A Tour of Musks: Part I

A comprehensive but not all-encompassing tour

This is an endeavour to tour — not in its entirety — the multitude of musks available in the perfumer’s palette today for a non-technical audience and fragrances featuring each prominently, where possible. I’ll also include some titbits about animalic bases that may be referred to as musks by laymen, often based on musks in fact.

The first thing to understand is musky today generally refers to an odorant that resembles that characteristic odor of what we associate today to fabric softener due to the prominent use of musks in this functional category. As such, it does not necessarily have a dirty or animalic connotation but not all musks fit this profile. As will be stressed throughout, how musks behave in composition is what sets them apart the most, far more so than on blotter side by side.

Tonalide®: also known as Tonalid, Tetralide, Fixolide, Fixolid among other names and comes as a powder. A pleasant laundry clean, somewhat sweet powdery odor with an ambrette facet, but most notably that past a threshold will impart an earthy note in composition. It can have a masculine connotation due to its prominent use in many masculine landmarks like Le Mâle (Jean-Paul Gautier, 1995), but has seen creative uses:

• Une Fleur de Cassie (Frédéric Malle, 2000): the earthy tone of Tonalide links appropriately with the animalic, mimosa accord and contributes sensuality to the fond, in conjunction with an even larger dosage of another musk that will follow.

• Body Kouros (Yves Saint Laurent, 2000): a dosage just shy of 20%, the highest I know of in a fine fragrance. The earthy facet at this dosage matches the color of the packaging and gives a highly textured feel.

Galaxolide®: a highly viscous fluid supplied often at 50% dilution for ease of use and is utterly ubiquitous. Nevertheless, Galaxolide and Tonalide are being reformulated out of many fragrances due to their relatively poor biodegradability compared to other musks in the palette. Currently, this is not an EU or IFRA requirement, however. As a senior perfumer once told me it’s a musk that ‘always works’ and when reformulating for cost, more expensive musks will be traded for more Galaxolide. When used in high doses, it requires more skill to not give a functional connotation. It is nevertheless so useful as to appear in even very luxurious fragrances despite its price and rightfully so.

• Ambre Narguilé (Hermès, 2004): we find shy of 30% Galaxolide in this apple pie concoction. This is a very translucent amber with the apple note coming from Verdox® extended by Cashmeran® in the dry out, complementing the spices including cinnamon and nutmeg.

• Ambre Sultan (Serge Lutens, 1993): a very sensible and unsurprising 5% Galaxolide adorns this spicy, aromatic amber, much denser and contrasting the hypermodern Ambre Narguilé.

Galaxolide is famous for appearing in the so-called Grojsman accord, in roughly 1:1:1:1 proportion with Hedione®, Iso E Super® and methyl ionone, which makes up a large part of Trésor (Lancôme, 1990).

Habanolide®: produced by Firmenich, a mobile liquid and readily biodegradable. I am very fond of this musk for being one of the driest as many can be sweetening, and it has woody and earthy facets as well. Like Tonalide, it has a unique effect when used prominently resembling a ‘hot iron’ odor but it is also somewhat like the very bright, fizzy part of incense.

• Barénia (Hermès, 2024): whilst a fruitchouli no doubt, there is a very metallic, fresh sheen that is imparted by a combination of Habanolide with cis-3-hexenyl salicylate, the latter being a fresh, airy, cut grass odor veering on metallic past a threshold.

• Oxymusc (A Lab on Fire, 2014): here comprising roughly a third of the formula, imparting a totally clean connotation and hot iron facet.

• Cologne Indelebile (Frédéric Malle, 2015): at a whopping 50% of the formula paired with an orange blossom accord, this is crisp shirt floral clean.

See also Hypnotic Poison (Christian Dior, 1998) in the muscone-laevo section.

