Musc Tonkin

Opens with a spicy, waxy, indolic floral accord. I’m no floral expert but my impression here is of jasmine and ylang ylang, possibly alongside tuberose, carnation, and lily. As it dries down, the connection between that opening and the promised animalics becomes clear, as the waxy and indolic characteristics of the initial bouquet intensify. I wonder whether there might be just a hint of frankincense bolstering the spicy warmth that now comes to the fore. The floral indole becomes more clearly animalic, with sabaceous, fatty, and slightly fecal nuances. To me this is potentially a much more challenging animalic accord than that of MKK, but I love it. New players also seem to join the bouquet in the first hour, with the initial creamy/waxy white number taking on a rosier hue. Somehow animalic florals always seem the most perverse to me. Even Keiko Mecheri’s innocent-on-paper Oliban becomes surprisingly sexy once the ambergris rears its head. This is no exception and is perhaps the most emphatic exploration of the synergy of flora and fauna on the market. On my skin the middle notes seem to include honey, sandalwood, the barest vanilla, and a hefty dose of oakmoss. The Venus in splendor of the first act turns out to have a masculine side: less the Venus of the Romans than Dietrich as Joseph von Sternberg’s Blonde Venus. Whether she’s wearing a top hat and tails or a gorilla suit is up to you. At this point the fragrance is somehow both glamorous and cozy. Where the opening suggests sumptuous silk gowns of bygone days, the middle suggests (and I mean this in the best way) a well worn jean jacket, perfectly constructed but warmed by the body and frayed enough to give it a certain je ne sais quois. As the day stretches on, MT remains present as a slightly slightly floral, very animalic spicy chypre. While less challenging in this phase, the scent remains engaging, seeming at once to be dusty and waxy, luscious and desiccated. All the while you can rely on a hazy, powdery, slightly metallic musk with a civet-like depth to anchor things. To me this fragrance is sensual, cozy, yet put together. Perfect for a formal occasion but maybe less so for a professional one. I agree with other reviewers that this has a vintage feel, almost a fantasy of what perfume once was. While I adore it, the opening of this fragrance does seem to me to be resolutely womanly, which is why I have never bought a bottle despite loving and wearing samples for years in the privacy of my own home. Maybe someday soon I will lean into the spicy indoles, earthy oakmoss, and that lingering fatty, animalic goodness. And apply 30 minutes before leaving the house. I also agree with some others that this perfume has a Kiehl’s original musk vibe. But where the floral character of that blend often feels distracting to me, here the whole point seems to be a kind of figure-ground ambiguity between plant and animal. I should also say this is the ONLY fragrance I have ever seen my cat take an interest in.

It was 2012, a year that I consider a turning-point in the history of perfumery; it is when very acclaimed brands started heavily reformulated many of their scents, changing their DNA. In that panorama Marc Antoine Corticchiato released his take on deer musk (forbidden since 1979) with a limited release of 1000 bottles of Musc Tonkin, classified as an extract de parfume. I am lucky enough to have bought one of those bottles; in 2014 they releaseed an eau de parfum version which feels different, less pungent. Then Parfum d'Empire came back to release the extrait version like the current one. Note that the latter is closer to the 2014 eau de parfum than the original 2012 extrait. Here I will describe my experience with the original 2o12 Musc Tonkin, but note that the differences are not that much. In a following review I will make an attempt to deconstruct the current version by chemical components. MK'opening is a pure blast of animalistic skank that feels concentrated perhaps painful to current noses, but then it settles into something quite sexy. I say this because MK is an old-school floral chypre: the musks are the base to make a floral accord splendid. My guess of notes would be: Orange Blossom/Neroli, Gardenia's accord, Ylang-Ylang, Peach, Cumin and, possibly, Coumarin. Middle: Jasmine Sambac, Damask Rose, Narcissus, Honey, Labdanum, and Patchouli. Base: Musk, Civet/Castoreum, Angelica root, Oakmoss, Tonka Beans, and, possibly, Benzoin and Vanilla. There is a strikingly interesting contrast between the fatty animalic skin and hair and the floral and slightly fruity heart. There is a leather, slightly urinous and barn-yardy undertone (p-cresyl phenil acetate? that could be responsible for that narcissus feeling I get). I detect something slighly hearthy, extremely intimate, carnal that smells of panties: cumin and other spices are in this juice. You cannot get that urinous undertones without civet which I think is missing from today's version. And when the floral heart finally emerges, I am blown away by its beauty. I smell very creamy, indolic flowers that I suspect are gardenia and ylang-ylang. The latter’s buttery notes are redolent of slightly banana-like custard, and they add a necessary softness to the pungency of the oakmoss and the intimacy of that funk. The leather note remains but it is no longer raw, pungent or rough as it was in those opening minutes. Softened by the florals, it is smoother and extremely subtle. In the late drydown I feel some tonka undertones, a faint woodiness, benzoin, and a touch of vanilla. It’s quite erotic and seductive, and calls to mind the famous nudes from Delacroix or Rubens. Please, consider following me on IG @alexolympia6

