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TSC Musk Madness!

JanJosh

JanJosh

Sr. Shave Member
Hello Cadre! This thread and post is coming late, but I have had this cooking in my mind for a small while and figured I now have the time to do it. For this month of March, I invite all members, new and old, to join me for a month long celebration of the humble, and often forgotten, "Musk" scent profile that dominated the 70s-80s. Essentially, my part is going out and exhibiting, using, and reviewing aftershaves or fragrances (If I have it on hand) that have the word "Musk" on the fragrance name. So, to clarify, instead of just using a fragrance regarded as "musky", I will use something like "Jovan Musk" which has musk in the name, whereas something like Lapidus Pour Homme may be musky indeed but lacks the word "Musk" in the title, and won't be posted.

For everyone else, the idea is for others to post and maybe use and discuss their own products that follows this trend as well, or even to encourage others to seek out these fragrances and give them a shot if they've never done so. Nows the time to dust off your old niche and vintage bottles, soaps, and colognes, give em a splash, and join in on reminiscing their quality.

My goal is a small revival and appreciation for the fragrance DNA that once dominated the market and were held to a high regard, believed to boost attraction and "potency" towards the opposite, or equal, sex.

I'd also like to mention one small incentive for this month long event. As your host, no matter how I feel about something listed here, I offer a prize, a gambit on my end. At the end of this month, every member who takes part in this thread will be entered inro a giveaway, which the winner will be announced April 1st. To enter, you must submit a meaningful post that contains a photo and description of a "Musk" Product as well as it having being used in your shave of the day. Now, the prize will be a PIF of your choosing: 1. Any one of the listed and used Musk Products in my Collection. 2, A Brand New, still in production Musk product that is easily available that I will pay for and ship to your address at the max of $50 USD before tax and shipping and handling. Or, 3. A vintage, discontinued Musk product of your choosing that I will attempt to seek out and send to the winner, so long as the price does not exceed $50 USD before tax and shipping and handling.

Multiple posts will not boost your chances of winning, this is an equal discussion, everyone gets one entry regardless. But, at my leisure, I may consider additional prizes at the end besides my guaranteed reward for the winner at large.
 
To kick this off, I DID shave on March 1st and use a musk product. However, I had to work and deal with errands so I didn't have time to post here, then yesterday the 2nd, I dealt with some chores before going out and skipping a shave.

Entry #1: Bravura Musk by Speidel, paired with CBL's Leather Musk (a personal request and sample)


1000001357.jpg1000001359.jpg
Status: Discontinued.
Release Date: 1967

Here we have something truly unique. Speidel was best known for making British Sterling and a few of it's flankers before MEM and later Dana would take over the brand. Somewhere during that period in the 60s, they made one other fragrance: Bravura. Bravura was a Woody Spice fragrance, pretty typical of that period and would share a nearly identitcal design to this one but the juice was slightly clearerer and brighter. Within that year they made Bravura Musk, one of the few early examples of not only a flanker to an original fragrance, but one that would carry the word "Musk" in the name. I only have the after shave and chose to skip on the cologne as it's not only a splash, which I am not too fond of, but also vintage colognes have a bad record of being spoiled for me. When I got it it was BRAND NEW, as in, still in the original box with old yellow scotch tape new, and when I opened it for the first time it made a sucking hiss sound. This was music to my ears, and on first sniff, a celebration to my nose.

So, one issue for this is a lack of recorded notes and composition, but I had to play by nose and take some accurate guesses that other enthusiasts have noted. For starters, in all sense of the word, this is indeed a Musky fragrance. It is a simple composure, but yet in it's simplicity it has a sophistication to it that was not too common for a drug store fragrance. When you smell it you are hit with a pleasant musk, the vintage kind that is derived from an animal, but is not animalic and raw as you'd expect. It's pleasant, subtly sweet, and natural in a sense and has that oriental touch. Immediately this is followed by a woody spice combo that may be cedar and clove, but the clove is surprisngly not so loud. It comes to an excellent musky base of mature leather and oakmoss combo. The oakmoss was Definitely there, it's real and authentic, dank and woody, but blends with a subtly smoky aged leather. This is a very put together scent. It isn't too loud and wants to be heard and strives for complexity. This is invitng, mature, has a family and job but exudes confidence, the kind that wears high waisted pants and a tucked in shirt.

This blend here is smooth and mellow, the alcohol here still works but lacks a bracing bite. I wore this after my shave without any other product apart from face moisturizer with no complaints. Projection is minimal but has a small aura and trail to it, nothing room filling but you can catch whiffs of it. I'm sure that if it's paired with the cologne and it is decanted into a spray bottle you will defintely get whiffs. Personally, I think that this was surely a product of it's time and reformulations would have killed it's charm, but I think this could have made it to the 80s with good marketing if MEM didn't take over.

