Black Musk

Wow, this is a very nice musk with a twist of Montale's DNA. Black Musk opens with a hint of rose & spices, followed shortly by popping woods and leathery musk. Montale's classic oud and rose combination becomes apparent, sitting in the background, whilst the animalic & warm musk begins to rise. The spices transform into a peppery nose feel (sharp in the first half hour), whilst oud and other woods blend together to support the leather musk. The musk here is likeable. It is darker for sure, boosted by the woody base, a tinge of rose continuing to provide some colour before being replaced by a somewhat creosotic patchouli some hours later. Performance is fantastic. Not quite as aggressive or loud as some Montale scents can be, but projection & sillage are both decent, whilst longevity is spectacular - the scent remaining layered and lively hours after application. Overall, Black Musk is one of the better balanced scents from Montale's earlier work. More appealing and wearable compared with something like Black Aoud. It stills smells quite interesting and unique even today. This is a sensual, dense, and slightly animalic musk. I could wear this, any time, any where. Well worth trying for musk fans!

I could almost swear that when looking at the note pyramid and smelling this on me, there has to be more to the composition than what is listed... But in either case, I absolutely LOVE this. It's dark and masculine, but it's "clean" at the same time. This is more pewter grey than black. Longevity and sillage need not be mentioned here: it's classic Montale in those aspects. Actually, this has left traces on my skin after 24 hours. It survived 55C heat yesterday and will be on my shirt until I wash it out - but gosh, I really don't want to.. LOL This is definitely a mood-setting fragrance that turns heads with a vengeance. I actually got stared at and sniffed by a mother/daughter pair last night. After giggling and speaking to the store owner in Arabic, he told me later on that they both wanted to know what I was and I was wearing. Apparently, they both thought I was attractive and smelled sexy. From the looks of them, case closed. ;) Black Musk, another reason Montale is up there with Hermes in my collection....

I sometimes wonder if people realize the effect it has on people reading reviews when they use words such as "dark, death-like, villain etc". It makes for an interesting read but the connotation can easily put you off from giving this scent a chance. Is it somewhat dark? Yes, but not anywhere close to the picture that was painted by the reviews. Black Musk reminds me of a bare Montale Oudmazing (stripped of the fruits) and a bare Mancera Musky Garden (stripped of the fruits and add some oud). This is a beautiful creation and Black Musk will really set you apart from the people around you depending on how many sprays you do. It's musky for sure, and less leathery than expected but it's still there with some patchouli popping through in the background. Edit 2025.01.18: I actually wore it in high heat today and the fresh metallic edge works for hotter days. Just don't use too much. It gives me the feel of an molecular fragrance. What an absolutely stunning fragrance!

This is my first Montale (***drum roll***)........and perhaps like many before me, I was expecting this to be bold and challenging with the synonymous 'nuclear' Montale performance. Actually it is not really challenging at all but is a very masculine and signature-scent worthy, dark, brooding, spicy Musk-Leather-Pepper scent with a touch of watery-floral-freshness. It is a pleasure to wear. However, I'm sad to report the performance on this one is pretty disappointing - 4-5 hours and it becomes barely noticeable on skin and only traces on clothing. I checked with family members to see if it was just me going anosmic to it but they too could barely detect it. As with all my scents I give the atomiser a good few pumps out of the box and then leave them to oxidate in a dark cupboard for 4-6 weeks so fingers crossed this one gradually 'wakes up'.......I hope so because this is a statement maker in a very good way. 🤞

Such an interesting fragrance! Yesterday I tested it on my skin and in the first 30 minutes it was so...peppery, dark, sharp and strong that I was not sure it was for me. Then I found out that the first strong and cold metalic notes are a bit away and something gently sharp and deep started to come on the front line of notes. I couldnot stop breathing it. It is interesting that the strong and sharp metalic note becomes almost powdery and dominant, but as strong as in the begining. I am amazed of this clean and in the same time sharp and dark cristal deepnes of the fragrance. It becomes like a second skin to me. I believe that on a male skin will evoluate amazing too. It is a distinguished and pure pleasurable fragrance with notes of clean, dark peppery musk which turns on the senses.

