with hints of powdery iris. But I guess I can see where you’re coming from insofar as the smell of leather is always a bit skanky/animalic.
Well Joe- I actually get a bit of dirty leather knickers (like in the old days before TP was so popular!) But they are very sexy leather knickers!
You know what I can’t abide as far as skank- is the too pissy notes of some (lookin at you Vintage Rose). Then again- it has been a long time since I tried VR so I might have had a change <3
Joe: one perfumista’s elegant leather bag is another perfumista’s smelly work boots.
I’m late to the game but I’m so glad there are fellow stank lovers out there! Thanks for the shout-out Anne-Marie. Aramis is wonderful and wearable, and thanks to March and others for reminding us that stank isn’t just animalic — it can be indolic or derive from cumin, cedar, or melon notes just to name a few.
One of my favorite stank perfumes that I don’t see mentioned is Shiseido’s discontinued Feminite du Bois. It’s the closest I’ve gotten to “odor di femina” in a perfume. It’s embedded in such a gorgeous dark plum/rose/jasmine/ylang heart that its stanky/dirty underpants base notes (cedarwood, sandalwood, patchouli, musk, amber, civet, vanilla) become part of its beauty. Kind of scandalous.
I think someone else mentioned vintage Diorella and its wonderful slightly rotten fruit plus flowers note. I almost smell jack fruit and Durian in there…
I love (find fascinating) but cannot wear Secretions Magnifique. To me, this is the outer limits of skank. Skank, to me, is just human or organic material in its most ripe form. SM is too biological/clinical/medical — with its blood, adrenaline and sperm accord. Eeeep!
Thanks for moderating Jill and thanks to everyone for commenting. I have such a long list of perfumes to try now…
Shiseido is still making FdB, although it has been reformulated. Agree about Diorella!
Well, I’m really late on this thread (how did I miss this??), but I’ll add my 2 cents, since I have some no one has mentioned yet… I was just thinking about this as I was drifting off to sleep last nice, having sprayed myself with something that is just too skanky…
1. What’s your favorite skanky perfume?
Le Maroc Pour Elle, Halston, Lonestar Memories, L’Antimatieire, CB Musk Reinvention, Une Fleure de Cassie
2. What perfume do you think would be a perfect “introduction to skank”?
L’antimatiere — beautifully elegant and subtle, not as gaggingly sweet at L’Air du Rien (which it reminds me of)
Divin’ Enfant — it’s luscious… not quite as skanky as Dzing, which I think is also a nice introduction.
3. Are there any perfumes that are just too skanky for you to wear?
Often, I find Timbuktu to be too much… As well as Serge Lutens’ A La Nuit, and Bigarade Concentree, which on me, smells like a lot of sweaty armpit.
Very late to the party! MKK sounds like it would smell like a Moroccan leather bag – very goaty! and not good in a room with more people than oneself. I own and love Amaranthine, and would echo all those folks who have suggested that skank is in the nose of the sniffer, but that is not going to stop us all wearing the fragrances we love. For the record I find Fracas unbearable, even in small dabs, and am disappointed to report that AA Mandarine Basilic turns into cat pee on me after a lovely beginning!
I agree with Kingdom totally, the dry down is sex + roses, sexy as hell on a woman, and I love wearing it too, especially in hot weather, it’s in toxicating.