Musk-Forward Perfumes: Eight Bottles With Real Musk, Ranked

Dry a grain of musk hard enough and its smell disappears. An American pharmacy text of 1898 records the trick: keep the musk over sulphuric acid and the odour goes, then let it take up moisture from the air and the odour gradually returns. Rub it with camphor, cinnamon or bitter almond, the same book warns, and the smell is destroyed. It also quotes a report from Shanghai on what merchants pushed into emptied pods: earth, rasped wood and scraps of leather, with lead now and then hidden between the skins. The report found adulterated sacs in every parcel and put the adulteration at about half, later as much as four in five.

On our shelf, two perfumes are built around that material: Areej Le Doré War and Peace 3 and the first Areej Le Doré War and Peace, each on a co-absolute of deer musk and castoreum. Areej Le Doré Nepalese Patchouli, Ensar Oud Borneo Zen: Trifecta and Elixir Attar Ballad Irone II: Après Le Soir come next, and Lost Tribe's Prince of Persia, Be Mine and Jason use musk lower down, as warmth and skin. None of the eight is in our first real musk guide.

Siberian, a poor thing in 1898

In 1898 an American pharmacy text called Siberian musk often much inferior, and today the word sits on some of the most sought-after labels we pour. The complaint was that it smelled ammoniacal and somewhat fetid, which is now much of the point. Ensar Oud's perfumer sets the urinal bite of Russian kabarga, the Siberian, against the skanky roughness of Kashmiri and the bitter, herbaceous sweetness of Mongolian. Our piece on the four trade names of deer musk sets them side by side.

Most perfumes use musk as a warmth nobody names. These eight are ranked by how far the animal comes forward, going by what each perfume is stated to be built around, since on a note list one musk among twenty looks the same as a musk that carries the bottle.

Built around the animal

Areej Le Doré War and Peace 3 shares the top of this list with its ancestor, and the collector's question is what changed. Oud came in, and the co-absolute made by the perfumer Russian Adam now holds vintage deer musk and natural vintage civet with ambergris and castoreum. Synthetic civet sits on the same list. It opens fiercely on amber resin 35 million years old and comes down to musky fur and supple suede with a trace of rose left in them.

Areej Le Doré War and Peace is the 2019 original, which Areej later called its fastest sold-out perfume, without ever saying how fast. The launch page framed it as an olfactory battle of life and death, smoky Himalayan fossil amber set against Ruh Gulab, one of India's most precious rose oils. Beneath them runs the co-absolute of wild Siberian deer musk and castoreum, kept dry by oakmoss and vetiver. The base is dense, leathery and animal.

Musk in every drop

Most perfumes are diluted in something neutral. Areej Le Doré Nepalese Patchouli is carried by a co-tincture of black truffle, orris root, wild Siberian deer musk and Ethiopian civet, infused by Russian Adam with ultrasound and vacuum, so the musk runs through every drop while the patchouli takes the credit. It smells damp and rooty, with a suede finish under the lilac and hyacinth.

Ensar Oud Borneo Zen: Trifecta holds vintage Tonkin, Tibetan and Mongolian musk grains on a bed of rose and jasmine, the first edition of the perfume to use all three. It is musk-rich more than musk-first: three of the grand trade names on one patch of skin, with old West Malaysian ouds arriving only at the end, and no Bornean oud named despite the title.

Elixir Attar Ballad Irone II: Après Le Soir is an iris perfume first, and the musk around it is described as richer and deepened through extended maceration. The text for this edition does not say deer. The first edition named Siberian deer musk pods and held a maceration of over a year at a heavy concentration of grains, next to a synthetic musk oil. The musk carries dry, powdered iris close to the skin.

Musk as skin

Lost Tribe uses musk the way a tailor uses lining. In these three it is one base note among many, each with one named job, so they rank last here.

Lost Tribe Prince of Persia drapes Mongolian musk over a full gram of Black Thai Kinam 2011 in every 15 millilitre bottle, beside civet, for warmth and what Lost Tribe calls a furry itch. The finished blend rested for 8 to 12 weeks so that the oud and the musk could lose their harshness.

Lost Tribe Be Mine gives sweet Mongolian musk one job, to wrap everything in soft, furry warmth. The star is an iris of 80 percent irones, over more than a gram of Natuna and Sumatra oud. Next to Après Le Soir it shows how differently two houses can set musk beside the same flower. Its top note of lychee rose musk is not deer musk.

Lost Tribe Jason is the one bottle of the three whose description says deer outright. Its Mongolian deer musk was picked for sweetness, alongside a creamy Red Meat Sandalwood, in a pumpkin spice oud with one gram of Hue oud in every 15 millilitre bottle. The musk ties everything to the skin at the end of the wear, when the spice has gone.

The eight at a glance

White in June, earwax by October

The pod makes the material slowly. In a small study of farmed forest musk deer in China, a different species from the Siberian on these labels, the musk was white, wet and foul at the end of June, light brown and oily by the end of August, and deep brown oily grains by the end of October, with the look of dry earwax. Farmers who meet sour white or black musk leave it to mature and often collect in the second or third year. In another study of captive forest musk deer, the largest pouch, about 31 grams, came from an unmated male, and the smallest, under half a gram, from a mated one.

The 1898 pharmacy standard put a number on the classic tincture: about a tenth of a grain dissolves in alcohol, about half in water. Some makers leave the grains in. Lost Tribe Vanilla Waves V2 Extra Musk, from our first real musk guide, keeps a pouch of them in the bottle, in fine mesh. Ensar Oud describes Mongolian pods whose skin has turned nearly black with age. Cut open, the grains inside are still moist.

Frequently asked questions

What does musk-forward mean in perfume?

A musk-forward perfume is one where the musk is part of what you smell as the subject, as fur, skin or warm leather, and not only a base that lifts the other notes. Areej Le Doré War and Peace 3 is a clear example, because the perfume is built around a co-absolute of deer musk.

What is the most musk-forward perfume with real deer musk?

Areej Le Doré War and Peace 3 and the original Areej Le Doré War and Peace are the most musk-forward perfumes on this list. Both are built around a co-absolute of deer musk and castoreum made by the perfumer Russian Adam.

What does Siberian deer musk smell like?

Siberian deer musk is described by Ensar Oud as sharp, urinous and forceful, filling a room fast, against the bitter, herbaceous sweetness of Mongolian musk. Dried musk in general turns powdery and sweet, close to the smell of human skin.

Is the musk in Lost Tribe perfumes real?

Lost Tribe states that it makes every perfume from entirely natural ingredients with no synthetic compounds, and it names its musk by origin. Lost Tribe Prince of Persia and Be Mine name Mongolian musk, and Jason names Mongolian deer musk in its description.

How is deer musk used in a perfume?

Deer musk grains can be tinctured in alcohol, macerated in oil, made into a co-absolute with other materials, or left in the bottle. Lost Tribe Vanilla Waves V2 Extra Musk keeps a mesh pouch of grains inside the bottle, and Areej Le Doré Nepalese Patchouli uses a musk co-tincture as its carrier.