My fragrance journey has been made up of many smaller, often repeated "note journeys" in which I smell a range of perfumes themed on notes in which I'm temporarily interested. Musk is the single earliest olfactory memory I have, as my mother wore White Musk for my whole childhood and, since becoming a frag nerd, I've smelled a long list of others. Musc Tonkin I find it quite far down the animalic end of musks, but animalics are a path with many branches, and determining if something is "more" or "less" animalic than something else rapidly becomes impossible, as what each of us finds disturbing/ illicit varies widely. Musc Tonkin, to my nose, opens with a super heavy middle-animalic musk which is cloaking an enormous heap of warmly rotting flowers. Not quite as sweet as ylang-ylang, but further down the yellow end of the floral spectrum, there's a warm, sweaty, intensely humid sensation which deletes any freshness from the musk and renders the whole thing particularly dirty and unwashed. It's really a wonderful smell - think stale genital sweat mixed with lots of soft, pillowy musks and intense floral heat - it's somewhere down the more feminine side of naughty, with a petal-like, quivering sensitivity which, I think, is meant to give the scent its eroticism. I like it a lot but I do have my qualms - it's a lot "hotter", heavier and thicker than my favourite musks (MKK and Kiehl's). I find Musc Tonkin reminds me just slightly of waking up while ill, with sweat caking my bedsheets and a staleness in the cloistered air of the room - if a giant took me in their fist and exhaled over my whole body it would smell rather like this. A feverish musk. In the mid-to-drydown Musc Tonkin doesn't change a huge amount but it softens considerably and the hot florals mercifully retreat into a gentle, background butteriness. Now with some air in it, the scent opens up and becomes a less challenging wear. This is great from the standpoint of wearability but I think MT's distinctiveness starts to give way ever so slightly, and in the far drydown it could easily be the dregs of any quality white/yellow floral scent with a generous heap of powder-clean, admittedly vintage-inflected musks. The journey is an interesting arc, and it makes me feel like I'm being smothered by a naked torso under several quilts. Overall, however, I think I prefer the more saline Kiehl's or rosy-spiky-ambery MKK to MT, but for hardcore white/ yellow floral lovers this is a great one to try.

