White Musk

This is an amazing little elixir right here. I remember this being stocked on the store shelves I would pass as a kid. It was usually packaged in a buy one get one box particularly around the holidays. I never had it but I remember exactly what it smelled like. I am a musk lover and this has to be the prototype to many of the musk-laden scents that I’m currently into. To say that I am obsessed is an understatement. I opted to buy the vintage, smaller bottles from the reviews on here. I guess they reformulated the hell out of this in recent years and subsequently butchered it from what I have read. They are always giving the kiss of death to these classics. Stop it!!!! People are wising up and spreading the word. Anyway, the smaller bottles that remain on EBay seem pretty untarnished and are usually at the same price point that you can buy the current, water downed versions at. Thank you, Frogopolis for that heads up! My first real signature scent was Narciso Rodriguez for her EDP and it was there that I discovered that I love musk. I think most of us are musk lovers by default because it’s such a prominent note. I was tempted to try Clair de Musc but so many people were saying that it was just Jovan White Musk in a really expensive bottle. I got spooked off of trying the Body Shop version of white musk because again, it bit the dust with reformulation and is harder to find in original form. So, I ordered Jovan thinking that if I really hated it I could always pass it along or worst case scenario, just toss it. I wasn’t ready to be blown away. I will briefly reiterate what people have said. I don’t think I have anything new to contribute anyway. Soapy, powdery, creamy, detergent-y. Your freshly washed skin but better. Yes! It is all of that. It calls to mind that part of Mean Girls when Janis remarks that Cady smells like a baby prostitute 🤣😂🤣 I remember watching that as a teenager and wondering if that was an insult. I thought she maybe meant that she smelled sexy. Almost 20 years later, I now understand that she probably meant that she smelled cheap/common. It’s not completely applicable because I don’t think this smells cheap in the slightest. This smells pretty refined to me, actually. Common, I think so but only purely on the premise that it’s thirty years old. More to the point of the Mean Girls quote, I think there’s good combination of sensuality and juvenescence here. It could strike you as reminiscent of the scent of intimacy, a freshly washed body/laundered clothes as well as a newly bathed/powdered baby. It really does have the foundation of all those things while preserving a complex facade of something interesting that you just can’t put your finger on. This lasts on my skin for an impressive amount of time. Even though my bottle is the cologne spray, there must be some oil in the original formulation because it leaves a slightly slick residue on my skin that I think lends to the longevity. I love to layer this with so many fragrances. Not only do I find that it prolongs the wear time but it adds depth to everything it’s paired with. It’s beautiful on its own too. I felt so clean and put together wearing this alone. It’s not cloying or heavy either. Just the perfect amount of projection here. I am a self confessed soapy lover. That has always been what appeals to me but I really could see so many people loving this. It would be complimentary to so many ages and could be worn by either sex. I don’t know if it’s possible to overspray this because it’s so subtle but I could see it being headache inducing if you straight up bathed in it. I have bought backups because already I can see the tides turning on EBay and Mercari where some people are listing exorbitant prices for vintage bottles. If you tried this and like it but found it to be weak, you would probably appreciate an older bottle. Get it soon. Please don’t assume like I initially did that because this is “vintage” that it smells dated or old-fashioned. It doesn’t. White musk done right never goes out of style as is the case with others such as Kiehl’s. I never want to be without this. Edit: if you can track down the cologne concentrate formulation of this in the oval bottle, snatch it up! Longevity & performance are outstanding!

I'm afraid I cannot quantify what this fragrance smells like. I can only say what it evokes. To me, it is clean and powdery and a bit floral (but not in a potpourri way). However, it has a certain kind of animal sensuality to it when applied to skin. Now the backstory (if you are interested). Back in high school (in the early 90's), my then girlfriend and I thought it would be fun to buy fragrances for each other. So, I went to the mall and found a fragrance kiosk. I knew nothing about fragrances at the time and had no sense of what was upscale or downscale. I had one mission-- find the fragrance I would like to smell on my girl. After sampling several, I found Jovan White Musk for Women. I loved it. The only way I could think of it at the time was that it smelled like a woman's skin if that aroma were elevated to a perfume. It wasn't too much of any one thing. It was clean but not too clean. It was powdery but not too powdery. There were floral elements but it was not exactly floral. It was sensual but not too much so. To me at the time, it was just the sensation of kissing a beautiful woman's neck made into a perfume. Then, I looked at the price tag and saw that it was the least expensive bottle I sampled-- by a long way. I almost didn't buy it because I thought my girlfriend might think I just got her something cheap. But, I couldn't deny that I liked it the best. This was the fragrance I wanted to smell when I held her. She did wear it for every date after I gave it to her, and the fragrance imprinted on my memory, probably forever. It's been a long time since 1994, but to this day, on the very rare (and I mean VERY rare) chance that I catch a whiff of Jovan White Musk in the air or see a cheap bottle of it sitting at a kiosk to sample, it instantly transports me to warm evenings on a couch with a Mazzy Star album playing-- and my heart beating a little faster than normal.

