Fragrance Reviews

Scented Snippets: New Fragrance Review/Parfum d’Empire Musc Tonkin

01/16/13 19:05:40

By: Ida Meister

Marc-Antoine Corticchiato is a brilliant man.

I greatly appreciate that he doesn’t seem to be driven by an overwhelming urge to please a particular olfactory audience; to my nose, that may be the secret of his success. His compositions are gloriously unique, often setting the bar for other fragrances which have clearly been inspired by his own.

Sometimes, he’s moved by history: historical figures and images, as in his earlier perfumes: Iskander - Alexander the Great, Eau Suave - Empress Josephine, Eau de Gloire - Napoléon, Cuir Ottoman and Aziyadé - the Ottoman Empire, Ambre Russe - the Russian Belle Époque, et al. He has also re-created a landscape close to his heart and childhood—Azemour. One feels that he is capable of summoning anything short of a Genie from his artful flask…

NOW I feel a bit like a heel. I’m about to review something which already is sold out, limited edition that it was. That’s NOT to sound like a snob. It’s simply fact. Why this is so, I don’t rightly know; perhaps it was too costly or difficult to create on a larger scale. Whatever the reasons, Musc Tonkin is unique au monde.

Musc Tonkin is meant to evoke the exquisitely feral deer musk once used in the great fragrances of yesteryear. Although it comes only as extrait, it is a spray and I recommend decanting some of it into a small glass bottle for your use. Spraying is overwhelming, and this fragrance falls into the approach/avoidance, love-it-or-hate-it category [yes, my friends, these classifications should exist in the categorization of fragrance!]. It’s a dabbing perfume.

[There are still the rare few perfumers who utilize this material, but they are fiercely independent and produce very small quantities of their compositions, commercially speaking. It would be heinously costly to do otherwise.]

Monsieur Corticchiato does not list any notes for Musc Tonkin:

“Their names don’t matter: like the mysterious charisma of certain people who draw us into their wake, Musc Tonkin should be experienced rather than described, he states." [per Luckyscent].

But it DOES smell like many facets of the delicious animalic [and yes, I have smelled real deer musk ;-)]: it is unctuously oily, salty, sweaty, elegant, and profoundly disturbing, by turns. There are elements of amber about it, a coarse deep leathery feel. Florals are ever-present: indolic white flowers [lilies? ylang-ylang? surely jasmine], my guess would be rose, perhaps orris for its lovely rhizomal, earthy character. The growl of castoreum and labdanum can’t be far behind.

Musc Tonkin is tenacious and clings to skin, to fabric, it leaves a trail which either ensnares or appalls. It is dosage-dependent like any fine drug, and less is more. It possesses powder—only if one’s perception of boudoir powder is very, very noir. MT has nothing whatsoever in common with baby powder or face powder. It is For Adults Only.

To give you an idea of how polarizing this scent is: I put some on myself and my son’s beloved [a very tall, beautiful young Franz Liszt type, my soulmate]. His reaction was of stunned admiration; he couldn’t stop sniffing his arm, or mine. To him it was dangerously beautiful and enigmatic; I warned him of my sons’ reaction, that it would be extreme revulsion. It was ;-)

“UGH! THAT is DISGUSTING!” our two sons exclaimed in aversion, backing away from us both.

We didn’t mind at all. We simply laughed, curled up on the sofa, and enjoyed our power sillage with no small measure of content, happy as clams in high water. The moral of the story?

If you love vintage, if you adore the fiercely animalic, the feral soul of flowers, dangerously dark suavity, then Musc Tonkin is for you. It certainly is for me. It’s a crying shame that there isn’t more of it about.

Ida Meister (chayaruchama) has been an avid collector and sniffeuse for over 40 years. She adores consulting and collaborating with niche, budding and independent perfumers. Her hypervigilant nose has been of great help in her profession as a neuroscience/oncology nurse, where she often smells fear, suffering, stress, and can identify most micro-organisms, medications, stages of disease, and has written about the amygdala. As a Senior and Natural Perfumery Editor, Ida has participated in many blog events with natural and mixed media perfumers and other writers. She has also been a teacher, translator, opera singer, dancer and caterer.

chayaruchama

All opinions welcome !

Jan
17
2013

body67

i've actually smelled it at the liberty store in london in december (i think they still have it) and decided to pass. not for me i'm afraid. there's something very grand, in the style of the classic (read 'old fashioned' or 'vintage') french perfumery about this perfume but that's just not my style. appreciate the structure but my nose does not agree.

Jan
17
2013

johngreenink

Great review - there is something about that golden color that speaks to me... I can't wait to try this.

Jan
17
2013

Francesca B

Sold out (sobs)! I'd have hoped it'd be available a bit longer til I had some birthday gelt. Anyway, I'm with you and young "Franz," Ida dear. I got a whiff of this at a sniffing party and my eyes rolled back in my head, I loved it so much. Great review.

Jan
17
2013

kxnaiades

the words animalic...for adults only...powder and noir jumped right out at me! My wallet is begging to be used!!

Jan
16
2013

NebraskaLovesScent

I can't decide if I would like this one or agree with your boys. Either way, it sounds like a compelling scent. Must sniff it sometime and see which camp I'm in. :-)

Jan
16
2013