First spray. There must be a cat in this perfume store. She just peed. Someone should clean it up and put the animal outside so I finally could test the perfume. Five minutes later. I wonder why people tell that MKK is an offending fragrance. MKK is a sweet and innocent floral garden compared to Musc Tonkin. Well, there is cumin in MKK, but who does not like cumin? They must be evil people. Cumin is nice. However, this MT is fighting me hard. Is it something with my nose? I wonder whether it’s legal to wear fragrances like this in public. Two hours later. I don’t like it. And I wonder why I keep smelling myself if I don’t like it. I usually remove those perfumes I don’t like from my body. I do have a soap. But I did not remove this one. Let me smell it again. Next day. I don’t know whether I like it or not. And what if I do? How many people will be offended? Would any woman talk to me when I wear this one? But why would I wear it at all? Third day. I spray it on my chest in a larger dose and wear it for hours. I remove my shirt and I go running. I come home. I lie on the bed. I put the shirt on my chest and smell it. A memory lurking in the corners on my subconscious mind knocks on the door. Four years ago I opened a white paper box hidden in my treasury. There was a black panties in it. It had been lying there for at least 2-3 years. I could remember putting it there, however, I couldn’t remember who left it in my apartment. I smelled it. My eyes teared up. It was the best woman scent I have ever smelled. Even after 2 years it was so perfect it touched my soul. I wanted to cry. “I should have married this woman, whatever she looked like. I would be happy with her for the next 100 years. How could I forget who she was? I must find her. Or someone who smells like her.” So far I have not found anyone smelling as good as the forgotten woman smelled, even though I have been trying hard. And now, Musc Tonkin reminds me that fragrance. It’s not the same. It’s able to recall it. Finding this fragrance lifts the burden from my shoulders after many years. There is hope. There is salvation.

Marc-Antoine Corticchiato seems to have created a homage to the massive musk bombs of the 70s and 80s with Musc Tonkin. If that wasn't his intention, I'm completely fooled. I don't follow the impressions others have of Musc Tonkin being animalic and "filthy." As someone who grew-up on and around farms, an avid outdoorsman, and sometimes-hunter, I've smelled animal musks and other excrement and this doesn't put me in mind of those experiences or memories at all. Instead, what I get is completely an old-school/retro powdery floral chypre that would make Jean-Paul and Edmond raise an eyebrow and nod in approval. Though that nod of approval would likely pique their curiosity to use Musc Tonkin as a base because, basically, that's all this perfume is: a very well-crafted musk base. Not much is going on besides. The opening has touches of bitter green herbs but they are so minute and fleeting that you could almost safely ignore them. What follows is simply that floral chypre musk base. But, before you get any ideas that this is a criticism, it's this simplicity that is Musc Tonkin's winning formula. Corticchiato did such a wonderful job composing this musk accord that it would almost be a shame to overlay it with a bunch of other stuff. Soapy musky, resinous, a touch sweaty/salty and dirty (animalic), a note of clean and smooth suede, and containing the perfectly silken fine threads of indolic jasmine weaving their way in and out of the musk material(s). It is gorgeous, and gorgeously simple. I would surmise that this could be easily worn year round, yes even in the summer, but it's exothermic nature requires the wearer to be careful; in high heat and humidity it could probably be close to suffocating if too much is applied, but as is typical of an extrait in the classic form I'm finding it staying very close to my skin on this balmy spring day (and lasting forever). Well done, Mr. Cortichhiato, for taking us on a wonderful trip down memory lane.

When talking about this one(EDP version, to be precise), the one sure thing everybody can easily spot is a true-to-life musk note. A faint leather note is in the background. The heart is enriched with a touch of flowers. There may be some spice in the opening. Above all that - musk, and a lot of it. Very natural and animalic musk, with nothing antiseptic, detergent-alike or 'white' about it, until the very end when it becomes slightly soapy. That's all I spot in Musc Tonkin, but I don't think Corticchiato wanted too much complexity when he made this one. All that being said, the way it's mannered and measured makes it less challenging than, say, MKK. I must agree with some reviewers that this one smells more like an enhanced skin scent than like an animal secretion. The one thing to have in mind, though, is it can deceive you into thinking it has no sillage, but it can be spotted from afar even if moderately applied - it just doesn't seem like that to the wearer. Longevity is solid - on my skin it lasted for seven hours before I took a shower, and I could still feel the traces of it after that for an hour or two. One more thing. I couldn't help but think how good this one can be for layering. I feel it can bring a hell of a lot of character to a less challenging composition, it can strengthen its base and give a bit of a dirty charm to it. It doesn't mean this one is not good by itself, it is. It's just that its simplicity and linearity, while not lacking in quality, can make a wonderful addition to pretty much everything you can imagine. Generally, this is not what I look for in a perfume, but, with this one, I kept sniffing the bottle, the blotter and my forearm all the time I possibly could. Right now, I'm enchanted, but maybe it's just the way I feel today. My opinion can change the next time I try it. I hope it won't. 9,25/10

