The Scented Hound

Perfume blog with abbreviated perfume reviews & fragrance reviews.

Tag Archives: musk


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L’Ombre Fauve – Parfumerie Generale Private Collection

I was a little worried about the appropriateness of sampling L’Ombre Fauve on a hot and humid day.  I usually associate amber and musk fragrances as winter wear.  I was pleasantly surprised that this worked for today’s weather.  In fact, I see it working in both summer and winter.  You have to love a fragrance that you can wear comfortably year round!

L’Ombre Fauve is an unusual concoction.  For an amber, it’s not sweet.  For a musk, it’s not too heavy.  I found it very similar to Frederic Malle’s Musc Ravageur… ok, let me articulate that thought.  I would consider this to be Musc Ravageur’s little sister.  Where Musc Ravageur hits you hard with its musky and animalistic characteristics, L’Ombre Fauve still retains a bit of the naughty, but for the most part it’s just really loving and nice.

L’Ombre Fauve goes on warm and a little spicy.  It feels like it hugs the skin, but you find that it comes up to greet you as well… playing tricks on how it sits on your body.  The amber is just so lightly sweet which makes this perfect for both men and women alike.  The fragrance doesn’t change much after the initial application.  But it does have great longevity and with that longevity the dry down (which seems to take a long, long time) moves into an almost light and sweet vanilla.

L’Ombre Fauve is a scent that I thought I might like, but as the day wore on, I began to think that this might be a keeper.  Sometimes little sisters can be a pain in the butt, but sometimes they’re just fun to hang out with!

L’Ombre Fauve Notes:

amber, musk, woods, incense, patchouli

  • Bone Rating: 4 out of 5 possible bones
  • Scent: Woody Oriental
  • Classification: Unisex
  • Expense:  $100 for 50ml EDP


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Muscs Koublai Khan by Serge Lutens

When I woke up this morning, it was raining and humid and I was feeling a bit ornery.  I pulled out my untested samples and thought that Muscs Koublai Khan would be the right scent to match my mood as I wasn’t set for something light and airy.  Of course, being one of those days I managed to spill most of the fragrance from the vial, but managed beforehand to dab myself with this interesting fragrance.

Muscs Koublai Khan went on quite sweet.  The sweetness was surrounded by rubbery musk.  I found it sexy and heavy.  But after a time that heaviness leveled out and it turned into a familiar scent.  I have been wracking my brain all day to figure out what scent it reminded me of.  To this point I can’t answer that, but I do know that it goes way back.  It reminds me of some powerhouse scent from the 80s.  As the drydown continued, I also noticed that it has a bit of a barber shop smell to it, something similar to Brylcreem.  In other words, it has a bit of a musky chemical smell.

I’m waffling on this fragrance, I have read comments where it has been compared to Frederic Malle’s Musc Ravageur, but Muscs Koublai Khan is much more subdued and doesn’t have ooomph, that Musc Ravageur hits you with.  That’s not a bad thing, but it doesn’t make it quite as exciting for me.  Maybe it’s just my mood… being ornery and writing a review doesn’t fair well for any fragrance!

Muscs Koublai Khan Notes:

Vegetal Musk, Roots of Costus, Labdanum Rockrose, Grey Amber, Vanilla, Patchouli, Ambrette Seeds, pure Moroccan Rose

  • Bone Rating:   3.5 out of 5 possible bones
  • Scent:  Chypre – Musk
  • Classification:  Unisex
  • Expense:  $140 for 50ml EDP


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Musc Ravageur by Editions de Parfums Frederic Malle

So what’s all the fuss about?  Musc Ravageur is a fragrance that evokes the either “I love it” or “I hate it” responses by those who have tried it.  It’s also one of those fragrances that have been described as dirty, sexy, sensual (and many other things in which I won’t go into detail).  Of course, given the discourse and the descriptors I too had to give this a try.  And I can see what everybody is talking about.  The first thing that comes to mind when I put this on is the phrase “plastics are the wave of the future!”  There is truly an artificial plastic petroleum aspect to this scent.  It’s heavy and it’s a heaviness that fills up your lungs.  Musc Ravageur starts with a bitch slap to the senses.  It’s moist and musky with hints of vanilla.  As the slow dry down takes place, out comes more of a warmed peppered base.  It mellows ever so slightly but not enough to take away it’s oomph.  I would have a hard time seeing a woman pull this one off, because I think of this really as a man’s fragrance because of its heaviness.  In going back and reading what I have written so far, you would think that I don’t like this.  Wrong.  I love it.  It’s a fragrance that gives you power.  There is nothing shy about Musc Ravageur, so much so that this may have to go on my wish list for a full bottle.

From the Editions de Parfums Frederic Malle website:

Sensual and sophisticated. Powerful yet perfectly controlled. Dramatic and mysterious. MUSC RAVAGEUR is a grown-up perfume, an uncompromising Oriental, which trumps current fads. Its explosive departure of bergamot, tangerine and cinnamon is set against a lusty backdrop of vanilla, musk and amber. No flowers, just a refined and exalted skin scent.

  • Bone Rating:   5 out of 5 possible bones
  • Scent Type:  Oriental
  • Classification:  Unisex
  • Expense: $165 for 50ml EDP