Etro Musk, Anya's Garden Kewdra (musk) and Mona di Orio Musk

By Tom Are you a nosy person? I'm normally not- at your house I'm not going to rifle your drawers, or ramble through your medicine cabinet, or even read letters you left on your kitchen table. But if your perfume collection is out on your bureau on the way to the bathroom (and you've asked me to drive 30 miles roundtrip to feed your cats) I'm going to give a glance on the way out. Oh all right and take a sniff. I'm a bad person. My friend had Etro Musk out on her bureau (among other things, being one of us but we overlap a lot.) Reviewers on Basenotes dismiss it, but I really liked it. It's a skin scent, with whispers of the bone-dry woodiness that makes up scents like Chene and a touch of citrus peel. If you were looking for something in the clean-skin line and wanted woody as opposed to dry-cleaned you would do well to look here. Anya's Garden is a company that I can't believe I haven't reviewed before (is the search function on Blogspot wonky?) My Scent Twin quoted the perfumer as stating it's "Kama Sutra in a bottle" and agreeing. I am pained to type this but either I am ansomic to it or I just suck the life out of it, but I'm not getting fireworks. It's lovely, it's heartbreakingly sensual, it's the memory of a long ago love affair in a bottle. Even twins aren't identical I guess (but I am the older twin) I did get a chance to try the new Mona di Orio Musk that's soon coming and it's like a scent version of David Hamilton photographs. So innocent, so soft-focus, so very young and with this sly, knowing musk that makes it so very wrong. In a good way. It's the Mann Act with a sprayer. Unlike Ms. Dubois I have no need to try to keep my hands off children, but it will be mighty hard to keep my hands off this when it arrives... Etro Musc is available all over the internets at various prices, I filched a sniff off my friends bureau in a moment of bad breeding. Kewdra is availableat Anyas Garden Website, I won mine. Whoo hoo! Mona di Orio Musk will be out soon, I was given a small sample by Luckyscent. Image by David Hamilton.

Kiehl's Original Musk

By Tom Every so often someone on one of the boards at MUA or Basenotes will as the question "Is Kiehl's a substitute for Muscs Kublai Khan?" The short answer is "no", but that's also doing a disservice to Kiehl's. Although it was created years before, it's more of a "Princess Bride" of a musk, with the flowers at the fore and the musk more winking and far less dark than Mongol menace of the Lutens. Kiehl's Original Musk is almost impossibly cozy, with roses, lily and ylang-ylang and powder and just a hint of dirtyness in the patchouli musk finish. Comparisons aside, Original Musk is a pretty scent, easy to wear and easy to love. It's also easy to get, at $39.50 wherever Kiehl's is sold, along with shower gel and lotion at $15.50 and $19.50 respectively.

Sweater Girl...Le Labo Musc 25

By Tom About eight months ago I had the pleasure of meeting Fabrice Penot, one of the creators of the whole Le Labo concept. He then told me that he was working on an LA specific scent, and I contributed my two cents about things he could do to get a taste of LA. In the article in this past weekends LA Times, he mentioned attending Elton John's Oscar party as having been part of the inspiration by what he calls "angelic whiteness with a dark core of sin". They succeeded in a way that far outstrips my hopes. Reading the formula (aldehydes, civet, muscone) you would be forgiven for thinking that it's something along the lines of the Dallas exclusive, Aldehyde 44. Musc 25 opens if possible more sparkly and decidedly less creamy than the Dallas scent. The super-sparkly dry opening is joined by a faint rosiness, a whisper of vetiver and although it's not listed, I smell a bare touch of citrus. Angora-soft musk comes in fairly early and stays strong but sly, with enough powder to keep it on the lady-like side. There's also what the Le Labo people call "ingredient X"- mentioned in The August Times as "a synthesized representation of human semen". I smelled the raw material and, well it does a bit. For those of you were put off by Etat Libre's godawful secretions fear not: it's a hint, and when mixed with the ambergris, smoke and a hint of eucalyptus (also not listed) becomes a "did she or didn't she" hint of sexy bare skin that's gloriously besmirched. It's an ingenue whose lipstick has been kissed off and she's reapplying, humming to herself, her Kool burning away in the ashtray. Or is it the scent of her driving home through the canyons? I was wearing this driving along Mulholland and had the startling scent mimicry of the exact smell of the trees and the late day air coming off my arm as well as into my open window. Bravo! While completely modern, the only image I can conjure that perfectly encapsulates it is of a young Lana Turner: Icy white-blond beauty, dark eyes and a darker heart. Musc 25 is $260 for 50ML and $400 for 100ML. Being a 25% concentration I think that's fair. What's less fair is that it's only available at the Le Labo store on 3rd Street in Los Angeles. Luckily for me that's just a hair over a mile from my hovel, so I can drop in and spritz. If you're in LA, you should make a point of doing so too.