I find this offering from Montale just delightful. They've hit it perfectly with this one. In the opening I get three notes, musk leather and sandalwood. The leather eventually dies back a bit but the sandalwood and musk hang around, and I can catch some of the patchouli in the base and a light amber. Honestly I think they nailed this, it has all the right facets of those classic black musk oils you can buy in any place that sells roll-ons, without any of the cheap smelling chemicals and with juiced up performance. My new favorite from Montale.

Leathery musk. There is a distinct pungent sharpness to this fragrance from the musk. Less is more with this one. This is very pleasant overall and is enjoyed with almost every breath. The enjoyment is slightly reduced by the pungency of the musk. Montale Aoud Musk does not carry this same liability and is a smoother scent overall with similar performance. Update: The sharpness no longer bothers me or maybe the scent has mellowed a bit over time. Either way, this is a great fragrance and is highly enjoyable while wearing.

If you want to spend the entire night in self admiration, whilst others also admire you, this is what you should be wearing. It turns heads, gets attention, and commands others to get out of it's way. You won't ever go unnoticed. It's dark and it's dirty. It's smokey and sexy. Possibly one of the best fragrances to wear when you only have one goal in mind! Just buy it, put it on, and let it do the talking!

I like Black Musk. It does seem like a toned down, easier to wear version of Black Aoud. Opens with a lot of damp earthy type patchouli. After that settles down it goes into leathery/woody territory. I swear there is a small amount of rose here too though it's not listed. It lasts a long time on me with good projection. Not nuclear projection like black aoud but noticeable. Very nice.

What scent of royalty. It smells very chic, formal, and fabulous. This leather blends so well with pepper and nutmeg giving a balance of its composition. I still did not detect the musk here, but let your slightly creamy sandalwood and warm touch. Loved, because this does not smell those leather car seat. I rank it like this: Smell: 10/10 Projection: 9/10 Longevity: 10/10

This is without a doubt one of the best if not the best after black aoud IMO. It does remind me of black aoud but definetly the musk comes in play toning down the black aoud strength! It is still bee potent and a compliment getter for sure! It's classy, it's elegant and refined! It's one of those that will keep you wanting to smell more and more! I mean wow!!!!

What a heavenly smell! Musk soft as a feather. Just a little of spice, just enough to warm your heart like a cup of coffee warms your hands on a rainy winter day. So much emotions in a bottle yet so soothing & calming. Black Musk is one of Montale's finest creations. I've fallen...hard.

This is blended really well. At times simplicity is the best quality in fragrance rather than having 100 notes in the break-down. The fragrance is well blended, and the mix of Musk with Leather and Teak wood creates the magic here. It is quite unique in that way. Excellent composition!

This starts out super loud. I just got it so I don't know how the longevity will be but I'm betting it's the usual beast mode montale. Very musky and leather. Hard to smell any of the other notes. Even still I like it quite a bit. 8/10.

Heavy aromatic icy leather, essential oil timber and tasty spice, solid, smoky musk. Well-layered. Bright, confident, wise, sexy. Full presence, it says "who`s the daddy?". The smell of a mature sophisticated successful male.

I don’t see why people don’t like this fragrance more, it’s very wearable with the musk but doesn’t lack in performance and the pepper and leather blend together comfortably. In my opinion it’s excellent on the right skin.

Impressive. A slightly spicy, masculine leather. 'Black Leather' would have been a better name. Performance is outstanding. Projection is strong, longevity excellent with easily 10-14+ hours. Mark

This one is part of what i call montales macho trio.....black aoud, black musk & aoud leather; all three excellent frags, great smell and longevity and total macho bad-assery.