Marc-Antoine Corticchiato, I love you. Must tonkin is a gift you could leave as a legacy. Thank you for this creation, for your boldness, for your "no fucks given" attitude. I bought the extract when it came out in 2008 i think. I have always loved animalics especially those with a vintage feel to them. Nowadays I also own the eep. Must tonkin is one of my absolute favorite perfumes, maybe even my signature (schhhhhhh don't tell her) The extrait is a beast with devilish intentions until it mellows into kitty fur bedazzled with diamonds and champagne. This woman is regal, a tsarine. I hate to gender label fragrances or notes for that matter but this is feline to me. Very noir, very red nail polish, perfect locks and a dress that can kill. She comes out guns blazing and sips on a cocktail after the inferno has burned out. The edp however is somewhat different. The notes are easier to get a sense of. I get white flowers, mostly gardenia and jasmine with a good dollop of lily of the valley. Oakmoss (that seems to be a favorite with this brand) some aldehydes, civet and a lot of africa stone. Theres also something sweet behind, maybe a sweetness in one of the different muscs used. She's still a lady but she doesn't mean any harm, however she's a femme fatale the old school way. She's in black and white, she knows all the tricks and she lures and seduces you. I love the edp. She always gets me compliments and she gives me erotic dreams. I have owned two bottles of Music koublai khan that I love dearly, but must tonkin will forever be my favorite skank.

Musc Tonkin. I have a bottle of the EDP (not the limited edition parfum extrait pictured above). This penetrating beauty earns a well-warranted appreciation for its alluring impression of natural deer musk and the ability for it to make me feel elegant, regal, sensual, natural, warm, comfortable, confident and fortified. Musc Tonkin's one-note description truly compels me to read this as delicately sweet animalic musk. As I relax into this scent, it becomes a doe in heat frolicking among wild jasmine bushes (despite deer musk being derived from stags). As it fuses with my being it becomes of human flesh. Initially I detect lactonic fruit nuances of apricot and a hint of melon -- clean with a delicate ferment. A gentle bite of bitterness, metal, aquatic, ozonic like celery seed balances the musk as it rises. Rather reminiscent of civet, equally as rich, but softer and more refined, there is a sulfurous, nitric component, a little sour, fatty and salty like fresh human sweat; sweet mossy tar oddly meconium-like; tempered with spicy elegant petals like carnations and saffron. Chypre floral indeed. Fascinating. Beautiful. Predecessors that come to mind: the animalic musky drydown of Opium vintage, the mysterious sulfurous cystine amino acid (crystalline amber) accord of Costume National Scent Intense, the enigmatic equine soapy floral-leather blend in Cuir de Russie. Yet somehow Musc Tonkin culminates into something quieter but still strong and even more corporeal. Lush and serene. Pregnant with possibilities.

2014 EDP release. Musc Tonkin extrait is one deep and dense animalic perfume. An instant love from first sniff, and one of the bottles I treasure the most in my collection. Mostly because of its exclusivity. The EDP takes the same formula and makes it airier, slightly less potent. It's still one of the most animalic perfumes currently available, so lovers of vintage feeling orientals don't fear. I don't feel it's a different perfume, just less dense. The top and middle notes are more easily discernible. The base notes take longer to arrive. Also the notes are more recognizable this time; the gardenia is more prominent with its mushroom facet, the oakmoss, the leathery castoreum, the urinous civet, the furry musk. Plus it hasn't lost the intense saltiness I love from the extrait. ('Turd on the water' like Gaia so accurately said) If you like one, you'll like the other. I can save the extrait for special occasions and use the EDP to indulge without fear of running out. Sillage and longevity are still remarkable. And people who smell it actually remark that it smells very sexy. So even though it's quite heavy it won't scare people. I also have a feeling that a light spritz in the summer will liven up any simpler perfume, particularly colognes, and glorify white florals. Let's hope it stays permanent in the collection this time! And MAC, if you're reading how about a second batch of the extrait? Please??!! :-))

