Musc 25 Los Angeles

There's a prurient quasi-repulse response that this fragrance induced in me on the first few sprays, that response when you smell something so absonant that you're compelled to go after it again, despite-or-because-of how bad it is. To get a sense of what I mean, I invite fellow smokers to consider not the smell nor taste of your first cigarette, but the nausea induced in you by it, and how your neural map was altered to permit you another drag, and you began to compartmentalize the manifest protests of your gastrointestinal tract, lungs, throat, etc. in pursuit of the next high. Drugs are hazardous to your health (or in the case of Le Labo's exploitative (?) City Exclusives line, these prices are hazardous to your wallet), which is to say that teetotalers and financially responsible people alike ought to run for the hills and steer clear of the $350 fee, but for the rest of you: the aldehydes in the opening glister, fizz, and pop; the cleaner musks add a sensual body: these elements in sum produce the cloud-free, power washed, blue sky high that is, anecdotally, what most around me have smelled as I've worn Musc 25 in public or at work. Meanwhile, the animal element, which is closer to the chest: the patchouli, cedarwood, and vetiver make up the unwashed underbelly; the ambergris produces a warm and beating heart; and a viverrine note evokes piss -- capital-B-Blinding reality, when the high wears off and you're left with yourself, still confined to a body that bleeds and pisses and shits. The strength of the blend is in how arousing the contrast and interaction between the two poles of the fragrance is. And like any narcotic Musc 25 becomes less blinding (rapturous) with tolerance, in the sense that a) the opening urine note is not as potent on recent sprays, and b) I find myself craving the fragrance more and more throughout the day.

First and foremost, this is absolutely beautiful. The most heavenly musk, up there with White Suede by Tom Ford, Kiehls Musk & Musc Koublai Khan by Serge Lutens............HOWEVER! I hate being this guy because I'm never this guy BUT, the performance is absolutely atrocious on this. Atrocious is an understatement. $750 AUD for 100ml, I would expect it can at least give me noticeable presence for 5-6 hours and that would be generous for that price all things considering with most of Le Labo's performance these days. Not even 1 hour. gone after 1 hour. It wasn't my nose either. I asked everyone, my partner, co-workers, family and they couldn't detect it after 1 hour. I was expecting it to perform like a strong musky skin scent for most of the day in which I could of made it my signature work scent but not after its atrocious display or lack thereof. White Suede to compare is a 10 hour plus noticeable presence which I was basing my expectations and hopes from for Musc 25. September is approaching and Le Labos city exclusive's are being re-released, I am advising anyone interested in this lovely scent, not to part ways with their hard earnt cash on this one. Unfortunately you are wasting your money. You'll chew through your bottle like toilet spray. Many other musks will give you bang for your buck (as above aforementioned) that Musc 25 simply can not. Im looking at you Estee Lauder!!!!

I'm revisiting this after originally trying it 2 years ago and having an unpleasant experience with it initially in the high heat. This is a really fantastic musk that has a clean but eeeever so slightly dirty sexiness to it. The aldeydes make it very airy and although you are initially beguiled into thinking the performance isn't good, it gets stronger as it blooms and grows on skin. It also gets sweeter but never too sweet. I recommend being extremely cautious with this in high heat because it can get animalic in heat with sweat. I love musk and I try, buy, and wear a lot of them, and this is top notch. Yes it's great and I want a bottle, but $515 plus tax for a 100ml is madness. I just can't wrap my head around the price. Ultimately I ended up buying a discounted bottle because it's that damn good. My all time favorite white musk 🤍 Scent 10/10 Performance 7.8/10 (sneaky longevity and strength) P. S. I have Zoologist Musk Deer (excellent fragrance) but I find it very different than Musc 25. Kiels is great too, but it's much closer to Aldehyde 44. This absolutely blows away Tom Ford White Suede. P. S.S. My cat loves this stuff and tries to lick it from my skin 😺

I take back my earlier review. There is an itch that is scratched by this one that I don’t get with my other aldehydic musks unfortunately. I’m surprised to see so many people dislike it. After giving it a thorough wear test I found myself looking like a freak huffing my arm every 2 minutes and decided I might have to get a bottle.. so I did and I don’t regret it one bit. The way the masses feel about another 13 is how I feel about music 25. It’s simple and it just smells like ME except amped up. I actually took a couple weeks to decide if I wanted to shell out the coin for this but on a vacation where all I brought was a lovely Celine scent (Dans Paris - I like to try to make strong scent associations on vacay) I found myself CRAVING this to the point of almost phantom smelling it. I love it so much. I will work thru my 50 ml probably pretty easily and maybe next year I will upgrade myself!!

A very clean, white musk that really goes well with anything in any situation. Very inoffensive and pleasant to the nose. I see some reviews mentioning they get a slight fecal, semen or even pissy vibe. To me, this smells absolutely elegant and clean, though I can see how differently it can play out from skin to skin. If you can get a sample of this, its definitely worth a try. I wouldnt recommend getting a bottle of this at retail price, because I did and it was dumb as hell. On the bright side, this thing smells like an angel's powdered ass so i didnt do that bad. 10/10 edit: score changed to 8/10 due to absurd retail pricing at 550usd for 100ml Edit: 3 years later I love this fragrance even more. I can now detect the slight animalic musk in this fragrance and it goes so well with the florals creating a balanced comforting scent. Lasts super long on skin and clothes