Also to mention, thank you @CBLindsay for the soap samples. This Leather musk sample was excellent on its own but was a perfect pairing for this product. It's a smooth, lightweight soap that has great peaks and easy glides. I reccomend usage with a coated blade. He mentioned it's a remix of one of his leathery soaps but with an overdose of Musk and I tell you, it was excellent. The leather is very smoky but also fresh, the musk was there but was a powdery sweet that blended with that smoke, and there was complex hints of other notes, some woods and spice underneath. This really heightned the experience of the after shave.

On my "Musk Meter™" I give this after shave a solid 7/10. It's musky but done simple and with great taste, but won't win any awards or get immediately noticed and get you chased down asking what you're wearing. The soap is 8/10. If this was fine tuned and given a product line with a parfum to go with it, I'd be first in line, and I'm not even a big leather guy!

If you can find this in great condition, I suggest giving it a try, just for the experience and having a small oddball blip in fragrance history.
 
I am a big fan of Musk in fragrances. But, I like them to get dirty and animalic.

Two of my favorites are "Kiehl's Original Musk" and "Unspoken Musk" by Francesca Bianchi.

Unspoken Musk by Francesca Bianchi | Luckyscent

A symbolic blend of musk that captures intimacy and passion. This creamy, animalic scent envelops you in comfort with notes of bergamot, magnolia, and
www.luckyscent.com www.luckyscent.com

They are both worth a try if you want to go on the wilder side of Musks. Every Musk fan should have a bottle of Kiehl's (and perhaps the associated body wash, body lotion, and fragrance oil), IMO. It is an absolute classic. The Unspoken Musk is definitely a challenge to someone not familiar with animalic fragrances. However, it is an absolutely beautiful composition with lots of floral notes.
 
This was for today's shave

Entry 2: Avon Wild Country Musk, paired with CBL Musk shave soap.

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Release Date: 1988
Status: Discontinued

Haha, okay this will get me some flak. I can say I am not too crazy on Wild Country and its idea of a western barbershop composition to begin with, but seeing one of its flankers had a musk in it's lineup, I took the chance. I got it brand new for cheap, stuck to the after shave because the cologne is a little harder to get ahold of and I didn't care much to try it. Avon, after releasing a million fragrances at once got lazy at some point and started making flankers to actually good or iconic fragrances and either slightly modified it, or combined it with something else.

This was the second. This note composition is "Ozonic notes, spices, woody notes, and musk" and is regarded as a woody spice. Wow, so descriptive and lazy, huh. You thnk this is cut and dry right? No. You wanna know what this is? This is a threat in a bottle that evokes a violent responce from the recipient, that being me. This is essentially the orignial Wild Country, but was watered down and mixed with Avon Blend 7, then put through a strainer and given a few drops of musk and they said "yeah, that'll do". When you put this on, you aren't hit with musk, wood, or anything. This is a slap of very aromatic, potent, and ozonic Anise. Yeah, Anise. This smells like sweet licorice from the jump before the scent of talc and possibly cloves kick in which gives a sharp powder scent to it. This goes on for a minute before you get to some sort of a woody and powdery patchouli, which might just be cedar or perhaps oak, and then you get a cheap synthetic and sweet musk, which together smells like a watered down Stetson Original. I'd rather be wearing that.

If you want the an aromatic, powdery, and quite cloying barbershop aftershave with small hints of musk, this is for you. For me, I am not a fan. I was dissapointed and led on to believe there might've been something here but I came back emptyhanded. Wear this in fall, because in hot weather this projects and wrinkles noses. To others this may be pleasant or refreshing, but you came here for a shave and some musk. I can see how this didn't last very long compared to the original, which I can admit has some timeless charm and appeal. I can appreciate the presentation and the attempt, though, just the execution was a problem.

Thank you again @CBLindsay for the soap. CBL Musk is exactly what you get. Refreshing, sweet, and slightly powdery musk on his smooth soap blend. Without it this after shave would have even less musk to it's profile but this was a much needed boost to mix in for the overall scent, it gave it was it was missing, but wasn't enough to save it.

You can find this anywhere for cheap. Give it a try if you're a fan of the original Wild Country and maybe want to mix it up a bit. There are about 6 flankers to try.

On the Musk Meter™ this gets a 2/10. Where is the musk? This is just a run of the mill barbershop aftershave with anise and a sprinkling of musk.
As for the soap, 6/10. It's musk but could use some complexity.
 
I love musks. I'll have to dig up what I have.


