Carnicure

i get a spark of that warm, slightly salty, almost pissy, animalic tinge in the opening similar to ambilux, as well as a resemblance to kiehl's original musk. only carnicure is way less sharp and complex than kiehl's musk, so it has less of that thicker florals, and the florals here is rather soft, vague and abstracted. it kind of reminds me of something honeyed like linden blossom or honeysuckle, with a bit of a laundry-like feel which adds a bit of a soapy texture similar to kiehl's musk. but again, that laundry/soapy-like feel never feels sharp like in kiehl's. that salty animalic spark in the opening tones down as it settles down on my skin, leaving mostly a warm and humanistic feel to the fragrance. there is also a soft and non-gourmand/vanillic sweetness that makes this really cozy and soft. it's like a slightly salty, almost plasticy, dough-like sweetness that almost smell like an older plastic doll head, especially when mixed with the musk, which is the main note i get in this fragrance. the musk smells fuzzy almost plasticy peppery, and slightly waxy almost leaning crayon-like, but never too harsh like in bruno acampora's musc. that soft, laundry-like, vague florals along with the warm animalic note creates a classic clean and dirty tension to this dominantly musky fragrance (which most musks do). as a result it feels natural and lived in, especially with that vague non-gourmand sweetness adding softness. a perfect example of a your-skin-but-better type of fragrance for my taste so far. i can smell the similar dna with ambilux except ambilux has more of that animalic, almost pissy, musky, b.o. note in it, and that warm, plasticy, sour note which i'm told comes from the synthetic costus they used, which i'm not a big fan of. i find this more cozy and comforting. this is also the perfect substitute to my kiehl's musk which has been my signature scent since i was 16. this feels more bare, minimalistic, contemporary, natural and intimate compared to that.

L’animal Sauvage has been part of my perfume palate expansion. I ordered a sample from good ole luckyscent due to their target advertising successfully reaching me. When I got it, the intense musk threw me. It has an incense quality, and animalic & civet overtones. Some melted candle wax. A retro vibe. Not vintage exactly, but in that style. The compositional approach is as overtly sexual as a 70’s style shag carpeted van with a mini water bed inside. I wasn’t sure I could hang with that. I can say now that it’s perfect. Not for everyone of course, but definitely for me. I always run my samples by my boyfriend. When I held my wrist up to his nose, his eyes popped open and he said he liked it...which means I am buying it. He also commented on the incense-y note, must be the sandalwood unfortunately not listed on fragrantica (“woody notes” can mean so many different things). I had wondered if it was just me smelling it. I am picturing this - my new summer fragrance - as a faux animal pelt bikini à la Raquel Welch in One Million Years BC. Sillage seems minimal, but that is always turned up in the summer heat. I wouldn’t have thought of it as a summer perfume if not for moodypaws review. I had been looking at white florals with a touch of animalics, but I thought they were too conventional, too mild mannered, too girly. It turns out I needed animalic with a touch of white floral. As others have commented, I also get mild chocolate notes, like milk chocolate with blends so very well with the sandalwood. There’s stretch in the late development that’s “cuddly”, I guess it could be referred to as the afterglow. ;) Full dry down hours after application still allures as a clean(ish) high quality musk, and sandalwood. Wonderfully done AND affordable. I don’t think there’s anything more I could have asked for. Update: I used a 30 ml bottle within 5 months. I’m still seduced by it, and am about to re-up.

The Victorian violets have turned depraved in Carnicure's opening scene. Their innocence is lost now: they run with the wrong crowd, sleazy kitties and dirty birdies, gallivanting in a manner that would make any Disney princess clutch her pearls and reach for her smelling salts. They've traded Wuthering Heights for a chance to be extras in an Aerosmith video. Goodbye moors, hello "more, more, more!" In all seriousness, this is the ultimate animalic with just the right balance. It teases with the incidental leakage of sordid affairs without ever making the wearer (me, in the case) feel incontinent or soiled or filled with frightful flatulence. This is important, as many a daring animalic 'fume in the 21st century have taken this to disproportionate, even obscene levels (see another release from this house, Ambilux, formerly Ambiguité 50ml). The presence of violet ionones elevate the fur-fest and lustiness, and the raunchy cedar exhale and costus sebum of Animalis forms the nucleus of Carnicure (or Shangrilade, or Tonquitone, or....all the beastly goodies). Perhaps some Civettone as well? Meow meow. This is a GOOD animalic (nods enthusiastically). There are comparisons to Kiehl's Original Musk (the above bases mentioned could account for this), and Muscs Koublai Khan (Carnicure transcends it), but whereas the two dabble with florals and spice respectively, this is minimal, streamlined, not a detour in sight. The notes pyramid mentions whipped cream, but nothing in Carnicure evokes that for me personally, but your mileage may vary. Perhaps there's a vaguely vanillic skin-note, echoing the dry down of Bal à Versailles, but that's the extent of any sweetness. I will reiterate, this is not a feral beast, but it is a surreptitious sexpot...

So many times I try a fragrance that someone says is animalic, and I always disagree. A lot of the time people say something is animalic, it's usually overloaded with cumin (I'm looking at you, Ambilux), costus, leathers or oud. To me they are not animalic, they are just dirty. However THIS absolutely has an animalic element in it. It smells like animal fur. I see dog fur was brought up in an earlier review, but I think it can really extend out to an animal with short fur, because on top of the animal fur scent it feels like you're getting right into the skin, so it doesn't seem right to describe it as a long haired animal like a cat. So I can see the comparison with it smelling like dog fur, but as someone who hates the smell of dogs, I don't hate the smell of this. It's not sweaty or dirty, it just smells like I've picked up a small dog and smelled it's fur. However this is absolutely the smell of a clean dog. Not freshly clean and smelling of soap, but rather a dog that had a bath a couple of days ago and has spent the time since lounging around the house. Here's the thing though, you only get that note if you stick your nose right into skin. In the air it smells rich in violet petals. It smells so clean and smooth, and in such a way that no gender applies to it. It's a cozy scent. When I first tried it, I blew this off as being boring, floral and not very animalic. I'm glad that I had a sample that I could then come back to a few months later. It's dirty in an actually animalic way. I smell like I've rubbed an animal all over me. It makes me feel like I've been transported back 100 years, and it's a fascinating sensation to experience.

Was able to sample Ambilux as well as this bad boy. With Carnicure, I initially get a lot of powdery floral notes, with a solid mixture of clean and dirty musk, and slight sandalwood. The floral and powdery notes are certainly very similar to Kiehl's musk as many have mentioned. Same can be said for the clean muskiness. However, the dirty musk that is in there as well certainly has a sharper animalic edge. It's hay/barnyardy with ever so slight touches of urine/fecal notes. At about an hour in, the floral notes die down a bit allowing more of the dirty musk and civet to come through. Here, it maintains a bit of that powdery-ness which, to me, is still welcome. Note until about 1 1/2 - 2 hours do I get more of dirty animalic notes on the forefront. This is definitely more of the ambery glow phase for me where I'm left with a gloriously sweet animalic bliss. Friggin LOVE it. To me, this is more preferred than the Ambilux at this point. Ambilux is a bit more complex in the sense that there are more notes to take in throughout the wear. However, Carnicure is much more straight and to the point. I think someone mentioned this being something like Kiehl's Musk's dirty cousin, and I concur. SOMEWHAT tame in the animalic realm but the dirtiness is there to the point that it will be off-putting for some. I got a few more samples I want to order and try before pulling the trigger on a full bottle of a animatic-heavy/driven fragrance. However, if they don't come up to par with Carnicure, I will certainly be getting a bottle of this!