Musk is back. After several years in which sweet gourmand perfumes built on vanilla, caramel, coffee and pistachio led the market, this season’s launches show a return to the powdery, light and skin-close musk scents that defined the 1990s. The fresh, clean profile is a clear break from the dessert-like scents that have filled perfume counters in recent seasons.
Fragrance trends move in cycles much like fashion. The 1980s favoured intense perfumes with heavy floral notes such as rose, jasmine and tuberose, while the 2000s brought a flood of celebrity fragrances that were usually sweet, warm and fruity. Musk has been around far longer than any of these. Today it is one of the most widely used notes in perfumery and is mainly produced synthetically, although it was originally taken from the musk deer. Perfumers place it in the base of a composition, where it adds a soft, powdery character that can turn warmer, creamier or more sensual depending on the notes around it.
Musk oils became popular in the 1970s, and in the 1980s The Body Shop launched White Musk, which grew into one of the best-known musk fragrances. Clean, minimalist scents built around soft musk then took off in the 1990s. Carolyn Bessette Kennedy is said to have worn Egyptian Musk Oil, a powdery unisex blend that pairs musk with myrrh and rose, and the Narciso Rodriguez classic For Her is reportedly inspired by her.
The current comeback runs alongside the rise of so-called skin scents, discreet perfumes that sit close to the body and smell clean, soft and subtle. Solid perfumes and scent mists have also reached the shops, and layering several products, sometimes called scent stacking, is increasingly common. Musk works well in this role because it sits quietly underneath other notes. ELLE Sweden’s beauty desk summed up the mood in one line. “Now powdery, light and skin-close musk scents are back,” it wrote.
Among the fragrances picked out by the magazine are Narciso Rodriguez For Her Pure Musc Blanc Eau de Parfum Intense, a soft floral musk, and Kayali Freedom Musk Santal 34, a spicier take. Parfums de Marly’s Valaya offers a lighter, more elegant version, The Body Shop’s White Musk is the classic reference, and Calvin Klein’s Cotton Musk Hair and Body Mist gives a gentle skin-close trail. All are available from Swedish retailers including Lyko, Kicks and Sephora.