Off the top of my head:

AV Musk - modern and vintage
Avon - Light Musk
Jeris Musk
Jovan Musk
Matchabelli Musk for Men - vintage
Pinaud Citrus Musk
Pinaud Musk
 
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Spider said:
I love musks. I'll have to dig up what I have.


Off the top of my head:

AV Musk - modern and vintage
Avon - Light Musk
Jeris Musk
Jovan Musk
Matchabelli Musk for Men - vintage
Pinaud Citrus Musk
Pinaud Musk
Click to expand...
Go for the oddest oddball you got, or play it safe. I know a bunch of you are still doing the Williams challenge so this could be done after or throw in AV musk.
 
BarberDave said:
Royall Musk
Click to expand...
I was going to add this to KJ's list. I dare say Royall Musk is probably my favorite of the musk profile but i will accept Citrus Musk as one of the top 10 list too. I honestly don't know if I have ever smelled Jovan musk but I do kow the name and feel like it is the most well known/popular of the old musk scents.
 
Entry 3: Ralph Lauren Chaps Musk, paired with Barbershop Musk by CBL

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Release Date: 1985
Status: Discontinued (BONUS: Hey look, it's Red Dye 40)

Alright, so. I have shown this before but it is apart of the musk lineup, so why not reintroduce it. So, this is one of the odd Ralph Lauren releases that easily gets forgotten after the advent of Polo. This is a flanker to the original 1979 Chaps, which was originally made with Warner fragrances. After Cosmair took over via L'Oreal, they had reformulated chaps and polo, but then released this soon after during the Musk frenzy in the late 70s to the mid 80s. Besides the fact it retains the iconic silver bull cap and bottle silhouettes, it has a familiar green bottle with green juice, which is funny to me because so did Polo. Another addition is now they added an atomizer for the cologne, something that Warner did not have or they at lease used rarely as they were mainly using splashes around that time. Something to mention was that Chaps was a more affordable sublabel by ralph lauren geared towards more casual or less formal wear that still retained a clean look, while the marketing of this was to invoke this idea of freedom, adventure, and open exploration in the high plains.

However, despite such a rugged philosophy, this is actually the opposite. You expect a dark, musky, rugged green scent for a macho crowd but this is a shockingly simple and approachable blend of notes. No, really! This has Anise, Lavender, Citruses, Spices, Geranium, WHITE Honey, Musk, Sandalwood, Patchouli, and Amber. This is an incredible simple and relatively modern combination of notes. If the anise was removed and some of the notes changed places this would work as a basic 3x3 fragrance of today's standards. Even though there is musk in the name, it takes a back seat here, and the after shave and cologne smell totally apart but has the same lack of musk going on.

The after shave, which is superior in my opinion, smells strikingly fresh. I smells like Hugo Boss Boss Sport but incredibly cleaned up and simplified. In the opening you are hit with a relatively mild Anise and plant-like lavender that has a backing of aquatic citrus rinds, which is the citrus note mixing with the geranium that has a wet floral smell, so think of lemon cucumber water at a fancy place. This ends on a relatively light sweet musk, the amber and honey just blend into each other or one leads to another with the musk actually being saved for the end, but it's hardly there. It's like a light whiff carried in the breeze. Honestly, even though I'm not the biggest Anise nor Lavender fan, this is very, very pleasant, and simple. You can imagine there is oakmoss despite it not being there at all. Only downside is that this after shave HURTS, incredibly bracing and it cooks into your pores, but the scent lasts for a few hours, impressively.

But the cologne is the dead opposite. Maybe it's aged, or has signs of spoiling, but this stuff is crazy. The cologne is a start of sharper anise and lavender with heavy sandalwood coming to play, that then becomes a floral honey bomb with lighter citrus touches, and then slowly the floral eases out for a much more raw honey stank that the amber and musk comes out at the end, but it's sweet and very powdery, but still relatively fresh. Dirty fresh, if you know what I mean by that.

In all honesty, I do like this fragrance for what it is. I truly think if it was slightly retooled and reformulated it could have a modern audience for the cheaper drug store level crowd. It smells almost like a prototype to Ralph Lauren Safari but ultra simplified. In fact, I'd almost prefer it if it were more readily available. But, on the musk scale? It ranks very low.

Side note: Barbershop Musk by @CBLindsay is another excellent soap blend with a smooth, easy glide, but the scent is pretty different. There is musk but it's not there too much, it's buried by the heavy talc and blue disinfectant smell. It's nice, and interesting, but the musk is like this scent: There and gone.

Musk Meter™: 3/10: A nice scent but where's the musk? If it was a white musk (plant based/scented) it would make more sense, but there isn't any animalic presence or sweet musk. It just is what it is.

Soap: 2/10: Just like Wild Country Musk, a sharp barbershop scent with musk in the name, but still an excellent shave nontheless.
 
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