Le Musc et la Peau 4.1
Parfumerie Generale (2016)

Some days one doesn’t want to smell like perfume. Some days one doesn’t want to smell like bergamot, or vanilla, or tobacco, or some flowers, or leather, or a mixture of any of those, or really strongly much of anything at all. Some days one just wants to smell like a human body — perhaps like sexy skin magnified. That’s Le Musc & La Peau for me. It’s a white musk (and supposedly combines seven kinds of musk) that is just creamy and soft. Like coming out of a shower. Or putting on a clean white linen shirt. For me, on the right days, or to just be unadulteratedly musky and, as such, sexy, this is a darned good choice.

A note on comparing it Le Labo Another 13 since they are often spoken of as similar. I have both and both are mainstays, but I find them different. While both are unabashedly skin scents, Another 13 is more forceful, is more affirmatively of a scent with its peach and apple - in fact, at first it almost smells floral to me, although that dies down to more of a metallic or dirty musk. Another 13 has more a defined character as a perfume. Le Musc & La Peau is closer to simply musk, ambroxen and aldehyde — cleaner, simpler and more skin like. If you try hard you can perhaps get an underlying whiff of the rosemary, cedar or tonic that it has but they are quiet and subtle. Altogether it’s quieter than (at least on me) than Another 13. More subtle, more of fresh shower than - as with Another 13 — Iso-E over a slight white fruit dirtier sexiness. Another way to think of Le Musc & La Peau is to compare it to Histoires de Parfums 1740 Marquis de Sade — They stand at opposite extremes: if 1740 is raw animal sexuality, Le Musc & La Peau is quiet sensual intimacy.

The sillage on this is low but the longevity is not bad: at least 4-5 hours or so. But altogether quiet and most certainly not a monster scent in any way.

Finally, this is a fine base for any number of perfumes. It add a quiet musky undertone that is almost imperceptible but it is there. I prefer it to Molecule 01 or 02 for that purpose.

There have been some famous White Musks in the past: Kiehl in the 60's, Jovan in the 70's and Body Shop in the 80's.
By contrast, since 2000, white musk has been ubiquitous in all kinds of genres, but not in a starring role (except maybe detergent).
So these days, white musk is the white noise behind a drydown - not a full perfume at all.

A summer morning in a small village in the Provence. Crisp white linen sheets. Through the open window wavers the smell of Rosmarin and lavender. It is already hot. You take a shower and put on a white simple dress and sandals. You feel fresh and have no worries.
Pure but not banal. I normally am not a fan of clean musc fragrances but le musc et la peau makes me instantly feel happy, it gives a fresh start to my mind suggesting there is a smile in every day

I smell a lot of musk here. Light and breezy flowers, too. A bit of herb. Slight sandalwood. This fragrance is delicate, almost face-powdery. I certainly do not know, nor recognize any of the "chemical" looking notes listed. Whatever they are, they make this smell pretty.

I also get a lipstick accord and something slightly amber-like. No one note is very strong. Some Tonka rises hours later.

Not bad. I prefer the original Musc Maori so much more.

A nice, clean (soapy), salty and discreet white musk. It does not perform any better than the white musk collection from Demeter.