Montale Musk to Musk

By Tom As most of you know I have a love of musks, even though I tend to suck the life out of them. On others, Muscs Koublai Khan is mind-blowingly unwashed, on me it's a pussycat. Annick Goutal Musc Nomade is a glorious skin scent, SIP's Musc Botanique is a glorious take on verdant dirrtiness and CB I Hate Perfume Musk is akin to porn-berries jubilee. I am always on the lookout for the next thing and I was happy to find that Montale's Musk to Musk fit the bill. Luckyscent writes of it as spicy and resinous, but on me it doesn't much go there: there is a whisper of nutmeg and woods but nothing that can be called overly spicy. Tamara points out in her blog that it starts with Montale's trademark Aoud. It does, and even if I wrote in a comment of that this one died on me when I tried it, this one that's an argument to always try, try again. I'd dismissed it because amongst the others I'd tried when sampling this it was rolled over by something stronger; it's quietly silky-smooth beauty can't stand up to some of the, let's say louder things at ScentBar. The aoud whispers along with the spicy woods that results in something that makes me think of clean whiteness; not the dreaded clean sheets accord nor even clean skin. There's enough in there that this is identifiable as perfume that's wholly wonderful. So much so that I am almost dreading falling more in love with the Montale line, especially since Kelley has let me know in no uncertain terms that his are under lock and key... Musk to Musk is available at all places that sell Montale, $90 for 50ML

Perfume Review: Strange Invisible Perfumes Musc Botanique

By Tom Strange Invisible Perfumes is a house that for various reasons kind of stayed off my radar. I trekked once out to Venice to their shop, where I was wholly ignored by the young man behind the counter. Being a naturally huffy person, since he wasn't asking if I wanted to go on his trip to Palm Springs, I huffed on in a... huff. The website used to be of such aggressive unusability that I would have to force quit Exploder to get out of it (that, and it was unreadable). I had been back once or twice and met a very lovely lady who looked like Maud Adams and who showed me the line; there were several that I liked, but on me they faded fast and I'm cheap: I like my fumes to last the day. I've always meant to get back there, but it's all the way in Venice (please insert Wendy Whiner voice), which when you work in Downtown LA and live in Beverly Hills might as well be Acapulco or New Hebrides: at least an hour and a half in traffic if it's moving then the fight for a beach-adjacent parking space. Or the MTA bus that will take a week. Not that I'm lazy. Or spoiled. Not at all. When is ScentBar going to deliver like Jacopos? Then QWendy set up this little trip out on a Saturday morning. For those of you who are unaware of her, Wendy has her own blog and has a business making shoes. Yes, that's right. She makes shoes. That's like me mentioning that when I am not blogging I'm busy knitting Automobiles to spec. There're some talented people out there in Perfume-land... So the deal was that we would meet at 10am on Saturday AM at the Abbott Kinney Store, which would open early especially for us. The MTA gave me directions that were within reason, so I didn't even have to drive there, and even arrived with time to spare. Upon my arrival I saw several familiar faces, including IrisLA and Robin, but I will leave the rest of the recap for Wendy to cover on her blog (linked above). I also had two glasses of Champagne, which added sparkle to the morning if not to my ability to speak coherently. I did find the answer to why the ones that I liked in this line seem to have no lasting power: most are only available in perfume strength, but the testers are EDP's. I don't think it's a matter of saving money as much as it is that EDP's develop faster and you can wash them off when you're unable to expose any more skin for testing without years of Yoga and the risk of an indecent exposure arrest. I did mention that perhaps it would be a good idea to have both strengths available, so that when one narrows it down to two or three that one would have more of an idea of the lasting power and the development from the concentration actually sold. Now that I know that that last impediment to my enjoying these (or my cheap-a$$edness) was out of the way I was able to test with abandon. There are several (Vine, Galatea, Narcotic and Moon Garden) that I really liked and several more that I wouldn't exactly cry over if they showed up in a stocking. But the one that I kept coming back to was Musc Botanique. Through the alcohol haze I remember the nice girl telling us that it was meant as a sort of riff on the idea of plants seducing each other through their smell, like the musk that animals produce to attract a mate. This makes immediate sense in its tart opening: the woody, almost harsh geranium mixes with sweet angelica to make me think of berry patches. It gets earthier and earthier as the frankincense and amber come in, until the whole thing gets surprisingly, delightfully slutty. But slutty in a wholly different way that you would imagine: not human and not even animal. It's as if you're walking in a night-time garden and suddenly the whole place starts giving you the glad eye; the woods, grass and flowers are waving their little fronds at you with a decided "Hello, Sailor" attitude. Not in that somewhat confrontational Satyr-of-the-berries CB I Hate perfume way (which, as you all know I adore) and not in some Majicky, Sci-Fi way either. It's different: it's also entirely wearable (I would and did wear it to the office) but definitely, wonderfully.. odd. Musc Botanique will be available at SIP in September, I believe it's $135 for the EDP and $165 for the pure perfume but don't quote me on that. I will write that as one of the line that is designed to be sold as both EDP and pure perfume that the lasting power on the EDP is great and that strength might be better for day wear or for guys. The perfume is that much more. I might need that much more...