Musc Tonkin is a creative masterpiece. It comes off as a very warm, very fluffy floral. It’s soft, round and pungent. It smells quite “purple” and it has no sharp edges whatsoever. As a matter of fact, it’s so round and slick, it’s downright oily. I see why this may not be the easiest scent to appreciate unless you know what you’re getting into. You might not like it the first time you wear it. Personally, I was somewhat lukewarm about it at first, but give it a chance, because the moment it clicks is worth waiting for. It doesn’t project a lot, although it does last, and in the air it doesn’t really smell like a perfume. It smells like a person. Not someone who just came out of the shower, but more like someone who took a shower this morning and wore a nice floral scent, but now it’s the end of the day and they’re coming back from work. Some of the most comforting, intimate scents you’ll encounter in your life are not necessarily 100% clean and presentable. Oftentimes they’re lived in, they’re imperfect, and the sense of comfort you gain from them stems from familiarity, of having embraced those imperfections. Musc Tonkin feels like one of those scents. This isn’t something I’d necessarily wear to feel presentable around other people, but it’s the perfect thing to wear to bed, at home or when you crave a bit of intimacy.

Musc Tonkin by Parfum d'Empire--I'm not a musk lover, but this is not your every day, the usual and boring, musk. It's a super velvety animalic with an extreme intensity, warm and sensual scent. It develops slowly and every 7 to 10 minutes it reaches my nostrils forcing me to take a deep breath, inhaling the most beautiful mixture of powdery notes, rose petals and possibly violets. I don't need to smell my arm--the scent is all around me. It doesn't matter if I apply a little, then it's soft and shy but it grows with time and it becomes mature and round. If I apply a lot, it's intense from the start but it never gets too animalic and dirty. I even wish it was a little dirty, but to my surprise this scent is heavenly the way it is. Oh, and it's extremely sexy--warms up my skin and my senses, wishing to be touched, kissed... I love how it plays games with my imagination. I would say it's a unisex fragrance but it does lean more toward the feminine side because of the soft floral notes. The longevity is about 8-9 hours (which is a lot on me), and sillage is pretty huge. It's not loud or overwhelming and it gets compliments even from strangers.

There are lots of missing notes in the note description above and this fragrance has much more than just musk. On my skin, Musc Tonkin is a very floral Chypre smelling sensual, slightly powdery baby skin like with lots of floral undertone. It opened with a somewhat sweet fruity citrus and Labdanum combo. I recognised something peachy, creamy, fatty, and lactonic that resembles the scent from Aldehyde C-14 mixed with Bergamot and Labdanum. I also smelled a distinct Civet note among other animalic musk mingling with some unidentifiable flowers. I also detected a hint of seaweed and somewhat metallic notes within. As the scent developed, there was a woodiness added to it and a mossy note became more noticeable in the late dry down. I do not find this fragrance dirty like many people said; however, I do find it quite sexy as it sort of smell like warm human skin. As I have never smelled natural Tonkin Musk before, I do not know how closed this fragrance is resembling the real thing. Musc Tonkin has moderate sillage and quite long lasting on my cooler than average skin.

Wowser!!! I'm surprised this isn't talked about or in the top 10 animalic fragrances list. 1 spray on my wrist and delicate transfer onto pulse points - It is quintessentially feminine. Like a woman's skin. Beautiful, delicate, alluring, mysterious and captivating. Almost feline, a cat that's rubbed up against me, purring. 2 or more sprays and it steadily warms on body heat, growing into a wild cat on the prowl, a panther, a jaguar, a man-eater. No, the scent isn't a castoreum like wet dog but a distinctly large feline presence. Slowly encroaching it's hunting ground. Something tells me this is the real deal animalic. It's beguiling and gorgeous in measured doses/dabs but too much and you're in for a treat. Being a man, I must admit defeat, it's beautiful but I cannot pull this off. There's no fecal or poopy notes at all (being an animalic frag enthusiast, I would know) but Musc Tonkin is in an elite class of its own. This has wayyyyy more claws than MKK. MKK is a baby's scalp in comparison. 5 out of 5 ***** stars