So far this and Red Vetyver are my two favorite from this house. This is pretty powerful but not off putting in the least. Beautiful scent and worth a try. 9/10

Oh, my! The opening is incredibly sexy and sensual but it has a sharp edge to it. Like being stroked and teased with a soft feather, but then given a damn good thrashing with a handful of ostrich feathers. It was all so gorgeous, I wasn't able to distinguish the notes, very probably because I was so overcome. Maybe it was the musks being all sexy and seductive? A dollop of medicinal oud comes in to smarten it all up and complexify it and I very definitely get lots of layers - something floral (not quite rose but a suggestion in that direction), a little peppered spice, then increasing patchouli and a dark but restrained leather behind. Very smart, very sexy. Very nice. However, it turned on me - less like a beast and more like a mortician - and started to become a phenol bomb! And it got progressively worse over the next 60 minutes. This unidentified phenol accord possibly arose due to a combination of the earthy patchouli, the tangy leather, and whatever type of musk and medicinal fake oud they used. They all blended together 'well' but it just didn't sit right for me. It was initially in a similar ballpark to TF Noir for Men but ended up more like Dettol disinfectant. The eventual drydown after one hour is back to something sexy and smooth again but I'm a little haunted still. If it had stayed closer to where it was then it would have been delicious but that mid-section really make me feel like an old person with a wound! I will of course retry, just to check, as many beasts have turned into beauties on second showing. (Caviat: I didn't use my 1ml sample for over a month so it might've concentrated and gone weird on me.)

This fragrance has what I'll call "tomorrow longevity". I applied it yesterday after a shower, and it not only lasted but projected enough for me to smell it throughout the entire NEXT day until I showered again. It even cut through the already-strong Declaration D'Un Soir I wore today. Crazy. But this is the good kind of crazy... you know - like Dirty Harry, or Liam Neeson in Taken. The kind of crazy that you're proud to be associated with. Tough crazy. What does it smell like? Peppery-spicy yet creamy enough to remind you it knows how to chillout (thanks to sandalwood I imagine), but musky and metalic with just enough leather to remind you it means serious business. Manly business. Somehow it does smell curiously futuristic as I've seen mentioned, like you're in a city of the future where almost everything is made of metal and everyone wears fitted leather suits. Only one of these people is a Dirty Harry type character that wears brown leather instead of black, smokes cigars and fights a lot. But for some reason he smells oddly fantastic. Sounds weird as hell right? Yup, that's Black Musk. Even weirder, this stuff gets compliments too! Recommended.

A softer, more leathery cousin of Montale Black Aoud, Black Musk is a pleasant winter fragrance, easy to wear, that contains some of the powderiness of Van Cleef & Arpels Midnight in Paris while embodying much of the depth and intensity of Black Aoud. There's not too much else to it--it's not thrilling but it's subdued and comes back to the middle enough that I could see it being someone's, especially a man's, signature cold weather fragrance for night and/or formal events. Priced similarly to the rest of the line (circa $100 for 100ml on BeautySpin), Black Musk strikes me as a good option for those that find Black Aoud a bit overwhelming, assuming one also likes a little leather and powder. Not as thrilling or as powerful as Black Aoud, but still very good in its own right. 7 out of 10

Black musk has a thousand guises, Viscous,glutinous,adhesive, viscid,dark, black,opaque, death-like,mysterious, esoteric,heavy, authoritarian, autocratic,dictatorial, imperious,decadence, villains. There is nothing Sparkly about Black Musk, when you wear this it's like your entering the Edge of darkness, where light hasn't penetrate not even the bright hues of amber and fiery Sandalwood note stand on there own,they sink in this Black Abyss. I Can Picture Vilians like Le Chiffre from Casino Royal, Jaffar from Thief of Baghdad & Lestat from Queen Of the Dead, Black Musk is not for everyone it's only for a select few who appreciate the Fine art of fragrance not your typical day at a office kind of scent.

