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Browsing by tag: musk

Musk by Alyssa Ashley ~ fragrance review

Posted by Angela on 22 July 2013 86 Comments

alyssa-ashley-musk

It’s drugstore week! Robin is on vacation, and once again I’ve commandeered a week to review fragrances you can buy at the same time you pick up aspirin and kitty litter.

One thing you can say for drugstores is that they aren’t afraid to stock musk. Musky stalwarts from Coty and Jovan have been selling steadily for more than 40 years, and despite the reluctance of department stores to go there, Rite Aid appears to see no reason to fool with success. Alyssa Ashley Musk has been a drugstore favorite since 1968.

Last week I stopped by Nordstrom for a lipstick and ended up engrossed at a temporary display table for Houbigant. Michal Gizinski, billed by Nordstrom as an international fragrance consultant, stood over bottles of Houbigant Fougère Royale, Oranger en Fleurs and Quelques Fleurs, enticing shoppers with his European accent and Prince Matchabelli looks to try one of the fragrances. I told him I was doing a week of drugstore perfume reviews, and he quickly recommended Alyssa Ashley Musk…

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Parfum d’Empire Musc Tonkin ~ fragrance review

Posted by Kevin on 16 January 2013 44 Comments

musk deer

Parfum d’Empire is one of my favorite perfume houses, but on occasion, its references to warmongering dictators,1 brutal tiger hunts, and, now, a celebrated raw material from an endangered species, annoy me. I’ve written about musk and the musk deer before so I won’t repeat myself, but creating a perfume called Musc Tonkin, and taking that a step further and making the perfume a limited edition (which gives it the air of a “rare” commodity) strikes me as insensitive, especially right now as many wild animals around the world are in danger of being wiped out for their body parts: the elephants of Africa come to mind (please Marc-Antoine Corticchiato, don’t develop an “Ivory Tusk” perfume inspired by the Kingdom of Benin).

Rant over, I will say I’m always interested in smelling a Parfum d’Empire creation. Musc Tonkin2 goes on strong, with a fragrance reminiscent of leather scented with aromas that remind me of carnation-cloves/cinnamon and “hairy” musks (or should I say well-aged manure?) I grew up in a family of gardeners and I associate gardening with the scent of — chicken manure. Every February or March, my father and grandmother arranged to have a large quantity of fresh chicken manure delivered to the edge of a woods they owned. This manure was allowed to age before it was used in our garden. After a year spent in the sun, the rain, the heat and cold, the manure was ready to use around plants or to enrich the soil of flower and vegetable beds. The cured manure smelled sweet, not at all unpleasant…

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Serge Normant Avah ~ fragrance review

Posted by Jessica on 1 June 2012 18 Comments

Serge Normant Avah

It’s funny how my brain will absorb and retain information from fashion-and-beauty magazines when I’m getting so forgetful in some other areas. When I heard that Serge Normant was planning to release a fragrance, I nodded sagely to myself and thought, “Ah yes, Julia Roberts’s stylist.” I’m not even a Julia Roberts fan, so why do I know and remember this fact? Obviously, the ink used to print women’s glossies has some sort of peculiar chemical-bonding effect on my brain.

In any case: stylist Serge Normant’s first fragrance is Avah, a composition of ylang ylang, jasmine, amber, soft woods, and musks with the tagline “Enter the exotic.” It’s formulated to be worn on hair as well as skin, which makes sense for the brand. The name “Avah” supposedly means “desire” and “life,” although I haven’t been able to track down that etymology. (Let me know if you have a better idea of its origin!) In the “making of” video for Avah and its ad, Normant mentions his interest in making women look (and smell) “sexy without hitting people over the head” and he describes the scent and its visuals as having a style of “rawness with a little touch of sophistication.”

That all sounds just about right…

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Etat Libre d’Orange Archives 69 ~ fragrance review

Posted by Jessica on 3 June 2011 32 Comments

Etat Libre d'Orange Paris boutique

Archives 69 takes its name from the address of the Etat Libre d’Orange flagship boutique, located at 69 Rue des Archives in Paris. Since this is Etat Libre d’Orange, you may be guessing that the name has a double meaning, a specifically sexual one, and you are correct; an entry on the Etat Libre d’Orange blog, complete with alternate label art for Archives 69, makes that point clear. Its text explains, “This is a perfume designed to free the senses, to open the heart to all the possibilities. It is an invitation to pleasure, an ode to seduction. It comes without restrictions, rules or regulations. It is yours to do with as you wish. This is the scent of sensual liberation.”

The composition of Archives 69, developed by perfumer Christine Nagel, includes notes of tangerine, pink berries CO2, pepper leaf, orchid & prune JE, incense, camphor, benzoin, patchouli, and musk. Its concept was partially inspired by the short story “Drencula” by French writer Boris Vian, a tale of a young man’s encounter with a hermaphroditic vampire, from Vian’s collection Écrits Pornographiques. Archives 69 was given the tagline “The Illusion of Sex” in preview materials, and its press release (subtitled “The End of Innocence”) includes a lengthy meditation on a nameless female character who embodies many dualities: the sacred and the profane, heaven and hell, pleasure and pain, etc. So, how do this theme and this prose translate into scent?

Archives 69 does pair some opposing notes…

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Kiehl’s Original Musk Blend No. 1 ~ fragrance review

Posted by Kevin on 16 March 2011 42 Comments

Kiehl's Original Musk Blend No. 1

Kiehl’s (Since 1851) Original Musk Blend No. 1 has been around a long time if you believe Kiehl’s PR: “Our original musk oil is believed to have been created in the 1920s at the ‘Kiehl Apothecary.’ Discovered there in a vat labeled ‘Love Oil’ in the late 50s, Kiehl’s signature scent was reintroduced to our patrons in 1963.” I recently sniffed Original Musk for the first time, and it reminds me of many higher priced perfumes: inside Original Musk there’s a pinch of Hermès Eau d’ Hermès with its grainy, leather-cumin accord, a hint of Serge Lutens Muscs Koublaï Khan (“tough” musk with flowers), and a ghostly bit of, believe it or not, Chanel No. 5’s floral aldehydes.

Original Musk is, of course, a synthetic musk fragrance; it has “body” but it’s still a light version of musk — not heavy in the least. Kiehl’s lists Original Musk’s fragrance notes as bergamot nectar, orange blossom, lily, rose, ylang-ylang, neroli, tonka bean, white patchouli and musk.

There are no distinct stages of development in Original Musk…

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