Maybe I've just been blessed with awesome skin chemistry but this smells so damn good on me! It's not just my nose or my taste, I've had many different people smell it with the same reaction every time "oh my , that smells so good!" Its simply stunning. This has turned me into a true animalic lover. Inexplicably gorgeous and addictive. It opens with a bit of what smells like narcissus with a slightly metallic musk. It just keeps getting better and developing in it's complexity. I really have trouble putting into words what I'm smelling since it is so unique. Intriguing,complex and sexy as hell! I bought myself the full bottle shortly after sampling this rare beauty. On days when it's dreary and raining this fragrance is just gorgeous, perfect for winter. For anyone who thinks this smells like an animal butt or urine I seriously feel sorry for them, they are truly missing out. This is my newfound love!

review for the 2014 eau de parfum: Opens very stinky animalic, a very dark musk, and some aldehydes and marine notes. It is both warm and cold at the same time, the warmer powdery musk notes stay close to the skin and the aldehydes and marine notes linger over that. The drydown is powdery and sweet, still with plenty of dark musk and aldehydes, and something that suggests dusty resins. Sillage is soft to moderate, longevity moderate. To me, this smells like human skin that's been warmed up by the sun, that has a few drops of fresh perspiration on it which makes it smell a bit briny. I find this scent strangely comforting and addictive. It smells like an intimate embrace-- it can both be sensual or a big hug from someone you love. Glorious and amazing. Bought a full bottle without hesitation.

Less ambery than I had expected and more sensual and complex too. First spray had me surprised. In a great way. The opening melon notes reminded me of my Chanel Cristalle Edp. Lush, juicy, darkly leaved and mistily cool...I am well into the mid and pushed up behind that lushness is a spicy muskiness. Like a little cinnamon has been dusted over it. Gorgeously golden and radiant. I can feel the sensual beauty of the scent and feel the animalic touches only mildly. It’s a stunner. Just received my bottle direct from PDE complete with a gorgeous note (thank you Alexis) and generous samples of Le Cri and Aziyade ❤️. This won’t be my only bottle from the house - in love.

Bearing in mind all reviews are subjective and personal to the individual, I find this creation to be rather beautiful. Just the right balance of musk and indolic floral's particularly Jasmine to create a really amazing perfume that in my opinion can be worn through most seasons although you can wear whatever you want when you want. It doesn't overly project and settles down to a fantastic, elegant and rather seductive musky scent fairly quickly. Give it a try as perfumes can often be different on each person depending on skin chemistry etc. It really is very special!

I felt Musc Tonkin was something imminently worth owning. So I set about my desires to attain that which had become beyond a mere fancy; but an obsession. I sat nights, counting the drops of wax by each flicker, absolutely enthralled as I beheld my beauty. Her scent a sublime consolation taking me away in waves as the stars gazed our passions as we engaged. How can words describe this? What we have is surely more than uttered sounds. More like swords meeting in the hands of warriors, or the renewal of hope; a warm embrace in Siberia before we elope.

I loved this the minute I tested it because I love animalic musks. This is a warm floral animalic musk that leans "powdery clean" and is suitable for the office. It won't attack a co-worker like a caged tiger like Lutens MKK would, and it won't purr and lick a co-workers neck like an Areej would. It's softer and warmer; it's sexy but understated rather than in your face. It's the kind of scent you want when you wear expensive lingerie under a power suit to make yourself feel sexy at a Corporate meeting.

To me it smells like the initial aldehydic part of No.5, but a a bit more metallic and animalic. I wasn't expecting to enjoy it so much, but I find that civet is an animalic ingredient that smells at its best when paired with musks and white florals. It really brings back imagined memories from a time you have not lived in. And for me it's completly wearable, I am just anxious about how it would smell to others, I wish I did not care but, eh, guess perfumes are also a social thing