.
Portia
.
Heya Fumies,
So recently there have been wild rumours going around about the Serge Lutens brand. Bottle changes, discontinuations, export going to bell and vice versa. It has freaked me out so I finally bit the bullet and bought a few I’ve been humming and having over. Grabbed some of them on the discount sites and others I paid retail. Got a couple of the DCd vaporisator bottles and a brand new 100ml of La Fille de Berlin. Expensive couple of months but I am glad.
Clair de Musc by Serge Lutens 2003
Clair de Musc by Christopher Sheldrake
Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Iris, musk, neroli, bergamot
My noses telling me fruity musks but it doesn’t smell like citrus. Actually it has a kind of metallic smell like icy gutters. Sheer and weightless yet surprisingly full of scent. An interesting oxymoron.
In Clair de Musc the iris is earthy and only slightly cardboard, a very cool, aloof, spacious iris that whispers elegant restraint.
I have some problems smelling some musks but these are fragrant to me. Both clean and animal come through, there’s a very soft funkiness but the focus is laundry clean.
My mind keeps wandering to who this scent could be created for. It seems to sit at a weird crossroads between animal and mechanical. As if a robot or computer are trying to generate human smells to cloak their inhumanity. It seems they can only work within the confines of their AI scented vocabulary though. Though Clair de Musc gets furry, it’s not a puppy or even a piglet but the scratchy glass fibres of roof insulation or the petrochemical created fake fur in flour colours. Everything seems just a bit off true. It makes the journey really interesting.
So I’m thinking it would be an excellent scent for work, to project the scent of absolute industrial strength dedication and a computers focus. Brilliant job interview scent, especially for someone in IT, engineering or construction.
Will I wear mine? I’m not sure that it will reached for often but the times that I want to smell just like this it will definitely get a triple spritz.
PDI
Further reading: I Scent You A Day and Non-Blonde
FragranceNet has around $100/50ml before Coupon
Surrender To Chance has samples from $6/ml
Also, having read a few reviews of Clair de Musc it seems everyone gets entirely different experiences from it. So even if my review has you gasping to grab a bottle do test first.
Have a lovely day.
Do you like musks?
Portia xx
Australian Perfume Junkies 
I was surprised by the opening of this one. On me, it opens with a floral aldehyde that gets a bit chypre for a moment then the musk rises until it dries down a powdery musk. I like but don’t love. I love Roja Enslaved and Papillon Salome. Musk central. Yes, a good musk is uber sexy. Nothing beats the vintages with civet.
LikeLike
Hi there Gina,
Yeah, the aldehydes would be the cold metallics that I smell. These particular ones are zingy in my nose.
Salome!! Yummy and outrageous on me.
Portia xx
LikeLike
I really love Enslaved – what is Papillon Salome like?
LikeLike
I was definitely underwhelmed by Clair de Musc, though I wonder two things:
1) Would spraying have made a difference? I was testing from a dabber sample, and sometimes aldehydes need to be sprayed.
2) My mother has worn Jovan Musk for Women for DECADES now; it’s one of her “everyday” scents that she wears to, say, the grocery store or the vet, instead of the No. 5 that she wears for evening or church. Clair de Musc reminds me very much of it. VERY much. I don’t remember a strong iris presence in CdM, though, and that might be the biggest difference. If the iris is what you love in CdM, the Jovan wouldn’t be a substitute, of course, but I immediately dismissed the Lutens with “Eh, been there and smelled that, only better and cheaper.”
LikeLike
Hi there Mals86,
So far I haven’t dabbed so I can only speak for spritzing.
I had Jovan Musk for a while. Used about half the bottle before one of my mates liked it and I gave it to her. Yes, they are similar yet Clair de Musc feels mechanical on me and Jovan felt softer, fluffier and more animal.
I’d love to hear how you felt about Clair de Musc spritzed if you ever do.
Portia xx
LikeLike
yes, P, I love musk! have you ever tried Dame Perfumery New Musk for Man? Lovely that one….I have the oil format but it also comes in EDT…
I have never tried Clair de Musc but you do make it sound mighty interesting…I know that many of the 50ml are now heavily discounted.
LikeLike
Hey there ChocolateMarzipan,
I am so naughty and haven’t spent much time with Geoffrey’s Dame line. It’s extra bad because I know him personally and adore him. Originally there were postage problems but I think that’s all been sorted with the oils. Thanks for the reminder, I’ll get onto it when I’m home.
Yeah, fragranceNet goes down to about $65 with discount. Almost FREE!
Portia xx
LikeLike
Oh yes, P!!! Jeffrey Dame is one of my all time favorite perfumers and one of the nicest and most generous around! I do hope you get to sample some of his oils as they now ship internationally! I am probably the No 1 Dame Perfumery fan…I think I have bought about 10 or more full bottles for myself and family members..and I won’t even begin to tell you how many travel sprays-LOL!
LikeLike
Oh yeah and 65 dollars for 5ml of SL IS free!!!!
LikeLike
OOPS that would be 50 ML!!!
LikeLike
I have followed your lead with the hoarding and purchased De Profundis, Five O’Clock and Iris Silver Mist over the past several months. With that last I received a 5 ml mini of Clair de Musc, which I sampled yesterday.
Well, I don’t dislike it—the touch of iris saves it—but it doesn’t feel like me somehow. Fluffy clouds, deliberately childlike, coy, sweet. I have a hunch it could femme up masculine fragrances. Since I couldn’t commit, I layered with Inoui to great effect (but not surpassing Inoui by itself). Have to agree with Gina: vintage civet is the be-all end-all.
LikeLike