Musk ketone: the only nitro musk that is not banned and in fact, completely unrestricted providing it is the quality with low musk xylol impurity. It is incredibly tenacious, powdery and sweet. Given how old it is, it has made countless appearances in classics ranging from Jicky to Mitsouko to Fracas to Femme. Nevertheless, we find it many modern fragrances today such as Encre Noire (Lalique, 2006), Iris Poudré (Frédéric Malle, 2000) and even a measly trace in LVovers (Louis Vuitton, 2024).

Helvetolide®: a newer musk, favored by Firmenich perfumers no doubt because of its lower internal price. The musks discussed thus far can be felt throughout a fragrance however Helvetolide has a volatile top note suggestive of pear. It is particularly diffusive and its effects can be felt at a wide range of levels.

• Thé Noir (Le Labo, 2015): as previously discussed, there is a whopping 30% or so Helvetolide that fits the overall fruity themed rose.

• Aventus (Creed, 2010): we find roughly a 1:1 proportion of Helvetolide to Iso E Super, in fact as in Thé Noir but at a lower level. Here the fruity facet of Helvetolide is put to use appropriately because of the numerous fruity and green notes in Aventus, including Dynascone® tiptoeing between galbanum and pineapple.

• Les Sables Roses (Louis Vuitton, 2019): we find just shy of 40% Helvetolide here and the pear character is boosted by pear ester. In combination with another musk — at this level with the large quantity of phenyl ethyl alcohol — connotes a very soapy, almost functional fruity rose.

Nevertheless, one should not be under the impression it is a niche musk, as its pear effect in the top is masked in many other fragrances where it is used.

Exaltolide®: a very elegant musk, one of the oldest still in use and found naturally in angelica root oil, another sublime perfumery material. It is rather transparent, does not sweeten, has a floral character without being ambrette-like and has a very subtle hint of unwashed hair, in the best possible way. It is almost never out of place in a floral but finds applications in all fragrance families. Its highest uses I know of are in the aforementioned Patchouli 24 (Le Labo, 2006) totally contrasting the birch tar theme but at the same time attenuating its harshness. It is also the most prominent material in Une Fleur de Cassie, above.

Exaltone®: drumroll for one of the most carnal musks, my favorite, and go figure, one of the most expensive behind Exaltenone® and Civettone. It has a nitro musk character not dissimilar to musk ketone, though to me less sweetening. It is very tenacious and has effects that emerge in the dry out, a behavior observable on blotter. There is a fatty and genuinely animalic component that is incredibly erotic.

• Dior Homme (Christian Dior, 2005): the most expensive component of this famous masculine ‘iris’ is the nearly 2% Exaltone, a rather surprising dosage given the brief and that Exaltone is felt even at around 0.1%.

It often features in Chanel fragrances, e.g. La Pausa and Antaeus and unsurprisingly, Derby (Guerlain, 2012).

Muscone-laevo: a very peculiar musk, again possessing a nitro musk character, far less of a laundry connotation than all the musks discussed thus far excluding Exaltone which is comparable. This is a fetish musk of Jean-Claude Ellena but it has an enormous power to flatten a formula instantly, at even low dosages, which is frankly why I have often found Ellena’s work flat. When you see — or rather smell — the before and after in a formula, you won’t forget it. If you like, compare the original Bel Ami to his flanker, Bel Ami Vetiver where a whopping 2% muscone bashes the whole thing into the blotter. Used appropriately, its note develops into the dry out and it is very tenacious. Of course in some instances you may want its compressing effect but you need to have a powerful accord to counterbalance.

• Hypnotic Poison (Christian Dior, 1998): here used prominently but not to the detriment of the fragrance, which is a seemingly heavy oriental which has been loaded with heliotropin and freshened with lily of the valley and other floral materials, as well as Habanolide.

• Cologne (Helmut Lang, 2000): takes the cake for highest muscone-laevo dosage I know of, at over 10% of the formula, keeping in mind you’re more likely to see this musk in the 0.1% order of magnitude. Here in an accord with Habanolide.