You had better make sure you like this scent because once you apply it's not coming off. It's this creamy, dark musk/leather bomb that is linear and incredibly powerful. I'm talking a perfect 10/10 in terms of longevity. This stuff will survive a shower a day after spraying it! As with any Montale or Mancera fragrance, I definitely would not blind buy this. That being said, it's definitely one of the less synthetic, less challenging, and less irritating fragrances I've tried from them. It's super potent but what you smell is what you get. I could see it working well on a cold weather night out when you really want to stand apart from the crowd.

For all day and then some longevity, this is it. Leather, musk and spice. Some I see get more spice and leather than musk but it's about equal to me. If you like em dirty and loud this is it. The leather is not harsh as in other scents but still present. I think the spices stop the leather from being dominant which is a good thing. I really don't get much wood or any amber at all but that is not the reason anyone bought this so it's not a big deal. I think it's more manly than feminine but to each's own.

This scent is very dark, I do like it. Its smoky, mysterious yet still seductive although it's very strong, even with very little it can give you a headache. It states for Men and women but honestly this seems to be too masculine. I received a sample recently, so I would like another women's opinion or a man's opinion of this scent for a woman. I absolutely love the dry down, it's amazing, a smoky musk. I do not smell leather in this at all.

I like this "everyday" scent, but it's not sensational. I like my Arabian Black Bakhoor much better. I find Montale's Black Musk to be more like a sharp sport scent, than a dark scent. Maybe it's due to the spicy pepper ingredient. It lasts 8 hours before becoming a close-to-skin scent, and the sillage trail was moderate.

This is AMAZING if you like fougré or barbershop type fragrances. First of all it's a musk bomb straight musk with the green and some spice, Very Masculine I cannot find this being a unisex fragrance at all, This being a niche makes it a bit overpriced though, I feel like it could be cheaper but overall 8/10

I smell suede with pepper and sperm 😂 lol, that’s why people think this smells like sex. Masculine for sure. Woman (most of them) couldn’t handle this one. Great scent on a guy. I gave this to my husband as a present. 9/10

Black Musk. This is exactly what it sounds like: A dark, smoky musk. It's not groundbreaking. It's not complex, and it's not challenging. It is simply Black Musk. I like it.

The leather note, which I was craving for, is pretty here. Teak wood note is peaking through nicely too. Overall the scent is nice and pleasant, but somehow not outstanding.

This is a low-key version of Black Aoud with a smokey vibe lurking in the background. Yet another winner from the Montale-collection. A yes from me!

this is dirty and animalistic, black aoud is a Rose aoud bomb, no comparison both daring, both cheeky, both beautiful!!! Nuff said!

The musk is to strong give me headache if its to light well be much better not for everyday use Absolutely this a winter fragrance

I like it. I get leather and pepper mainly. Great for cooler weather and evening wear. Leans more masculine.

Hmm, I don't know what it is about rose fragrances - I used to love them before getting into Perfumes properly - but I find nowadays that if a fragrance has rose in it, it's often all I can really smell. Rose is not mentioned in the fragrance notes, but I smell it here in a big way. This scent feels a little linear to me - I get a dusty rose with some spices and a creamy wood background and it doesn't appear to be changing much after that point for me. That being said, this is a really nice fragrance that isn't too challenging and could be appropriate in many situations. Sillage and projection is solid, I'm assuming longevity will be too, but will update this review in a few hours.

Be careful with this one, some may like it some may not. It is a huge musk bomb which is obvious given the name. Picture leather mixed with latex gloves kind of a scent. Or a more bearable Fahrenheit type of cologne. It wasn’t really for me but maybe you’ll like it!

Musky suede (to my nose) with some patchouli and amber buried deep inside. Very nice but steering more towards the ladies to my nose. I am really into musk lately, but this isn't what I am looking for. A try before you buy....

Is this actually a fragrance or did someone bottle up skunk gas to scare away any other possible living creature. If North Korea and America don’t destroy the world I’m putting my bets on Montale and Mancera.