Perfume Review: Annick Goutal Musc Nomade

By Tom If you have read my blog or the past posts here on PST you will have more than covered the Agatha Christie-esque twists and turns that have brought this new scent to me. (all kudos to the ladies at the Perfumed Court for making up for the vicissitudes of the local Post Office- you ladies rock) Musc Nomade is the fourth scent in the new line of Goutals, called "Les Orientalists". The first three of which I liked immensely; I was unsure how I would find this one. The name suggest something wild, like Muscs Kublai Khan; the nose is Isabelle Doyen, responsible for Lez Nez' l'Antimatiere, a perfume so etherial some cannot discern it. Upon finally smelling Musc Nomade, I am struck that it is kind of sister of Etat Libre d'Orange's Tom of Finland scent. Sisters in a film-noir sense, like one where Bette Davis takes over the other one's life then has problems remembering where the bathrooms are. All that's deliberately, winkingly cheap about Tom of Finland is done here with a ruthlessly easy chic. Etat Libre's scent is all leather jackets, doublemint gum and the smell of the piers. It's New York in 1977. Musc Nomade is all about tanned, clean youthful skin, an expensive linen shift tossed on after an ocean dip, an evening on a terrace overlooking the Mediterranean that same year, wood, roses and your own fabulousness. Do I need to tell you which sister I want to be? Musc Nomade just might be getting to the US sometime in the Fall if the SA's are correct. In the mean time it can be ordered from the ever-delightful Lianne Tio from her boutique in the Netherlands. Since shipping covers I believe about four bottles, I suggest a bunch of you get together and do so in bulk.

Muscs Koublai Khan by Serge Lutens

Koublai Khan, 1215-94, was a Mongol emperor, founder of the Yüan dynasty of China. He succeeded his brother Mongke as the ruler of the empire that their grandfather Jenghiz Khan had founded. The empire reached its greatest territorial scope with Kublai's final defeat of the Sung dynasty of China. Koublai promoted economic prosperity by rebuilding the Grand Canal, repairing public granaries, and extending highways; he fostered Chinese scholarship and arts; although he favored Tibetan Buddhism, other religions (except Taoism) were tolerated. Kublai encouraged foreign commerce, and his magnificent capital at Cambuluc (now Beijing) was visited by several Europeans, including Marco Polo. As far as I am concerned, there is none of that imperial splendor in Muscs Koublai Khan, no enlightened interest in arts and science; magnificent palaces full of priceless objects don’t rise before my eyes when I smell this fragrance. Serge Lutens creation is all about Koublai the warrior, a soldier among his soldiers, a conqueror prowling the great plains. Muscs Koublai Khan is raw, dirty and sensual. On the first sniff, this is, shockingly, the smell of a circus, you know the one, animal sweat and animal skin and all the things I will not mention here, a very distinctive smell that is repulsive yet weirdly appealing at the same time…Civet, castoreum, costus roots, patchouli…I have no doubt that this is exactly what Koublai Khan smelled like on his cleanest day while on a conquering spree. I would have never expected myself to like a scent like that, yet I find it incredibly alluring. Perhaps, Ambrose Bierce was right, and every Russian is a person with a Caucasian body and a Mongolian soul, and these are the deepest and the darkest recesses of my soul that crave Muscs Koublai Khan, this eau de blood-thirsty unwashed horse-rider of the steppes…Like Nikolai Gumilev, sometimes “I’m bored with people and the stories, and dream of the treasures of the kingdom, glories, and yataghans, all covered with blood.” *The painting is Koublai Khan by Frank Frazetta