Musk in Fragrances · Brotherhood Of Scent

Musk in Fragrances

I’m no Joe Average… just an Average Jon. With the realization about musk being a note in a few fragrances I have recently acquired, and me actually connecting the dots, I asked

@Renato Carotti

if he had done one of these over musk. He messaged me and encouraged me to do one if I’d like. So I figured I would take a crack at it. I had some trouble finding a lot of info, but I did find a great YouTube video where someone had done a lot of research on musk in fragrances. Here are some interesting facts from their research on the topic.

Musk comes from the Sanskrit word “Muska” which means “testicle.”Traditionally musk deer were hunted for their glands that secreted their scent. Their glands housed small pods that smelled strong like urine. Once they’re processed, that is when we got the musk scent we know and love. 1 kilo of musk took the death of 30-40 wild musk deer. People tried to breed them in captivity, but their glands didn’t develop the same

Now most musk is synthetically created. A guy tried to make an alternative to TNT, but along the way created some strong scented chemicals that ended being used as late as 1981 when they were found to disrupt endocrine function. These are not allowed in fragrances anymore. These nitro musks were more of a clean musk.

In 1926 scientists identified and synthesized the molecule that gave the appealing portions of musk scent. From there they began to search for similar molecules in other sources like plants.

Musks have different qualities and scents because they are usually different molecules that are being used from fragrance to fragrance. Musk can be broken into different categories or qualities. It can be clean or dirty. It can be powdery or creamy. It generally can be described as warm and sensual with a sweet powdery dry down.

I need to look at the overall note breakdown of all my fragrances, but I do appreciate the musk in Burberry Touch and Afnan Turathi Blue. To me it is a tad in your face. It is different to me than any other note I have experienced.

What musk containing fragrances do you have? What are your thoughts on them?

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