Not great to use on its own, but good to mix with other colognes. Recommended to mix with Givenchy Reserve Privee On its own: 4-5/10 Mixed with Givenchy Reserve Privee: 9 pushing to a 10/10.

It's very dark but that is as far as it goes. Definitely a winter fragrance. I cant imagine someone wearing this every single day. 6/10 its not complexe.

@Marssade I layer it not mix, i had a bad choice of words

This one must be named rather as Smoky leather... :(

My relationship to Montale is a rollercoaster of disillusionment that somehow doesn't abate my curiosity for their overwhelming number of fragrances. Black Musk is the latest in disappointments from this house. Black musk, as a fictive scent, conjures not head shops but apothecaries and middle eastern herbolaries that can be found on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, among other places, where the city's African American muslim population often asks for the similarly named oil–surely from Surrati or some other manufacturer of cheap fragrance–while I buy my black shea soap, pita bread, and neem toothpaste. Black musk also doesn't conjure Katsuri deer musk grains, which I've steeped in a lovely Turkish rose oil and anoint myself with at night or use as a layer below sprays of one oudhy fragrance after the other. Montale's Black Musk sits resolutely in neither realm, instead occupying what some have called a future-oriented cosmovision of metals and humorless rictuses–if one is feeling that fanciful! In actuality, this chemical concoction reminds me much more of Axe body sprays and other deodorants because of the musk, of course, but also because of the very loud and brash virility of this perfume, itself an indicator not of darkness and potions from faraway lands but of gym weights and over-spraying. Breathing deeply into my forearm, thankful that I only have a sample, I can smell something beyond the hardest hitting, sillage-heavy notes, which are black pepper (ubiquitous), teak (boring), and musk (actually, the best thing about this affair). It's perhaps the more mesmerizing facets of Montale's perfume, nestled underneath, something close to rose and wine, a kind of tribute to Black Aoud and what the house does well. These hidden, trounced notes are pure sexiness that, when barraged by the notes I just named, is utterly not me. Black Musk fits nicely among tropes of men who are likely taller and older than I and who might not put too much thought into how they want to be remembered by scent, since their presence is the event, all-consuming, coarse, and more than enough.

Quite common DNA which you will find in at least 1000 different perfumes of average quality. It does not in any manner smell like Black musk which it somehow suggests. It smells more like a subtle talcum powder meant for women. Ambroxan has been used to mask the incompetence of the perfume. I'd rather call this as White Ambroxan than Black musk. The positive reviews are probably fake. Sample it before you buy and loose money. The characteristics of the fragrance does not correlate with the name Black musk, which implies that it might be something dark, masculine, musky. Nope.!

I quite like this heavy musk -- unfortunately it lasts approximately 2 hours on me, so therefore can't be considered. It goes on heavy and seems to have the kind of intensity and sillage I've associated with quality EDPs, so it comes as a surprise when 2 hours later it's gone. I don't know what my skin lacks that so many others here seem not have a problem with, but still, buyer beware.

Not sure if my sample was damaged/contaminated in some way or what, but I straight up can't smell this.

Creamy black aoud nothing else

If you're new to fragrances like me this smells identical to the topnotes of black aoud by Montale. It is awful, for around an hour I catch whiffs that make me want to puke. I don't understand why many love this, for me it is the most repulsive fragrance I've had. I can see why the person I bought this from sold it for so cheap on reddit, (25$ that I will never recover) perhaps this is good to a refined nose but for me this is unwearable when I am alone in my own house.

I bought montale black musk based on the positive reviews, but what? So very disappointed 😔, the smell is ok, but the performance is nothing to write home about, and believe me i got d original paris bottle cause i confirm everything Longevity is 3h+ Sillage maybe 1h or less It doesn't worth d price at all, armaf club de niut sillage performs wey better than montale paris, with half of the price