Musk Aswad

This one is not for the timid or unfamiliar with the more challenging elements of Arabian perfumery. It is best described as eating chocolate coated after dinner mints off the butt of a beautiful girl with questionable hygiene, who you've just massaged with vanilla massage oil, in front of a roaring fire. It opens with chocolate mint and an intense and challenging fecal note. Unfortunately this seems to be its chatty phase and it lasts for several hours. The dry down is amazing though. It lingers on your skin as smokey, sweet vanilla. I love dirty, stinky stuff and I love this scent but I'm pretty sure if I wore it in public, people would presume I don't bathe. Oh well, this will be a secret, at home pleasure. Edit: after a rest of over a month, the more challenging notes in this smooth down and the composition becomes bitter chocolate and mint. I cannot recommend this enough.

Stunning - animalic but smooth thanks to the sweetness. I find it challenging enough to make it an interesting scent, but it doesn't go in the 'barnyard' direction to make it offensive. Just beautiful and not fecal at all to my nose. Saying this though, it is not likely to be a crowd pleaser, best to be enjoyed yourself. Great value for money like many of the offerings from AKAF, potent and a small amount lasts a long time. Love it!

Bold, powerful, animalic musk. On me, Musk Aswad is heavy on castoreum and vetiver. There's a slight sweetness from the honey and plum, but it stays really subtle. The vanilla is barely there, just enough to make the fragrance plush, unisex and wearable. I'm really impressed with this one : it projects quite well for a CPO, and longevity is amazing as always !

This is one of the most beautiful attars ive ever experienced hands down my favourite from this house. Very very similar to dior elixir precieux at a fraction of the price. Currently have 5 bottles of musk aswad and probably going to buy a good few more its that good.

I love this but only wish it didn’t have the vanilla in there. I prefer my black musks to have a bit more edge. But definitely a great one.

Dark, masculine, nostalgic. For some reason I go back in time, this attar makes me travel, not in space but in time, the funny part, I have no idea why but this scent is familiar to me, like a vintage fragrance. This is a beautiful attar, amazingly strong, high quality black musk. Beautiful plum over a base of slightly dirty vetiver, a bit sweet, musky and dark, I get a bit of animalic notes as well, actually in the dry down on my skin the animalic notes are a bit too intense, the only thing that turns me a bit off, I'm not a big fan of animalic notes. Nonetheless this is an amazing fragrance, with a vintage style, powerful, strong and masculine, yet sweet and very well balanced, just beautiful. Amazing creation.

Wow this is incense in a bottle. Definitely not for the meek. I would define this as a winter perfume because it is strong and lasts a long long time. It took hours (overnight) to mellow enough on my skin that I found it a pleasure to wear. Very sweet smoky incense is what I get. Reminds me of walking into those wonderful Middle Eastern Shops with all the exotic perfumes, incense and resins. I really love the fragrance but I am too shy to walk around smelling like an incense stick, this is definitely one to wear at home unless you are a lover of strong Oriental perfumes.

This one is HONEY on my skin. So sweet. Dried fruits and vanilla, together with powdery notes prevail on the musk. It's my skin for sure, but I'd had better a less sweet and more musky scent. High quality and value.

Nice attar from al faransi house . Sweet dense earthy masculine musk . Also get smell of wet soil like . Overall very nice . Rating 7.8

A powerful masculine musk with honey vanilla sweetness and a decent amount of vetiver and woody notes. Smells identical to incense

this is the musk gland of a deer. Period. Camphor in the top then animal gland. If you've ever skinned a deer, you will understand.

Hmmmm ive been wearing for a few hours. I think i over applied beacuse i feel a bit overwhelmed by it and i have to say it smells very head shop to me. Maybe applied more sparingly...? Maybe im not yet at that drydown.... if i do this again i think ill do dabs rather than smears everywhere! I was having coffee in an aquaintance’s house and all i could smell was me and felt the need to apologise! Its very strong. Im enjoying exploring this house though Update. I think in future i will apply tiny dots to my ankles, that way smokey delicious wafts will reach my nose in a less in your face way! .

This one has a bit more character than other black musks. The honey and fruits are very noticeable, making it stand out as a unique creation. You get vanillic sweetness which smooths out the vetiver. It's dark, but more approachable than some black musks I've smelled. The problem is, while I appreciate what AKAF did here, I got sick of it after about 3 hours. I had to completely wash it off. This isn't to say it's bad....it's not. But it's just one of those things -- sometimes a fragrance just rubs us the wrong way, and this did for me.

Bought this because of the voters saying it smells like Balahe by Leonard. All I can say is there is virtually zero relation to Balahe, and the people making the comparison are either trolling or have very very poor senses of smell. However I am very glad I did buy this, as it is a beautiful attar. The notes are spot on, though I (thankfully) don’t detect any Vetiver. Nice honeyed plum and musk with excellent sillage and longevity. Just don’t expect Balahe.

Smells like deer musk gland product, but not too bad. Just enough to smell like a rank, sweaty male shirt. But not too much. But not that I'd want to wear it out. Maybe interesting to sniff. That, mixed into an incense blend the likes of which a Tibetan gift shop is steeped in. A little fruity wafting around. Not super interesting, I'll probably pass this one on, though I'm interested to do one full wearing and see how it ends up.

*very* animalic and dark musk with a lot of sweetness. i've smelled what was said to be real black kasturi (musk) and it was much like this. if it was true (and what i sampled -- years ago -- indeed *was* the real thing) then this is a very close approximation. it was too much for me then, as it is now. not bad, though, and if you use it, dab VERY sparingly.