2 years after I got my first bottle, I'm finally reviewing this gem. I just bought my third bottle on Christmas Eve (didn't really fancy wearing my sultry sexies like Black Orchid and Shalimar around my uncles, you know...) and... oh my goodness. First, this is very well blended. I mean, I look at the notes and I guess I can focus and pick them out when I sniff my wrist but honestly, the blending is so thorough in this fragrance that all I detect is beautiful, soft, slightly sweet cleanliness. And I have the nose of a bloodhound! The scent itself is wonderful; it's like your-skin-but-better. If you had a shower with a nice, familiar bar soap, and then lathered yourself down with some good lotion (the kind your mom used) and then threw on some loungewear... you would smell like this. Clean and cuddly. The simplicity is the genius here. No, it's not the most complicated, nor the most interesting, but this baby right here is just so enjoyable! Who says every wear has to be an exercise in perfumery? I mean, we all love throwing words like ambroxan, agarwood and ambergris around - and that's just the a's haha - but amid all that froufrou pretentiousness, I may have forgotten how nice it is to just smell... nice. I ran out of Clair de Musc and sampled this 2 years ago. I never repurchased Clair de Musc, and I don't wish I did. I love this so much more. And it's, what, $15 tops? What a time to be alive!

Clean Skin Only Better. How can anyone with a nose and a sense of smell find this fragrance offensive. Jovan White Musk (the women's version) is the most beautiful, inoffensive, unobtrusive fragrance I've ever smelled. If modesty had a scent it would smell like Jovan White Musk. When I was in high school, I had a couple of female friends who wore this and I always thought they smelled so good. At first spray you get a blast of alcohol and you may think that it's not good, but if you give it a minute or two the scent will blossom into this beautiful, soapy, freshly showered floral skin scent. The smell is noticeable, but it will never overpower or overwhelm the senses. You can wear it alone or even use it to layer with other fragrances you like. I don't believe in describing fragrances as masculine or feminine because smells don't have a gender. But I can say that as a guy I have no problem wearing this and will continue to do so as long as Jovan continues to make it. And the scent stays with you. There may come a time when you can no longer smell it on yourself, but other people can. It somehow merges with your body chemistry and becomes one with you. Jovan White Musk is inexpensive and proof that you don't have to spend a ton of money to smell nice. Therefore this little affordable gem will always be a part of my fragrance collection. VIVA JOVAN WHITE MUSK!!

I knew this would be my signature scent when: (1) it sparks good memories every time I smell it, (2) it lasts so long on fabrics, (3) leaves a hell of a trail despite not over spraying, (4) it smells sweet honeysuckle, fresh (not sharp, screeching) white musk on me, and (5) layers beautifully with the rest of my fragrances! I would love this to be my "end of the world" scent. LOL. TBS White Musk smells decent but leans more masculine on me. I tried a lot of their White Musk flankers but I didn't find anything that would agree with my body chemistry. One shopping trip to the mall, I found this Jovan stall with huge "Sale" signboard. I decided to try their White Musk for Women as I find it sweeter than their regular Musk and the TBS White Musk. Since then I never looked back! I always make sure my back up has a back up. The thought of running out of this scares me! Haha! I receive so many compliments wearing this. I have experienced some head turning moments with this one. Some even stopped a conversation just to talk about how good I smell. Some people even copied me and started wearing this but the scent never registered the same way as it is to me. It never smelled musty, old woman-y, cheap baby powder-y on me. I guess I'm lucky to have this affordable perfume work excellently with my body chemistry. Edit: Typos!