Agar Musk

This is an unpretentious little gem. The opening reminds me a lot of The Different Company's Sel de Vetiver, but when Sel de Vetiver leaves me cold with its rather harsh, flat, and chemical approach to salty vetiver (swimming hall impressions, anyone?), Agar Musk has more in it. The cool and green vetiver-salt opening gradually warms to a very balanced dryish woody-resinous accord with an understated warmth and freshness from the nutmeg, tied together with green/woody, non-smoky vetiver. The beautiful nutmeg note rides on top of the whole lifeline of the scent and rounds everything up beautifully. It's modern, minimal, and airy with plenty of synthetic woody notes but by no means without character and shape. Could well be one of the better releases from Byredo. The oud is presented very discreetly, barely giving that deep, dark, medicinal tone to the composition. Very western-taste-friendly, but still nicely sense tingling. A drop of ink in a crystal bottle filled with water. The musk layer keeps a certain salty angle but softens considerably, it's clean but not soapy, soft but not exactly animalic. This is one of those "leather" scents that do not create a strong leather impression to me, just vague leatheriness like some overprocessed leather items that leave me wondering if they really are animal skin after all... The musk is definitely there, but it is merely a guideline, not an outline, promoting the excellent staying power of this scent. Very polite sillage, lasts for ages. Quite minimalistic and modern - and I would label this as unisex. All women don't have a sweet tooth for scents - and there are no Western perfumery sexual mannerisms in this contemporary, understated creation. Will probably invest to a full bottle - although I think that the price is steep. For all gentlemen and -women out there - and wannabe-ones, like yours truly! One of my favorite workday choices.

The scent is the epitome of minimalist. White oud, abstract, with a throwback (2010) vibe, which is why I think it's misunderstood and not a safe blind buy. When people think oud, they think powerhouse, and this isn't that. However, there's something about it that keeps drawing me back and I have literally a thousand options (bottles and decants) to choose from. The opening is a medicininal oud and nutmeg that might remid you of vicks vapor rub. Wait on it, and the cypress and vetiver arrive. No leather imo. No sweetness. Dust and bleached vetiver. The heart sensation and final drydown is like a steamy sauna in pine forest. I find it very relaxing and almost meditative. From there, the musk comes forward while still retaining some green elements. This musk is not the laundry variety. It's both clean (mostly clean) and slightly dirty. It reminds me of an adjacent synthetic accord of genuine deer musk when mixed with my skin chemistry, but a much lighter take. I can spray lightly and it's more of a steamy forest cypress vetiver type drydown, or heavy to get more of the slightly animalic, pheromonal type musk If you're a fan of minimalist and as someone else mentioned, weightless/transparent masculine leaning fragrances, you may like Agar Musk. It's fast becoming one of very favorites in this genre. I'm blowing through my bottle and bought another. I don't think most people will think much of it, and my friends think it's good but weird and out of their comfort zone. I'm rating it highly based on my own personal taste. Scent 98/100 Performance 60/100 P.S. This is NOT Le Labo Gaiac 10, which bounces from slightly charred wood to smokey clean(ish) wood. However, the esthetic (minimist, relaxing) and white steam is the same vibe.

This is an incredibly strange one. The initial blast I get is a piney oud with vetiver and to me this smells almost identical to Tom Ford's oud wood but toned down in intensity. This first olfactory wave comes and goes too quickly for my taste, and within 15 minutes the scent has already morphed into something else. Now the underlined musk begins to color this woody scent, and from here on out everything becomes fairly linear in my opinion. The initial blast is quite strong but when the musk comes out the fragrance really settles to a near skin scent. There is something harsh about it (probably the musk?) that still projects but the nice woody scent remains close to the skin. Surprisingly, the linear portion of this scent has amazing longevity and lasts on me me for more than 20 hours. Sample first, as I don't imagine this scent being universally liked.

Ramón Monegal is part of the history of Barcelona and one of Spain’s most important perfumers and is the fourth generation of the family that founded Myrurgia S.A. Agar Musk is an agarwood, leather, musk, all in a fragrance - it's so totally not Flori-kind, for those who has been looking for an Oud / Leather fragrance without the flower sweetness very commom in the Oud perfumes found in the market. For me this fragrance is distinctively masculine, dark, spicy and very sexy, a masculine eroticism bomb with an animalistic musk note in the background. The oud note is rather soft and the spices are dosed cautiously and the best part is the leather note, which is clearly from the heart notes. Sillage is good. Longevity is excellent....if you like an Agarwood / Leather perfume, this wonderful perfume is definitely for you.

Agar Musk is SPECIAL!!! Others are comparing it with fragrances such as Halstons "Man Amber" or even Montale, however, I cannot agree...its on a level all by itself. To say It smells like "Man Amber" is to say that a "new car" scented tree is as good as an actual new car! I own both. I bought the Halston with high hopes, but was sorely let down with it's synthetic funk. And the Oud in Agar Musk is far more robust and non synth as what I smell in the Montale offerings. I love the oud in agar musk, (As well as in Kilians "Pure Oud") the oud scent takes on a 4th dimension that is beyond my tongues ability to describe it's beauty. If you love Oud, Vetiver, or Leather scents, try this one. It is probably too pricey to buy blindly, but this house does sample. Longevity: 8+ hours on skin Rating: 10/10